Issue 12 Discussion: Roman Maps and Costumes
By
8_Ball,
Posted on: 2008-03-12 09:24 in Developers' Corner
I hate to bring this up, but people who think Cimerora and Dual Blades and such are efforts to push towards Fantasy MMOs should go pick up the comic "Warlord". It's about an Air Force Officer getting displaced into a medieval-style world at the center of the Earth, and it's hardcore Swords and Sorcery. And quite good.
Personally, I'm gunning for Nazis in Rome screwing around with Aliens and Magic to Take Over The World.
Please?
EDIT:
Obligatory reference:
Leeeeet's dooo the time warp agaaaaain!
EDIT 2:
Wow, how could I not have included 1602, The Savage Land, Elseworlds, and Themyscira? I'm disappointed in my comic bookfu...
"Some people wrestle with their inner demons. I stabbed mine in the back of the head. He was a bleeder." - Black Mage
"We've trained you better than for you to use excuses like 'I didn't have control over what I was doing!'" - Major Tasker, Longbow
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My gut reaction: Why?
And: er, this is superhero/villain how, exactly?
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Lessee...
[u]Marvel[u]
Savage Lands
1602
Fantastic Four and Nick Fury in WWII
[u]DC[u]
Elseworlds
Justice League meets the Justice Society
Paradise Island/Themyscira
Naaaah. No clue where'd they get the idea from..
Greco-Roman style costumes look awesome. Headpiece plumes are nice, but standard style (front to back, or "mohawk") should have an alternate style which is fully attached to the helmet.
The stand-up peg was used almost exclusively for cavalry. Infantry wore the front-to-back crest, cavalry wore the transverse (shoulder-to-shoulder) crest, except for NCO rank and above, for which the style was reversed, i.e., cavalry NCOs and above wore front-to-back crests, infantry NCOs and above wore the transverse crest. It has to do with the way these units arrayed in rank and file, and the ease with which crest aligned opposite form thoe of the troosp in their orderly formations could identify a commander in the heat of combat.
Beards or other facial hair on Roman soldiers is a serious no-no; especially Egyptian-style beards, about which more later.
Maybe reeaaallllly late in the Empire (say 3rd-4th Century AD) you'd see bearded legionaries as more troops were brought in form the provinces, but in Republic and early Imperial periods, Romans were clean-shaven, especially officers who, without exception, came from the upper classes (equites and above).
As for the Egyptian style beards, never, ever, ever. Espcially not the Pharaonic-style beard shown in the illustration. Romans overall held an abiding mistrust - if not outright hatred - for what they perceived obe the erosion of their culture by the decadent Egyptians, whom they perceived as having corrupted even the Ptolemies who Hellenized Egypt and were themselves converted to Egyptians.
And the whole Cleopatra/Marc Antony mess and subsequent civil war did nothing to mollify their attitude, instead leaving a very long shadow of suspicion by Romans over all things Egyptian. That's one of the reasons the Empire developed more toward Gothic and Gaullic characteristics and not Egyptian.
This has been a pubic service message from the "Read a Book Once in a While" Council. 
Dasher ("Pegging the Geek-O-Meter Since 1985!")
HELP SAVE THIS GAME!
If we can save this game, I promise I will never complain about Travel Power Suppression again! You have my word on it!
"The customer is always right."
Is it just too early for me yet, or on the last guy in the pic, he has different "Gladiator shoulders" than what we currently have in game? I know I have a char in game with them, and I swear that the giant guard is on the right shoulder, but in that picture it has it on the left. Plus, to me it looks slightly different.
my first thought on the gladiator shoulders in the pic was that they did a mirror image just to screw with us, just like they put statesman's cape and helm on the dude in blue
Lord Raptor lvl 50 Thugs/traps MM Le Guerrier lvl 50 Broadsword/invuln scrapper
Lola the Chain lvl 50 electric/energy brute Kage Ryu lvl 50 ninja/dark MM
Billy. Bones lvl 50 zombie/trick arrow MM Jet Stream lvl 50 Super Strength/invuln tank
I been askin for this for months, no wait just about a year and a half.
Thanks for finally coming through.
<QR>
The pic looks to me like Lord Recluse, Statesman, Ghost Widow, Scirocco and Positron. For Recluse, States and Positron, the helmets match. Scirocco has the goatee, and GW has the white eyes and a red cape like Recluse and Scirocco. I wonder if we'll run into an 'alternate timeline' thing while in Rome. Seems too much work to be for naught (I think naught is the right word).
Cyclone Jack
-= idspispopd =-
[size=1]Arc ID: 3155 - Project Prometheus (Seeking Feedback, now with less invalidation)[/size]
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So, wait...in the picture with the gladiator armors, is that Statesman in there?
