paynesgrey

I think' there'll be a temporary drop, but no Game Killer. (And thus no Market Killer.)

I've been putzing around with the CO beta. It's got some good points, but my impression is City of WoW. Not sure if that's good or bad. I can see myself hopping on and off now and again, a month here, a month there for variety, but not ditching my Barely Ebil Lvl 50's.

CoX's big strength has been in constant improvement, new material, new concepts. An example being when I left CoX a couple years ago because of the Grind Factor, and because non-decaying debt from a bad PuG night pretty much ruint my main for me. (Every time I'd re-subscribe, log in and see that gawdawful pile of debt it would really just P.O. me. I'd play an alt for a while, then dig up X-Com again or some other thing.) Then to my surprise and delight, they not only began decaying debt but installed rested xp, which is a great motivater to play a character through one of those level slumps. And what followed? Even more improvements, more new material.

The Devs clearly weren't insisting till blue in the face that a 45 minute corpse run was "what really makes the game fun, you love it, you just don't know you love it", they were taking player criticisms and suggetions seriously.

That's what kept bringing me back, and that's what will keep me around unless somebody decides to start phoning it in, it'll keep me around.

Now, Star Trek Online might take a sizeable bite. I can feed my Hero Jones here just fine, but it's freakin' Star Trek, and I was raised on Tribble milk and dreams of sexy green girls. I can afford to have 2 subscriptions running just fine, but a lot of people aren't in my financial shoes, so I can see some people wandering over to STO to get their Tribble Fix. But if CoX keeps up with the good material and innovations, I think it, and the Market will be around for quite a while.

Overall my sales strategery is based on what's happening in the market. Number of sellers/buyers is of more interest to me than outright sale price. I'll cook up 2 or 3 of one item, if there's no glut I'll put one at the low end of the range, one near the high end. Some turns over quickly, some not so quickly. Then I'll see if my bids on pieces/parts are successful, and look for new recipes to explore.

And of course, no day is complete without hitting that extra zero and bidding 6,000,000 for a salvage item I wanted to bid 600K for. (Excert From Why Not To Craft With A Toothache.)

Personally, I just like crafting more than flipping. Mixes up the day as I craft things to sell while funding the crafting of things for my Main and her poor, starving alts. I'm not so much concerned with getting Da Ebil Bilwun as I am just getting my little darlings all tricked out. (I'm something of a klutz, so my poor toons need all the help they can to avoid hospital stays.)

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Would the tequila lie to you?

[/ QUOTE ]

Considering that the pronounciation for "tequila" is uncomfortably close to "takillya."

*shudder, twitch*

I'll stick with my rum and homebrew.


How would he know?

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks... Cycle's I can deal with. Was wondering if I'd gotten the stupids, or had simply enjoyed a brief lucky spell.

Curse you, wretched competition! You will drown in rivers of unholy flames. Ummm .... Rarr?

Actually this is encouraging. I'd been wondering if it was a slowdown, or if I'd simply jumped into the market at a period of unually high demand, which would give me a sad.

[ QUOTE ]
Something went "Sproing" alright. Your only gonna be able to get like 1 purple for 100 mill now a days.

[/ QUOTE ]

I should clarify. It's not the price of purples that's giving me the sad, it's the sudden and terrifying surplus of the enhancement's i've been milling out that's beaten the price like a baby seal. I've been doing a mix of Steadfasts, Crushing, Posi's, whatever I can get a decent price on recipes for and sell back for at least a 3-4 million profit. But stuff that's had 10-20 sellers on the average, for the last 3 weeks, suddenly has 50, even 100 sellers. And the recipes are rare and dear compared to before. I know there's usually a weekly cycle, more activity on the weekends, that sort of thing.

I'm fairly new to the buy/build/sell bit, but in the last coupld weeks I've turned 4 million into about 100M while also beefing up my build nicely. No big player stuff, just the recipes you get for 1 or 2M, sell for 6-10M. Steady and reliable for 2 weeks or so.

Wahoo, easy street, time fer them purplz. Then this weekend rolls around like a big, smelly, lethargic thing that rolls over your plans for grand master sellingness. I'm talking an absolute glut on enhancements, and a run on recipees. So is this a normal cycle, or did something just go "Sproing!" in the market that I'm not aware of?

