Tripp Hazzard

Even when you hit "Exit Now" when quitting to the desktop, your character stays in the game for the full 30 seconds. This prevents using it as an Emergency Escape from a situation that's gone pear-shaped.

If you could "Exit Now" to the login screen, the first character would have to stay active for the full 30 seconds, for the same reason. Thus, you could possibly log in on another character while the first one was still active. I expect that would be Not Good.


Edit: Hmmm...apparently I forgot how to read.

"Never mind".

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You recognized that the Comm Officers were behaving in an unintended manner. (That they were "out of whack.")



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What I said was I thought they were out of whack. That is my opinion. I think many things are out of whack in the game, see long list.

If I didn't do any of them I wouldn't play the game.

There is the height of positron's stupidity on this topic, He threatened to ban people so they wouldn't get burned out.

[/ QUOTE ]1. How about responding to the WHOLE post, rather than cherry picking one item? Are you trying to say that you had no idea at all that the Comm Officers were behaving in an unintended manner? What did you mean, then, by "out of whack"?

2. Positron never threatened to ban people "so they wouldn't get burned out". The only thing he said about banning was "Players who knowingly use an exploit when creating an arc, run the risk of having access to MA suspended, or worse- depending on the severity of the action, their account banned."

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If you can't figure out what is cheesing and what isn't - if you absolutely refuse to take any responsibility here - if you can't look at examples from the past and try to figure out what kinds of behavior are and are not acceptable - then, in short, too bad.



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That is just idiocy. I play this game to escape from responsibility not take on more.

Whats more even in real life I don't spend all day second guessing weather my actions are within the intent of the law. If I see a sign that says don't walk on the grass, I don't walk on the grass. If there isn't a sign, I may or may not, but its not my problem then.

[/ QUOTE ]If a store doesn't have a sign saying "No Shoplifting", is it then okay to shoplift in that store?

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LOL and it hasn't been defined as being illegal elsewhere ?

If you want that analogy its more like the store had a free sample section and put the wrong items in it.

[/ QUOTE ]See the post just above the one you responded to.

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If you can't figure out what is cheesing and what isn't - if you absolutely refuse to take any responsibility here - if you can't look at examples from the past and try to figure out what kinds of behavior are and are not acceptable - then, in short, too bad.



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That is just idiocy. I play this game to escape from responsibility not take on more.

Whats more even in real life I don't spend all day second guessing weather my actions are within the intent of the law. If I see a sign that says don't walk on the grass, I don't walk on the grass. If there isn't a sign, I may or may not, but its not my problem then.

[/ QUOTE ]If a store doesn't have a sign saying "No Shoplifting", is it then okay to shoplift in that store?

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You acknowledge that the comm officers were "out of whack". Which implies you understand that using them the way they were being used was also "out of whack". And, you are not brand new to the game, so you also know that taking advantage of something that is "out of whack" "should not be done".


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No there are all kinds of things I consider out of whack that the devs may or may not. It can be little things like using the Ouro to get to cimerora or it can be larger things. I don't make the call on whats legit or not. They do. You can say I should have endlessly but the fact is there is no way I could have.

As I said above I play this as a game to relax. I don't see myself as deputy dev. While I will certainly abide by rules and even the requests of the developers they actually need to make them. Asking me to guess and threatening me if I guess wrong is really not a relaxing scene for me.

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"While I will certainly abide by [the] rules . . . ."

You recognized that the Comm Officers were behaving in an unintended manner. (That they were "out of whack.")

You have been playing the game long enough to know that stacking a map with them to maximize that unintended behavior would be considered an exploit.

You have been playing the game long enough to know that using exploits is against the rules, and has been since before even this particular exploit.

So how does the Devs not specifically TELLING you not to use this exploit excuse you from following the rules you already knew?

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But you are also not a moron. You are perfectly capable of using reason and judgment. In normal content, the normal behavior of comm officers is to summon portals. Nor do comm officers appear in large, exclusive groups in normal content.



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The game is full of things I just shake my head at.