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That does look like the Statesman cape and Helmet. Do we get access to those???
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That helmet is SIMILAR to states helm but it isn't. look very closely at both of them. Not the same just very similar and I expect to see a few new states look a likes using that helm once the feature goes live.
When Jay said "No to the above" he meant the whole statement "Is that statesman helmet and cape? do we get access to them?"
Hence "No they aren't and no we won't get access to the states cape and face plate."
I may be wrong but personally I believe that the pics are accurate and we get all the good stuff we see there. Again look close to both states and the roman helm. Not the same just similar. 
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So let me get this straight.
A ) I'm a Tank, so I can't get the super-huge shoulders that the female Arachnos chick in that one pic has. That SUCKS. I've waited forever for giant shoulder pauldrons and now I can't get them because it's an archetype exclusive (even Kheldians didn't get an archetype exclusive costume).
B ) We don't get the Cloth Mantle (made famous by Statesman).
Two of my biggest wants dangled in front of me with sadistic availability options in place for one and false advertisement for the other... wait, isn't that illegal? 
I see you have lost your sexiness, Jay. And your Silent Bob, to boot! 
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What huge shoulders are you talking about? I'm not seeing any at all.
In other news: what is Teddy Roosevelt doing in the promo picture? I'm very confused.
Is it not obvious? We're not really using our O-portals to access Rome, we're instead traveling to spend a fun Night in the Museum. 
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Or it could be Rome Car I, which means we'll get vehicles!! Looking forward to the chariots and the Ferraris.
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Chariots..... hmm, I'm making a "History of the World Part 1" SG!
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...as long as I can be Madeline Khan!
Her Amazingness!
Indig , leader of the City of Gaymers
City of Gaymers on Guildportal.com
http://www.guildportal.com/Guild.asp...3&TabID=295104
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The costume unlocking is a huge downer, unless they've finally come to their senses about unlockable costumes and made it unlock account wide.
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I concur... I have a feeling there was a board meeting where the point was brought up "What can we add to the game that will force them to spend untold hours attempting to get...thus locking them into playing the game?"
Indig , leader of the City of Gaymers
City of Gaymers on Guildportal.com
http://www.guildportal.com/Guild.asp...3&TabID=295104
Can't wait for i12, looks great. I can already see myself rushing to get those costumes
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Or it could be Rome Car I, which means we'll get vehicles!! Looking forward to the chariots and the Ferraris.
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Chariots..... hmm, I'm making a "History of the World Part 1" SG!
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...as long as I can be Madeline Khan!
Her Amazingness!
Indig , leader of the City of Gaymers
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That's not something I expected to see....a reference to the great Madeline Khan. Thumbs up!
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I'm wondering if this zone will be primarily arcane. I needs more salvage sources!
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Oh please let this be true.. we already have the RWZ for tech salvage..
LvL 50's Inv/Em Tank, Katana/Regen Scrapper, Merc/Traps MM, Ninja/Dark MM, Crab
@Torell Guardian, Liberty & Freedom
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It's going to be Tyrant. The Praetorians got access to Ouroborous and decided to go take over Rome. They meant to go back into THEIR dimension's time, but Lord Nemesis hijacked their portal and sent them to ours because he thought it would be a good distraction for him as he continues to assemble a massive dalek army to attack the Time Lords.
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For the Who Reference, you have earned an unlimited supply of win! Congrats!
"Iron defenses and a crappy attitude do not, a tanker, make."
Proud Leader and founder of The Gangbusters Super Group and The Madhouse Villain Group: Ask me about becoming a member!
I've looked for a developer comment on the subject, and struck out, so:
Are you prepared to let us know if the new zones will be accessed by beacon? If so, I'd imagine quite a few SG/VG will be running into teleportation limits in their existing layouts that would require rejiggering / plot expansion to correct. It would be helpful if we knew in advance so we can do the necessary prestige buildup to meet the goal before the Issue releases.
The tangential question would be: Do you anticipate increasing the existing beacon counts from 21 and 8, respectively, at any point? If so, do you intend on changing the numerical relationship between beacons/pads, or pads/room sizes, to give us breathing room?
Ok, I read this entire thread looking for a secondary Red post, and have decided to ask the question outright until I get a red reply, because I agree that the picture having misinformation is neither fair nor nice. It would be like advertising on the box with a picture of a villain with a chain fighting a hero with a shield. So I ask this, and pray.
Are the costume pieces displayed in the teaser pic the actual costume pieces that are being included in this, our wonderful and glorious new CoH/CoV Expansion? Or is it just a marketing scheme designed to fill us with joy, only to shoot us down when it actually drops?
