je_saist

The 5870's power draw is actually better than the 8800 / 9800 series. Remember, one of Nvidia's huge design problems across the Nv4x, G7x, G8x, G9x, GTxx, and asThermaltake confirms, Fermi chips as well, is the massive power draw and heat-output. These really aren't problems in high-end cases where the average user will have spent some money on cooling the case, but it's always why Nvidia laptops earned a reputation for exploding, and why Nvidia's stock kept taking a beating as class-action lawsuits were being discussed against the company.

AMD, however, had their GPU engineers working like their CPU engineers. They worked on increasing performance without increasing the thermal output or the wattage input. The 5870 shares the same thermal and power profiles as the 4870, while being dramatically faster in performance. The 5770 shares the same thermal and power profiles as the 4770, but keeps up with the 4870.

So if his power supply can handle a GTS 250, he'll easily be able to run a 5870.

***

Now, as to whether or not the rest of the system can keep up?

Well, that depends on what is being played. Many games these days are hitting a processor limit long before they hit a graphical limit... as AMD demonstrated with Eyefinity... and as HardOCP demonstrated with the (last) of the high-end AMD Socket AM2+ processors: http://www.hardocp.com/article/2009/...on_processor/5

Socket AM3 put AMD back in the game... : http://www.hardocp.com/article/2009/...ble_ddr3_am3/6

That being said, the Core2 and Socket AM2+ Phenoms are still pretty powerful processors. However, if he bought this computer new with Windows 7, he's probably got an I5 or an I7... and yes, that will still Keep up.

I'm not sure if that was a joke or not... but I don't see the developers implementing Melee for Defendors or Corruptors any-time soon. The point of these classes is to stay at range. By the same token, it's doubtful that we'll see "addittonal" melee sets for Blasters. It's highly unlikely that the developers will ever do something as melee-heavy as energy manipulation again... there were some developer comments a few years back that making something that melee intensive was a mistake for blasters, a topic that was broached again when Mental Manipulation was introduced.

It's possible that our developers might be sold on looking at a Ninjitsu Manipulation / Ninjitsu Assault set... but there is a complication. Outside of Devices, these mixed melee / range / control sets don't actually have any weapon sets. The closest set to a weapon design is Thorny Assault.

Now, it's possible that the developers might look at adding a weapon based, or a non-elemental physical attack to these classes... and I personally wouldn't mind an ice blaster summing a 5 foot long pole of ice, or a fire blaster bringing a smoking red-hot lead pipe out of weapon space, and giving a quick smack to things that somehow got into melee range

This is correct:

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showt...ws#post2443743

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showt...ws#post2441550

Claws uses a subset of dual-wield and there were various clipping issues with the set. I'm unable to track any existing posts by red names directly on the subject of claws and brutes. Searches for Claws against Positron, Synpase, Castle, and BackAlleyBrawler return almost no results other than the mode explanations from BAB's on the claws set.

If my memory is correct, creating alternate animations that do not have the clipping, or flipping, issues is somewhere on the list of stuff for the animators to work on for, or after, Going Rogue.

I got him in another thread.

He's using Triple Head 2 Go.

I've bugged Castle and Posi in PM's asking whether or not they or the engineers are revisiting proper field of view with non 16:10 and 16:9 wide screen resolutions. There's been a general backlash among gamers against games that outright break (BioShock 2), or don't, support ATi's Eyefinity (Global Agenda). With Nvidia matching this ATi feature on Fermi cards, I think now's a good time to press the for Field of View changes and updates to correctly support the resolutions these systems can produce.

Okay. That isn't exactly supported by the CoH engine.

Pumbumbler noted in this post : http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showp...&postcount=146

So unfortunately, what you want, you probably are not going to get with Matrox's technology. As far as I'm aware, there is no user-editable method to change the game's field of view. As Pumbumbler theorizes, this might be because of Player Versus Player content and ensuring a level playing field. I theorize that a lack of multi-monitor solutions on the market might also be a reason the development staff has not enabled the game to support resolutions behind 16:10 and 16:9. The lack of multi-monitor solutions, however, is changing.

