The City Scoop! ~ Front Page ~ July 18, 2008
By
Ex_Libris,
Posted on: 2008-07-18 16:29 in Announcements
To my loyal readers and readers of The City | Music to Break Faces ToPersonally, I'm one who enjoys the sweet, sweet sound of a Nullifier crying uncle. But then again, sometimes I just want to go to Port Oakes and listen to the radio. Now some of you heroes don't have the quirky electronics we have redside, but you do have a police radio. So cross a couple of wires and ignore the burglaries, because Hostile V presents the top musicians of the Isles and the City. Sounds of Eden: For those who enjoy the sounds of nature, this special CD boxset presents the greatest hits of previously inanimate natural formations. Honestly, who knew the Devouring Earth could make sweet music? Enjoy such hits as "Civilians Strangled By Vines", "Greater Devoured Versus SWAT Van" and "Hamidon Pulsating". Perfect to lull you to sleep and give you nightmares of fearsome flora and fauna. The Throwing Stones: Take four uneducated Trolls, make one sing and put the others on instruments such as Half a Guitar and Drum Kit with Holes. And yet the Throwing Stones are incredibly popular among other Trolls and overall destructive anarchists. With famous singles like "Simpathi for Baphomet", "Break its Back", "You Can't Always Break What You Want " and "Funky Punk Woman" they provide a soundtrack for hard-rocking villains and destructive heroes to kick tail to. Now if only they could throw a concert without getting arrested. The Freaky Boys: Three angry Freaks, a Meat Doctor, a turntable and a mosh pit on par with the gods. The perfect recipe for a punk-rock-techno band quickly hit the market and lit up the airways like Superadine. Starting the destructive punk movement, the Freaky Boys provide a number-one source of entertainment/wanton destruction as their grand tours often destroy all in their paths. Their famous chart-toppers "Subversion", "Titanium Ape" and "Interdimensional" also serve as recruitment propaganda for the Freakshow cause. Energy, Force & Life: Giving a whole new meaning to soul music, the famous Thorn band provide beautiful lyrics, great tunes and chorus' sung by the souls of the damned. I'm surprised myself that a demon could have such a deep and soulful voice. With a catchy mix of funk, disco and soul, E,F&L are still respected in this day and age. Famous singles include "Boogie Hell", "Spread Your Hate", "In The Thorn" and "Death is Life". Brother Dylan: When the stickers and pamphlets don't work, sometimes the Luddites turn to other means to get their messages across. Enter Brother Dylan, an accoustic wanderer spreading the word of peace and distrust of Aeon. Providing hope for the people with hits like "People Get Ready (For The Demon Uprising)", "If Not For You (The Demons Would've Eaten Me)", "Burnin' In the Wind (Ow, Why Do You Have Flame Breath)" and "It Ain't Me Babe (It's Those Freakin' Demons)", he tries relentlessly to warn of the dangers of the PTS and Aeon's work. Catchy music, but it's like each has a hidden message. So there we go. Five of my favorite songwriters and bands you can find in the general vicinity. Now if you'll excuse me, I gotta put on my ripped jeans and blood-stained shirt. Front row seats to the Throwing Stones and the first few rows might get boulders thrown at them. How much do you think a signed boulder would go for on the Black Market?
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Fan Fiction SpotlightThe City of Heroes Writer's Guild New material presented weekly by Tropic When I first started playing, the CoH Writer's Guild was the first place I submitted a piece of fan fiction. It's a simply arranged site, with stories being arranged numerically then alphabetically. There are plenty of stories to choose from, and Tropic keeps us updated on what's new every week in the Roleplaying section of our very own forums. For the varying takes on how numerous players view this game's world, drop by the City of Heroes Writer's Guild. There should be just about anything to suit your needs. Hey Fans!Spandex Spotlight will not be running this week. Patty-Sue Ivanova was sent to Pocket D to find someone to interview, but we haven't heard from her since. Eyewitness reports indicate she was last seen huddled in a corner, possibly drunk, apparently traumatized over the rampant amount of "things not fit for publication" that goes on there. If anyone sees her, please inform her she must get back to her editor ASAP. Oh, and that she shouldn't be drinking at her age. -EmperorSteele
| Ghost Legion's 4th Anniversary Costume Contest
In celebration of Ghost Legion's four years of service to Paragon City, the leaders of Ghost Legion have begun a month long string of events. To begin the festivities, Ghost Legion held a costume contest in the Galaxy City Arena's Emerald Room. Ghost Legion lieutenant Flashblast led the charge for this event with loads of help from New Age Ronin, Biledriver, Zentai and Benchpresser. He started off by thanking all in attendance for participating in the contest and followed that by handing out a door prize of Essence of the Furies invention salvage to all contestants. Next up was the biography portion of the contest which Cicada-Bug took home the prize of a Halloween invention salvage set. Finally the reason we all came together - the mighty costume contest itself. As always, it was very difficult as there were so many great costumes. But we had to choose, and we did. It was very close but Agent Neve came in first place and won 20 million influence, Omni came in second and won 10 million influence and Reene came in third and took home 5 million influence. As an honorable mention, we also decided a fourth place for Landscraper was due and he received a prize of 2 million influence. In closing, a good night was had by all and many thanks and congratulations were bandied about. The CC was, of course, followed up by a very smooth and successful Imperious Task Force featuring 5 Ghost Legion members. "A good way to start our celebrations", said Ghost Legion Headmistress Dazzler. [/color] |