"Iron defenses and a crappy attitude do not, a tanker, make."
Proud Leader and founder of The Gangbusters Super Group and The Madhouse Villain Group: Ask me about becoming a member!
I actually like the VEATs what i dont like is the Powerset Proliferation it sounds like they'll just be taking powers givin to heroes and let villians copy them and vice versa. one of the best things about being a VIL over a hero is that you get things the other side doesn't get which means your unique, at least as far as the other side is concerned. now with this Powerset Proliferation wont many villian sides that are seeing decreased player numbers just empty out? and will brutes with tank power sets be effective?
Will the power sets that get ported over be exact copies of the power sets for the other side or will each group get a slightly different version of the power set to better fit with the whole hero villian deal?
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Ok, I read this entire thread looking for a secondary Red post, and have decided to ask the question outright until I get a red reply, because I agree that the picture having misinformation is neither fair nor nice. It would be like advertising on the box with a picture of a villain with a chain fighting a hero with a shield. So I ask this, and pray.
Are the costume pieces displayed in the teaser pic the actual costume pieces that are being included in this, our wonderful and glorius new CoH/CoV Expansion? Or is it just a marketing sceme designed to fill us with joy, only to shoot us down when it actually drops?
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I'll bet we don't get the helmets that look like Statesman/LR and Positron.
And if we don't, I can tell you, people are going to go ape**** over it being in the pictures. myself included. I'm not paying to get lied to. That's why I pay alimony.
EDIT:
I do love everything else that this issue is offering, though, I would like some more details. My only beef is this costume thing we're discussing ATM
"Iron defenses and a crappy attitude do not, a tanker, make."
Proud Leader and founder of The Gangbusters Super Group and The Madhouse Villain Group: Ask me about becoming a member!
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So, wait...in the picture with the gladiator armors, is that Statesman in there?
[/ QUOTE ]
That does look like the Statesman cape and Helmet. Do we get access to those???
[/ QUOTE ]
That helmet is SIMILAR to states helm but it isn't. look very closely at both of them. Not the same just very similar and I expect to see a few new states look a likes using that helm once the feature goes live.
When Jay said "No to the above" he meant the whole statement "Is that statesman helmet and cape? do we get access to them?"
Hence "No they aren't and no we won't get access to the states cape and face plate."
I may be wrong but personally I believe that the pics are accurate and we get all the good stuff we see there. Again look close to both states and the roman helm. Not the same just similar.
[/ QUOTE ]
So let me get this straight.
A ) I'm a Tank, so I can't get the super-huge shoulders that the female Arachnos chick in that one pic has. That SUCKS. I've waited forever for giant shoulder pauldrons and now I can't get them because it's an archetype exclusive (even Kheldians didn't get an archetype exclusive costume).
B ) We don't get the Cloth Mantle (made famous by Statesman).
Two of my biggest wants dangled in front of me with sadistic availability options in place for one and false advertisement for the other... wait, isn't that illegal?
I see you have lost your sexiness, Jay. And your Silent Bob, to boot!
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What huge shoulders are you talking about? I'm not seeing any at all.
In other news: what is Teddy Roosevelt doing in the promo picture? I'm very confused.
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Bully for you!
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That's my one and only concern about this issue (which, on balance, I am incredibly psyched up for, more so than any in recent memory). With Vanguard Merits... ok, fine, I can't really join Vanguard until I'm 35 anyway, and even then I'm not "accepted" right away, so not being able to get the costume parts until much later makes some sense.
But with these -- if they're only unlockable per-character via the 35+ missions (the ones that take you to Rome), then what you're saying is that if I want to make a Roman-themed character, I need to play him for 35 levels (about half of his pre-50 life, elapsed-time-wise?) with a costume that's not thematically appropriate to him. And that's a big, big deterrent to me. If they must be unlocked via a Merit system, at least let us transfer those Merits from one character to another so that our characters can look the part from day one.
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for concept...you can wear the togas or what ever until you become a soldier and dawn the armor.
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Great, now we get to have houses... I call the Pi house!!!!
@Van De Graff-X, Liberty
There is no Pi
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There is no Pi
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I thought just the cake was a lie, now you're telling me the Pi is too?
@Johnstone & @Johnstone 2
ediblePoly.com
All my characters
Sometimes I think that the posts I make are too negative towards the game...
But then I read a post from Calibre2 and Cawabunga, and my conscience is cleansed.
When the developers do get around to pulling from that ages old forum poll, I'm sure that they'll make sure that the new map is designed to the best of their ability. Until then, I think I'll be happy with a change of scenery. Everybody knows it's going to take much more to kill off the Offices and Warehouse tedium, but this is a step in the right direction.