ATi launched their Eyefinity display mode last year, and Nvidia is launching an equivalent technology called Surround 3D with it's upcoming high-end GF100 Fermi graphics card. Right now the developers are requesting that gamers contact the graphics card vendors to make sure that their features will work with Issue 17's Ultra Mode: http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showp...38&postcount=1

It's possible that the game will be introducing updates to the game that will enable support through Eyefinity and Surround 3D. We don't know for sure if the developers are going to do that yet. Given that backlash against games like Global Agenda that don't support Eyefinity: http://hardocp.com/article/2010/02/1...enda_editorial ... I hope our developers are taking note and making sure some of these new features are supported with a new graphics engine.

So, now is probably a good time to start pushing for multi-monitor support again. I do have to give the caveat though that updates for Eyefinity and Surround 3D may not mean that your particular setup will be supported if, or when, such updates are pushed to the live server builds.

you probably won't be able to as Nvidia has end-of-lifed these chips. No more are being made. When the supplies dry up, that's it. Because of the scarce supply, prices are not going to go down as the last of these cards move through retail channels.

This has been addressed multiple times in the thread.

If you are looking to buy the brand-name Nvidia there additional problem that Nvidia will not be offering any mid-range cards in the market that the 260 and 275 occupy. Currently the only mega chips on order from TSMC are for the high end GF100 / Fermi card.

Nvidia's only other market entries right now based on chip orders are for the GTS 250 and the "new" GT 2xx, GT 3xx, and GTS 240 cards.

There will not be a Fermi-Mid-range until August at the earliest... and probably no low-end cards until late 2010, if not 2011.

Advisor / Comrade: http://badge-hunter.com/view_badges.php?id=176
Guide / Drill instructor: http://badge-hunter.com/view_badges.php?id=177
Paragon / Svengali : http://badge-hunter.com/view_badges.php?id=178
Role Model: http://badge-hunter.com/view_badges.php?id=232
Epitome: http://badge-hunter.com/view_badges.php?id=233
Paradigm: http://badge-hunter.com/view_badges.php?id=234

no.

The more likely you bug the devs on matters like this, the more likely you'll get thrown on the list of players to ignore.

Squeaking a noisy wheel doesn't always mean you'll get the result you want. Sometimes all you'll accomplish is ticking people off and making them mad. There are several suggestions that a small minority of players keep making that our developers and publisher are simply not going to consider. This is one of those suggestions.

... ooh. you are right.

oops: Okay. Content posted.

The Mac Client is simply the City of Heroes Windows Executable file running atop Transgaming's Cider Engine.

Please see these threads: Whoops. Not everybody can access this link. Here's the content since I wasn't paying attention to where I was linking to.


http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=209661

Okay, fair warning, I'm about to ramble here as I try to piece everything together for the benefit of answering this post, answering the Original Post, and for those who are searching the forums.

I think part of the confusion was the idea from HeroCon that everything the developers showed there was absolutely everything that is going to be in Going Rogue, Period!

There were, and are, quite a few posters who were, and are, convinced that the Going Rogue expansion was not going to be anything above, over, beyond, in addition to, plus, etc. what the developers showed off at HeroCon. Part of this perception was based on the release date of the initial Going Rogue information, the date of the HeroCon convention, and the amount of time between previous announcements of content and release dates.

Well, most players "knew" that the initial Going Rogue email was an accidental leak from the "3rd party marketing firm" that handles the mass emails to City of Heroes subscribers. The email sent out earlier last year was a purported mock-up based on initial plans floating around NCNorCal's office. Rather than run through a complicated series of deniles or vague answers, NCNorCal and NCSoft decided to own up to the email. NCNorCal quickly threw together a website and a teaser video and pushed it to main website, with I believe a red-named developer confirming later that the teaser video was pretty much put together in the time between the accidental email and the Going Rogue sub-site, just to have something to put on the site.

Several players interpreted the Going Rogue announcement to mean that development was in full swing, and that the expansion was probably targeted to counter the upcoming Champions Online. Even I stated this in a few places online. Some game reviewers and analysts attributed the rushed launch of Champions Online to Cryptic attempting to get their game out before the Going Rogue expansion landed.