Thanks for the info! I'll put it to good use as I "arrest" miscreants with bone scorching flames.

*Pictures the Blazing Brat emptying out a DustBuster on the police sergeants desk. "Arachnos...Arachnos...umm...bit of Nemisis...I think... Oh. That bit is a little of both....*"

I have learnt me some smartness this day.

I've gotten my Fire/Fire Blazing Brat up to the 40's, and have learned to auction and craft for fun and profit. To the point where I can actually start buying those shiney purple things. So I'm really lusting after Ragnarok, in a Mila Jovovich covered in chocolate sort of way. I'm wondering if it would work better in Fireball or Rain of Fire. Does the Knockdown proc only work on the initial hit, or does it have a chance with each tick? Seems like that would be too much nerfworthy fun, but wanted to Ask The Experts before plunking that rascal anywhere.

Well, I've played for a day and some change without a single crash, so it looks like the nvidia networking software was to blame. Not a single crash since I removed it.

Thanks!

Earlier post was made typed before reading your info on the nvidia firewall.... I had a brainfart and didn't click "conintue". Durrr.

Anyway, I've removed the Nvidia network bit, I'll see how that goes...

I'll find the latest audio drivers. Cleanup and scan is done pretty much every week, along with spybot S&D. I defrag every couple of weeks too.

Think running drivesweeper and reinstalling the 185.85 drivers will help?

Thanks for the advice.

I've been having the game crash every couple hours on me, usually while zoning. Windows is up to date, service packs, updates, even the hotfixs listed elsewhere in the forums. Graphics drivers also are swept and up to date. This time the crash gave me the following message (first time)

Crash message:

[ QUOTE ]
Assertion failed

Program: C:\Program Files\City of Heroes\CityOfHeroes.exe
Time: Wed Jun 24 12:05:08 PM
Process ID: 5500
File: c:\src\utilitieslib\utils\superassert.c
Line: 1857
Expression: 0

Error Message: CRT abort() called

ERROR: swDumpStackToBuffer - timeout (258) waiting for dumpHeap is NOT corrupted
Last windows SYSTEM error: Not enough storage is available to process this command.



[/ QUOTE ]

Here's the CoH helper log:

[ QUOTE ]
---System information gathered by CoH Helper version 0.1.1.7---

DxDiag gathered at June 24, 2009 12:15 (-04:00)
Operating System: Windows Vista™ Home Premium (6.0, Build 6002) Service Pack 2 (6002.lh_sp2rtm.090410-1830)
System Manufacturer: Dell Inc.
System Model: Inspiron 531
BIOS: oC)Phoenix - AwardBIOSTeDell System v6.00PG
Central Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 5600+ (2 CPUs), ~2.8GHz
Memory: 3070MB
.Net Memory Report: 2350MB out of 3069MB available
Page File: 5145MB (1217MB currently in use)
C Drive: (WDC WD10 01FALS-00J7B SCSI Disk Device) 723549MB out of 953866MB (75%) free
D Drive: (SONY CDRWDVD CRX310S SCSI CdRom Device) zero-size drive
Windows directory location: C:\Windows
DirectX: DirectX 10
DirectX Diag version: 6.00.6001.18000 (32-bit version)

Display Notes: No problems found.
Sound Notes: No problems found.
Input Notes: No problems found.

Monitor: ViewSonic VG2230wm SERIES
Monitor's Max Resolution: (blank)
Video Device Name: NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT
Manufacturer / Chip: NVIDIA / GeForce 8800 GT
Video Memory: 1779 MB
Driver Version: 8.15.0011.8585
Driver Date: 4/30/2009 10:02:00 PM
Driver Language: English

Sound Device Description: Speakers (2- Realtek High Definition Audio)
Driver File: RTKVHDA.sys
Driver Version: 6.00.0001.5555
Driver Date: 1/24/2008 11:06:40 AM


WMI Information
Motherboard Manufacturer: Dell Inc.
Motherboard Model: (empty)
Motherboard Product: 0RY206
Motherboard Version: ÿÿÿ
BIOS Manufacturer: Dell Inc.
BIOS Name: oC)Phoenix - AwardBIOSTeDell System v6.00PG
BIOS Version: DELL - 42302e31
BIOS Release: 20080109000000.000000+000

