flipside

That is correct, I am running a 32 bit version of Windows XP. I am not leaving the launcher open in the background after starting up.

Doing this, the top three appear to be the heavy hitters, those being CoH (around 900MB), svchost.exe (around 20MB), and explorer.exe (around 20MB). After that it goes from about 8MB down to less than 1MB for about a dozen processes, that's about it.

Ok. This makes sense, but my math doesn't appear correct then. My video card (Radeon HD 5700 series) has 1024MB of RAM. I would think then that my System display would show 3GB of RAM then, correct?

So what I read here is that, if my system display shows I have 3.25GB of RAM available for the system, then my virtual memory should also be set to 3.25GB as well, correct?

Unfortunately I don't have a second drive on this computer, only a single drive. I'm considering getting an SSD for the main drive on this PC to help speed things up and use it's current drive as a secondary drive.

Maybe I'm misreading what you are writing, but I'm reading this as "at the end of the '6+1 month subscription special' on your newly created free account, you are then going to convert it to a Premium account." I want to ask to ensure I understand, but I thought the moment you dropped 400PP into a free account it automatically becomes premium, and it never goes back. Is that correct?

Ok, that looks frelling awesome. From the Youtube comments it looks like this was supposed to be an Arena waiting/lobby room but never got used. I think it's a crime a room this awesome was never used. Have we ever heard any official word of why it's still available in the game world?

Thank you. I think I'm going to make a project of this and run a completely new character to 50 (or some appreciable level) doing nothing but running normal content and selling enhancement drops, exactly as a Free player would. I won't take any influence from another character and will ignore invention drops. I haven't done it in a long time but I'm sure it's exactly how I remember it.

I wouldn't. You're giving handouts then and not educating them on the tools of the game of which they can use to overcome their own issues. This is the classic "build a man a fire" case, and not a good teaching method.

Possibly the best response I've seen in this thread yet.

I don't think anyone here is trying to build an argument for "the good old days" or "new players should be thankful for what they have." The argument being presented is that the system has been the same since then, and the methods used then are still viable now. Whether you choose to use them to your advantage is your choice, however.

I have played other video games, and other MMO's, over the years. Your argument is incorrect in my experience. In some other MMO's, I started out dirt poor. By the time I got to the mid-level, guess what, I was still dirt poor. So what did I do? I played the game and used the drops I had to kit out my characters, instead of paying for them, the same way I did/do in CoH. Except in those other games I had to sit on a grassy hill and wait 9 hours to get a single drop that helped, and I mean wait, not actively play, wait. In CoH, I can actively play for those 9 hours and continually get new drops that help me. There's a lot of improvement there in game mechanics that blows other games out of the water.

I'm not a hardcore gamer, so please don't paint me in that corner. Yeah, I've been here 7+ years, but I don't play every night, or every other night for that matter. Actually the only time I've logged in to play for the past 2 months was for the Halloween event. And in that time, I'm not really playing other games. What I did with my mere amount of play time in those 7 years was learn the game and it's functions. That's all. There's no super-secret code that long time players have that new players don't have. All we did was learn, which is what should be expected of any new player. If I went now and signed up for a trial of a MMO I never played, I have zero expectation that I'd know the in's and out's of everything from the first day/week/month, maybe even year. That's an expectation I think every new player should have, and if they don't and believe the game world will be given to them on a silver platter, there is nothing we or the developers could do to help them. They just have quite unreal expectations.

And nothing says you should be able to afford every single origin enhancement you need at those levels. It never has in the history of the game. I can't find any reference of where it tells you that starting at 22 you should be able to deck your character out in the finest enhancements, or you're doing it wrong. What happens at that level is a new type of "loot" is made available to your character to partake in. Using other game analogies that have gear based systems, when you get to the level where a new type of armor/weapon is available to your character, do you expect to be able to purchase every piece of armor and every available weapon at that moment? I sure don't.

And they can, but the expectation you are putting out there is that when those levels come up and those enhancements are made available that the player should be able to toss out everything he/she has and replace it with a whole brand new set of stuff. That's an expectation I don't think any MMO meets.

The answer has been put forth several times, and you seem to continue to disregard it or misinterpret it. You are saying they are broke because at some levels you can't afford the latest and greatest of everything your character needs. Simple answer: your character doesn't need the latest and greatest of everything at those levels. Heck, they don't even need the mildly obsolete and just-ok. I've played characters into the 30's based solely on TO's, and some I didn't even slot altogether because I just plain forgot. The outcome? I was able to play the game just like I always did and was none the worse for it. I don't think there's an MMO out there that can claim they give their players everything their characters need at each milestone level. What would be the point?

Trying to figure this one out. I was checking the Free-Premium-VIP account info and can't tell from there. Does a Free account get invention drops, but just can't use them to craft inventions? Or do they not get invention drops at all?

You realize that your responses are coming off as you sticking your fingers in your ears and yelling "LA LA LA I CAN'T HEAR YOU OVER THE SOUND OF MY OWN PROBLEMS LA LA LA", right? Obsidius used actual math, and provided a reference, of what it takes to purchase in the 25-50 game, noting that in that range influence purely from drops is enough, and you completely disregarded it. Go back and read it and try again.


I'm another '04 player who can remember the grind to 50 solely on drops, no trades, no market, nothing. Yes, there is a curve. Yes, it will get exponentially better around level 25 or 30. No, level 7 is not a good basis for that judgement call. The basic tools to which a free account has to gain influence are even better than they were years ago when we all did it the same way. I'll bet your bottom dollar I can roll up a character today, use nothing but those tools, steamroll through regular content and be swimming in influence on the other side. And just to be clear, those tools are: selling to vendors, selling DO/SO drops to their origin vendors, fighting origin specific enemies to utilize drops. All those have been in the game since day 1 and remain a completely viable way to play this game.

No one has addressed this statement but I wanted to pull it out. This is a bad assumption you are making here. VIPs are not necessarily the people who have been here since day 1. Someone can, today, go out and buy a subscription and be a VIP, and they'll have been here all of 4 hours. You need to separate your VIP viewpoint from that of a brand new VIP.

I think this needs to start getting auto-included in every new post made. This is the whole point of the new model and a disturbingly large majority of people seem to be completely missing this simple fact.

Great! And how do you do that? I currently can't seem to buy anything in Tier 9 VIP.

Thanks for the information you provided. I won't blame you, but I will ask Verizon for a referral for you. Don't know if they'll accept a "Please send bonus to Garielle@CityofHeroes" referral, but I'll try.

I've heard so many different stories of how they are handling orders right now that I'm still going to try for an install.

I'm considering the 15/5 option as it's cheaper and I'm moving into a new home, so cheaper right now is good. But, I don't want to handicap myself as gaming may be my only entertainment for some time due to the cost of moving.

This is a pre-built home from the 80's and Verizon's online tool says it's available for the address and surround in the neighborhood, so it sounds good to go. The current owners have cable internet so the copper is already run. I'm curious what speed package you have for your needs, if you don't mind including?

I can't tell if you are being sarcastic or not, but I don't have the ability to be in front of the PC/game all the time to check these things, which is why I post questions here so the next time I'm able to be in the game I know what I'm doing.

At any rate, thank you for the information.