From what we know now, when the email was sent out, Going Rogue was only in the pre-planning stages. Yes, there was some work being done on the underlying content creation, and I suspect that work on Ultra Mode was already underway as well, but it was very likely that the actual content of the game, the stories, the task forces, the missions, and the new morality mechanics for side switching.. probably were just story-boards sitting in Mr. Miller's office. We also "relatively" know that HeroCon was supposed to be the "big reveal" for Going Rogue. If the email hadn't been leaked, the first official confirmation of the expansion would have landed late last year.

***

The What's In Going Rogue confusion was further complicated by comments made before, during, and after HeroCon by the developers. One of the things we need to remember about NCNorCal, now renamed to Paragon Studios, is that they have shown a great deal more flexibility as a development house. The case in point is the Issue 13, Issue 14, Issue 15, and Issue 16 releases.

Remember, Architect Entertainment was supposed to be an Issue 13 release. Day Jobs were supposed to be an Issue 14 release. However, the development staff pushed Architect Entertainment back to work on the character-creation aspect, while features such as Day Jobs that were supposed to be in Issue 14 were wrapped up and implemented in the game earlier than planned. Issue The rapid switching of development priorities and planned feature expansions were a series of events that most players couldn't have imagined Cryptic allowing.

***

Bringing this back to Going Rogue. It's very likely that in the lead-up to HeroCon, the development staff had planned for an early 2010 release. However, there were several factors that figured into the state of their plans.

The first factor was the collapse of Champions Online. Cryptic Studios Management appearently had not learned any of the lessons from either City of Heroes or City of Villains, implementing game changing nerfs(1), a free-form power system, and skipping out on content.

One of the common complaint's "today" from players of City of Villains is that the content just isn't there. One would think that Cryptic Studios Senior management would make sure that nobody could complain about lack of content in their game. That... didn't happen.

***

The second factor was the delay of DC Universe Online to presumed Q2 2010 release. With City of Heroe's main 2009 competitor shooting itself in the foot, with a pistol, then shooting the other foot with a shotgun, then dropping a grenade down it's pants, development priorities changed.

I, admittedly, have little respect for SOE. Mostly because I was a Planetside player, and I'm still very bitter over how SOE handled the title. Many other gamers have little respect for SOE because of other games like Star Wars Galaxies or Everquest 2 that also experienced drastic changes to base mechanics. However bad SOE games get over the course of their lives, most SOE games tend to start out very well with high production values and good support.

There is also little doubt that DC Comics and SOE were closely watching Cryptic's second attempt at a super-hero game, and that both companies will do their best to ensure they don't commit the same mistakes.

****

Bringing this back around to City of Heroes, Paragon Studios and NCSoft watched one competitor sink itself, and have to deal with a second competitor who is more than likely not going to make the same mistakes with their game. So, if you were an executive or manager within NCSoft or Paragon Studios... what would you do?

Would you rush a product that isn't quite ready yet out the door just to get it on the shelves?

Or would you push that product back so that the development staff has as much time as is reasonably possible to work on the title, while staggering content releases that are almost ready for the Live Servers?

I think it's clear what path Paragon Studios and NCSoft decided to take.

We now know the pricing of Going Rogue is $30 for the basic package, and $40 for the collectors edition. This is actually a decent expansion price range. We also know that Issue 17 contains one of the features touted as a Going Rogue feature from Hero-Con, which is of course, the newly written graphics engine, Ultra Mode,

***

From an external viewpoint, the confusion is being caused by the development staff and publisher rapidly changing their development and publishing plans to best fit the current situation.

Ergo, we are seeing a repeat of Issue 13, 14, 15, and 16. Content that is planned for attachment with one expansion is being pushed to another expansion, or is being released early. We'll likely see adjustments made to the game over the succeeding issues as the developers get more live-server feedback and hard-numbers... similar to how AE was still being rebalanced in Issue 16 to fit the stated developer objectives announced almost a year earlier.

***

I do want to touch on one of the potential reasons why Ultra Mode is being released as part of Issue 17, rather than being coupled with Going Rogue. One of the popular misconceptions on these forums is that you have to buy Going Rogue to get access to Ultra Mode. By explicitly placing Ultra Mode in a free expansion the misconception should be addressed.


Okay, I hope this might explain to the original poster why he might be confused on what exactly the plans are for the game... the Dev staff and publisher are changing those plans on the fly...

