TempestMaster

Odds of getting a Very Rare card in a super pack: 79/100 (from here)

Incorrect. On the first pack you open, you have a 79% chance of getting a Very Rare card, and a .3% chance it will be a Black wolf, or a .237% chance. Small, yes. But not impossible.

After multiple draws and the 3 Elemental order items are no longer in the mix (probably in about 20 draws or so), this chance rises: 79% chance of a Very Rare, and a .52% chance to pull a wolf (.3% chance out of 57.66%) which come out to .41% chance. Still small... but not 0.

It is more accurate to say the Black Wolf will drop approximately 50% of the time for 200 packs bought. As shown above, there is a 1.62 in 1000 that you will pull one on the first draw.

If that is the only thing I wanted in the pack, as it appears is the case for you, then I agree there is no way I would even buy one. But I find value in all the contents of the packs, so that is moot.

Maybe they will, 6 months down the road. who knows. Unfortunately, for now, this is the only way to get this pet.

Your experience. My experience going through 3 different accounts, 2 in beta and one live, is that you will more likely than not get a full set (in one case, missing one of the "very rares") long before you hit 24. I am not saying your one experience is not valid. I am saying it is strongly weighted in that direction.

They are not "unethical." You know that you have a chance to get what you want. If you don't like the odds, don't buy. Simple. "Unethical" would be saying you are going to get one thing and getting another, or forcing you to buy them, which no one is doing.

Actually, you can easily get 2 ATOs in one pack (I would say it happens once in every 6 or 7) and I once got 3.

In each pack, you get 5 draws, and all of them are worth something, some significant amounts (I have had draws or 150+ Merits regularly... that adds up). More often than not, what is in the pack ia worth more than you paid for the pack if those items were priced out in the store by unit. Now, you may not want everything that are in the packs, and if you don't like your odds or getting what you want, don't buy the packs.

The only thing in the packs that cannot be gotten outside of the packs is the costume peices, and they are heavily weighted to come up in the first 20 packs.

My personal opinion is the Elemental order costumes will show up in the market in 6 months or so, and those who bought packs to get them will have gotten their money's worth in having them 6 months early and not buying them again.

Don't get me wrong... even in that guise he is reprehensible, but at least there was a moral core to what he did.

There is another idea that sort of goes along with this. If you read Cole's extended bio, you learn:

1) He grew up in poverty, and
2) The first place ravaged by Hamidon was the city of his birth

I like the idea that Cole is a good man who has made hard choices, and even that he is tortured (to some extent) about them.

But what if, just maybe, he is a true sociopath, a scarred and angry little boy who has decided he was going to become all powerful. Maybe he met Hamidon before be became a monster. Maybe he was responsible for turning him into that monster and setting him loose upon the cesspool of a city that hurt and ignored him when he was a child? Maybe he somehow controlled Hamidon and used that control to defeat him so he could become savior of the Praetoria? Maybe he still controls him, using him and, by extension, the Devouring Earth to eliminate enemies and bolster his image as a savior?

Maybe he planted a similar plan in a subordinates mind, let him bring it to fruition, and then sweeps in to save the day after killing the one man who would be evidence of his plans?

Maybe.

Is he a tortured savior, or a sociopath on a dimensional scale?

I have no idea. And THAT is why whoever is writing for CoH deserves a bift baskets, awards, and, oh yes, a raise.

Now if the can quash the memory leak in destroyed Galaxy, new Atlas, and First Ward so i can play more than one mission without the game shutting down, we are in business...

As far as I can tell, when you go back to VIP status, all your tokens unlocks again, your get 12 slots on each server, and then you can reassign the tokens. I am not certain if you can "strand" a character in limbo (by not assigning him a slot) or if it will automatically assign slots to all existing characters first and then leave any "open slots" to be assigned as you choose.

Yes.... 3-5 hero missions, and 3-5 villain missions = 6-10 total missions

Here is one main reason that I don't feel this would work well - name conflicts. You move over to run that trial and someone has your name, you have to change your name. You transfer back, and the new name isn't on your old server? You end up keeping the new name. Or transfer over, and while you are gone, someone creates a character with your old name? When you go to move back, you now have to come up with a new name. A couple of bouts of that, and the willingness to hop servers is going to come to a screeching halt for most players.

From the first description of Cole/Tyrant, I wondered the same....

Then what, exactly, do you wish it WAS?

