Sideways

Tenma's backstory could be a novel, so I will attempt to condense it as much as possible.

There will be no linguistic flair here, just the facts.

Tenma's first memory was waking on a stone tablet, in Orenbega, surrounded by Circle of Thorns Mages. He had been summoned, from Hell. Something went wrong in the summoning, and he was badly wounded... missing his entire right arm, most of his left, and his jaw was nearly destroyed.

The mages had been attempting to summon a High Demon, and had done so, but screwed up the actual transference. They fled, and left Tenma to fend for himself.

The Mages had been in negotiations with the Freakshow... because the Freaks naievely thought they could gain Magic abilities from a pact with the CoT (Actual story arc, in case you didn't know). The Mages had sacrificed about 5 Freaks, who were scattered around the Tablet. Tenma managed to stand, and he could see the portal at the end of the tablet was still active.

Knowing - somehow - that he couldn't return through that portal without a 'prize', he kicked a Freak Tank through first, and jumped in.

However, the constant electric discharge of the Freak disrupted the portal, and cast both the Freak and Tenma back in time, rather than through dimensions.

Travelling through time and space, Tenma arrived in a grove, in Fuedal Japan. A woman picking lotus blossoms saw him arrive, and fled back to the village, where she alerted the Samurai who had taken shelter in a local monastery. The Samurai were being systematically hunted, and eliminated, by the new Western-inspired Japanese regime. They were in hiding, but were sworn protectors, even still.

The Samurai Master took his men to the woods, where he found Tenma, horribly wounded, and the dead Freak Tanker. Rather than finishing the Demon off, they took him back to the Monastery. The Samurai Master saw something in the Demon's eyes, and could not bring himself to end it's life.

Back in the Monastery, Tenma began to regenerate, slightly. He stayed, hidden in there, for many years... slowly learning to speak Japanese, and even English, always under the Master's watchful eye.

Tenma even managed to salvage parts from the Freak Tank, to use himself. He was able to graft himself with a fully functional right arm, and use the cybernetics to repair his left arm as well.

After many years, as the Master grew old, he decided to teach the Demon the ways of the Samurai. Recognizing that this Demon was eternal, it was a way to pass on the Samurai code for all time.

Having fought Demons in the past, the Samurai master had - at some point - come across a sword (once wielded by a demon) that no human could use. It would consume their mind, and control them in terrible ways. The Master presented the sword to the Demon, hoping for the best. Tenma was able to wield it, communicate with it, but not be controlled by it.

So, Tenma was named: Sebuta Tenma, or Demon Blade. The Samurai called him 'Tenma' for short. The Sword, too, had a name... Sebuta Oni.

The Demon practiced swordplay, with the samurai, for many years. Finally, as the Master approached his natural end, Tenma was asked to watch over the village.

The Master died, the remaining Samurai scattered throughout the land, becoming Ronin. Tenma remained, true to his word, to watch over the peaceful village, from the secluded Monastery.

He continued to train there, and assist the Villagers (unbeknownst to them) for centuries.

5 Years ago, word came to the Village of an Alien invasion in America. Tenma became fascinated, and took as much information as he could. He found out about Paragon City, the City of Heroes... he found out about the many villains, including the Circle of Thorns.

Quickly becoming obsessed with more knowledge of the Circle, he broke his oath to the Master, and travelled to Paragon...

Nothing was more important, to a Samurai, than his own past. Tenma knew the Master would forgive him this transgression... he had faithfully watched over the village for hundreds of years, and now had a chance to find out about his own past.

He travelled to Paragon, and has been fighting evil on the streets ever since.

Squinting against the photonegative flare of the swift explosion, Tenma thought twice about entering the room. He watched the man in white walk briskly towards a table occupied with other Heroes. He looked around, and saw all sorts of strange Humans. Some massive, rivalling his own size, others extremely diminuitive. Some openly displaying their powers, others merely watching, or engaged in candid and friendly discussions.

One thing he noted above all else; they were all Human.

How could a Demon hope to walk in, and be accepted?

There is only one way to find out Tenma thought to himself.

He stepped into the room.

Silence blanketed the crowd of Heroes, as they stared, aghast, at the 8ft tall, 600lb horned demon that just stepped in the room. All eyes fell to the glowing sword, strapped to the Demon's belt. Many Heroes began to shift uncomfortably in their seats... a few even began to conjur weapons of their own... as discreetly as possible.

After all, some of these Heroes had fought his own kind.

"Hey there!" came a call from a table nearby. "Pull up a chair, big guy. My name is Buck!"

