Smersh
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Posts
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Joined
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Quote:There's hot, and then there's stupidly hot.Originally Posted by BrandX
Seeing this post and others, it really seems to be akin to those million dollar lawsuits against bigname companies.
Were the jury awards the plantiff because the defendant is a billion dollar company, nevermind the fact that the plantiff should of known the coffee was hot.
This seems to be the same thing. Side with Kirby because Marvel's a big company with some possible "I hate what they've done to my comics" mixed in.
I love it when people try to trot out that chestnut. -
Quote:Are you an artist?Originally Posted by mousedroid
Since when does working without a contract = getting shafted? Other than a few schoolteachers, no one I know works under contract, including me.
My wife has a photography business as a side project; the first thing she did was work up the contracts, which include details like who owns the rights to the pictures she takes when doing a gig. -
Quote:What Kirby did still has value, then. If that thing which has value was stolen from him during his lifetime and it still has value, who should get that value?Originally Posted by Unknown_User
I disagree. I wasn't even thinking that when I felt that Kirby's heirs should get jack and squat in regards to royalties or revenue for his work done at Marvel. I feel that the Kirby's heirs deserve nothing because they did NOTHING, no contribution, no work, zip, zero. All the heirs want is to get something for nothing, and that's why I celebrate this court verdict.
Obviously, the company that stole it from him. -
Quote:Because they would have stood to get residuals and licensing fees for things like the new Thor movie, had not Stan Lee managed to legally screw over Kirby. Those residuals would still be paid if the rights still belonged to Kirby's estate, just like Stephen King's estate would still be paid if they made a Dark Tower movie after he passed away.Originally Posted by Techbot Alpha
Which is his, and entirely in his remit to leave to them.
The characters may have been made by Kirby, but as WORK for Marvel. His heirs have done diddly squat. Why do they deserve anything again?
The properties that Kirby created still have value and still make money. Copyright continues on after the death of the author, and their estate can still collect money even though the people receiving said monies did not do any work.
Sadly, I don't think the Kirby estate has a legal leg to stand on, but they have as much right (ethically) to profit by Kirby's work as Marvel/Disney do. Especially since Disney's driven so hard for the extension of copyright, Kirby's heirs would still have the rights to the characters and worlds he created for another 60 years or something like that.
Elvis' estate can still collect money, though his heirs didn't do any of the singing or acting. Why should Kirby's estate be different? (Answer: because Stan Lee successfully and legally stole the fruits of his labors.)
So my statement stands: Any of you who are saying that the Kirby heirs deserve nothing because they did nothing are arguing that copyright should expire the moment of the artist's death. And I disagree with that statement. -
Quote:But Stephen King's children can expect to inherit from his estate because he is a successful author and creator.Originally Posted by Arnabas
While I get what you're saying, I'll toss it out there that when my dad passes away, I don't expect to receive his pension....
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Illusion/Thermal - Plato's Cave.
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Quote:Because books and works of art immediately lose all value the instant their creator dies, amirite?Originally Posted by BrandX
From a moral standpoint, I'd say Kirby is dead, and his family who didn't create anything deserve nothing.
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Quote:Sadly, I saw another Transformers movie.Originally Posted by VoodooCompany
For whatever reason, while reading the first part, I envisioned another Indiana Jones movie.
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Quote:Ridley Scott is supposedly set to direct that.Originally Posted by Arnabas
Ok.
Um...
Whaaaat?
No, I think next up is Candyland.
Wonder if anyone will be doing a 5-hour movie of Monopoly?
And, no, I'm not making that up.
Edit to add: http://www.slashfilm.com/worst-idea-...ting-monopoly/ -
Quote:You very clearly have no clue what you are talking about.Originally Posted by Lucky666
Wowzer that's a lot of design review. Pardon my ignorance but, Is design review what it sounds like it is? Just reviewing the design of the set shouldn't the design of the set kinda be their from day one? Color my confused but that just sounds no better then typical government bureaucracy from like say Futurama where nothing gets done unless you got someone like Hermys on your side. It just seems like way to much design review lol.
If it really cost Paragon studies that much money and time to design a set that all I gotta say is cudos my hat is off from them and obviously their Korean overlords are too. With the amount of content they have pumped out since GR released and now freedom **** I wonder where they get the time or maybe they had a new staff influx. Just as I type this It made a light bulb go off in my head all those job openings maybe they where for the Freedom launch and NCsoft has some real good feeling about this, well all I gotta say is them and I both. -
I will assume that the event is in Pocket D, but you might want to mention that in the announcement.
