je_saist

Not entirely sure this is the case. E.G. I remember earthquakes in California, Hurricane Bonnie, Hurricane Hugo, and the like.

I think it's more a case that the reporting and coverage of natural disasters is more widespread. 10 years ago the only way an average person would hear about a natural disaster was on the evening news.

Today the average person is more likely to have an internet connection, email, or cellphone, all which facilitate rapid communication.

Well... that area IS known as the Pacific Ring of Fire.

I think all of us wish they are safe.

I sort of hope this doesn't set Nuclear power itself back though. I can just can see people declaring how unsafe Nuclear power is... entirely forgetting that the reactors got hit with multiple earthquakes and a frigging 3 story high wave of solid water.

About the only good news is that one of Russia's Nuclear experts, Yaroslov Shtrombakh, thinks a Chernobyl-type meltdown is unlikely.

and even then, it wasn't the earthquake itself that damaged the Reactors, but the massive Tsunami that followed.

Reuters is reporting (no other confirmation so far) that the Japanese Government is confirming an explosion at Plant 1, and extending the evacuation zone to 10km.

The only intuitive interface is the nipple - Bruce Ediger

I'll go ahead and say what you do not want to hear. No, your proposal is not more intuitive than the contact system in place.

The current system works because the player is directed by an over-arching contact to fight various mobs. From the first moment a player logs in there is somebody they can talk to that will tell the player where they should go and what they should do. Even if the player can't tell a difference between a Vhazilok and a Hellion, they are not inhibited as to the story progression.

Your suggestion inverts that frame of reference, and ultimately introduces several technical and gameplay problems that don't exist in the contact framework. For example:

• How do the developers communicate that the player has achieved all of the contacts for storylines with this group?
• How do the developers communicate that the player is partaking in a story-arc with multiple groups?
• How do the developers determine that the player unlocks a contact for one group of enemies when that contact sends players against multiple enemies?
• How do the developers determine which contact to unlock for players that are defeating enemies with multiple contacts?
• How do the developers communicate to the player that they need to go to another zone?
• How do the developers communicate to the player that they are too low for a particular zone and a particular story arc?
• How do the developers communicate to the player that they are too high for a particular zone and a particular story arc?
• How do the developers handle contacts who send players to multiple zones, or for contacts whose enemy groups are in a different zone from the one the contact is in?
• How do the developers communicate to the player that they have completed all of the story arcs for an enemy group?
• How do the developers communicate to the player that they have completed all of the story arcs for the zone they are in?
• How do the developers communicate to the player that if they go to a different zone and face the same enemy, they can continue the story.
• How do the developers communicate to the player that if they go to a different zone and face a different enemy, they can continue the story?
• How do the developers communicate to the player that if they defeat a different enemy in the zone they are in, they can unlock the contact that continues the story they are on?

These are just some of the problems that a tips based system for story-arcs creates. Addressing these issues alone would require signficant development resources, enough that you've gone beyond a revamp and are firmly in the territory of "completely new game"

The reason the existing tips-system works is because the developers don't have to worry about any of these issues. Players can be directed and guided, and there is a common frame of reference, and the system is intuitive.

Reference above. Altering the turtorial is the least of the problems the developers face.

Yes it would, and it did. That's how players used to get inspirations way back in the day.

Anyways, there is a big technical hurdle with this particular example. That hurdle is that all of those animations are... randomized.

Each enemy group in the game is given a selection of animations they can use depending on their spawn point. The enemies then cycle through these animations based on their randomizing spawns. This randomization means that you can see weird things like NPC's trying to take the tires off a building...

Implementing a tips system to deliver story-arc contacts or tips through specific NPC encounters would require a large amount of new code on the back-end of the processing engine. It also would require extensive changes to the database and filtering methods used to determine what players are eligible to get.

The reason the existing tips system works is because... the developers don't have to worry about these engineering factors. Alignment Tips are dropped based on enemy defeats, not by what kind of NPC the enemy was, or where the enemy was located at.

In addition, the developers save on additional overhead processing costs by limiting the amount of information that the server has to send back and forth. All the game has to do is run a quick table reference on what alignment the player is.

• A player who is Hero or Vigilante gets rolls on the Hero / Vigilante mission list.
• A player who is Vigilante-tourist gets rolls on the Vigilante-tourist list.
• A player who is Villain / rogue gets rolls on the Villain / Rogue mission list.
• A player who is Rogue-tourist gets rolls on the Rogue-tourist list.

So, two database passes, and bam, Job done.

No. they couldn't.

Again. The system doesn't track that kind of information. The reason the bank / safeguard missions work is that they are based on a simple unlock.

• Has player done X amount of Y mission?