Tenma turned his attention to Buck, and walked over. He looked down to the empty chair in front of him. It was a shoddy, plastic thing... it would not support his weight. Instead, he moved it out of the way, and sat cross-legged on the floor.

He still towered over a few of the figures at the table.

"So, what's your name, big guy?" Asked buck. The Heroes in the hall had all resumed their chatter, glancing occasionally in Tenma's direction.

"Tenma..." He replied.

"Tenma? Interesting name... what does it mean?" Asked a small man, with a thick british Accent.

"It's... Japanese. It means 'Demon'."

The Heroes all chuckled slightly, and even Tenma allowed himself a brief smile.

"Well, Tenma... welcome to the Hero Academy." Said Buck.

Suddenly, there was a commotion in the corner of the room...

((Take it away, someone))

Thursday, March 17th

It will go up on Test on Wednesday, Feb 23rd (next Wednesday).

Those are my guesses.

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"Way to go, guys... you broke Tenma. I hope you're all happy."

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Well, the "kill skuls" thing is harmless memetic fun. Getting worked up over it is just...yeah, I admit, I'm happy.

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Good, I wouldn't want you to 'get worked up' over me poking a little fun.

I wasn't being serious, obviously (to most).

Aww damnit.

I'm just going to go... go hunt... Kill Skuls.

Thought Kill Skuls thing was stupid... immature... unfunny... now it's Dev-sanctioned... walls closing in... unsure what to think... want to like Devs, but want to murder 'Kill Skuls' people... video games don't make me violent... STOP LOOKING AT MY SKIN!!

*brain snaps*

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"Way to go, guys... you broke Tenma. I hope you're all happy."

One question-mark is sufficient.

Typing in all caps, or even only a few words, in all caps, is akin to yelling. Would you yell out a question at work?

Manners: "Excuse me, can I see that memo"
How you did it: "HEY HAND ME THAT MEMO!!!"

Just because it's the internet, it doesn't mean you have to sacrifice your own pride in how you speak and carry yourself.

I think I was starting to fall out of love with video games.

I think, even though so many wonderful titles were coming out, I was drifting... moving on.

I think City of Heroes has managed to incorporate some form of crack cocaine into the software, which is transmitted visually.

I think I had a life once... before City of Heroes.

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I think that forum whiners would complain regardless of the issue.

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I think that is the most intelligent post I've read all day!

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I think that I am going to get flamed for this post.

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I think you know this forum community very well!

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Surprisingly he has yet to get flamed.

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Yeah, I noticed that.

Perhaps because so many of you 'established' types have sung his praises...?

Flamers don't tend to engage their 'go' buttons unless they think everyone is with them. Lemming-mentality, really.

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I think that forum whiners would complain regardless of the issue.

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I think that is the most intelligent post I've read all day!

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I think that I am going to get flamed for this post.

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I think you know this forum community very well!

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Seriously, why do you still play or frequent these boards, do us all a favor and leave. You don't represent the majority of the player base, you arr bitter for whatever reason. The so called "show stopper" bugs have not affected me or my friends and we are casual players of all archetypes, level 40 - 20. You people are so melodramatic.

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Five stars!

HERE HERE!

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Mission objectives make no sound--in old-style cave missions or in orenbega, that can cause hours of searching time to find the last glowie

Touch of Fear buffs instead of debuffs--disasterous to use in a tight fight

That's just two of them.

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Don't ever practice prosecutorial law.

*Whispering*
"What do we have on this guy?"
"He killed 18 people, stole a car, and flashed a blind man."
-Judge
"WILL the prosecution please present their case."

"Yes your honor. It is our intent to show that THIS man is absolutely, 100% guilty, of public indecency."




I hope you get that reference. If not, I will present it this way; You don't build a good case. If someone says "What are the glaring problems with this issue?" and you present two problems, with the caveat of 'And that's just two'... it doesn't make a strong argument.

There are a few issues that need to be worked-out, but some of you people are acting as though the game is broken. In-game, the CoH community is one of the most mature, reasonable, and fun communities in any MMO I've ever played. On the boards, it's one of the whiniest, most spoiled-brattish ones I've ever seen.

Think of it this way. You designed a shirt, and had a bunch made to be given away for FREE in stores, to people who were already customers of these stores. The shirt was brilliant... just great... but every single one had a loose thread in the collar, and another on the left sleeve.

