Turgenev

Of course. You know how to reach me. Schedule something and I'll be there.

I have a global channel I've kept in my pocket for a while since it's somewhat repetitive with Freedom Badge(s), but my intention was to keep the clientele restricted to the serious badge nuts out there. Right now it's just me, Max and a few others.

If you want to use this as a catalyst for usage, I'll discuss with Max and see if he agrees on opening membership.

Seriously, this thread ended after the 2nd post. The rest is just zombie pony whipping.

...and I know, some people dig that. Still.

And there's nothing that says they DON'T have to stick to it either. There's obviously a difference of opinion with the playerbase. I'm on the side that likes where they're going. That's the best part of discussions: Everyone gets to state their likes and dislikes.

Besides, who's to say that your "many many things non-Praetorian" won't be touched on either? The process is still ongoing. Maybe we WILL find out that the Well of the Furies is actually Dr. Vahzilok!

The Rikti Boss method involved using the Chief with the rounded shoulder pads, IIRC. Aggro one, heal in front of him, and his melee attacks (which he used exclusively when in range) would do insane damage to you, but the one-HP rule would keep you alive.

It's been a few years since I've done this; not sure if it's still viable, they may have mixed up the attack chain to prevent this. If it's still workable though, have an anti-knockback IO in place to make it easier; otherwise he might knock you away and start using ranged attacks as well.

Anyone know if the Noble Brute method (same mechanic) is still functional? Doesn't hit quite as hard, but it was easy to get a mission for it.

Fess up, CP. You hate when Dr. Turg falls asleep running into the corner of a cave.

My name is Turgenev, and I endorse this message.

I think he's just feelin' it.

OP, I had a hard time reading your post too, but rock on, hero brother. Glad you're enjoying the ride.

I'm not.

I feel like they're building the investment for an Incarnate crescendo. The Praetorian angle is an effective vehicle for that.

By applying a little bit of retcon to the Praetorian timeline, they have a useful starting point. The Praetorian arcs were quite limited originally to only a few instances, leading up to an AV sweep, with no real side-street story arcs or group involvement to worry about. As high level as the encounters were for combat difficulty, there was really very little there that couldn't be explained away or improved upon.

What about other high level enemy groups? Nemesis, well, reinventing him would require rewriting COH, because everything in the game is a Nemesis Plot. Devouring Earth is fairly widespread in the game. Malta Group, same thing. Arachnos is practically half the game. Shadow Shard is pretty saturated for high level content (maybe not as deep as we'd like, but we'll see what comes next with any upcoming sto- er, nevermind. ). Revamping any of these would be a heck of a lotta work.

Praetoria, though, represented an alternate world they could reinvent (in concept, at least) another PLANET from the bottom up to suit their purpose: Give new players a fresh option for gameplay (I love the alignment checks growing a Praetorian toon, and the environment and story lines), and lay the groundwork for an Incarnate Ultimate Showdown from the only group who could do that: The cohorts of the otherdimensional Incarnate (Tyrant).

This isn't a single update where "Hey, you get inventions" or "look, Flashback". It's a building thunderstorm. So far, in my opinion, all we've heard right now is just a few rumbles of thunder.

Wait for the lightning to strike.

(And rednames, if you screw this up after my buildup for it here, ima gonna kill you all dead. Capishe?)

This is the earliest press release I found regarding the donations. If I'm doing my time zone math right, it looks like it came out today around 7am EST. From what I can tell, it was released through Yonhap News Agency, which is a news provider of South Korea. The jist of the release was a Korean news service covering heavy hitter Korean corporations donating to the Japan relief effort.

Moved comments to this feedback thread.

*grins broadly* On Freedom, we have a way of dealing with farm beggars. This was one of the old school methods from '04.

Yes. Sorry. Since you asked my opinion, I find the idea trite, empty and trivializing of an ongoing human disaster. This isn't about making you feel like you did something. This is about you doing something that matters to the people who need it the most.

If you want to accomplish something, head to Japan if you can, and help. A very good friend of mine is doing just that through the Red Cross at the end of the month. You could investigate similar avenues, and help in a meaningful way.

Good luck on whatever you decide.

I swear, Boss, the phrase "reading is fundamental" is lost on this generation. Thanks for "getting it".

I didn't italicize in the quote though. See the preceding sentence from me.

Turg: 1
Ironblade: 0

:-)

First, I feel for you. I know I'd be ticked if a name I used (and was identified with) for half a decade suddenly got renamed for no good reason.

However, I italicized the crucial point for you there. This IS a good reason. Since you're merging two completely independent systems into one, you have to account for the unique IDs of each database. If there are conflicts, one has to lose. In a case where there may be hundreds, even thousands of conflicts, the best way to approach is the numbers game: Which method would impact the least amount of people?

In this case, prefacing your ID with "EU" to indicate you were originally from the EU servers, is probably the best-bet solution, with the possibility of having a global rename token applied in case you wanted to change it again.

I get it. Identity means a lot. I'd freak if there was another Turgenev out there who got my name by (from my POV) luck of the draw, when I established myself in the name for years.

But then again, the difference between you and me is substantial. I PICK weird Russian names because it's unlikely there'll ever be another Turgenev here. I've had this name for over a decade now online after having to deal with all the "Nihilist" and "Virago" copycats that were my original gaming handles.

You might be at the same crossroads: A chance to reinvent yourself in a way that truly cuts yourself as unique. "Black Light" ain't it, sad to say. I'll tell you from experience that the name was taken on Freedom way, WAY back in the Headstart of 2004 (at least for a toon name, pre-global). My first Warshade, rolled the day they came out, is named "Blackest Light" for that reason.

Maybe you need to see this as an opportunity, instead of a burden. I won't keep you from leaving, but I will tell you that in the greater scheme of things, having a dozen servers open up to you for gaming opportunity, at the cost of adding two ASCII characters to your naming prefix, is a really stupidly tiny "price" to pay.