SlackTech

Basically, players who play villainside pay the same monthly cost (and. like me, spend money on paragon points) and have been told by the playerbase on these forums, more than once, 'just accept what you're given or you know where the door is'.

I accept, from a cost/benefit perspective, the studio gets the most benefit from developing either hero or co-op content (which is inevitably 'save the world', as it's conceivable that a lot of hero players would be crying 'dooooooooooommmmmmmmmmm' if they did more than 'arrest' a bunch of pixels). However, until they shutdown villain zones completely, they've said they will write 'villain' content on parity with heroside content (the amount of content, anyway). I am pleased that paragon studio do this and don't take the easy way out, which would be to eliminate villain content completely (yes, there would be an outcry - I would be one of those complaining - but they wouldn't lose a large percentage of players, I believe, particularly now that all a/t are available to all).

I've come to believe that a lot of the people posting on these forums wouldn't give a toss if City of Villains was shutdown tomorrow, as it doesn't impact on their game experience (or, like GG, they object to villain content for philosophical and/or other reasons). At the end of the day, I agree with others in this thread that the majority of 'villainous' content really isn't villainous (as in The Joker in Dark Knight - I consider that villainous behaviour), but I do believe that, apart from the latest episode, the SSA was well-written and 'villainous' and much darker than legacy villain content (some of the alignment missions are also very dark). This makes me believe that, even if it's just out of obligation, paragon studios doesn't want to shutdown villainside.

Sorry about the tangent in the above paras... I acknowledge it was rambling and may not be directly linked with the OP's intent.

If it's a competition, I can't as I'm half-way round the globe. And, well, I can't anyway because I have no heroes except my first 50, and his bio is so incredibly bad, and the concept so bland that I wouldn't put him up anyway. My villains, however, have concepts and backgrounds which I would be willing to put forward.... but they're not heroes, so they're not eligible...

Oh, just to clarify, I get that Wade's plans have something to do with the Rularuu and Cimerora (only due to the reference to Rom and Imp). I'm guessing this will tie into the Well (grab for power and all that), but the motivations for this killing spree doesn't make a lot of sense to me at present (as I said, I'm probably missing the obvious).

Now that I think about it, though, Stefan's absence could actually be logical. I'm getting the impression that Wade wants to destroy the world - Recluse doesn't want to destroy it, he wants to re-make it in the fashion of his choosing, but wholesale destruction is probably not his intent (unless something or someone clashes with his plans, of course).

He did, however, kill to take over the Rogue Isles, so it's possible he has something do with Statesman's defeat 'behind the scenes'. Or it could just be a continuation of the diminishing of the City of Villains brand (and for those that who just put this down to bitterness on my part, when was the last time a ViDoc was made about Villain content e.g. Recluse's right-hand men and woman. And yes, I do understand and appreciate that this is 'City of Heroes Freedom' now and the devs are still making villain-only content, so it could be said that I should just be happy and stop complaining)

I would have cast Recluse as having some part in the scheme (maybe not with the intention of killing Marcus, but at least have some part in it). Maybe it will be revealed in the coming episodes, but I would think Wade has far less reason to kill Marcus than Stefan (I confess that although I tried to read everything in each episode, I'm not a fan of the writing, so I probably missed something incredibly crucial).

I also wonder if i25 will be 'Return of Statesman!' drawing inspiration from a similar signature character of a certain comic book company?

1. I don't care about this revelation in the least, as I play villain-side. The most I see him is in LRSF, so 'killing' him isn't new (or that big a deal). His absence won't be felt much in the Rogue Isles (except by Stefan, who will wear his most formal spider arms to the funeral).
2. A certain ex-senior dev must be looking at this and wondering 'They took THIS long to kill my character?' (I realise it's not 'his' character, but it may as well have been with his sense of ownership while involved in the MMO)

I've just had a rather interesting experience.

Bought a time card, applied it and, falsely, expected to get my reward tokens shortly thereafter (I have bought point bundles and got the appropriate amount of tokens shortly after). I lodged a ticket and received an email which apparently was 'an example' but appeared literal.

I challenged this, and he/she let me know they weren't being literal and sent me to the paragonwiki page which does not talk about the granting of tokens, just about the reward system and how it works out when converting from the old system.

This thread pointed out that I was wrong (thanks, Z!!), and I'm fine with being wrong (I've let the CS person know I was wrong, and provided them a link to this thread). Why are CS staff referring customers to paragonwiki and not official forum posts that educate the customer in the first post (by a Paragon Studios staff member, no less)??

I'm sure it's been pointed out before, but one power on my Street Justice/DA Scrapper actually mentions a/t-specific IOs as an allowable set. This is probably a coding stuff-up, and I don't think it's an indication of these sets coming out 'tomorrow'.

Back on subject, I don't mind if the full selection of IOs can be bought on the Paragon Market. I figure if people can afford it using real money, great. The only risk I preceive is if they can be bought on PM using points and then traded on WW/BM etc, it might further skew the consignment house. I think IOs bought through Paragon Points should be account bound to avoid this.

At the risk of getting hate from my fellow Oceanics, I wouldn't cry if that forum was merged, or made into a sub-forum somewhere else. Then again, I don't use it much, so I'm probably not the best to speak on the subject.