Still, they're free... and you're aware of the problem, and have promised to fix it soon. How would you like, then, to have dozens, if not HUNDREDS of people running up to you, basically saying;

"Dude, I know that you know that your shirts have loose threads, so I just wanted to say you suck, and you never paid attention to us, and you have ruined our lives/holidays/whatevers. I also know that you've promised to fix these problems right away, but you still suck, and did I mention that your shirts had loose threads... I'll never shop here again."

If you can't kill a -2 boss, then your character is not designed for soloing, or you've gimped your build beyond repair.

ATs like the Scrapper exist for casual players. If you take a controller, but want to solo... TOUGH... be smart enough to realize that some ATs will not be able to solo well... ever.

If you TRULY only want to play for 30 mins a night, and refuse to group, but still want to solo all your missions... get a scrapper, or even a tanker (it'll just take you longer). I had NO problems taking on +2 mobs last night. I killed a +2 boss, and while it certainly took a long time (and half my candy) it was well worth it to see the exp I got from the kill.

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I didn't build Kript for Nova. I found out how uber Nova is at about lvl 28, when I first saw it in a team.

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So you were ignorant of the power and were lucky to get a good one?

I had no idea Unstoppable could be run perma, nor did I even want to take the power when I first started my Tank.

Then I saw how effective it was.

Show me how you and I differ, and what justifies Unstoppable taking a massive hit while you can still blow things up willy-nilly every few minutes.

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Nova does not allow me to take on a mob of +5s, stand there for 10 minutes, while chatting amiably with SG mates, as I have seen invuln Scrappers and Tankers do in my very own SG.

THAT is the difference.

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THAT is a lie.

The power crashed every 2 minutes. That means you had to dance around and re-initiate any toggles, as well as taking some healing and endurance inspirations. That is not "standing around, chatting".

As well, since we're throwing around overblown stories, I've seen Nova used to completely destroy an entire group of +3 enemies in only a few seconds.

So let's say that your story is true. I get to stand around and let things +5 beat on me while gaining no XP, while, if my story is true, you get to run into a group (while a Tank holds the aggro off of you) and totally nuke them for massive XP gain.

I'm not saying Nova needs to be changed. This isn't a "nerf call". I will, however, bet that a well-designed Blaster levels far more quickly than a PermaUnstoppable Tank.

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First:

DO NOT ACCUSE ME OF LYING. What nerve... what RIGHT do you think you have to assume MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCES to be fallacy? GROW UP.

Moving on past that CHILDISHNESS:

I watched a lvl 43 invuln scrapper fighting lvl 47 clocks in a portal mission, while [censored] to our SG about the changes in Invuln. He would stand in the middle of anywhere between 6 - 10 +4 clocks, and type. Unstoppable would drop, and he'd live through the 5 seconds, no problem, while continuing to type out his complaints about the nerf.

I thought it highly ironic.

On the topic of Nova... all it takes is one miss, versus even cons, and you're dead. Blasters cannot take the hits... Nova is a gamble. What you have seen is a nova gamble that paid-off, which happens about 2/3 of the time. That 1/3 of the time, you are eating dirt.

Let me put this as simply as I possibly can. NO... OTHER... TANKER... COULD... PERFORM... LIKE... AN... INVULN...

The Devs concern themselves with a little thing called 'balance'. They saw that a SIGNIFICANT portion of tankers were invuln, and recognized that the invuln set was too uber.

I have never seen a DA/SR/or even a Regen scrapper stand up to the same level of damage that an Invuln could. I've seen Invuln tankers wade into mobs that fire/stone/ice tankers would step back from saying "Are you mad?!"

There was an imbalance... and invuln tankers/scrappers got hit because the imbalance was fixed. This is the Smoke Grenade b1tch-fest of post I2, all over again. Everyone who wasn't reasonable/mature enough to recognize that they had an extremely unfair power decided to whine, complain, threaten to leave, etc.

I hope all the people that are threatening to leave over this, do - in fact - exit this beloved game of mine. I will continue to happily play my invuln tanker, as well as my other characters.

They had almost two weeks to address issues they knew were unresolved on Test.

Since there are so many people asking "Why did we have to wait, since you changed nothing!!" I would *guess* that one of the things they DID during the christmas schedule was to fix these issues.

Just a guess... but an edumacated one.

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I didn't build Kript for Nova. I found out how uber Nova is at about lvl 28, when I first saw it in a team.

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So you were ignorant of the power and were lucky to get a good one?

I had no idea Unstoppable could be run perma, nor did I even want to take the power when I first started my Tank.

Then I saw how effective it was.