Then there's the entire issue of the rewards and badges associated with running Radio / Paper-Missions, and that's a whole other can of technical worms I really don't want to dig into.

Okay. I agree that such a system would make the player feel more involved with the zone they are in... but it would also completely break the existing balance of game-rewards such as:

• Merits
• End of mission influence
• Story arc time
• Badges
• Temporary Power Unlocks

Okay. I'm... not even going to try to pick that one apart.

As I said earlier, I'm neither for or against your suggestion. I think it actually has it's own merits as far aiding the immersion of the game world.

However, such a system as you want would really be suited to a single player game. For a Massive Multiplayer Online Game where network efficiency is CRITICAL... well... I'd have trouble coming up with anything that was less intuitive... more confusing... required transmitting and tracking more information... and introduced completely new development problems that don't exist under a Contact tree system.

That being said, to reiterate what I said earlier, the suggestion itself might be a nice idea for a high-level addition, specifically for NEW minor story arcs not tied to existing arcs or content.

A good example of the defeat stuff to unlock stuff would be History Arcs tied to defeat badges. Every-time a player unlocks a defeat badge they get an unlock in Ouroborus that lets the player experience a short story arc looking at a pivotal moment in that group's past... say like experiencing the Hollowing, or the rise of Dr. Vhazilok.

I suspect Spines is about as assault(ish) as the devs are willing to go for Armor Archtypes.

Right now I'm in Florida as well, and I've heard it, quite often, since I got down here.

And I heard it, quite often, back in Georgia.

My statement still stands. It is used by a particular population group, as an insult, against another particular population group.

It is not, by any means, a relic of a term, a forgotten term, or a not widely used term.

Now if you won't the make the argument that NCSoft should expect it's players to be better than that population group, which isn't likely to be playing an MMO to egin with, and because of that need to lift the restriction on the term "cracker" : fine. Make that argument.

Do not make the argument on the premise that it is no longer actively used.

Try living in the South East USA some time.

It is used, quite often I might add, by a certain population group.

question: is the fix something on CoH detection part? Or is it a driver level issue?

Yeah. Uh Huh.

You have your opinion. I have mine. Is yours more valid than mine? Is mine more valid than yours?

That would really be up for Abbadon to decide for himself.

Will he encounter a Freedom server where a team broadcasting for a kinetics takes a kinetics defender, then promptly kicks the defender because they wanted a fire / kinetics controller to come and farm a map for them?

Will he encounter a Freedom server where players openly discuss how they exploited the game for rewards?

Will he encounter a Freedom server where players openly brag about how they placed the Ourobous portal at exactly the right spot to interfere with other players ability to run the ski-course during the Winter Event?

Will he encounter a Freedom server where players are invited to teams, then have trade windows suddenly opened and the team lead demanding inf before running the mission?

Will he encounter a Freedom server where Atlas Park broadcast is filled with players figuring out ways to get obscenities and profanities around the word filter?

Will he encounter a Freedom Server that ask for a Tank, gets a Fire Tank, and then kicks the Fire Tank?

Will he encounter a Freedom Server where somebody starts a Task Force, then half the team suddenly leaves... only to log back in 2 hours later expecting the TF to be nearly over so they can get the rewards for the TF?

Maybe Abbadon will, maybe Abbadon won't.

Speaking for myself and for all of the people I play with, our opinion of Freedom couldn't be lower. We believe that the server has earned the nickname of Freedumb. Most players I know have one horror story or another.

Oh... and lastly.

Freedom's no longer the most populated server. I believe official figures now place Virtue as being the most populated.

Now does raw population mean anything in this game? Again, that's up to the player whose actually playing the game. For all we know Abbadon might enjoy Guardian Server, Pinnacle, or Infinity because he'll get along with the players on those servers. Does it matter if those servers have lower total populations if a player enjoys them?

See, the thing is Leandro, many of the bugs players have been reporting with AMD kit, such as the sleep to hibernate bug, and many of the graphics issues... I haven't been able to duplicate or replicate. But I mostly use AMD processors with AMD or Nvidia chipsets. I rarely use an Intel processor with an Intel chipset.

Now I'm using an Intel I7 processor with an Intel chipset as my play system... mostly because my Phenom II system sounds like a hurricane in this tiny apartment... and I'm starting to run into many of the errors. I'm beginning to wonder if this is an Intel specific problem, related to Intel's chipset drivers, rather than to anything Paragon Studios or AMD specific.

If it's an Intel specific problem, then that may be why Paragon Studios / AMD haven't been able to effect a fix for the crashes and lock-ups.

granted, I wouldn't either, but I know some players have had problems buying through NCSoft's online store that they didn't get with Steam.

Yes / no / not really.

