Strigoi

Living in a tropical country, I have at my disposal lots of exotic fruits at dirt-cheap prices. So, I blend a different fruit mix every day.

Some are crap, most are great =)

Not true. I spoke with Ms. Kelly Uqua just now and she guaranteed me: not everything is a Rikti plot.

This proposition: ludicrous.

There are games that have Lifers. There are those which don't. This one doesn't.

It offers a lot, specially if you are entering now. The game is more rounded-up by years of updating, there is a ton of content waiting for you, there's an expansion in the near future, the community is great and it's a very good game.

Comparing "microtransaction X monthly" is comparing two very different things. It's like complaining that company X does not sell cars the the seat the way you like it. Those games are completely different animals. Don't put Maple Story in the same sentence as CoX, LotRO and AoC.

By the way, AoC, AFAIK, does not offer Lifers. I have an account, and it only shows 1, 3 and 6 months. At least for the US servers.

"Getting by" is ok, if your business plan started with a format from the get-go. That's not the case with CoX. So, moot point. $ 15 is not a fortune, and it's a fair amount for a game of this caliber.

MMOs might not be your forté, I think. Games cost a lot of money to make, nowadays. Single Player games might suit your needs better. I like both, and understand that both work in vary different ways, from inception to shelf.

Maybe.

I would not call the damage increase "piddly". It will cause enough of a change in the playstyle and desirability of Doms in many situations. Completely rebalancing a class so Control-heavy is not as easy as it sounds.

Quite frankly, I think the damage increase takes into consideration some of the issues the class faces: Permadom craze and the problems Doms faces against tougher targets. It's not the Holy Grail, for sure, but it's a good, incisive change.

Ah, and EBs can cream most casually-played characters. At least, most of them. That's why they are so fun to whack =)

Some Immobs are quite damaging for a Dom (Single Target ones) and do contribute a lot while you don't have that many attacks from your Secondary. I also find them invaluable in Elite Boss Fights.

Slot heavily your attacks at DO level, it'll make the evil 20s go by much faster. At around 26, Doms really start coming together (generically speaking).

For solo play, Sleeps can make things much better. Also, Sleeps are good places to get nifty bonuses from IOs, since they are dirt cheap.

I try to think like this: I should be activating 4 attacks for every control I throw. I also play more recklessly than the Controller mindset, and this is entertaining in itself. It's nice to bite more than you can chew eventually and being able to control the situation, something a Corruptor wouldn't likely be capable of.

Learn to love your pets, all of them. They contribute a lot to your playstyle, as some do lots of damage while others provide that extra control you needed so much (I'm looking at you, Singy).

Finally, don't be stingy with Domination. Older Domination gain was terrible, and people were scared of blowing Domi at the wrong moment. But that's past. Dominate often and Dominate hard. It's such a powerful inherent it's not even funny. Full end, high Mez resists and transforming your pew-pew into boom-boom? Yes, please.

For extra-super-mega safety against creepy things like Purple Bosses, Ice will do better. Being able to Hold Bosses later on (specially some of the nastier ones) is a huge plus to Ice.

For indiscriminate damage over a big area next to you, with the occasional mess-up, Fire is your baby. If you team a lot, Fire will make you giggle like a little girl with the AoE carnage you'll be able to inflict. Lots of enemies do increase the value of Fire.

Depends on the influence.

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Warhammer LotRO

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I would so play this game.

Three Rings for the elven kings under the sky,
Seven for the dwarf lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for mortal men, doomed to die,
Blood for the Blood God on his skull throne...

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","

There, a comma just for you.

Additionally, I agree with what some people wrote above, describing how repetition becomes a grind if you do it because of some carrot, and not for the experience itself.

Again, that's sadly quite prevalent in our life. However, we do have some choices. Some people go for the equation:

100 Efficiency -> 10 Entertainment

While they could be doing

70 Efficiency -> 50 Fun

It's just a matter of a certain mental state, in which you don't focus on the "now" as much as the modern society locks us into. And herein lies the culprit, I think: the way we are bred, today, for instant gratification, shallow expectations and little questioning about the whys and hows.

That's the reason I find myself playing Villains 95% of my time. Things redside are much livelier, the world is more dynamic, the dialogue is more interesting, the layout of the cities much more interesting and less flat.

Oh, and I also like the Villain AT choices MUCH more than the Hero ones.

Repetition, as with everything in life, is unavoidable and in many cases, desired. Games are no exception, and anyone should expect some measure of redundancy from them.

However, there are various degrees of repetition. Pushing 1-2 keys for hours and hours does get really old for me quite fast. Having a pool of 10-15 keys that must be pressed according to varying factors, with different degrees of success and efficiency, now that's completely different.

In this sense, "grinding" is not a choice. I grind words every day (translator), I grind my cooking, I grind my commuting. Likewise, I grind my games, but I do so following the standard I wrote about above.

If it pleases the mind, grinding is a healthy activity like any other. Grinding for obsession/compulsion is a different story. So, I think that everyone must draw their own line. I cannot play most Korean MMOs because I find them too shallow and with few options/strategies/rewards for the time I spent on them (with a few notable exceptions). Games like CoX, Warhammer LotRO, and Age of Conan are much more involved, provide story (should you wish one), and reward your approach to things, each in its own way.

Since I'm not privy to what transpired between end of test and live implementation, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.

What I do know is that I consistently refused Comm and meow farm invites when they were being abused. I guess it paid off.

These rules, taken from their support site, for instance:

Policy on Using and Exploiting Bugs
Question
What is NCsoft's policy on the use of bugs and exploitation?
Answer


NCsoft does not allow any use of bugs or exploits. Any such activity may lead to a temporary suspension of an account. Repeated or serious violations may result in permanent termination of the account.