Registry Information for Current User
Resolution: 1680x1050
3D Resolution: 1680x1050 (Not using renderscale)
Full Screen: Yes
Maximized: No
Screen Position: 0, 0
Refresh Rate: 60Hz
Vertical Sync Enabled: Yes

Physics Quality: None
Maximum Particles: 6187
Max Particle Fill? 10.000
Physics Card Enabled: No

Anti-aliasing: 4x
Anisotropic Filtering: 4x
Texture LOD Bias: Smooth
Water Effects: None
Bloom: 1.000 (turned off)
Depth of Field Enabled: No
Desaturation Effects (Sepia) Enabled: No
Shader Detail: High

World Texture Level: Very High
Character Texture Level: Very High
World Detail Level (Vis_Scale): 0.903
Entity Detail Level: 0.890
Shadows Enabled: No
Gamma Correction: 1.000
Geometry Buffers (VBOs) Enabled: No
Suppression of Extra Player FX Enabled: No
Suppression of FX When Camera Close Enabled: Yes
Close Suppression Range: 3.000
Show Advertisements: Yes

Audio Mode: Compatiblity
3D Audio: No
FX Sound Volume: 0.500
Music Sound Volume: 0.221

Show Advanced Graphics Options: Yes
Overall Graphics Quality: 0.300
Reverse Mouse Buttons: No
Save Login Username: Yes
Transfer Rate: 290909 bytes/second
Current Game Version: 18.20090422.5T
Installation Directory: C:\Program Files\City of Heroes

Mod files in the Data directory
.\texture_library\GUI\Icons\Powers has 120 files
.\texture_library\MAPS\city has 1 file
.\texture_library\MAPS\Safeguard has 9 files
.\texture_library\MAPS\sewers has 44 files
.\texture_library\MAPS\static has 34 files
.\texture_library\V_MAPS\Outdoor_Missions has 9 files
.\texture_library\V_MAPS\Static has 16 files


[/ QUOTE ]

and Hijack This:

[ QUOTE ]
Logfile of Trend Micro HijackThis v2.0.2
Scan saved at 12:21:26 PM, on 6/24/2009
Platform: Windows Vista SP2 (WinNT 6.00.1906)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v8.00 (8.00.6001.18702)
Boot mode: Normal

Running processes:
C:\Windows\system32\taskeng.exe
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Windows OneCare Live\winssnotify.exe
C:\Windows\system32\Dwm.exe
C:\Windows\Explorer.EXE
C:\Windows\RtHDVCpl.exe
C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\bin\jusched.exe
C:\Program Files\Spybot - Search & Destroy\TeaTimer.exe
C:\Windows\system32\wbem\unsecapp.exe
C:\Program Files\RivaTuner v2.20\RivaTuner.exe
C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe
C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe
C:\Program Files\Windows Live\Toolbar\wltuser.exe
C:\Windows\system32\Taskmgr.exe
C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe
C:\Windows\system32\Macromed\Flash\FlashUtil10b.ex e
C:\Windows\system32\NOTEPAD.EXE
C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe
C:\Windows\system32\SearchFilterHost.exe
C:\Program Files\Trend Micro\HijackThis\HijackThis.exe

