lionheart_fr

Um, no, the LOTRO devs have never said that. Ever. I say this as one who has been in LOTRO since friends-and-family alpha and is related to one of the devs (who would be vehemently opposed from a lore and gameplay standpoint).

If we had a vote on Open World, I would vote no for the reasons others have mentioned already.

This is true. However, with Valkyrie, Magic, and Cyborg, I've found uses of pieces and parts that go well beyond the niche of the packs. The run animation (and that's really the only thing I was commenting on) for Ninja Run really is niche. I'm sure I could find other combinations for the costume parts to extend them beyond merely ninja.

Both of your main posts in this thread sum up my perceptions as well. The animation and art for the Martial Arts pack is fantastic, but it is very niche (and most likely intended to be).

The run animation fits a very specific type of character: It is a ninja run, not a general purpose "Natural"-origin run. Hopefully in the future we'll get a similar run or other "Natural" travel power that will fit a broader range of character concepts.

This is the main problem I have with it. The animation does not look natural, athletic, or acrobatic on the run itself. It looks like you're getting ready to ram somebody, not sprint across the city. I can't think of many of my characters that would look right with that animation.

Hopefully in the future we'll get another version with more natural, athletic animations.

You can still check names from the server screen before you begin creating a character. The checker on the ID screen is indeed broken.

I believe the first time it was for character names below 36. Most of the names that actually got released from inactive accounts were well below that, hence the change to 1-5.

To be fair, for most names I doubt this would happen. I'm Lionheart FR on a server with at least three more Lionheart variations; I've never run into any of them in game. Even if I were to, the chances of having more than maybe two members of the same group (pug or otherwise) with the same name is unlikely.

And again, we can already do this without adding global handles, just by adding prefixes or suffixes, or with a slight spelling variation that retains the "feel" of superhero naming conventions, so that possibility already exists.

Whereas for myself, until the Faultline revamp, I avoided it like the plague. I hated the old Faultline. Now I think it is one of the most interesting story zones in the game. Could some of the old map been left in place? Probably. It might have made the zone even more interesting. But overall, I'll take the new Faultline over the old. Opinions may vary.

As for a map editor, if it were optional (which I assume it would be), I'd love it. I don't have time to create all new maps for an AE arc, but having the ability to set up a few custom maps for specific missions would be awesome.

If the custom creatures lacked any of the powers from the "standard" powers, they could have been nerfed to much to count for XP or tickets.

Because we are allowed to totally customize the creatures' powers, this was put in place to keep players from making extremely easy critters and farming them for XP/tickets.

It's a bit of overkill, since customs are usually a bit tougher than dev minions, but they are trying to find a balance to keep exploits out.

Sometimes I think it's because CoH/V isn't just another stock MMO. They've actually done things a little differently -- which makes it better than many in my book. They bucked some established trends and are thus labeled a "lesser" MMO for it.

Luckily, I've never worried about self-proclaimed "experts". I know what I enjoy and am glad the Paragon Studios team is continuing to keep this game vibrant and viable.

Matter of opinion (though I do understand what you are getting at). The AE, Powerset Proliferation, and Power Spectrum are among my favorite issues to date. They are fantastic and give those interested in developing there characters' stories with more than just leveling numbers a lot to work with.

They do count for a lot of us. Opinions of course may and will vary.

However, did you ever stop to think that these great QoL advancements they've been giving us over the past few issues may well be the offshoots of the Going Rogue work they've been doing? It sounds like they are working very hard to deliver exactly what you are asking for on a much larger scale than standard Issues. And they are devoting the time and resources to get it right, rather than rushing content out the door.

Remember, the team had been reduced to about 15 members (if I recall) by the time Cryptic sold the rights. Since then they have ramped up to more than triple the staff. That does not result in a sudden tripling of output; the new staff still needed to be brought up to speed with the system and so forth. Now they are working on what sounds like not only massive new content, but a significant tech improvements as well.

The new toys they've given me with AE, proliferation, and Spectrum will tide me over for a bit while I wait for GR.

Ah, I wasn't thinking in terms of technical limitations. My mistake. Thanks for the clarification.

Guess I've been involved in too many naming convention threads and misinterpreted the question.

Can I give myself negative rep for that? (wait, wrong thread)

I don't expect anything; these posts are purely for discussion purposes, not to demand anything from the devs (my brother is a dev for another MMO; I know better than that).

