UberGuy

If forums are any indicator, it's far more common a misconception that this is what happens all the time, and that it will happen in their favor whenever something they don't like is covered by an EULA. Or rather, perhaps, that anything they don't like is actually a crime.

There's lots of crummy ways to treat customers that aren't illegal. The usual extent of the penalty is that those customers go away. If you're crummy enough, you lose more from doing that than you make by being crummy. If you're not that crummy, life goes on.

It's arguable that you own nothing in this game. While it's on shakier ground when you pay for something specifically, everything in this game is virtual goods that exist only as part of a service, and that service itself can be discontinued at any time.

The EULA has this to say.

On the specific topic of paid items, it says the following.

In extremis, your position would mean, for example, that they can never make balance changes to powersets sold in the Paragon Store without offering refunds when those changes weaken something. That risk is why they have such language in the EULA.

Now, what is reasonable for them to do and what they are allowed to do legally are not always in line with what will make their customers happy. I contend that they have every right to do all these things they are doing, but I think they are crappy PR. Hindsight is 20/20 and all that, but the balance implications of these IOs seems really, really obvious to me, and it boggles me that they released the existing PPM mechanics in the store only and didn't think anyone would notice or care. Much of this could have been avoided by better testing, better explanation to people of what was being done (I didn't know SBEs did this for a couple of months after they existed), and clearer change announcements. Based on what they've done so far, I fully expect them to sell purple PPM procs until I24, and then change them, which I then expect to cause tons of grief like yours on the when it happens, because so few people read the forums.

Everyone should always apply this principle to anything bought in any MMO. For better or worse, the "experience subject to change" that's typical of on-line games of all sorts always applies to everything in the game, whether you paid extra for it or not.

While I am not going to disagree with the general premise of your post, I really wish people would stop calling this sort of thing "bait and switch". This is not that. B&S is when someone advertises something they never intend to sell. They bait you in with the bogus item, and then try to get you to buy something different and typically more expensive.

What PS is doing is not fraud. You may not like it, but it is not fraud.

Based on the test I just did, they do. I was specifically interested in the CoT found in DA, as they are, as far as I know, otherwise identical to level 45-54 CoT found in the rest of the game's content. To get the DA versions, entirely new versions of these CoT critters would have to have been created.

Hm, I suppose it's worth checking what CoT look like outside of DA. I doubt they would have just quietly bumped them up to 64% everwhere, but then, that's basically what they did when creating level 45-54 Devouring Earth.

It's even more clear cut than just going by that example. There's a bold red label next to the final checkout button on the Paragon Market that reads "All Sales Final".

If the answer is "yes", then pics or it didn't happen.

>.>

I actually dislike it for a reason that has nothing to do with the art, per-se. Having accessed it, I find it too busy. If you think about our last two load screens, the area to the right, where the input boxes and buttons are, has been white with no artwork. This one has visual clutter over by those UI elements - the "psi lightning", Penelope's leg, and transition between the sky and a building. For whatever reason, that bugs me.

I know some folks replace their log-in screens with custom screens, and stuff like that probably happens when they do, depending on the image they pick. I have never replaced mine, and having seen this screen, I now know that if I ever do, I want low-frequency clutter over by those UI elements.

Yeah, I'm really getting that vibe from the spate of Staff threads. I haven't yet decided, even based on the math and testing people are doing, what I think of the set. But even if it could use a buff, basically saying "it's worse than Titan Weapons, so I can't believe it made it out of beta" seems spectacularly nuts to me.

As an aside, no one should ever assume a paid powerset will never be nerfed. I'm not saying I want anything nerfed, or that anything should be nerfed. I am advising people to not fool themselves about whether they would be nerfed if the devs decided there was a sufficient reason to do so. It doesn't matter if you paid extra for it above and beyond a subscription. If anything the Performance Shifter fiasco is evidence that it can happen, not that the devs will run away from doing it. Paying for things like new powersets is getting you more things like new powersets than we used to get, not immunity from the nerf bat.

Always bet on crazy.