R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896
R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=69157
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Page_URL = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=69157
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Search_URL = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=69157
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Search,SearchAssistant =
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Search,CustomizeSearch =
R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar,LinksFolderName =
O1 - Hosts: ::1 localhost
O2 - BHO: AcroIEHelperStub - {18DF081C-E8AD-4283-A596-FA578C2EBDC3} - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Acrobat\ActiveX\AcroIEHelperShim.dll
O2 - BHO: Spybot-S&D IE Protection - {53707962-6F74-2D53-2644-206D7942484F} - C:\PROGRA~1\SPYBOT~1\SDHelper.dll
O2 - BHO: (no name) - {5C255C8A-E604-49b4-9D64-90988571CECB} - (no file)
O2 - BHO: Search Helper - {6EBF7485-159F-4bff-A14F-B9E3AAC4465B} - C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Search Enhancement Pack\Search Helper\SEPsearchhelperie.dll
O2 - BHO: Windows Live Sign-in Helper - {9030D464-4C02-4ABF-8ECC-5164760863C6} - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Windows Live\WindowsLiveLogin.dll
O2 - BHO: MSN Toolbar Helper - {d2ce3e00-f94a-4740-988e-03dc2f38c34f} - C:\Program Files\MSN\Toolbar\3.0.1125.0\msneshellx.dll
O2 - BHO: Java(tm) Plug-In 2 SSV Helper - {DBC80044-A445-435b-BC74-9C25C1C588A9} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\bin\jp2ssv.dll
O2 - BHO: Windows Live Toolbar Helper - {E15A8DC0-8516-42A1-81EA-DC94EC1ACF10} - C:\Program Files\Windows Live\Toolbar\wltcore.dll
O3 - Toolbar: MSN Toolbar - {1E61ED7C-7CB8-49d6-B9E9-AB4C880C8414} - C:\Program Files\MSN\Toolbar\3.0.1125.0\msneshellx.dll
O3 - Toolbar: &Windows Live Toolbar - {21FA44EF-376D-4D53-9B0F-8A89D3229068} - C:\Program Files\Windows Live\Toolbar\wltcore.dll
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Windows Defender] %ProgramFiles%\Windows Defender\MSASCui.exe -hide
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [RtHDVCpl] RtHDVCpl.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [OneCareUI] "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Windows OneCare Live\winssnotify.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [RivaTunerStartupDaemon] "C:\Program Files\RivaTuner v2.20\RivaTunerWrapper.exe" /S
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SunJavaUpdateSched] "C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\bin\jusched.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Microsoft Default Manager] "C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Search Enhancement Pack\Default Manager\DefMgr.exe" -resume
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [NvCplDaemon] RUNDLL32.EXE C:\Windows\system32\NvCpl.dll,NvStartup
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Skytel] Skytel.exe
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [igndlm.exe] C:\Program Files\Download Manager\DLM.exe /windowsstart /startifwork
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [SpybotSD TeaTimer] C:\Program Files\Spybot - Search & Destroy\TeaTimer.exe
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [msnmsgr] "C:\Program Files\Windows Live\Messenger\msnmsgr.exe" /background
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-19\..\Run: [Sidebar] %ProgramFiles%\Windows Sidebar\Sidebar.exe /detectMem (User 'LOCAL SERVICE')
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-19\..\Run: [WindowsWelcomeCenter] rundll32.exe oobefldr.dll,ShowWelcomeCenter (User 'LOCAL SERVICE')
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-20\..\Run: [Sidebar] %ProgramFiles%\Windows Sidebar\Sidebar.exe /detectMem (User 'NETWORK SERVICE')
O4 - Startup: RivaTuner.lnk = C:\Program Files\RivaTuner v2.20\RivaTunerWrapper.exe
O9 - Extra button: Blog This - {219C3416-8CB2-491a-A3C7-D9FCDDC9D600} - C:\Program Files\Windows Live\Writer\WriterBrowserExtension.dll
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: &Blog This in Windows Live Writer - {219C3416-8CB2-491a-A3C7-D9FCDDC9D600} - C:\Program Files\Windows Live\Writer\WriterBrowserExtension.dll
