galadiman

I must say, that of all the villains we've been presented with, Cole is one of the Top villains in the game to make me viscerally angry at them. I guess I have a thing against guys who rob people of their free will without even their own knowledge of said theft. And feeling 'entitled' to do so, and relying on blind loyalty to one cause or another to maintain 'order'. And there are a couple more contacts in some of the Praetorian arcs that make me feel similarly angry towards them

So I am not at all bored with Praetoria or the enemies it presents us.

Allow me to suggest a syllogism:
You can't please all of the people all of the time.
And when it comes down to it, you can't really please any one person all of the time. (There shouldn't really be anyone who loves EVERY SINGLE ASPECT OF THE GAME ALWAYS. Heck, even I can find a few things I don't like. For example, Bases. Want more love. Next.)
Hence, no matter who you are, prepare to be disappointed at some point. Keep expectations reasonable, and hope for the best.

Take note: the Devs cannot have it in their minds that they want to please everyone. To do so is to invite heartburn and emotional burnout. They have to make a game that a lot of people will like, and other stuff too, which is too complicated to go into here, and beyond my ken.

So if you think every decision the Devs make should jibe with your idea of how the game should go, I suggest you ... not think that. Learn to deal with the fact that not everything in the game (like in Life) will adhere to your personal standards and qualifications - you will be a happier person for it.

To the OP: I like your first Strange Idea. Something like Arena PvP, but with objectives. Also a little like a simplified Base Raid. Would take work to implement, but could be fun.

As for a general comment, some of what you express is a thing CoX seems to be actively avoiding as a core value, afai can tell:

Villians can be d***s to Villains or Heroes,
But Players should never be d***s to Players.

They seem to be striving for "Mustache-twirling villains," not the "RL kind of villains" that do the kinds of things that make CNN Breaking News.**

And I am Very Thankful for that - last thing I want to hear is someone got an unconscionable idea from CoX, and the evening news gave CoX free "PR". That's heartburn none of us ever need to experience.
---
** - I say this, knowing that some of the eviller CoV content, and more of the Praetorian content, is pushing the boundaries on this statement...

And BTW, BrandX, if you think dirty pictures are the only reason to rate a game "Mature", have you ever heard of Grand Theft Auto??

Thanks so much, Ful! My little baby base is rolling along, and I'l learning slowly but surely. Now, if you could just email me 3-4 days of free time so I can REALLY get going, I'd be very appreciative.

I'm interested in doing this for 200m Fulmens, or as much as you have left; my global is @linarra, on Victory server. I'll email you tonight. Thanks!

That ship interior looks terrific!

Also, Jazman, Yuck You.

I'd suggest avoiding the hardier AT's at first - scrappers/tanks/VEATs make the game seem too 'easy'; then when you move to a blaster or a controller, it suddenly seems like the game got harder. Squishier AT's also train you in 'active defense' - using cover/geography, training the enemies toward the tanker, and the Ever Popular RUN AWAYYYY! maneuver.

I like Victory server, but that's just me,

Welcome Back!!!

Let me get a little 'philosophical' here:

(All my opinion, and I'm sure I'm rehashing many other discussions)
It seems to me that it is against the interests of the Devs to encourage people to play only a limited number of characters.

Why, you ask? Ok, here's the thing: There is exactly one 'superset' (my usage) of gameplay I'll call Content. It includes missions, TFs, contacts, raids, day jobs, etc. - all the game features you use the characters to play through/in/around/(insert appropriate preposition here.). A person (with time) could theoretically play through all of the Content once. Now, that person could, of course, play that content again (and again, and again...) theoretically. And that might satisfy said player.

But let's assume, in the worst case, that this person hates to 'repeat' things. So they want 'NEW' experiences all the time. If said player only has, for example, one character, they can only experience that content once in a "new" way. And thus, that player asks for More Content... CONSTANTLY.

