galadiman
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Posts
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Joined
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[MS Word says this is 599 words; please let me know if this is correct. Pics may be forthcoming...]
Quote:You know me. Riding with your sister in the back of your parents car. Waiting for your mom in the Unmentionables Dept. at JC Penneys. Sitting thinking, in the bathroom at Applebys.
You remember them well. Barry Manilow, Johnny Mathis, Perry Como. Even the Beatles, Michael Jackson, Madonna take away all that emotion in those loud, nasty songs, and you know you love those supple sounds that stroke your sensitive side.
I bring you the Easy Listening of Beautiful Music,
the soft sweet sounds that soothe your soul
I transmit my tranquil tones on Every FM Frequency
And with my mellow muted melodies, I MELT your MIND.
Too late to calm this savage breast, friends.
You will never escape these dulcet tones.
A music student at Julliard with extraordinary talent, Jimmy had a range beyond nearly any male vocalist ever recorded. They said he beat Freddie Mercury, even Prince...
His parents supported his music. But his true muse was that voice he heard her since the day he turned 13. Somehow, only he could hear her on his radio. When she spoke, or sang, it was only to him.
But she really trained him, made him a virtuoso. She had him study the physics and mathematics of the voice from simple frequencies, to abstract musical set theory, to musical architecture
She never responded to his questions, never spoke directly to him, but seemed to know his thoughts, his needs. And though he sometimes raged at her, she always remained calm, supportive. An opera singer, a rockstar?
She taught Jimmy things well beyond the skill of any teacher; she took him to the heights of musical joy and the depths of musical anguish. He came to love her.
In his 19th year, his idyll was shattered: James, Im in danger. Please help, time is short. Theyre going to silence me, replace me with that awful sound and with a pol Come to Kings Row Its Blue S
He sprinted to the tram. Hed find a way to help whoever she was
Stepping off the tram, he saw a tremendous blue flash. A wail of immense pain mixed with ear-shattering static blasted from his earphones, then silence, and a soulless tune began.
An icy voice cut the vapid sound. Threat abated! This new era of peaceful music will unify us, and with the Police Band, the city will be safe!
Among the applauding citizens, the murmurs of, Blue Steel, James insane, unearthly scream of grief plunged deep inside him, and encased his heart in an icy chord, an unending hum of rage.
I will shatter their souls with their soothing sounds.
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Quote:On a forgotten frequency, in that range where video and audio bleed together, if anyone had been listening:
<Old mans voice, accompanied by slight static>Told you I could do it!
<Gameshow announcers overcheery voice, and a high pitched tuning whine> So it was you the whole time Youre a winner again, Squawk!
<static> Stop that, or Ill bring up that -tube nickname and turn over those 50 Hz. Fair and square, sonny!
<whine> Fine, old man, its all yours! Now, how are we bringing down the New Kid?. Hes moving up VERRY fast.
<static> You got ideas on how to beat The Net?
<whine> Glad you asked, old man! Tune in next week!
<static> I hate when you do that. Meantime, Ill get him over to Jonny Sonata
Yea, I tink Jimmy Muzak, dats a good name Johnny Sonata dragged on his foul cigar.
James velvet voice responded. Inelegant. Muzak Attack. That will be my pseudonym. -
"Burnout."
In the inimitable words of wisdom from Movie lore,
"You keep using that word. I don't think it means what you think it means."
All due respect, but I believe the cure for burnout will likely not be "to try and stick to the characters I like and level them up..."
If you are truly burnt out (which I agree as a diagnosis based on the thread so far), I think a significant break will help a lot. It's very hard to get perspective from inside the thing you are trying to get ... perspective... on. (terrible sentence.)
The problem seems to be that your expectations are heightened, and it will take a lot to meet them - high standards are great, but when you expect too much, a disappointment can seem even larger without context.
I hope you get through the difficult phase, but I fear that intensfying play, even with a character you love, might do more harm than good at this point. A 'break' is really a 2-week to 1 month idea at minimum, imo, totally away from the game. The fact that you listed watching one movie in your qualifications for 'taking a break' - even a 'SMALL' break - gives me the impression that your idea of taking a break is different than that of most people. -
Quote:Gonna have to speak up here... have you been here longer than your postcount/joindate implies? You might want take the time to look into what Arcanaville has contributed to the understanding of this game for the players (and to a significant extent, from what I gather, the Devs as well).Originally Posted by MyLexiconIsHugeSon
This.
I just don't get elevating any player above the others, and the players being ok with that.
Having players with applicable knowledge involved in something involving other players, sure. But that's it.
I'll see you in about a week, if you really do take the necessary time to look into it. -
Quote:This is the worst mixing of metaphors in the history of the Metaphor-o-Matic. Shame and fie upon you, Sir! Star Trek and the Force? Am I taking Crazy Pills??Originally Posted by Rocket_Bob
Ah, Posi is using the Thompson Algorithm to propound his position. The Force is strong in that one.....
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(not being snarky here) I'm really surprised that no one pointed that out yet, Chuckles... if they already did, I missed it. And I agree with Backfire, and Steel Shaman.