I truly don't accept that as true. I think PvP in Guild Wars was really well done, back when I played it. (That was back before the first expansion, so if it sucks now, I missed it.) There was definitely no one-on-one "balance", and PvP was very much about the whole-team build. It created a huge variety in rock/paper/scissors type interactions between different themed teams - you could have a team that dominated a bunch of other teams but would completely collapse if the other team was some other specific build. And harkening back to Zwil's comments about good PvP requiring tons of dev investment, GW's powers were constantly being tweaked and changed with the rather express intent of keeping the FoTM a shifting target.

Sure, if people define "PvP" as one-on-one duels or deathmatch, then yeah, the only way to have decent PvP is if everyone is basically the same. But any time you have a team game, that stops being required to have "balance".

Maybe. I kinda doubt many would be like that, but I'm sure a few would. And some would still actually dislike some of the remaining I13 changes. And of course there's all the other stuff people have been posting in the other thread, but I gather that's not your focus here.

TS isn't I13. But TS/HD/DR + mez changes + DPA normalization covers an awful lot of the I13 changes.

I'm open to the idea that you could rank the changes in I13 and that TS might be the top one that people dislike. But I do think a lot of people dislike all of them, and that's why they refer to them as a single, monolithic thing.

Who, me?

If you drive across state, you might take a few local roads, a long stretch on an interstate (let's call it I-500), a long stretch on a highway (let's call it "Route 40") and then some more local roads.

If someone at your destination asks "how did you get down here?", it would usually be fairly acceptable for you to respond with something like "I took I-500 to 40, and then on over". Yes, you would be omitting important details, and if someone else wanted to take the same route, that would not be enough information for them without more research. But it gets the idea across.

The other thread about why people don't PvP now is asking something that pre-I13 players can answer similarly. "How did I get here?" And like answering a question about directions, they're giving the major thoroughfares they followed, not every little twist and turn.

Immediately after I13 there was huge turmoil, and a bunch of rage quitting. Various aspects of play seemed to go into decline in terms of participating players, though at different rates - zone play dropped off at a different rate than organized ladder/league stuff.

Occam's razor seems to apply. I13 happened in between two visibly different states, so it seems perfectly reasonable to assign aspects of I13 a causal relationship to the state change.

You stated clearly that it's your opinion, but I think you're reading too much into what people mean when they say "I13 is why I don't play". Yes, for some of us, it really does specifically mean we're not going to play so long as there is DR/TS/HD in PvP. But for at least some people it clearly means "Because of what's happened to the community after the changes in I13". And if the community got bigger and more active, some of those people would likely play again/more.

But if too many people don't like the mechanics of post-I13 PvP (as in they don't find them fun to tool around in, not whether they find their math pleasing), you've got a serious uphill battle, because you need critical mass to create a community, and having too many people dislike the mechanics fights you creating that critical mass.

So is "I13"* the absolutely only thing that changed? No. Did everyone leave after/because of it? Obviously, no. Did it cause such an upheaval that it seriously damaged the previously existing community? I am of the opinion that it did.

* I have to say, I don't see any value in distinguishing between I13('s PvP changes) and DR/TS/HD in discussion. Yeah, they weren't the only things in I13, but calling it "I13" is a heck of a lot easier to say and type.

I think you're interested in "In Category", not "In Set". "In Set" means in the same named set. "Doctored Wounds" is a set, so an "In Set" conversion of a Doctored Wounds always gives you another Doctored Wounds piece.

"In Category" gives you a random piece of the same level in a different set which enhances the same main function of a power, like melee damage, healing, slow, etc.. These conversions obey the following restrictions.

• You can convert Uncommon pieces into Uncommon and Rare pieces
• You can convert Rare pieces into Uncommon and Rare pieces
• Archetype Enhancements only turn into other ATEs
• Very Rare ("Purple") pieces only turn into other VR pieces
• PvPIOs only turn into other PvPIOs

Given those restrictions, when you know the level, sometimes you know there's only one other set you can get when doing an "In Category" conversion. For example, at level 50, there are only two Uncommon/Rare "Healing" sets, only two "Endurance Modification" sets, and only two "Defense" sets. This breaks down at lower levels. For example, at level 40 there are four Healing category sets. (Reference.)

You only win if you can execute that using only spackle and duct tape.