Show me how you and I differ, and what justifies Unstoppable taking a massive hit while you can still blow things up willy-nilly every few minutes.

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Nova does not allow me to take on a mob of +5s, stand there for 10 minutes, while chatting amiably with SG mates, as I have seen invuln Scrappers and Tankers do in my very own SG.

THAT is the difference.

To build upon my reply to Termight's assumption-laden post (I don't want to be an @ss, so don't make an @ss out of both of us... remember the old saying)... I have never made a character for ONE power.

I have an invuln/SS tanker, because I liked the prospect of not dying. This change will hit me, but I'm one of the few that recognize it was needed. I play an energy/dev blaster because I love the idea of devices... auto-turret, tripmine, caltrops... I get to make a blaster / trap-layer. I made a regen scrapper because I wanted ONE character that would never have endurance issues. So, in that sense, I guess I based that entire character around Quick Recovery and Stamina. Shame on me.

I have an earth/storm controller because the lockdowns, and pets seemed appealing to me.

In short, no I have never made a character because I've heard that "OMG this power, when on constantly, makes you a GOD". No... my reaction has never been to immediately run out and make the newest uber fotm character.

I play the character builds that I think are fun, for a variety of reasons (powersets, not single powers... backstory, theme, etc).

I didn't build Kript for Nova. I found out how uber Nova is at about lvl 28, when I first saw it in a team.

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Sorry you total misunderstood my comment. Also, I did not burn any respecs. I have not needed them. When I started this character perma-unstoppable EXISTED and was well known and commonly played. That was always the end goal of my build. That is how the game was when I bought it. I built my character to do that ability. Again my playstyle and a choice I had. I focused on attacks (being a scrapper) and not running all kinds of defenses. Was it hard in the beginning sure, but that was my choice and my playstyle. Now I have perma-unstoppable as a main stay of my defense and have spent most slots on attacks. I can't do that anymore and I have no respecs because I have not needed them. Now I have to see if someone will PL me through the lvl 44 respec today so I can keep playing. I have not done the respec because I did not need it.

Again I created this character based on the options at the time I bought it and found this class to best fit my playstyle. So you can quite with all your curse words and focus on the fact that my character was built to perfectly match my playstyle. The fact that you have to respec your character to make the DEVS happy is still absurd I think.

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You created a character, an entire build, based on ONE power... and you guys are wondering why you got hit with the nerf bat? Jesus... are you so blind, or purposely ignorant?

You lost your god button. No one else HAD a god button.

Hey, there's a field ahead, with a sign on it... what does that sign say? Let me get my glasses.

"PLAYING"

Oh... the playing field. I never saw that sign before... the ground was always too uneven... sorta obscured my view.

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Oh. Uh huh.

And I am sure that no Blaster ever decides to be a Blaster with, um, Nova in mind, right?

I have said it a million times, and I will say it again: People with little to no experience with a power have no busines muddying the waters with their ill-informed and erroneous OPINIONS.

You obviously have never played a Perma-Unstoppable *ANYTHING*, so why don't you just enjoy a nice hot cup of stuffasockinit ?

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lvl 37 Invuln/ss tanker; Ny Batteri, Victory server.

Sorry, can you pass that stuffasockinit over here please, or is that sock still on your foot... squarely in your mouth?

Sayer... 5 stars for you, my friend. You beat me to it.

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Sorry you total misunderstood my comment. Also, I did not burn any respecs. I have not needed them. When I started this character perma-unstoppable EXISTED and was well known and commonly played. That was always the end goal of my build. That is how the game was when I bought it. I built my character to do that ability. Again my playstyle and a choice I had. I focused on attacks (being a scrapper) and not running all kinds of defenses. Was it hard in the beginning sure, but that was my choice and my playstyle. Now I have perma-unstoppable as a main stay of my defense and have spent most slots on attacks. I can't do that anymore and I have no respecs because I have not needed them. Now I have to see if someone will PL me through the lvl 44 respec today so I can keep playing. I have not done the respec because I did not need it.

Again I created this character based on the options at the time I bought it and found this class to best fit my playstyle. So you can quite with all your curse words and focus on the fact that my character was built to perfectly match my playstyle. The fact that you have to respec your character to make the DEVS happy is still absurd I think.

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You created a character, an entire build, based on ONE power... and you guys are wondering why you got hit with the nerf bat? Jesus... are you so blind, or purposely ignorant?

You lost your god button. No one else HAD a god button.

Hey, there's a field ahead, with a sign on it... what does that sign say? Let me get my glasses.