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<unsmote>.
Quote:But really, when it comes right down to it,Originally Posted by Arcanaville
You're entitled to feel that way, just like all the people who felt the invention system turned this game into a crappy wow clone, and all the people who felt the mothership raids turned this game into a crappy wow clone, and all the people who felt that the LRSF turned this game into a crappy wow clone. I'll bet there were a few people who said that when WoW added their version of exemplar, it just turned WoW in to a crappy City of Heroes clone (a very, very, very few). Everyone's entitled to their perspective, but to me this sounds like someone saying that converting an F22 to run on biofuel turns it into just another crappy Geo Metro clone.
I've taken occasional breaks from the game myself. Perhaps you need one. If you don't like running something but you feel compelled to do so, that's probably the best time to step back for a while. If you like the game, you'll come back. I always do.
it's all just a crappy Pong clone.
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Quote:Fortunately, that has NEVER happened to me, because I was the one facing all of those 12 year-olds myself! My total awesomeness made them all realize that they -<SMOTE>.Originally Posted by Redd Rumm
OMG !1 that is what happend to me . after about 3 weeks of trying not to throw my ps3 controller at my tv screen i came back to COX .
and on COD 4 you can here alll the insults and cursing from racisits 12 year olds instead of the occasional CAPS!!!!
i think ill log on my vill an play now !! -
I think different people have different ideas about the 'point' of RPGs... no real point in arguing who's right over this; everyone is. And this is also something that makes the Devs jobs more difficult, balancing different sets of needs and desires.
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Already available in Orobouros - Click "Enemies Buffed", and/or "Players Debuffed".
You're welcome.
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Interesting genesis of an idea. Might involve too-tight time constraints on the devs...
Allow me to pose an alternative:
Unlock neighborhoods of an existing zone based on activity - ie, in Atlas Park, you could unlock Atlas Plaza, Chiron Medical Center, etc, and have access to each if the conditions were met. -
Re: OP - it would ruin the game.
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Happy belated, dude.
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When I click on my Salvage window, I start on the 'All' Tab. To the right of that is Base, Component, Event, Incarnate, Invention, Special. (I think that's all of them).
My problem is, the number of tabs makes me have to click on several tabs so I can get to the far right to get to the salvage that is most commonly used (Invention, Incarnate, Special). In fact, I haven't used the Base and Component Salvage tabs in a long time now, and I only use Event tab rarely.
Could we have the ability to move those tabs around and/or hide some of them?
Also, could we include Empyrean and Astral merits on the Incarnate tab, along with Shards? Thanks... -
Quote:As Gomez Adams might say,Originally Posted by Elegost
start it up before the timer starts in a cage match <.< snipe when the timer hits 0.
"Dirty pool, old man! I like it...*"
* - (Don't really like it in this context, but it's what he said. )
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Quote:Agreed, but in a tabletop RPG, you can lean in, inflect, scowl, even play ominous (or lighthearted) music... things that are difficult in this game. Not impossible, of course, but difficult. So I can see that this sort of thing is sometimes an expedient route to an otherwise difficult course.Originally Posted by Techbot Alpha
The fact you yourself called it a slip, and your players called you on it, should give ample evidence that it was, in fact, not the right thing to do.
Edit: Just thought of a good example: Anyone here remember a little AD&D expansion called Ravenloft? If you could properly play even one session of that game without at least one time ascribing feelings to the characters, I will give you One Internets. -
Quote:Never Once? Seriously? You never once slipped and said something like, "This is the scariest thing you've ever seen," or "The scene fills your heart with joy and hope"?Originally Posted by Venture
In my several decades of tabletop GMing I never once told a player what his character's emotional reaction to something was. Physical reaction, sure; if the character (e.g.) touches something hot "you burned your hand" is an appropriate response. But I never did anything like, oh, say, telling a player "you now consider Frostfire, the murdering scumbag who blew up an entire Longbow base, a hero".
I was a DM for a few years myself, and I occasionally found myself doing these sorts of things. And when my players called me on it, I usually checked myself. But to say you never once did it?
All due respect, but sorry, that gets an askance look from me. I might believe it if you were a computer program or a robot... -
I like the second person narrative better. First person is confusing and wierd to me in this context. And I agree with the several people about character-jacking. One way around this is to provide an in-game narrator who expresses their feelings about the subject, but this is sometimes clumsy also, and more overhead...
I'm sorta good with it the way it is for now, but you bring up some good points, Samuel. -
Quote:Agree with most of what you've said here, but remember, only a limited number of players do open beta, so to be more granular, 100,000 players>>> 2500* OB testers>>>10 devs.Originally Posted by Comicsluvr
I thought this is what Open beta was for?
I understand than things can sometimes be combined to work in ways other than intended. BAB's discovery that Hami Raiders were using Oil Slick as a target for Howling Twilight comes to mind. Poison Trap and Recipe IOs is another good one.
Anything as complex as this game (and yes, it may seem simple to play but balancing it is complex) HAS to be tested, re-tested and then checked again to look for problems. Some will slip through because we're all Human but if the biggest problems are caught then it comes down to tweaks.