O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {DFB852A3-47F8-48C4-A200-58CAB36FD2A2} - C:\PROGRA~1\SPYBOT~1\SDHelper.dll
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Spybot - Search & Destroy Configuration - {DFB852A3-47F8-48C4-A200-58CAB36FD2A2} - C:\PROGRA~1\SPYBOT~1\SDHelper.dll
O10 - Unknown file in Winsock LSP: c:\windows\system32\nvlsp.dll
O10 - Unknown file in Winsock LSP: c:\windows\system32\nvlsp.dll
O10 - Unknown file in Winsock LSP: c:\windows\system32\nvlsp.dll
O10 - Unknown file in Winsock LSP: c:\windows\system32\nvlsp.dll
O10 - Unknown file in Winsock LSP: c:\windows\system32\nvlsp.dll
O10 - Unknown file in Winsock LSP: c:\windows\system32\nvlsp.dll
O10 - Unknown file in Winsock LSP: c:\windows\system32\nvlsp.dll
O13 - Gopher Prefix:
O16 - DPF: {1E54D648-B804-468d-BC78-4AFFED8E262E} (System Requirements Lab) - http://www.srtest.com/srl_bin/sysreqlab_srl.cab
O16 - DPF: {1E54D648-B804-468d-BC78-4AFFED8E262F} (System Requirements Lab) - http://www.nvidia.com/content/Driver...reqlab_nvd.cab
O16 - DPF: {362C56AA-6E4F-40C7-A0B5-85501DBDAD77} (Scanner.SysScanner) - http://i.dell.com/images/global/js/s.../SysProExe.cab
O16 - DPF: {3860DD98-0549-4D50-AA72-5D17D200EE10} (Windows Live OneCare safety scanner control) - http://cdn.scan.onecare.live.com/res.../wlscctrl2.cab
O16 - DPF: {39B0684F-D7BF-4743-B050-FDC3F48F7E3B} (CDownloadCtrl Object) - http://www.fileplanet.com/fpdlmgr/ca..._2.3.9.113.cab
O16 - DPF: {D27CDB6E-AE6D-11CF-96B8-444553540000} (Shockwave Flash Object) - http://fpdownload2.macromedia.com/ge...nt/swflash.cab
O23 - Service: Andrea RT Filters Service (AERTFilters) - Andrea Electronics Corporation - C:\Windows\system32\AERTSrv.exe
O23 - Service: ForceWare Intelligent Application Manager (IAM) - Unknown owner - C:\Program Files\NVIDIA Corporation\NetworkAccessManager\bin32\nSvcAppFlt. exe
O23 - Service: InstallDriver Table Manager (IDriverT) - Macrovision Corporation - C:\Program Files\Common Files\InstallShield\Driver\11\Intel 32\IDriverT.exe
O23 - Service: ForceWare IP service (nSvcIp) - Unknown owner - C:\Program Files\NVIDIA Corporation\NetworkAccessManager\bin32\nSvcIp.exe
O23 - Service: Performance Service (nTuneService) - NVIDIA - C:\Program Files\NVIDIA Corporation\nTune\nTuneService.exe
O23 - Service: NVIDIA Display Driver Service (nvsvc) - NVIDIA Corporation - C:\Windows\system32\nvvsvc.exe
O23 - Service: SiSoftware Deployment Agent Service (SandraAgentSrv) - SiSoftware - C:\Program Files\SiSoftware\SiSoftware Sandra Lite 2009.SP3c\RpcAgentSrv.exe
O23 - Service: Steam Client Service - Valve Corporation - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Steam\SteamService.exe
O23 - Service: NVIDIA Stereoscopic 3D Driver Service (Stereo Service) - NVIDIA Corporation - C:\Windows\System32\nvSCPAPISvr.exe
O23 - Service: Update Center Service (UpdateCenterService) - NVIDIA - C:\Program Files\NVIDIA Corporation\System Update\UpdateCenterService.exe

--
End of file - 7990 bytes


[/ QUOTE ]

I've been having placement madness as well. The ally, who spawns in the "Front" often spawns in the Badk. As in, he spawns in the left back trouser pocket of the Boss. Who actually does spawn in the Back. Usually. I've been going nuts trying to find an office map in which spawns happen somewhere remotely related to where they're supposed to spawn.

Speaking of complaint flags, I had a boss spawn break after I published it..and ran it a couple times. Changed the spawn from triggered to a non-triggered, ran it again and re-published. How does one clear the complaint flag, so I can see if it breaks again on me?

That must be it then. I think today we did nothing but dev's choice, yesterday must have been a mix. Thanks for clearing that up.

That's what I'd thought. Did a number with other toons yesterday, got tickets. Did a bunch today, and none of my characters got a single ticket for any mission or arc. No drops, no rewards. (By that I mean just tickets, got the influence, xp, prestige, etc.)

I've done a number of story arcs today, mostly from the Dev's Love 'Em list. And noticed I haven't gotten a single ticket, all day. So are tickets broken, being re-evaluated for nerfness, or am I doing something horrilbly wrong?