Silver Gale

I understand what you're asking for but I also think your standards are... higher than this game can provide?

C'mon, you're saying that another villain group drawing your character's attention to something valuable by stealing it makes your character's subsequent stealing the thing from them be "reactive" villainy? You're saying that if Wade is specifically trying to kill your villain character and also coincidentally planing on doing something bad for the whole world, then beating him is your character being conned into "doing the right thing"?

Sure, villainside and co-op content both have their problems, but I don't think you'd be satisfied until the writers went above and beyond to cater to you, specifically.

They're not ignoring it! They're still giving PvP just as much thought as they always have been.

Actually both those claims are about the speaker's state of mind. If I hold a belief that say, Superman is a fictional character who has no power to act on the real world, I could say either "I believe Superman does not exist" or "I do not believe Superman exists" and be correct.

Let's see. They had existing PvE content in pre-beta that testers could interact with. They were actively trying to figure out what was wrong with it and how to make it work. They were making changes trying to fix what they percieved to be the biggest problems. (The well-documented whole-system overhaul that introduced Archetypes and such.)

Did they have any existing PvP content that testers could interact with? Were they actively trying to figure out how to make it work, and were they making changes to fix the problems they could see? There's not a lot of evidence (as Arcanaville noted, mostly in the fact that they were already pressed for time working on the PvE stuff) but what little there is points to the fact that no, they did not.

So from this we can in fact conclude that "The amount of 'planning' that went into 'planning on including PvP' was considerably smaller than the amount of 'planning' that went into 'planning on including PvE'."

Now, the original debate was on whether "they only bolted on PvP in response to every other MMO having it" or "they had been planning on including PvP all along". It would seem in this case, the truth is somewhere in the middle - "they had given some thought to including PvP in the game all along - but not very much thought."

Which, really, is a good summary of how PvP has been treated throughout the course of this game.

I think if there was a system where every new villain story would be approved by you before being made, you would no longer be paying Paragon, they would be paying you. Because you would be working for them.

An upcoming MMO from another developer under NCSoft yoinked this feature wholesale (including the whole team SSK'ing to team leader, and characters auto-exemping down in lower level zones). Absolutely nobody is complaining.

Okay:

Nope, looks solid to me. It's all correct information, proper assumptions and logical reasoning as far as I can see. Perhaps you'd care to point out which specific points you disagree with, instead of countering everything with a blanket "prove it" and acting like you won the discussion.

They're not using SQL, they are using a custom-made database system created by the original devteam.

Prove it.

Either that, or the item I want is simply not available. I have never had to deal with merchants putting elaborate systems between me and the items I want.

See, here's the thing. You go to the midway to play games. You don't go there with the express purpose of getting a stuffed elephant. The stuffed elephant is nice to get, but just a little bonus extra.

Since the midway wants yo to be entratained, they don't put blocks between you and the things you want to be entertained by. You can play the games you want, the ones you're good at, or the ones you enjoy. You don't give them money to be randomly directed to the dart-tossing or the basketball dunking or or the bouncy castle.

CoH makes a big deal out of its costume creation, and I've always assumed that was supposed to be a major draw. I give them money, they let me create heroes, and run around with those heroes and fight crime. I give them more money and they give me additional clothing and powersets to use in creating my heroes.

Now they want me to give them money for... the fun of turning over several mystery cards, apparently. And if I get a costume piece that I'd really like on my hero, then that's a nice bonus, but not really what I'm there for. And if I would like to avoid paying for the amusing little cards, then I will have to forget about getting that new stuff for my hero. Or I can swallow my pride and pour my money into the card-turning-over minigame, and hope the Sunken Cost Fallacy doesn't kick in. Either way, it leaves a sour taste.

I don't like this. There is a new game on top of my old game, it is treated as more important than the old game, and it is causing me to make unpleasant choices that I have never had to make before.

If someone learns of the Elemental Order costume set first (say, by seeing one of the pieces on another character's costume), the fact that there isn't a single deterministic way of getting that particular piece, such as exist for every other costume piece in the game, is a surprise.

I just wanted to make it clear that I don't believe the packs are gambling, and my opposition to them has nothing to do with whether or not they are. If you want just one thing, it *feels* like you need to gamble.

Somehow I have been extremely lucky. I've never gone grocery shopping and found one of the items on my shopping list was only available if I bought the "random five products from the entire store" special.

So the shop would do well to also sell the items independently, maybe at a higher price, right? Not everyone wants "something cool for $1". Some people just want a certain thing at a known price.

"Hi mr Shopkeeper, how much for the doodad in the window?"

"That is one of many Fun Prizes™ you can win in our shop's new Happy Funtime Fund Raising Game™! Tickets are just $1, every ticket is a winner!"

"So I have to gamble to get the thing I want?"

"Absolutely not, sir. Every ticket in the Happy Funtime Fund Raising Game™ gives you one of hundreds of Fun Prizes™ of a $1 value or more. It is most definitely not gambling in any legal definition of the term."

"I just want the one thing. I don't want any of your other items."

"There is no limit on individual participation in the Happy Funtime Fund Raising Game™! If you don't enjoy your Fun Prize™ you can feel free to try again!"

"So basically I can keep giving you money and wind up with large amounts of junk I don't want, and possibly not even get the one thing I do want, or I can just give up on getting the thing I want?"

"We hope you enjoy our Happy Funtime Fund Raising Game™! We look forward to bringing you many more shopping-enhancing experiences in the future!"

"Damnit, you're just trying to get me to pay more money than I intended, one dollar at a time!"

"Is there anything else I can do for you today?"

"I don't even want the stupid thing anymore. I'm leaving."

"Thank you for visitng us, sir! Have a Lovely Day™!"

Yeah, it's not gambling. It's still annoying.