This is why the Devs give out Freespecs when they tweak a Power. That tweak might anger a whole bunch of players who LIKED it the way is was but are unhappy now. But if they have to do a wholesale slash and burn on a Power then something should have been caught earlier. If a big problem is missed then the right thing to do is man up, apologize for the mistake, fix it and move on.
Communication has been mentioned in this thread and I think that's important too. I once read that the Devs were unhappy with the way Bases were being utilized by the players. My question is how did they THINK we were going to use them? What was their goal/mindset/vision when they created them and how is their actual use so different? Did any of this disparity show up during Test?
It should also be said that what many players THINK they want and what they ACTUALLY want are sometimes two different things. The playerbase might say 'X Power is underperforming please fix it' when what they really want is for the set that X Power occurs in to be better overall.
You can never please all of the people all of the time.
And you can only test something for so long before it becomes a case of diminishing returns (no pun intended). At some point, you have to Let Fly, (as it were...) and hope things won't completely break the game. And if they do, you can roll it back, etc.
The devs also have to deal with players perceptions of things like feelings, fairness, fun, and balancing these considerations against each other... fixes often are delayed for these reasons.
* - I pulled this number from a dark and strange place. I wouldn't go to that place if I were you. -
Comicsluvr, your point 1 is not necessarily the case - it may be that no one tried to combine SC with some other more obscure power that creates some kind of Unholy Synergy (Hey, can we get a power called Unholy Synergy please? ) that wasn't seen in test because hey, who the heck would do THAT?!?
Remember, no matter how good the devs are, 100,000 minds are >>> than 10 minds.
Also, players are dirty haxxors who will do whatever it takes to break the System.
I keed, I keed! (a little.)
Edit: I guess the words 'can readily perform' means that my above words are invalid, so nevermiiiind... -
Great idea, Marcian!
2 people fix #1 immediately. 1 should work on #3, 1 should work on #2. And by work on #2, I mean communicate with the playerbase about what they feel is overpowered, and have them provide numerical substantiation to prove it. (ie, "Listen, guys, right now, the team does not agree with your assessment that SC is overpowered. BUT we are willing to listen. However, we need you 1) to provide concrete, detailed proof that what you say is happening is actually happening, and 2) that that thing is out of whack witht he rest of the game..."
Then ask Arcanasberg look over the reasoning. But importantly, do not keep this communication with Arcanasberg secret. (Don't necessarily go out of the way to publicize it, but don't make it a secret). Keeping secrets like this undermines trust in both parties.
The PR problem presented by #2 is important; if one wants to build a devoted, loyal playerbase (which imo is extremely important), consideration and honesty are two vital components to making those happen.
Edit: change my mind, the 4th dev should work on #3 1/2 the time, and #1 1/2 the time. So, to be clear, 2.5 Devs on #1, 1 dev on #2, 0.5 devs on #3. And stay clear of 'creative truthtelling/lying' - nothin p***es people off more than the words, "Well technically, I was telling the truth..." -
Quote:Corollary: allow us to choose Common OR uncommon when an Uncommon drop is received. Similar for Rare, Very Rare.Originally Posted by Mr_Apocalypse
like the title says, allow us to downgrade threads into shards, so that the alpha slot can be earned and upgraded by running trials, instead of WST and ITF farms
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Also, this could have something to do with it:
When I play, I'm often on Vent. And at the end of the trial, we (almost) all pipe up and say,
"Yay! Rare!" or
"Super YAY! Very Rare!" (to which we all hastily reply, "HAX!") or
"**** on all of you, 10 threads, this game sux." (to which we all hastily reply, "SLACKA!"
But then we get down to the Serious Business of figuring out which ^%*&% piece of salvage we need to use to get what we want. That takes some time, and some... the word escapes me, you do it with your head-part... sometimes it hurts... ah yes, thinkerating!
And during the thinkerating process, unbeknownst to us, but knownst to many psychologistical-type-people (I will call them 'Shrinks' to protect their feelings from that other derogatory term I used, cause they hate that) you become invested more in the characters, and in the powers, and feel like what some people call these 'tacked-on powers' become more intrinsically part of the player's experience with the character.
But maybe they're just doing it to mess with our heads, and punish us for our evildoing. -
I believe this should be the song you are looking for...
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Quote:...and then click on each word describing the sub-powers (they're links.)Originally Posted by Necrotech_Master
the only incarnate powers which dont really give a lot of details are the interface procs, all of the other incarnate powers give full detailed info if you right click on their pictures in your incarnate interface
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Quote:OMG. When that guy kicked that robot, I was totally ready for that thing to completely rip him apart. The stumbling made it SOO human-like. I soo wish it would have stopped and turned slowly toward the threat. That would have been a great easter-egg, and probably would have made the 'kicking guy' drop a pantload, iykwim.Originally Posted by NinjaPirate
That's very impressive. Also a bit frightening in the deep depths of my subconscious fearplace. Maybe a water-balloon gun would also be a good investment...