If you feel that another player is taking advantage of a bug or exploit, please contact our support staff by submitting a petition. For information on how to do this, please click here. Be sure to include the character's name and a description of why you believe they are violating the rules.

If you find a bug in the game, you can notify our Quality Assurance department by submitting a bug report. For information on how to do this, please click here.

However, there's an even better set of rules, called common sense. And that's what's missing here. Games stand upon a balance of the sum of its contents. Disrupt the access people have for, say, Infamy or rare IOs, and this balance is disrupted. As such, the company decided to act upon it before the problem escalated to a more grievous level.

Again, we can discuss about the methods, etc. They could have done it differently, for better or for worse. I'm positive that some people were shafted without abusing. However, there are methods to contest this decision, on an account level.

I'd rather play a game where the devs act fast on their mistakes and rectify them than to simply let it slip. In the end of the day, any decision affecting more than one person will be bound to dispute and misunderstanding.

Yes. Banning is one thing, theft is another. Service was being provided until the rules got broken.

Did the staff overreact? I do think so. But I think that most problems arising from bans and deletions could be solved with some level-headed discussion with the support team. People have had bans lifted and characters back.

Not offering any form of defense would be good reason for getting riled up. And, as far as I know, that's not what's going on, now.

After all, no one likes a break dancer at a waltz ball =)

Bill, you should really re-read the EULA. Theft, in the case you pointed out, would be payment without service. However, suspension for service used irregularly (and I agree we can stretch this definition quite a bit) is another one.

It's akin to going to a nightclub, paying admission, being a jerk and then calling them thieves for stealing the admission money after being thrown out by security. I understand that lots of people got personal about this. But that's no excuse for mixing things up.

In tandem with the thread title, I decide that this subject is beaten beyond plausible recognition already.

Comparing an obvious oversight and exploitative feature (enemies without ranged attack) and a time-honored feature (amassing +Def to increase survivability) is preposterous, and completely non-conducive to any rational discussion. Really, it's that simple.

I came back after a hiatus similar to what the OP described, and I'm glad I did. There is the good ole content and some new shiny stuff that can keep you busy for quite a while.

Some new Power Sets and ports, and my very favorite tweak, the Stalker overhaul. Now they are a joy to play, and not one-trick ponies anymore.

Population is good (I play Champion), but that depends on what you want to do.

I don't prod PVP with a 10' pole.

Like most things in life, Shakespeare describes the situation quite aptly:

"...But, in faith,
Kate, the elder I wax, the better I shall appear:
my comfort is, that old age, that ill layer up of
beauty, can do no more, spoil upon my face: thou
hast me, if thou hast me, at the worst; and thou
shalt wear me, if thou wear me, better and better:..."

From Henry V

Jump back, take a look, and see if things are to your liking. I'm glad I did.

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OK, this is another joke thread, wanna know why?

pretty simple, 25% or more of the players aint americans, and what do you think those 25% do all day long?

Now, go check how one spells 'Snowy white " in swedish, italian, brasilian, french, etc...

So , you basically 'see' alts, but do you have any clue??

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This is true, to the extent that I've seen Branca de Neve (Portuguese for Snow White) and at least one Pequena Sereia (Little Mermaid).

Hooooowever.... is this reason to stop enforcing the EULA for the transgressions they do detect? A crime unseen is a crime that never happened? Or should they start hiring Brazilians to check all Portuguese-based offenses?

C'mon. The only reason some criminals are happier than others is that they haven't been caught yet. And everybody knows the penal system (anywhere, everywhere) is full of saints and "people-who-did-nothing-someone's-after-me!".

Contact the support and try the right venues for problems such as this. Then, if everything else fails, do the /ragequit.

Many thanks. All my doubts are cleared. Now, slotting forsooth!

Great, thanks for the quick answer.

Just to bury this once and for all, what about multiple Damage Procs on each a power? Do they interfere with one another or each is checked separately within their activation parameters?

e.g. Rain of Fire with 3 Damage Procs. I'll get 1 chance for each one of the 3 every 10 seconds, per target?

Thanks.

Hello,

I'm still unsure about the activation of Damage procs in certain situations. I read the Guide written by Natsuki, but still something confuses me:

What about, say, a Damage Proc on an Acid Mortar. Would it check individually for each enemy, at each shot (since it has a separate To Hit check for each enemy affected) ou would it follow the 10-second rule?

And what about the Build Up Proc? Does it work? I have one in my Domi, in a quick recharging power, and I'm pretty sure I'm yet to see it activate. Does it buff you like a regular Build Up, with the icon indicating the buff, or is it another variation of this effect?

Thanks for the help.

I disagree about the Animate Stone being better than Jack Frost. Dealing Ice Damage is certainly an advantage over Smashing Damage, and you also get more control with Jack.

Rocky is a good tank (not nearly as good as Singularity, though) and little else.

As long as I can chuck some stones at people's faces, like the Enraged Miners, I'm game.

Yeah, hormones definitely cause more grief than weapons.

Strange. I'm currently working on a Ninja/Storm, after having played with Necro/Poison and Mercs/Dark.

I find their behavior decent. If you just position your gang right on melee, you can simply jump targets fast and they'll consistently remain on melee. One time or another, yeah, they get cranky and decide to do something stupid. But you would do that too, if you were a ninja working for minimum wage.

I'm 27 now, and I had a good time. But I'm one of the crazy ones that prefer melee pets over ranged. Even when I buffet enemies around, the gang usually stay up close (provided they started the fight on melee).

My guess it was just some sort of indisposition with the map's geometry.