Being a straight male is the default human state now? <.<

Here's one to keep you up at night: are the people responding in this thread as "men" actually men, or women who are trying a little *too* hard to blend in and avoid being called attention seekers?

Suspension of disbelief is a very personal thing. If you enjoy the story for what it is, you have successfully suspended your disbelief. If the story demands more disbelief than you're willing to grant it, then the story has failed to work for you.

Telling someone to "suspend their disbelief" is like telling them to "like romcoms more".

An improbable plot device is not a deus ex machina. Using the wrong tense of a verb is a grammar error, not a spelling error. Both are wrong, but they are not the same error.

A Deus Ex Machina is an ending where *all* the characters and actions so far are rendered meaningless, not just some or even most of them. If the ending of WWD5 would have been the same even if Wade, Statesman *and* the player character had all decided to just stay home, then it would be a Deus Ex Machina.

Every story will have moments where something "just has to happen". The main characters in a romantic comedy have to run into each other somehow. The villain has to be a credible threat, and needs to have access to something that could well defeat the heroes.

Comics and games are additionally hampered because they have to build stories on top of what came before. If you were writing a book that was entirely about a clever, ruthless small-time crook going after a seemingly invulnerable hero, you could take your time building the little clues into every mention of the hero's powers, so that when the crook springs the trap the readers would go "aha... so when they said this and this, that *also* could mean *this*! and that makes it possible to do this! *Clever*."

But in game Statesman was never written with an eye towards having him eventually killed off by Wade, so the writers have to fudge a little. They do try to play it fair by introducting some of the elements - Wade's interest in Cimerora, his owning of a power-draining obelisk, his taking of Alex Cole's blood before killing her - in consecutive parts of the arc. But ultimately, as in many comic books that decide to kill off the main character, whatever kills Statesman *has* to come out of nowhere, because no previous writer had laid any groundwork for it.

So, yes. There are plot devices in this plot that come out of nowhere. Not the same as a deus ex machina, but something writers should avoid if possible.

While people in this thread have whine about "suspension of disbelief" being used as a shield for bad writing, in the end it's up to personal preference. If you enjoy seeing the leads of a romcom interact, you'll forgive the improbable accident that pushed them together in the first place. If you dislike them both, then you'll just see the clichees and the misunderstandings that only happen so the movie can run the alotted time.

Either the story grabs you enough to forgive the "coincidences" it needs to work, or it doesn't.

First of all, it's not French, it's Latin. The concept comes from Greek theatre, where a playwright would set up characters, a situation and a conflict, and then resolve the conflict by having a god show up at the last minute and fix everything. On stage, this would be done by using a crane to show the deity descending from Olympus - a god from a machine.

Deus Ex Machina is not just anything that "enables events to happen in a particular way". It is a specific sort of *ending* where the main conflict is resolved using an element that comes completely out of nowhere and invalidates everything else that's happened. If all the characters could have just gone home to watch TV after the first act and it would not change the ending in the least, you have a Deus Ex Machina.

You have to remember that while the arcs are self-contained and each one does try to set up and resolve a plot, they are all part of a story, and the story is *about* Darrin Wade and his campaign against the Freedom Phalanx. Deus Ex Machina occurs at the *end* of a story. WWD5 is the middle of it, specifically the part where the antagonist is supposed to score a significant victory and things look bleak for our heroes. You can argue about how well it was pulled off, but you can't call it a Deus Ex Machina or the term becomes completely meaningless.

If at the very end of WWD7, a character who was not seen or mentionned before suddenly shows up and stops Wade once and for all, *that* is a Deus Ex Machina. If Wade suddenly keels over from a previously-unmentionned shellfish allergy, that is a Deus Ex Machina. Darrin Wade having a previously-unmentionned Cimeroran ritual that can bind Statesman in WWD5 is not a Deus Ex Machina, especially with many references to Cimerora and Sister Arilia scattered throughout WWD2-4.

You admit to being a guy and you *want* women to shower you with attention? Clearly you are a mindless attention-seeker and have nothing interesting to contribute to the topic. You're probably unattractive in RL and desperately try to make up for it by getting attention from easily impressed 13-year-old females online. Men like you completely ruin my game experience.

Yeah, this sort of thing is often an excuse for someone to average out the answers and point out the differences between those and the average from male gamers (or from the playerbase as a whole) and use them to support the thesis that women are strange creatures from some other universe who will forever remain a mystery to man.

My anwers also largely apply to the group I play with, which is almost entirely made up of guys (including my husband).

What side do you pick more than others? Heroside is kind of the "default". Any character who is not specifically an evil git/a refugee from a totalitatrian regime will be heroside.
What play style do you prefer? Support. I like to sit in the back and tip the odds further and further in our favor. Also Scrapper/Brute, for when I'm tired of always surveying the battlefield tactically and want to just run in and bash stuff.
What power set(s) do you favor? Debuffs, especially slows! I love my Stormie main and I'm having great fun with my time Manipulation.
What zones do you like the most? Hm... no particular preference. They're all kind of cool in their own way. I do find the Hollows awe-inspiring.
Do you usually play as a male or female character? Female. I have a few male characters (including one I made specifically to get some use out of the male-only set in the Magic pack) but I can't seem to find a concept that I'll really stick with.
Role Playing? Yes, a lot, all the time. It's the main attraction of this game for me.
Servers? Virtue, with some alts on Infinity and a few lowbies here and there made to try out powersets.

No it doesn't. You can't *give away* your IP rights. It's simply not an option. The EULA just says you "give them rights to the extent the law allows", and the law doesn't allow handing over rights without a specific signed agreement.

In practice, they have a non-exclusive license to use anything you submit (without which they would not be legally allowed to say, send the image of your character and the text you type in to other people's computers).