I also hope this might explain to other players searching the forums some of the background events that are causing some of the changes in what was planned.

***

(1): I don't use the term "nerfs" very often, preferring to use the term rebalancing. As a former player of Planetside, Everquest, and Ultima Online, I'm fairly confident in saying that City of Heroes hasn't actually experienced a true nerf. Speaking for myself, I understand a lot of the power revisions introduced in the game, such as the change from Instant Healing from a toggle to a click, or the change of acrobatics from 100mag to 9mag. I, personally, understood the design behind Enhancement Diversification, and agreed with the reasoning. I just didn't agree with the timing. (calls Nostalgic Critic over to do that Casper ghost pop-up). Implementing such a major change after the game had already been in retail for over a year and was on it's first retail expandalone...

Well. City of Heroes did wind up faring better than other games that changed the base mechanics. This is likely because ED didn't actually change how the game was played... and the development staff was able to work the restrictions into helping Invention Origin Enhancements become a micro-game with a game.

With that being said, I think the changes made by Cryptic to Champions Online at launch do qualify as a nerf. Looking through their patch notes, I'm hard pressed to identify design logic or design reasoning behind many changes. It does remind me a lot of Everquest or Planetside where a developer's fiat determined various changes to the game.

Yes. There has been a lot of discussion. Back in 2002, 2003, and 2004, when the game launched. There was a time during the original game's beta in which the developers allowed a free-form power selection, and it was deemed to be a BAD IDEA. The abject failure of a free-form type system is why we have the structured power sets.

There's little surprise then that the Jack Emmert helmed Champions Online tried a free-form system again... with predictable results. I think the sales results of Champions Online demonstrate just how seriously our Developers should take any of Cryptic's game mechanics.

Which is to say that what-ever ideas Champions Online implemented probably are not a good ideas for our Developers to look at.

Hmm... decent computer for it's time, so lets get to your questions.

It was made clear by the developers at HeroCon, and many times in this thread:

The Existing Graphics Engine will continue to be Maintained. If you have a computer that will not Run Ultra Mode, you will still be able to play the game using the exact same graphics engine that you currently use.

Several long standing bugs in the existing graphics engine will be fixed in the Ultra Mode update, so ATi users should no longer have issues with Anti-Alaising, Depth of Field, or Water Effects.

Going Rogue Does Not Require Ultra Mode: All Content is playable with the existing Graphics Engine.

I think you are getting confused by the Developers statement that Going Rogue is Optimized for Ultra Mode.

What we think this means is that all content for Praetoria and Going Rogue was created with the Ultra-Mode settings in mind. We'll have a better idea what optimized means when Going Rogue hits beta and we can get some hard performance numbers and screenshots.

You do not need to change anything on your end to continue playing the game.

I can, however, tell you that you will not be able to run Utlra Mode. The 7950 is... well. Weak.

You're processor and memory, however, are perfectly fine. So if you want to replace your graphics card, tell us how much you want to spend, and we can tell you what's available in that price range.

ai. I keep a couple of PCI cards around for this reason.

For some players a hard objective is all they can understand. I've talked with a couple former players who quit without ever having a 50. One commented that he got to 38, had every power in his primary and secondary set, so there wasn't any point in getting to 50, so he left the game. I've talked with another who wouldn't run task forces, ever. Would run radio missions, would run team missions, would run newspapers... but would never go on a Task Force.

After a while, it's likely an acceptance that explaining these types of behaviors is impossible will form.

Sadly, I agree with this post. The grammar and spelling, not so much.

I've gotten rather annoyed with the various I just sold an enhancement for X amount of Influence, I can't believe some sucker actually bought it posts I see floating around the forum. I've lost count of the number of people celebrating in Global Channels for having sold a common salvage for a huge amount of cash.

The fact is, there's no bogeyman about it. The player market is in a state where the people who can afford to farm can afford to manipulate it.

Various solutions have been given, such as increasing the drop rate of enhancements, creating an event in Praetoria that awards a guaranteed purple, or lowering the prices on AE ticket to salvage conversions. I'm not saying any of these solutions is the right one... but I highly doubt that the the number crunchers on the developers staff are not keeping track of the market, and those who deliberately abuse the market, and more importantly... those who admit to abusing the market in game, and on the forums.