Yummm... Cookies and Long Island Iced Tea.... *hums the oreo cookie song with a correspondingly awkward portion when replacing "milk" with "Long Island Iced Tea"*

I want cookies! BEER Cookies!!!

(Okay, Long Island Iced Tea cookies would be good too....)

True, it is that "first month" subscription that comes with the box, but all boxes up to this point have included the free month, current subscription or not.

I know that I am going to be buying one Complete Collection just so I can get the most recent physical media. I like to have disks on hand in case I have to reload a system, I can load and do small patches instead of having to patch 3 - 4 years. I guess in this case, the best option is to preorder on one account (and just pre play the new sets on that account) and then get the box set when it comes out for the other account.

I guess it just seems there is no reason NOT to presell the Complete Collection except to induce people to buy both.

This is what I understand as well. To be honest, after almost 6 years with the game, I'm disappointed with this arrangement. The following analysis is for current CoX players - New players obviously get a bonus with the Complete Collection since they don't have to buy an existing CoX box:

Difference between the two sets:

$39.99 - $29.99 = $10.00

Difference between content between the two sets:

Item Pack
1 month game time

vs.

Early access to 2 power sets

Based on the costs established in the past, an Item Pack is gonna be $9.99. A single month of game play is approx $15.00 (or $11.00 if you buy for a year). So, at worst, the difference in content is worth almost $25.00.

You can spend an undisclosed amount (but likely $9.99, since it contains costume sets, emotes, and a "special power", just like most "extra" packs) to make up for the Item pack. So one month of game time = early access to 2 power sets.

So my options are:

1) Buy the Preorder + Item Pack when it comes out

Plus: Get early power set access
Minus: Pay the same as Complete Collection but lose a month of game time (-$15.00)

2) Wait to buy the Complete Collection

Plus: Get Item Pack + free month
Minus: Wait for 3-4 months for access to power sets (-??? - depends on what it is worth to player)

3) Buy both Preorder and Complete Collection

Plus: Get everything - Early power access, Item Pack, and "free time"
Minus: Pay $29.99 for early power access

Option 1: -$15.00
Option 2: - ???
Option 3: -$29.99

These calculation change as the price of the Item Pack goes up (unlikely) or down (possible, but again unlikely based on contents). The real option here seems to be how much is early access worth to the player (as the other component carry a definitive price tag). If it's not worth anything, choose option 2. If it is middle importance, choose option 1. If VERY important, chose option 3.

What bothers me is there is no real "clear winner" here. Select any option, and you are giving up something substantial. And it gets worse in my situation as I have 2 accounts (and I know many with two or three accounts). If the issue were a $5.00 difference per account, I wouldn't bat an eye. $10.00, I'd think about it but would likely go for the everything option (I spend $20.00 going to the movies with the hubby). But at $15.00 an account? That's $30.00 - or a tank of gas. That is a harder choice to make.

I would like to see them offer the Complete Collection for pre sale, even if there is a $5.00 - $10.00 premium for the early access. As it is, it feels as if they are edging into Cryptic territory (though they have a LONG way to go to get there in my opinion) of $.05 and $.10 the players.

Doubtful you will see it from what Posi said at ComiCon this last year. When asked about Incarnates, he said something to the effect of "They will be mentioned one more time in Going Rogue." My bet is that Calvin Scott is the "one more" Incarnate.

Just a guess.... I think it was Cole who was responsible for Hamidon.

At ComiCon this year, someone asked about "the Incarnate System." The response from the panel was "You will hear about Incarnates just one more time." My bet: Calvin Scott is the other Incarnate, and it is his psychic abilities that shelters the Resistance.

Based on this, a player should be able to run a Justin Augustine TF alone (or Statesman TF, or...), as you can "be regarded as a specific size team (even if they are soloing)." Assuming that it just sets a field called "Team Size" and that all checks that rely on the size of the team check this field, it should work.

What I am wondering is the opposite case - Will "Master" badges become meaningless? Sure you would still have to fight the AVs in the missions (since I assume they do not spawn dynamically), but all the other spawns do. Being able to set the level of the spawns down 3-4 or more levels will make speeding through the TF much easier. Hopefully they will set a requirement for the "Master" badges that they must be run with difficulty "set to par."

As an extension of the above, if players start running SF/TFs with the spawn level reduced (say the Justin Augustine, as noted above), will they get the regular rewards? Or will their rewards be reduced? If they remain the same or not, will datamining eventually detect the trend and start lowering the rewards because the average time to run the SF/TFs is now "shorter"?