Soul Train

... Mostly, yes.

The problem is, people will begin doing the "What about this? or this? is this an exploit?" game.

Or, they'll simply keep the 'hi-gain' formula to themselves, hoping that the data gleaned from the server logs doesn't point a big neon arrow right at them.

... I wonder if they keep track of unpubs and repubs on the same account... that's a scary thought...

.... crap.

I tried playing this "Golden Age" thing on a dual-core machine with 3GB of RAM and a fast SATA, and this is what I saw:

<font class="small">Code:[/color]<hr /><pre>
ALERT: You are playing this game too fast. We have
nerfed your processor speed and IO throughput to
that of a Tandy 1000A 8086-based PC, for which it
was designed. Additionally, we just wiped your
character, and you will have to start over.

Please login:
</pre><hr />


(just kidding Posi! )

They can't replace the maps. Validation is what pulls the map and replaces it with a new one.

If yours DID get messed up, /petition for a fix. Acording to Pohsyb that's a "can't happen" situation, now.

Keep in mind that arcs are cross-server... we may be up against a cartel on another server that wants to clear a path for their stuff.

After all, story arcs are a waste of time, right? (I don't happen to think so, but quite a few people do, and have stated such publicly).

Only way is to do an ally rescue, stage them with 'fight' animations... and then have the ally betray on rescue.

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This is NCSoft's flagship paid-sub MMO, right now,

[/ QUOTE ]

It is? Lineage and Lineage II are both monthly subscription based, aren't they?

One to two million combined subscribers for Lineage and Lineage II. Source:

http://www.mmogchart.com/Chart1.html

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Looks to me like their subscription numbers on both are dropping. Not quite sure why MMOGChart didn't put CoH on there, though... probably because all of those are fantasy titles... not exactly the same genre.

... there's a thought.

I need to take my 50 and map out the sewers.

Actually at one time, I believe people did this for their "unregistered" heroes... their villains before CoV came about... they couldn't use the trams or the war wall underpasses cos of the drones... so they'd use the sewers to get from zone to zone.

Hardcore, but still do-able.

[ QUOTE ]

Yes, Posi said no, but I wonder what NCSoft in Korea (the main corporation that owns the CoH franchise) would think if they found out that they nerfed a potential goldmine for the sake of the developers visions for this game.

Corporations usually fire folks that resist them making any money for whatever reasons. If Posi doesn't want this at all, then if the subscriptions dip down once again, Posi may be looking for another job at the urgency of the main corporate body in Korea.

I don't know what kind of contractual agreements they have between Paragon Studios and NCSoft Korea, but, I know in the corporate world, if someone stops a process that could potentially make them more money based on principles, they'll toss em out and find someone who will.

Sad but true, even though Posi said no, corporate may say otherwise since they, not Posi, own the rights to the game. Dangerous territory for the developers, very dangerous territory indeed.

[/ QUOTE ]

Since "City of Hero" fell flat in Korea, the folks at NCSoft have pretty much said, "you know your market, run with it". This is NCSoft's flagship paid-sub MMO, right now, and it's holding very steady after 5 years, which is a pretty big deal in the MMO world.

I've the feeling that as long as subscriptions don't dip too far, Posi has nothing to fear for his job. The MA system as a whole is an awesome step forward, and MOST (!) people love it for the simple fact that they can try content that they haven't seen previously.

So perhaps it won't be AS MUCH of a rise in subscriptions as originally thought, mm?

Don't brag too much.

They're already datamining... wouldn't be hard for the CS reps to start matching up forum names to global accounts, give the number-crunchers something to focus on...

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Yes, yes we can. Regardless of what past abuses may have occurred, retroactive punishment for a previously 'legal' action is frowned upon universally, be it in real life or simply a game.

[/ QUOTE ]

For some definitions of "legal" action. It was always clear that getting a level 50 in 6 hours cannot possibly have been the intent of developers with the track record of COH developers.

[/ QUOTE ]

Where does "legal" come into play here? Is someone going to sue Paragon Studios cos they couldn't level their character in a day? There is no "legal". It's simple. Paragon Studios owns the game, and their parent company NCSoft runs it. They can make whatever arbitrary rules they like, because it's THEIR virtual universe we're playing in.

If you don't think their rules are fair, or unbiased, you can click "I Decline" on the EULA page, and simply not play.

Was it published?

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
The Paragon Police span the entire range. You get beat cops at low levels, with the occasional undercover officers, then detectives, then SWAT, then the power armor, police drones, and finally Awakened (police Kheldians).

[/ QUOTE ]
Psi Cops are somewhere in there too.

[/ QUOTE ]

Good catch, yes, the Psi Cops are in the upper tier, right below the Khelds.

Guys?

All the logic and data and such will not help, now.

Posi said No.

Bailiff? Call the next nerf, please!

The Paragon Police span the entire range. You get beat cops at low levels, with the occasional undercover officers, then detectives, then SWAT, then the power armor, police drones, and finally Awakened (police Kheldians).

The type you see in your mish are dependent on the level of the character(s) playing the arc.

Wait, what?


Destroyed?


I don't see no smoking craters in the ground.

Oh wait... the EXPLOIT got destroyed. Yeah it blowed up reeeal good, din'nit?

Sorry for your loss, brah. Now suck it up and play, or not, your choice.

Didn't they already fix that bug in an earlier patch?

Methinks someone's using an outdated code library.

Thanks for the heads up.

This might be a good thing to do after every patch, as a "health check".

If they actually implement what Posi's written in his post... then it won't be a threat any longer.

It'll be procedure.

And riddle me this: what difference does it make if subscriptions drop due to outrage over getting farm-smacked, or subscriptions drop due to new players (or old) getting bored after shooting to 50 before they've used up their free month from Architect?

I think (and this is just my opinion) that a bunch of angry players 'taking their ball and going home' will be a short term loss, as opposed to the continuing churn we'd see if the current system stayed in play with no changes.

Leave the buildings (shoot, leave the lobbies).

Make the elevator invoke a zone-change to the AE proper.

And yes... spawn new instances as population goes up. Also, if it's large enough (say, the size of Pocket D, or larger) it can accomodate more people.

I don't know if 'being sneaky' will work. I'm sure the devs are datamining, and any character that shoots up in levels too fast is going to have its history pulled and reviewed.

... hey, it's how we find out-of-scope trends in MY job. Set a performance counter, pull a report when it goes above a threshold, then take a close look at the system and find out what's causing it. Then fix the problem.

I plan on editing and republishing my arcs as these improvements come along.

That way, they're not all dusty at 6 months.

I leveled a 50 build in about... half an hour, from level one on up.

It was when alternate builds came out, I wanted a second build on my L50 Stalker.


... what?

... I'm hoping you stopped PL'ing the stormie once you got Hurricane.... that's when they turn into tankfenders...

(( my Stormie was my second-fastest leveling character, the first was a Fire/Rad troller that was on a superteam run one night a week. We went from 1-12 in a few hours, and then leveled to 40 doing TF's in half the time they were designed for. The Stormie? Normal mixed teams. ))

Wow.

That's .... a really nasty bug.

At least I hope it's a bug.

If it's WAI, someone has a sick sense of humor.

So, to answer the question, no we did not.