<ul type="square"> [*]An email system that is only used by rmters. . [*]Summoned entities that are fantastically deadly but give no XP.[*]An invention system that has pretty much only has three setting settings, Junk, ehhh, and fantastic.[*]The removal of base salvage. (Yes they went to the trouble to take out a feature)[*]The Psi blast powerset on blasters[*]Sappers that can effectively one shot a hero but only give minion xp.[/list]
And it goes on. The above is just whats on the top of my head.

Did I think the comm officers were out of whack ? YES. Then again I think many things in the game are completely out of whack. Some of which the devs acknowledge as such others they don't seem to care about.

Code Freeze or not, they had the tools to say this should not be done.

[/ QUOTE ]You acknowledge that the comm officers were "out of whack". Which implies you understand that using them the way they were being used was also "out of whack". And, you are not brand new to the game, so you also know that taking advantage of something that is "out of whack" "should not be done".

Why do they have to tell you again what you already know?

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First things first I am not sure if this is right forum to post this if not please move it and accept my apologies.

I have just created a new character on the virtue server, and as a result my two liberty characters have been seeing much less playtime. Has anyone else had this happen to them? Should I keep those characters on the server or just delete them. What happens to my supergroup if I delete it's founder.

Speaking of SGs how do you disband one because my SG hasn't really seemed to get off the ground...

Thanks in advance for your answers, regards

Gpshaw

[/ QUOTE ]1. Welcome to the game!

One of us! One of us!

2. Having characters on multiple servers is perfectly normal.

One of us! One of us!

3. Having multiple characters on multiple servers is also perfectly normal.

One of us! One of us!

4. Starting a second account because you've filled all the available slots on your preferred server(s), while not as common, is still nothing to worry about.

One of us! One of us!

5. Filling every available slot on every server on every account is a bit extreme, but if it does not cause financial or psychological hardship, it is still nothing to worry about.

One of us! One of us!

6. If, however, you start hearing distant voices chanting One of us! One of us!, THEN you should start worrying.

One of us! One of us!

A point that cannot be stressed often enough is that even if the character already has one or more of the exploration badges, unless he/she/it goes back and touches them while in SG mode, they won't count.

And it doesn't have to be the same character for all the badges, even in the same zone. As soon as any member touches the badge while in SG mode, the SG now has the badge.

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does not mean that that behavior is INTENDED. Comm Officers, for example, were STILL never intended to appear in a custom group with just them.

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Somebody had to put them into MA as their own group. Now you may argue that it should have been obvious what the developers wanted from them but I will say this code freeze or no, they could have put a post up on the message boards and said please don't do this and we won't be able to fix it for a week. They could have also changed the message of the day.

I have said this before I am not a mind reader. I find it really hard to gauge the wants and intents of people who I have never met and are tight lipped about them in their public statements.

[/ QUOTE ]But you are also not a moron. You are perfectly capable of using reason and judgment. In normal content, the normal behavior of comm officers is to summon portals. Nor do comm officers appear in large, exclusive groups in normal content.

So if you see a map full of them, and only one of them summons a portal, leaving the others very easy to eliminate, do you really think that's how they were intended to behave? That the Devs intended them to be used that way?

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We will have to agree to disagree here. I think the comm officers were a massive exploit in that they were not being used as intended and gave at specific levels extreme amounts of xp far and above anything else possible in the game. People knew this and exploited the heck out of it, I can't personally see how it isn't an exploit despite how long it took the devs to deal with it and despite how public it was.
To keep with the analogy its kind of like the last forest ranger that used it forgot to put the gate back the last time they used it and they didn't get around to either fixing the gate or closing it for a few weeks.

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The devs knew when they put them in MA that Comm officers gave more XP than normal, and still they moved foward. They knew it when they did their own internal testing, and still they moved foward. They were told in closed and in open beta that it would be exploited, and still they moved foward. As far as I'm concerned, and I guarantee I'm not alone in this, if it can go through such extensive testing with full knowledge of the potential exploit and still go live, then it must be working as intended.

To use your analogy, the forest ranger forgot to close the gate despite the fact that he was told repeatedly over several weeks that the gate was open and that he needed to get his [censored] over there and close it. He's got nobdy to blame but himself if the bears got out and raided everybodies picknick baskets.