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In my opinion, the two best to roll with are Cardiac and Musculature. The decision process goes something like this:
"Is my endurance totally under control and I never ever need to pop a blue? If no, Cardiac. If yes, Musculature." -
Quote:I stand by my earlier statement. If you try to buy every single little thing, you will go broke. It's not the way to F2P on a budget.Originally Posted by Electric-Knight
Smersh, it's not that simple.
I get how it works. I really do. That's not the issue.
Everyone who is fine with it is just saying it's all optional.
That's great. For those who are okay with either paying, taking their time or not having.
Should we assume that the majority of a video game's target audience is reasonable and patient?
Of course, you can't base things entirely around the height of insanity... I'm not saying that either.
However, the fact remains that having so many things to buy with costs being a certain amount over what they're willing/capable of... Can very easily turn people away form the game entirely.
The whole waiting and saving up thing may turn out to be nearly impossible, depending on the rate at which new things are added and the amount of new things that are available. Yes, it'll give you a discount, but if only two things chew up several months of points, and weekly items are added and bigger features are added 3-4 times a month... that method won't catch up (of course, I also fully agree that 3-4 boosters' expense could/should be factored in and spent -if wanted).
The big problem is that we don't know how things are going to go. There's no release schedule, so we can't see if the launch is abnormal or if things will consistently be like that. We simply do not know that (right now, I'm starting to think of it like an expansion and that things will normalize afterward, but that may not be the case at all).
One very easy comparison is that CoH is a country club.
People pay their fee and get use of the facilities.
The place adds in a whole load of new swank that have additional fees and people can choose to buy them and use them, wait and accrue membership points to earn them slowly or just stick with the membership plan and be okay with what they've got.
Some people are not going to be okay with hanging around, using their default gear alongside a bunch of other members with their glowing golf clubs and super carts and spicy wings (not on the main menu), etc.
And they're going to leave.
The question becomes... do you want those current members to be a part of the club or are they expendable for what the club will be afterward.
And I am absolutely not saying that any decision is wrong for Paragon Studios to go with. It's their choice!
I'm also not saying that I'm one of the people that will leave.
I have no idea how things are going to go nor how I'll feel about them until they happen.
I am, however, concerned about the effects this have and have not scenario may have on this game and this community.
We are not all equal in financial stations nor in patience! So, increasing the amount of awesome at the rate that some are willing to spend for can very easily push other people away.
Anyone who goes on a binge and decides that was a bad idea and leaves the game forever? Meh. Don't let the door hit you on the way out, thank you for your business. You're talking about a vanishingly small percentage of players that fit that profile. And that vanishingly small percentage would churn rapidly, anyway.
And if you're talking about player envy, well... we have that already. My wife gets slightly upset sometimes that I have more veteran's rewards than she does. I've got the CoV special edition and the CoH DVD edition in-game goodies, which are not generally available anymore.
And, of course, if you're worried about the demographic that has more envy/greed/desire to 'keep up' than money, well... frankly, that's not a terribly valuable demographic to Paragon Studios.
Your country club analogy needs a little work. The country club has changed to a semi-open club. Anyone can come and play a round without any green fees, and they have sets of loaner clubs for anyone who's interested. They also have the pro shop where you can get higher-quality drivers. They also have a nice restaurant where people who have chosen to continue paying their membership get their meals on the house, and they also get a discount at the pro shop. Of course the people who are playing for free don't get the super-awesome golf clubs, because they haven't shelled out for them. But they can buy the clubs if they want, and they can eat at the restaurant if they're willing to pay for it. And, yes, the loaner clubs available to those who are paying their membership are nicer than the clubs loaned out to the people who aren't paying anything, but the people who aren't paying memberships can pay a la carte for their golf cart pass, if that's what's most important to them.
The people who feel that they deserve the spicy wings without paying for them, or that drive themselves out of the game because they spend way too much on clubs and spicy wings? Oh, well. Most people will be able to play golf and keep themselves on their entertainment budget, and might skip the spicy wings one day so they can go to the movies.
Rambling analogy is rambling, but I feel it's accurate. -
I'm hoping old friends with lapsed accounts will pop up on my global list. When they do, I'd like to be able to play with them.
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Pretty much any tank will tank an AV. Willpower does have a lower strength taunt aura, but you should be able to keep an AV on you as long as you have Taunt.