SLI support is still very early on Nvidia's part. There are a few known regressions (*cough GTX 295 cough*). You may actually get more stable performance turning off SLI for this game.

Honestly, only two. Freedom has the reputation of Freedumb. Let's just say that Freedom server is so bad, I willingly ponied up the cash to move my avatars off there when Server-transfers were first made available. Since then... it's gotten worse. Primary reason being that during one of the free-server transfers offered by the developers saw a significant number of the remaining vocal PvP players head to Freedom.

The other server is Triumph. I don't have anything good to say about that server. Out of all of the servers I've played on, I've encountered more people who have left this game... permanently... will not give CoH another chance... due to the behavior of various players associated with the Triumph Server.

If you are in the US, just drop by www.plaync.com and buy digitally, or through Steam.

100% of the money from the NCSoft store goes to the developers. A larger percentage of the money from Steam goes to the developers compared to buying from a brick and mortar store.

question for you: are you running an Intel processor or an AMD processor?

Neither.

City of Heroes is largely not a "loot" based game such as those you are accustomed to. In City of Heroes we have Enhancements, which you can read about over on Pargaon Wiki: http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Enhancements

Basic Enhancements can be bought with various in-game rewards, such as Influence, Infamy, or Information: http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Influence

More powerful enhancements can be purchased with Merits that are rewarded for completing story arcs, task forces, or strike forces: http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Merit_Rewards

There are also Hero Merit and Villain Merit rewards that are granted for playing as a Pure Hero or Pure Villain in the Tip Missions. These "Alignment Merits" can be used to buy the most powerful enhancements in the game: http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Alignment_Merit

There are also other unique in-game rewards, such as Candy Canes, Vanguard Merits, and the Halloween Salvage, that all unlock specific benefits or bonus's. Candy Canes, for example, can be used to purchase the Winter's Gift set of Travel Enhancments.

Now, the forums can be a bit misleading here. Most of the players offering or seeking build help on the forum are using highly specialized builds using Rare Invention Origin Enhancements to receive a particular series or set of buffs to their character.

The Invention System is entirely optional.

You can slot up a character with single origin enhancements and still be an effective team player.

City of Heroes is largely 95% instanced to begin with. If you play through the "classic" missions you'll still get defeat 20 of this group or patrol this island, but for the most part the non-instanced content is considered to be a legacy gameplay format.

This is a bit sticky to answer. City of Heroes has never had an End-Game for the past 7 years. The developer's point of view has been for the past... 5 or 6 years... that Content is Content. Because of this design philosophy City Of Heroes take's tremendous steps to bridge the gaps between players of different levels.

Case in point is Super Sidekick System. Players currently earn Experience and Inf regardless of if they are exemplared or sidekicked. So if you are a level 35 Blaster, and you head over to the Hollows to join your buddies who are only level 8... you'll still gain experience despite your lowered level.

It's only been since last year that the developers set aside resources to focus on providing what they call Incarnate Content.

Given that there are only two Incarnate Content Task Forces and one story-arc in the game (Apex TF, Tin Mage TF, and Mender Remials introduction arc), no real accurate judgment can be made on the end-game system as of right now. Issue releases 20 and 21 will be bringing more Incarnate Content to the game.

Will City of Heroes end-game be comparable to any other end-game content? Probably not.

In many games the End-Game basically means you turn around and change what you do... completely. E.G. Tabula Rasa. You played 50 levels of a squad-based PvE shooter, then at level 50 found yourself with a third-person PvP shooter. That didn't work out too well for Destination Games.

As far as we, the players know, there is no intent on the part of Paragon Studios to use Incarnate Content to make a completely different game. The intent, so far, is to make Incarnate Content... Content. Yes, it will be difficult. Yes it will require strategy and tactics. Yes you will need to be max level to run it, and have unlocked and slotted an incarnate power... but that's pretty much the extent of it.

slight problem.

It wasn't common sense, and it wasn't logical thinking. The risk of lawsuits still remains. Marvel could sue again if they felt that their intellectual property was being infringed upon by City of Heroes. Anybody else is also free to sue if they feel that City Of Heroes is infringing upon their intellectual property.

The actual settlement between Marvel and NCSoft / Cryptic was more of an "in abeyance". It's a legal term. Look it up.

Also, players have to agree to the following terms in the user-agreement:

I've bolded the important part since it applies here.

The players are expected to do their own due-diligence in regards to the names of their characters. This does require action on the part of the players.

Please see this thread from last December: http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=248204

Specifically these posts:
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showp...06&postcount=1
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showp...19&postcount=4
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showp...8&postcount=16
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showp...3&postcount=21


Then read these posts by Tex made yesterday:
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showp...84&postcount=5
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showp...6&postcount=14