[/ QUOTE ]This is interesting to me, because I read claims to the exact opposite, that the Comm Officer exploit (putting many of them on a single map so that all but one won't summon portals) was NOT identified before release.

Yet, even if it was, using anything in the game to collect an "unnatural or unintended" level of benefit IS prohibited by the rules of the game. In the Forest Ranger and the gate analogy, it's like there were signs on both sides of the gate saying "Do Not Enter. Trespassers will be prosecuted." Even if the gate's wide open, if you go in, you're breaking the rules and subject to punishment.

(I know I'm responding to a post over a day old, but I'm very curious about the "identified before release" question.)

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Heh.

Still have that one around, too. &gt;.&gt; Felt the need to change, though. Full piece here. (Just because the artist's easy to work with and cheap... I like pointing people to him.)

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Nice.

Bill, you changed your Avatar!

NEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF!!!!



More seriously:

The OP said nothing about using it to test mission difficulty. He wants to test text flow, mission flow, etc.

Some kind of Test Mode for that seems perfectly reasonable. With the restrictions already described.

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but when i play it on the account that didn't publish it, i get a message saying i cannot rate missions that i have published myself.

[/ QUOTE ]And what rating were you going to give it?

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Bahh he probably wanted to report it as a farm.

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Not as a farm, but for inappropriate content. I have multiple personality disorder, and my main is quite foul-mouthed!

[/ QUOTE ]LOL 2!

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but when i play it on the account that didn't publish it, i get a message saying i cannot rate missions that i have published myself.

[/ QUOTE ]And what rating were you going to give it?

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Bahh he probably wanted to report it as a farm.

[/ QUOTE ]LOL!

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Pretty smart! Thanks! I would not have thought about it myself!

[/ QUOTE ]You're welcome.

That immediately went on my list of "Sneaky (Legal) Tricks" when I read it.

I've only read this, haven't done it myself.

While you're in Ouros, select a mission from one of the Cim. contacts. Use the crystal to teleport to the contact. Drop the Ouros TF. Say "Huzzah!"

Obviously not practical if you're already ON a TF.

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Apparently, Mars will be cloeer to the Earth than ever before by the end of August (27th) making it appear nearly the size of the moon.

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This information was gotten from an external source

[/ QUOTE ]And everything after "(27th)" is not true.

I like chocolate and popcorn. Together.

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but when i play it on the account that didn't publish it, i get a message saying i cannot rate missions that i have published myself.

[/ QUOTE ]And what rating were you going to give it?

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Re: recipes

Your analysis ignores the fact that the "regular" content will provide pool A, pool B, pool C/D (if bosses are present), purple (if mobs are lvl 50+), and common IO recipes. The MA tickets in your analysis are generating only pool A recipes.

Re: salvage

The "regular" content generates a mixture of common, uncommon and rare salvage. The tickets in your analysis are generating only common salvage.

[/ QUOTE ]Can you give me specific percentages?

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Nope. If the actual drop rates have been made public knowledge, I'm not aware of it.

[/ QUOTE ]Hmmm...I was hoping for support for my theory about the ticket cap, but I guess we're not going to find it there.

My theory was that it represented the "cap" in regular content on how many drops you can get from regular content in a single run, but I don't know how to actually check that with the information we have.

On the other hand, you don't have to stop and sell/use/delete stuff to make room in your inventories for more "drops". Just start another run.

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At 50 basic

Recipes 20
Salvage 50

At 50 maximum
Recipes 29
Salvage 80

8 tickets per salvage and 75 for bronze roll (45-50)

The basic level 50 requires 1900 tickets, the maxxed out 50 requires 2815

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/em bow $$ say Thank you, Catwhoorg!

So 1500 tickets is enough to "fill" a level 50's recipe and savage inventories about 1/2 to 3/4 full. (Assuming no "cherry picking" with the rolls.) Is that comparable to in-game content? Excluding farms*, with a typical team, is it common to max out a level 50's recipe and salvage inventories every couple of missions? (Assume you completely empty them when they get full.)

*Because we already know that farms give very good rewards. And because we're not allowed to build farms in the MArch, it would be appropriate to compare MArch to farms.