I've soloed AVs with my Inv/Fire tank (with Cardiac Alpha, but not using other incarnate abilities). Other tanks might have an easier time of it. -
Quote:...what page are you looking at?Originally Posted by Antigonus
Not that I mind personally, but there is some things toward the bottom of that page that are most definately NSFW (i.e. boobies). Might want to mention that.
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Quote:There are basically three options.Originally Posted by Electric-Knight
What concerns me is the possibility of pricing out current and potential players. That is the only reason I bothered offering my opinion as to whether I thought the current beta prices were right/low/high.
a) you continue to subscribe, and use your bonus points to buy a powerset at some point.
b) You downgrade from VIP to Premium, which frees up $15 a month. You occasionally spend $10 for something you want - like a powerset.
c) You go premium and stop spending money on the game altogether, with the knowledge that there are some things you won't get.
The only people who are going to get 'priced out' are the people who have to have every single thing as soon as it is available. The completionist who must have everything as soon as it is available might get stung.
For everyone else, I think things will work out. I'm going to be sticking VIP for the time being. If I have three months of points saved up to start, and the powerset prices don't change from what's been quoted from ComicCon, I will have enough points to buy one of the two new premium sets. I'll have to pick and choose. I'll probably pick Street Justice, as I tend to like playing melee more than ranged characters. A month later, I'll get more points, and be able to get Beam Gun if I want it. At this point I've spent nothing above my subscription.
Six months later, Titanic Weapons come out. I've let my account lapse to Premium; I'm not spending subscription fees. I want the powerset, so I buy $10 worth of points. I've not spent $75 in sub fees, so I feel I can justify a little splurge.
Six months after that, they come out with an awesome new controller set that I want to play, but I've decided not to spend any more money on the game ever again. I just get to live without it, and be happy with the 8 controller sets that are already available to me. -
Quote:Demand curves still apply.Originally Posted by Kinrad
I am of the opinion that $10 is a bit too high, and that $5 is a bit too cheap.
Interestingly enough the $7.50 price mentioned by the OP is about what I think a new power set should cost.
I know I'm getting points that I can use to get them free, and I am not upset about having to pay (real money or points) for new power sets. I do however feel that the current price is a bit high.
That is all, thank you for your time.
Presumably, Paragon Studios has done some market research, and they think they can sell X number of units at $10.
Let's call X 1000, for the sake of convenience. They like that number, because the set cost them less than $10,000 to develop, so they'll see some profit from it.
Could they move more units if the price was lower? Yes. But if lowering the price to $8 only increases the number of units sold by 10%, that's a losing proposition for them. 1000 units at $10 brings in $10,000; 1100 units at $8 brings in $8800. (If they believed that dropping the price point to $8 would double their sales, we would absolutely see $8 as a price point for powersets. And would probably have this exact same thread with different numbers.)
On the other hand, if they release the set at $10, and move 1,000 units, and then offer it on sale in 6 months at $8 and move another 100 units, they've made $10,800.
This is high-school economics, folks. If you feel that the utility of a powerset is closer to $8 than $10, you shouldn't buy it until it goes on sale for $8 or less.
(And this post is assigning real-world dollar amounts to Paragon Points; SlickRiptide's post about the flexibility in the currency are quite applicable to the situation.) -
Quote:This.Originally Posted by DumpleBerry
It's still less-than-break-even for me. *shrug*
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Okay, I'm ready for it.
It can start any time now. -
Rise from your graves!
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Quote:No.Originally Posted by Electric-Knight
I mean, watching over someone as they sleep is not just a creepy pervert thing for someone to do... there is an endearing aspect of it.
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Quote:Unless, you know, you wanted the unresistable 21% -damage effect. Or the nice 25 foot radius toggle that aggros things.Originally Posted by Syntax42
Darkest Night is not a good choice unless you are only using it to mule a set. Anything higher level than you, or higher ranked will resist the debuff so much that it isn't worth using. A +4 AV resists 85% of the debuff. Dark Obliteration acts as a ranged AoE taunt.
I'm not saying there aren't other viable choices out there, but Darkest Night is the reason to take Soul Mastery. -
Sister Psyche will be killed...
...BY MANTICORE!
No?
Well, Psyche dies, and Manticore goes kind of crazy and goes to war to compete with Calvin Scott for Mother Mayhem? Or works with Scott, makes the deal... "I'll take the mind and you take the body?"
Then -Manticore- -can- talk -really- -dramatically!- -
Quote:If your attack chain isn't Headsplitter-Headsplitter-Headsplitter, there's room for more recharge?Originally Posted by Hyperstrike
Well here's my build! I hope you like it! It cost me almost nothing!