Content does take time and effort (thus, Money) to create in a way that said content does not suck eggs. And even content that certainly does not 'suck eggs' in most people's opinion is seen, by some parts of a varied player community like this one, as 'sucking eggs'.

But if said player has more than one character, I think most people who have played the game will agree, the same content is experienced very differently on a variety of archetypes - tanking the STF is very different than playing a blaster on that task force, for a brutally simplistic example.

So encouraging 'Alt-ism' is a cost-effective way for the Devs of getting more bang out of each content 'buck', so to speak, and it provides a varied experience for the player, so everyone gains from the idea.

As someone who has only 11 L50 characters, with 2 more near L50, I am by no means what would pass for an 'altoholic' in this game. But seriously, 2 characters?? Wow. If you really want more different builds for the same character, you could solve the problem with a metaphorical sledgehammer: create a character with the same build, level them up to 50, and have that character be the mule for your 'alternate builds'. Jeebus knows you'll certainly have the slots for it!

No to FTP. The other is being implemented in a specific way in I20. Also, Suggs go in the Suggs forum, as already stated. Have a great day!

sry, dup.

To be pedantic here, "Spinal Cracker" might be parsed as a 'cracker' (a derogatory term) who is 'spinal' (whatever the **** THAT means ).

But a "Spinalcracker" (similar to a safecracker) mightmore readily be parsed as 'one who cracks spines'. 'Safecracker' is almost exclusively spelled as one word, so it makes sense this way (in the American usage, as far as I know). (also nutcracker)

But seriously, why not any of the following?
Walrus Gumboot
Holy Roller
JooJoo Eyeball
Mojofilter
Toejam Football
Monkey Filter

Masque, what can I say. Thanks. You did a terrific job managing the insane lot of us. Balancing strong PvP play, with competitive players, while trying to teach newcomers (like me) strategy and tactics for team PvP is a task not for the weak, and you did an outstanding job of balancing all the madness, and the way you set it all up made for a great competition.

PvP is generally not my first choice in CoX of Fun Things to Do, but I had a lot of fun – much more fun than I thought I would. Although PvP gets its detractors from all over in this game, with some smart restrictions put in by you and suggested by the other leaders in the group, the rock/paper/scissors nature of it makes for fun play, in my opinion. And as competitive as it got, the good nature of all of the players kept it fun for everyone.

I know it had to have been multiple tens of hours of time, thought, and effort beyond the actual gameplay, as well as a lot of emotional angst and brain-wringing to come up with solutions that would satisfy all of the different players diverse interests, needs, and preconceptions (mine included), and for all that extreme work, thanks.

I believe the requirements of our contract have been met. I will be expecting your promised payment of one shiny new Panacea Proc sent to @linarra. Have a pleasant day.

First, Ubergrats to team PewPewPew! That was a pretty tense last round… when the team went up 2, then PimpHand came back and tied, even though I was sitting out, I was really nervous - going into a 3-round match needing to win 2 and tie one to win the season was a pretty high-pressure situation! Great job sticking to the strategies and great job by team PimpHand making us work hard for the money* (so to speak)! And in the round I played, I have to thank none other than Hibernate for saving my bacon in a most desperate way!!! Woot Hibernate, way to go!

MP – fantastic job herding us cats. I think your strategic thinking definitely kept the other team on its toes and made them adapt to some of our trickier tactics And even when the chips were down, you kept us on track and made more than a few extra-effort decisions that probably gave us the edge. Awesome!

I’m happy to have been on the winning team, but I feel like both teams played good, hard, and honest games, and in the end, that matters more to me than the win. Great job, Pimpsters. Perhaps we will meet again…(if I had a mustache to twirl it, I would indeed twirl it. )

And thanks to Avatea for supporting the teams. It was great to get to hang with you for a bit in Pocket D, and thanks for the gold titles!

* - And yes, your eyes do not deceive you, I did pull out the Donna Summer reference. Deal with it.