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Re: recipes

Your analysis ignores the fact that the "regular" content will provide pool A, pool B, pool C/D (if bosses are present), purple (if mobs are lvl 50+), and common IO recipes. The MA tickets in your analysis are generating only pool A recipes.

Re: salvage

The "regular" content generates a mixture of common, uncommon and rare salvage. The tickets in your analysis are generating only common salvage.

[/ QUOTE ]Can you give me specific percentages?

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At 50 basic

Recipes 20
Salvage 50

At 50 maximum
Recipes 29
Salvage 80

8 tickets per salvage and 75 for bronze roll (45-50)

The basic level 50 requires 1900 tickets, the maxxed out 50 requires 2815

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/em bow $$ say Thank you, Catwhoorg!

So 1500 tickets is enough to "fill" a level 50's recipe and savage inventories about 1/2 to 3/4 full. (Assuming no "cherry picking" with the rolls.) Is that comparable to in-game content? Excluding farms*, with a typical team, is it common to max out a level 50's recipe and salvage inventories every couple of missions? (Assume you completely empty them when they get full.)

*Because we already know that farms give very good rewards. And because we're not allowed to build farms in the MArch, it would be appropriate to compare MArch to farms.

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You've sent the devs a message about this, yes? With this concrete, reproducible example?

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Nothing beyond what's in this thread. It's just a bit of odd behavior, and probably working mostly as intended. If my hypothesis about it's cause is correct then it's something that probably shouldn't even be visible to the vast majority of players. It seems likely that the '1500 ticket cap' is just a simplification of the changes they made.

I don't necessarily see a bug here, there doesn't seem to be anyway to call it out as an exploit, and it may only be visible due to the specific parameters of a single Tiny map. In my judgement this isn't something that needs to take up developer time right now.

All that said, I know Moderators and the occasional Redname read these threads, if they think it needs attention then I'm sure it'll get some. Also, Arcanaville is planning to give it a look, and on this issue I'd trust her judgement as to whether the matter is urgent or important over my own.

[/ QUOTE ]Good point. Cool.

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&lt;-- look, happy!

. . .

Ok, I've replicated the issue and made a mission to showcase it. #172150, 'Tester Mission' (I know, I'm a naming genius). My initial run through, at difficulty level 4 on my 50 Widow-er, yielded 112 tickets for defeats, 100 tickets at completion, and the, 'One or more architect tickets were not rewarded because you have reached the ticket limit for this map.' notice.

Run it and see for yourself. It's a tiny map, won't take long. Let me also say that I couldn't bring myself to put in weak 'farm-fodder' enemies, so the group is *not* a bunch of pushovers. Clicking the glowy will end the mission, so don't hit it 'til you're done clearing the ambushes if you want the full results.

And, if while you're there you should happen to give me a push toward those shiny authorship badges, I'll try not to complain.

[/ QUOTE ]You've sent the devs a message about this, yes? With this concrete, reproducible example?

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Purchasing nothing but the same kind of random rolls that a level 50 can expect to get as drops in regular content, is 1500 tickets enough to fill a level 50's recipe, salvage, and enhancement inventories?

Granted, different characters may have different inventory capacities, but by level 50 there's still a certain minimum you'd have in each category. And a "typical" capacity that the majority of characters would have.

If it is, then the ticket cap might represent the limit that a character has on how many drops he can collect in a single regular content mission: the capacity of his inventories.

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There is also the trade-off of the fact that enhancement drops are random in both type and origin, and with tickets you can cherry pick both.

[/ QUOTE ]I completely agree that tickets allow you to get much BETTER "drops" than regular content.

But my question is whether 1500 tickets is enough to fill a level 50's inventories, purchasing rolls similar to what would drop in a regular mission. They don't have to be scattered across type and origin for this test. Just similar in level to what that level 50 would get in regular content.

Purchasing nothing but the same kind of random rolls that a level 50 can expect to get as drops in regular content, is 1500 tickets enough to fill a level 50's recipe, salvage, and enhancement inventories?

Granted, different characters may have different inventory capacities, but by level 50 there's still a certain minimum you'd have in each category. And a "typical" capacity that the majority of characters would have.

If it is, then the ticket cap might represent the limit that a character has on how many drops he can collect in a single regular content mission: the capacity of his inventories.