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The View on BlueLet's take a look at common IO recipes. Where do they come from? You can get them as drops, buy them on the market, or buy them from the crafting table. Where do they go? You can sell them to NPC's, or you can sell them on the market. Oh, and I suppose you can use them to craft an enhancement, if you can tear yourself away from the market. Today we are going to stay in the market, and examine the prices of common IO recipes when they are traded between players. Because common IO recipes can be sold to NPC's, it seems reasonable to expect that most people would not sell an item on the market for less than the NPC buyback price. Common IO recipes can be bought from the crafting table, and so it seems reasonable to expect that most people would not buy an item on the market for more than the crafting table cost. The NPC buyback price and the crafting table cost should function as a floor and a ceiling on recipe prices. Is that how things really happen, though?
First of all, let's look at those NPC prices. If you know the crafting cost of a recipe (Hint: it's printed on the recipe!) then you can calculate the table price and the buyback price. Look up the recipe level on the chart below to find the divider. Take the crafting cost and divide it by that number to get the buyback price. Multiply the buyback price by 4 to get the table cost. If you don't want to do the math, you can just look up the answer in the back of the book.
The chart above shows the table cost and buyback price for all levels of recharge reduction recipes. As you can see, for low level recipes, there isn't much difference between the two prices. Well, a few thousand influence may seem like a lot when you're level 15, but the gap gets much bigger later on. Now, let's add a line to show some average prices on the market. You might expect the market price line to stay between the floor and ceiling set by the NPC prices. Or you might know better. You probably know better, don't you?
Standard disclaimer: prices vary, the prices shown in this chart are merely a snapshot of a recent time period, past performance does not guarantee future results, etc. | If the price were driven by crafters, you would expect the market price to be just a shade below the table cost. If the price were driven by people reselling items to the NPC's, you would expect the market price to be just a shade below the buyback price. In a perfect world, you might expect the market price to be the average of the two NPC prices. What do we get? The market price goes bouncing up and down all over the place! Sheesh, you'd almost think people didn't obsessively study every aspect of the market before making each and every transaction! Level 30 is the only place in this example where the market price is near the middle of the table and buyback prices. No one really thought this was a perfect world, right? Other than level 25, the price never comes close to the table cost. I think it's safe to say that competition between crafters does not dominate the market. I don't think there are enough people crafting, relative to the number of recipes dropping. The demand from crafters is weak, especially since anyone who is serious about crafting will soon memorize the recipe, and then they never need to buy it again. That's not to say crafters have no affect at all. There was a time when the market price never made it up to the buyback price. You could easily buy recipes on the market and sell them to an NPC for a big profit. I'm pretty sure that can still be done, thanks to the fluctuations in price, but maybe not as quickly and easily as before, and with smaller profits. I blame crafters. If people are going to go around using recipes for their intended purpose, then obviously that's going to cut into the profit margin of an honest, hard-working arbitrager. What about other common IO's? I don't know, I'm too lazy to check them all. Err, I mean, I've chosen to leave that task as a homework assignment for you. It builds character. I do want to look at one more, though: endurance modification recipes. Not endurance reduction, but endurance modification, like you put in Stamina. Let's see a chart with the table, buyback, and average market prices on those:
Look at that market average! It's higher than the table cost at almost every level! Crazy! Of course the usual disclaimers apply. If you run and look this up right now, you will certainly see some different numbers. You will probably see some of the same trends, though. You may be asking yourself why anyone would pay more than the table price for a recipe. I'm asking myself the same question. I like to think the best of people, but I'm having a hard time coming up with any answer but ignorance. Maybe some people just don't know what the table price is, or they can't be bothered to look it up before crafting. I don't really know why prices get so high, but I know what to do about it: buy recipes from the crafting table and sell them on the market! Note: I wouldn't actually recommend doing that. It feels too risky to me. I have done it, and it did work, but there are safer ways to make bigger profits. The important thing is that you don't make the same mistake those people did! Before buying a common IO recipe, check the table price. Don't rip yourself off. You know better, and knowing is half the battle! Oops, wrong tag line. I meant go, hunt, kill Helions!