The only argument I'm making here is that there is no "canon" or logical storyline reason for characters on the same account not to be able to use bank transfers with each other. The notion that they can never meet is absurd on the face of it in an RPG. The whole point of an RPG is to be able to write your own backstory for your characters and fit them into the devs game world.

In my backstory, I can write that my character met the president of the United States. Never actually happened in game, of course, but nobody would question it.

But if I have two characters who are brothers with fully fleshed-out backstories about their escapades together, it won't wash because these brothers could never have met in "RL"? That members of the same SG have can never have met? Technical limitations should have no impact on storylines in an RPG.

Again, it is not (or perhaps only barely) plausible to think that two members of the same SG, with the same contacts, friends, etc., can not possibly have ever met. That's technical limitations trumping RPG elements all the way. It's not a valid reason to say two characters on the same account can't share influence (especially since they *can* share just about everything else via the SG base).

The only valid reason for not allowing is that the devs said so. This doesn't mean that they can't change their perspective based on the evolution of the game or player feedback. Hence threads like this one.

Actually, right here in this game. My daughter joined a costume contest in Atlas on one of her characters. She was in the middle of the line when another player jumped in and bumped her off of the platform into the water. She just jumped back up at the end of the line (instead of trying to push back into the middle).

She did not win the contest, but afterward a high-level character sent her a tell and said that she saw what happened, liked the way my daughter handle the situation, and proceeded to give her 2 million influence. It made a nice impression on my nine-year-old.

I've had high-level characters that I don't know pop by while I'm at a vendor in Atlas on a low-level character and drop a ton of level 50 enhancements on me to either store or vendor for a bunch of influence. I've done the same for others.

No, you're fine. You are pointing out the technical realities of the game in a reasonable fashion. Personally, I feel no sense of contention with you; I'm just plopping my two influence worth in too.

I play with my wife and daughter, so the issue of trading influence and such is really moot for me.

This is just a mechanic that I think has become obsolete based on the maturation of the game and reasonable story/RP elements. It would be a QoL change for the players, not a major game-changing feature.

Yes, but...

I drop bad AE missions as quickly as it becomes apparent they fit the category of which you speak. While I love playing good AE content, I certainly don't deny that there is a whole lot that I avoid like the plague.

I also do that with dev content that deserves to have an "it's only a simulation" button (although there is a far lower percentage of those) or that I just plain don't like, even if well-written (anything Vahz, zone zombie raids, etc.).

The fact that there is bad content in the AE as well as good doesn't counter the points made about legitimate use of AE for RP purposes.

That's not even remotely exploiting. It's reasonable, especially with regard to costume parts like insect/fairy wings. If it's part of your character's identity, you should be able to get it that early.

There is no difference at all between sharing influence/salvage, etc., between your own characters or with a friend's characters. You can already share salvage, enhancements, and inspirations through your SG base.

Why not influence as well since influence has become in-game currency? They've already deviated from the original concept; this would fit right in with the introduction of Wentworths and an in-game "economy."

Oh, I agree with you there. I was just pointing out that we shouldn't assign limits based on whether AE is technically considered "real" or not. Let's put out our ideas and assessments and let the devs consider whether they are worthwhile. We shouldn't let AE automatically put a kibosh on ideas simply because it's not considered "real."

See my response to Maniac_Raid concerning whether "realistically" two of our own characters could meet each other or not. That's the main point I was trying to make with regard to sharing between our own characters, whether we factor AE into the equation or not.

Sure we can. It's just as reasonable to assume that two of my characters can meet in game as it is to assume one of my characters can meet one of yours. *They are different people in game.* They are not the same character, not the same person.

The idea that they could not meet in game from a "real" game world perspective makes no sense at all. What that does is impose a game mechanic limitation (i.e., the same account can't have two characters logged in at the same time) on the over all game world/storyline aspect of the RPG. It's a technical issue overruling story logic. The AE lets us get around the technical issue and adds far more depth to our characters' storylines.

Only if you choose to play it that way. None of my characters go play a video arcade; the missions they run in the AE are just as "real" as the missions they run outside of the AE. That's the essense of an RPG and the AE is one of the greatest RP tools ever added to an MMORPG.

Just because Paragon Studios had to come up with a means of separating "canon" from player-created content does not mean that the players have to view it the same way.

This right here. If I have a choice between running the same endgame raids over and over and over again or going to AE and playing/designing new content, the AE will win out every time. It's a fantastic game continuation concept (I prefer that over "endgame").