"PLAYING"

Oh... the playing field. I never saw that sign before... the ground was always too uneven... sorta obscured my view.

I always thought the descriptive "Land right on the water" was funny. What the hell is it, a big shelf? An overhanging cliff? Seriously...

Waterside, lakeside, oceanfront properties... those make sense. Land on the water... umm... would it not fill the water were there enough of it, or possibly just become sumberged...

Maybe I'm overanalyzing this.

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I think it would be hilarious if it turned out that I4 contained no PvP.

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I think it'd be great for I4 to contain a single new chest decal, and nothing else. It could be called: "Whine about this"

I can't imagine coming into work, 40 to 50 hours a week, to do something I love and be able to express myself artistically, only to have thousands of people complain, scream, whine, threaten me, etc.

I for one LOVE the devs! GO DEVS! You guys rock!

Thank you, Cryptic, for being the most dedicated development team I've seen since 'Working Designs'.

Thank you NCSoft for publishing such a fantastic, genre-defining game!

I'm amazed no trolls have come in to complain that the issues are being taken out of the issue-specific forums/threads.

Wait... maybe that statement itself is somewhat trollish?!

ANYHOO... Statesman; have you considered having a locked thread, wherein you could post a daily thought? This way, people can come in, read what you're currently working on, currently kicking around, or testing, or thinking of testing... and your posts won't be buried by mountains of fanboy (WE <3 YOU STATESMAN!!!!one) gushing replies.

Seriously, whenever you post, the thread is guaranteed to get 50 replies in the next 30 minutes, from people just wanting to 'personally thank you'. That's fine, and nice... and I'm not complaining that people are showing support... but the issue gets a wee bit sidetracked this way, don't you think?

You're still going to actively post in other forums/threads/etc... so why not have this as a quick little; "Here's a note... if you want to discuss <this> change, go post your thoughts in the appropos forum... I'm just posting this thought for now" deal?

I don't think this would be necessary if all people replying to your posts kept on topic... but that never happens... so....

(that's right.... dot, dot, dot...)

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"For the most part, everyone will be able to solo in some situations. Some builds and ATs more than others. But there are some mobs that can be a challenge - bosses, elite bosses, AV's and monsters - where you'll probably want help. Or not."


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EXACTLY. Bosses weren't meant to be solo-able UNLESS a particular player used Inspirations & strategy. Hence, the Help text & tutorial indicate that a player "probably" should get other friends to take out a boss.

Some builds are clearly better than others at taking out bosses.

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A second reply to it. As you say, some builds are clearly better than others at taking out bosses.

If you set the game so those builds that are the best at taking out bosses, you making it so that any other build cannot defeat a boss. So you MUST be uber to play the game.

In the interviews you were proud that City of Heroes was attracting more casual players. What happened to that pride, because all the changes made since Issue 1 have been to push those casual players away?

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Yeah... because making the 'find' window so easy and convenient to use, allowing you to find someone near your level, anywhere on the server... made casual grouping so hard.

Also, introducing global chat... and adding low-level content, storys, unique missions, trials, and a lowbie zone... those pushed new and casual players right out the door.

Oh, let's not forget about all the monthly charge increases, and the cost of these expansions... the price these guys make us pay... wow... I almost quit.

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Awwww.... poor widdle muffin. Did the Howwows Huwt You?

Get a grip. The mission placement should be a challenge. Do you just want every contact to hand you a door mission, that happens to be a block away, that happens to have REALLY easy foes to kill, which gives you enough exp to get 10 levels per mission?

People will complain about the stupidest things. Sure, I've had alts that have died in the Hollows... but my stupidity is to blame. I decide to shortcut through the red zone, and get my [censored] handed to me... lesson learned.

Any time I've had a difficult-to-reach mission, I've merely taken my time, and taken safe routes... and I've never had a problem that way.

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Wow...how insensitive of you, Kript. This man has a resonable grief and you make fun of him.

Oh yeah....and about this "stupid complaint"....here's a quote about it from Statesman himself:

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We will be revamping some of this stuff so crazy sitations like being put in an area that's WAAAAAYYYY too tough doesn't happen.

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So in fact, this WAS a bug and is being addressed.

Actually, what strikes me as truly funny is your post is AFTER Statesman's post IN THIS VERY THREAD!

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Some people find strange things funny.

And I can be a real ***** sometimes. I'm used-to it.

Frankly, bug or not, it's not a big deal. If the whole back wall were a hazard zone... then yeah... that'd be a pain. However, you can quite easily get around in hollows, regardless of level. It's called 'playing carefully'.