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Liberty Server SG SummitHosted by GannorHypo When: July 21st at 9:00pm CST Where: Pocket D, Liberty server SG leaders and co-leaders from every SG/VG are invited! (Maximum of two people from each SG/VG, please.) For more information, visit this thread or contact GannorHypo. The Babes of War 4th Anniversary Costume ContestFirst prize: 100 million influence! Babes of War 4th Anniversary Thread
| This week:Saturday, July 19thGuardian Server [*] Frad Superteam [/list] Sunday, July 20thFreedom Server [*] Explorers & Exploiters [/list] Monday, July 21stLiberty Server [*] Supergroup Summit [/list] Tuesday, July 22ndLiberty Server [*] PvPEC Event: Two Against the World [/list] Friday, July 25thLiberty Server [*] PvPEC Event: Two Against the World [/list] Saturday, July 26thFreedom Server [*] Help Us Paint This Town PINK! BoW turns 4!!! [/list] Infinity Server [*] The Grand Opening of Club Dub [/list] Pinnacle Server [*] PvPEC Event: Two Against the World [/list] Victory Server [*] PvPEC Event: Two Against the World [/list] Virtue Server [*] PvPEC Event: Two Against the World [/list] |
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Vol. 2, Issue 8
July 18th, 2008
The City Scoop a publication for Supers by Supers! With this issue we say a fond farewell to our City Scoop Correspondent Teldon who has made it possible for so many player spotlights in his Behind the Mask creations. Take care Teldon and travel safely in your adventures.
Read the latest publication and then join in on the community discussion!
If you have concerns regarding the content of the Scoop please direct your comments via PM to Lighthouse or Ex Libris.
If you would like to do a feature article, have an event covered, or join "The City Scoop" team please PM Snow_Globe or Pants_Stealer
If you need some Advice contact Lady_Athyna or would like to Ask The X contact LiquidX
Finally if you have a Classified Ad or Recipe you would like included please contact: LadyK or MistressNoire
The City Scoop
Its All Access for City of Heroes and City of Villains
NCsoft Readies the #1 Super-powered MMO for More
Statesman & Recluse by Jesse
There is a reason for the rejoicing in Paragon City and the Rogue Isles. It is
official NCsoft has completely merged the two games into one game universe.
All current subscribers who only had one of the games (City of Heroes or City
of Villains) now have access to the features of both games. Additionally, all
City of Heroes and City of Villains games for sale at retail or online will
grant access to both games.
This is the final step needed in preparing the IP for future projects, to be
announced later this year. Paragon City and the Rogue Isles have always been a
part of the same game universe. When City of Villains launched in 2005 as a
stand-alone game, it did not launch with an extra subscription fee, so there
has always been this feeling that they are closely related. Whats different
here is that NCsoft has taken down the barrier where players had to have a City
of Villains serial code to make a villain, and vice versa. Now, it doesnt
matter if you bought Heroes or Villains, you can make characters from either
faction and experience their unique game content. Additionally, Heroes now have
access to base building, which was previously only available if you had
purchased City of Villains.
In setting the stage for our upcoming plans for the IP, we felt the time was
right to truly consolidate the City of Heroes and City of Villains universe,
said Brian Clayton, General Manager and Executive Producer. We have removed
all restrictions that were created when City of Villains launched in order to
make way for some really cool content and features we have in the pipeline.
This is an evolution of the IP that lays the foundation for whats to come.
The most recent game update, Issue 12: Midnight Hour, launched in May and
included a wealth of features, including a new Greek and Roman inspired zone,
Villain Epic Archetypes, Powerset Proliferation, as well as more character
slots so that players can try out the new character powers and Archetypes.
We know that character variety is one of our greatest strengths and thats why
our players love to create new characters said Matt Miller, Lead Designer.
Even former players who reactivate will be pleasantly surprised to see new
open character slots waiting for them.
Uniting the City of Heroes universe enables the development team to focus on
other features slated to come in future installments. Improvements to
Supergroup Bases and raids, an offline character reward system, and the
previously revealed Mission Maker are just some of the systems that will see
the benefits of a unified City of Heroes game.
Click
here to discuss this announcement.
Vol. 2, Issue 8
July 18th, 2008
This Issue:
To My Loyal Readers
By Popular Request
Music to Break Faces To
Community
Fan Fiction Spotlight
Spandex Spotlight
Ghost Legion Costume Contest
Market Watch
Events
Classifieds
Puzzle Solution
Comic
Soul Train &
Turbo Ski by Thally