I do know there is the 'Australia' channel in-game and probably several others (which largely don't help if you're not playing on Justice) so these could be used to add to SGs etc., but doesn't help for out-of-game event organising. This role could be done in another forum, or by a sticky, or some other method.

The only time I've used the 'Oceanics' forum lately was to vent my frustration regarding the massive impact the long maintenances are having on Oceanic players, but predictably there has been no comment from PS/NCsoft on this (I didn't expect there would be). In terms of game time, I usually organise this in-game anyway, as I play mainly on Freedom which doesn't gel with the majority of Australian/NZ players preferences.

And before I get flamed beyond belief, I'm not targeting Defenders with my last post - I have seen Corruptors and MMs played as h3al0rs more than a few times, particularly since GR launched.

My point was not specifically aimed at 'healing' sets (even though these sets often have more buffs/debuffs than heals anyway), but that powersets can play very differently on different a/t (and is also highly dependant on the gumby behind the keyboard).

Add me to the 'please don't change the a/t forums unless you can then add sub-forums' (which, realistically, has no benefit over the existing structure).

I understand the need for culling, but please, please acknowledge that the a/t are, on the whole, very different from each other. I don't play my MMs as 'support' and I certainly am incredibly offensive on my trollers (all two of them) and Dominators. My Brutes may be 'melee', but apart from my Stoner they're not 'Tanks'.

Since we potentially have an influx of new players, who already will be confronted by a 'categorised' a/t interface when they load into the character creator (I have kept silent on how much I dislike this), changing the forums will add to the 'all these are support characters - they must be h3al0rs!' mentality and this will lead to an ignorance of all the other things the a/t can do.

As usual, thanks to every single person involved in this project (and associated projects, as I use most of the Titan Network).

For something that is donation-optional, Mids truly is a marvellous product that has become almost mandatory for this 'City' player. Thanks again, and keep up the good work!!

As noted in another thread, I've posted a 'frustration' post as this week has hit 'oceanics' (Aus/NZ and associated time zones) hard. Yesterday, it was 6:30pm for 12 hours and tonight it's 8:30pm for 8 hours (iirc). When I work 9-5 and commute home and cook dinner and acknowledge my spouse, this effectively nullifies my ability to play the game for all but two hours in two days.

I'm not after a hand-out, or compensation of any sort (I know I'm not going to get it, so why stress about it?), but my feelings of frustration are valid to me, and my US gaming buddy who gets up early in the morning to team with me (and sometimes others). I don't need others to validate my feelings, and I don't expect the devs to acknowledge the impact on me (and perhaps other in my time zone), as they have to do the 'best for all', which means we get shafted. I accept this reality, but it doesn't make my frustration any less valid or intense (to me).

Quite frankly, everyone is welcome to ignore this, as it is simply frustration being vented, but it will make me feel better. Also, I realise we are extremely small fish in an ocean.

All that being said, I'm extremely frustrated that the server down times have hit us so hard. I don't know about the rest of the 'oceanics' playing, but with work and other commitments, the extraordinary amount of maintenance this week has meant I've barely been able to play the game. To add insult to injury, I have an open 'Reward Token not being awarded' ticket which NCsoft/Paragon seems to be stalling on, which probably increases my annoyance levels more than it should.

I don't expect extra paid time. I don't expect perks, but I would like the far greater impact on 'oceanics' acknowledged by the devs. I know this won't happen publicly (hell, if I were the Customer Relations Manager of the company, I'd be drilling my staff not to acknowledge anything but the official announcement and 'it's back' posts so that fuel wouldn't be added to the fire).

Add me to the list that really enjoyed the writing, and would like to see more of this quality of writing both in and out of the game.

(I should note that I do enjoy the most recent writing, e.g. Mort Kal's SF, so I'm not meaning to criticise that)

I've been thinking about this thread since I posted in it yesterday and two things crossed my mind;

• To the OP - was your intent of this thread to generate constructive criticism of something you see as 'broken' (linked to the 'fix' part of the title)?
• If the above is true, is your assessment that redside is 'broken' based primarily on the fact it has a lower player population (and is likely to lose more with i21/Freedom)?

If so, as this thread is demonstrating, the case for 'fixing' redside is an extremely subjective and the ensuing debate seems to follow a similar pattern;

• OP is submitted
• Discussion commences in a relatively civil manner
• Judgements, opinions and beliefs are introduced/recycled as 'fact' by both sides (e.g. GG in the blue corner and myself in the red corner)
• Personal attacks may start after this
• Thread devolves into chaos

The thing is, honestly, I will still play redside (and co-op) next time I get a chance to play. And I won't be playing blue the next time, or the time after that, or the time after that, no matter how many emoticons GG uses or how much debate (civil or otherwise, objective or otherwise, intelligent or otherwise) ensues.

I've come to realise I don't need to 'defend' redside content, and I will fight my urge to react from this point on, as I don't feel this debate will ever come to a resolution, as there is no resolution when people are involved.

And that's what this boils down to at it's core - people and their preferences, formed from a lifetime of experiences, which has been influenced by their value and belief systems and their frame of reference. it's not my role to try to change this, and I doubt I could.

Congratulations, PS, for putting a massive amount of effort into giving the game and the studio a strong event presence and the player community some very cool things to see and do!

Now, if only I didn't live the other side of the globe...