The City Scoop ~Front Page~ December 19th 2008
By
Niviene,
Posted on: 2008-12-19 14:52 in Announcements
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Phil at the MoviesMan-Thing (2005)First of all, before we do ANYTHING else, I would like to take the title "Man-Thing" off of this movie and slap on instead "Swamp Monster". There, I feel better already. Man-Thing is an accidental creation of science mixed with magic that is a mostly unthinking and random force of nature, who's only purpose is to wander around aimlessly in the Everglades creeping people out and then burning them with acid when they get scared. Luckily, the Man-Thing mostly happens to accidentally run into bad guys doing nasty things. Good boy Man-Thing, here's your cookie! This movie is NOT about the Marvel creation Man-Thing. Swamp Monster, on the other hand, is a half-decent action/horror film about a... swamp monster that kills everyone it sees in the Louisiana swamp for the sole reason that it is a vengeful spirit of nature that is not happy with Westerners desecrating its home. These are two completely separate creatures, and it appears that Marvel basically just took some cash from some people that wanted to make a swamp monster movie and the rights to Swamp Thing were apparently WAY too expensive, so they bought the next best thing. That being said, the movie is not half bad. It's also not half good either, even when you completely throw away the Man-Thing title. The production and the direction of the movie are both excellent. The settings and the props all look very good, the special effects (until the end) are mostly practical effects that look well crafted. The sounds and music are well placed and do create a very creepy atmosphere, as does the excellent work by the director at camera movements, angle decisions, and lighting effects. He also uses color in an interesting way, saturating each scene with a different type of palette depending on the setting and time of day. As a bonus feature, he also throws in a good Sam-Raimi-esque super-speed camera shot every now and then. This movie in the end is BAD, even worse than the 1982 Swamp Thing movie. Why? Because at least Swamp Thing in that movie LOOKED like a humanoid "swamp thing". The Swamp Monster in this movie looks like Treebeard from Lord of the Rings mated with Cthulhu. The writing and acting are HORRENDOUS. Aside from the main protagonist, the prototypical "New Sheriff in Town" who also fills the role of "Hardened City Cop", all of the characters are written and acted as complete caricatures of Redneck and Native American stereotypes. We have a checklist of bad stereotypes. Lets go through the list, shall we?
Seriously, this movie is so bad that it is worthy of a good MST3K riff-job! The rednecks are so stereotypically goofy, and the Native Americans are so stereotypically dead serious, that the whole movie comes off as one big joke. With a Swamp Monster that kills people via plant enema. I am NOT kidding about the plant enema. Don't believe me? Check it out for yourself. But don't watch this movie unless you are quite ready for a good time mocking it, it's really that bad. I consider this entire film to be practice for the director and producers before they went off to make a BETTER film. It's not half-good, and it's not half-bad, but I suppose that's fitting, because neither is the Man-Thing. | Get Involved! in Community GroupsRarely do we play the game for more than a month without knowing about the global chat system, but for those who do not know, I have quoted the following paragraphs from ParagonWiki (an excellent resource site): "The Global Chat System is a separate server that is tied into City of Heroes/Villains in order to allow special chat channels that connect each server with its siblings. Once a player joins a channel, they're able to talk to anyone else in said channel regardless of where they may be (barring arena matches, which are blocked from all chat channel, both global and local to cut down on cheating) located in game and on whatever server. Global channel membership is based on account, not character, so if you join a channel on one character, all other characters will be members. Additionally, non admin accounts are limited to 10 channel memberships. To join a new one after you hit your 10th, you must first drop one of your current channels. When you talk in a Global Chat Channel, you use your Global Chat name/handle, instead of the name of whatever character your currently on (which is still used in your local channels, i.e. team, sg, broadcast, request, coalition, local, etc). At this time, the only way to select the Global Chat Channel you are talking in is by clicking in the lower right hand section of the char screen where the channel is listed (default is often local), which brings up a list of all the channels you are a member of." Why am I bringing this up? Well, there are also multiple global channels dedicated to certain events! For instance, Protector has the "Protector Events" channel for big events like New Player Welcoming Night and the Protector Player Auction, and I know that other servers have similar channels for their large events. Most people use the Request channel to communicate with players during events, but a channel that everyone who is helping to run an event can chat in is very helpful when you want to pass information around to people who are "in the know". Also, many supergroup coalitions have a global chat channel just for the leaders and officers of the supergroups involved, and not for the members. There are global chat channels dedicated to different types of task forces, to giant monster hunting, to fanfiction, to roleplaying, to general chat, to farming, to finding teams, to PvPers, and pretty much everything in between! How can you find these channels? Well, try posting on your server's forums! Something like "I'm looking for a global chat channel about (topic). Does anyone know of one and if so, how can I join?" would work. You could also use the ingame "Search" feature by going to Channel Search and typing in keywords. Ask your friends what global channels they belong to, and see if you can join those! It takes barely any effort at all to get involved in a chat channel, and the only time it takes is the time you are already spending ingame. You can use these channels to make new friends. Just make sure that when you join a channel, you add it to your chat tabs so that you can see what people are saying! Another good tip is to be polite when you first join a channel. Many channels frown upon trolling and you can get kicked out very quickly for being rude to veteran members. Don't spam channels you're in, and try to be helpful when someone asks a question. Basic manners always apply! Remember, no matter who you are, what your playing style is, what you enjoy most about the game, what server you play on, whether you're red side or blueside-there is a global chat channel out there somewhere for you! So go get involved!
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The RedeemersRedshadow scanned the passengers of the car. It startled him that there was only one civilian, a young woman who had a number of university books with her. She clutched them to herself worriedly as she saw the escalating situation and Thomas knew his duty was clear. "We could wait for this train ride to end," he pleaded with the Protector in the lead, "Let this young lady get out of the car..." "And risk you getting reinforcements?" the vaguely familiar voice rasped, "I think not..." "I see..." Thomas sighed, then turned to the girl, "Ma'am... I'm sorry..." "Help..." she squeaked, "I don't want to die..." Redshadow drew the swords from his belt scabbards and glared at the Protectors. "I don't intend to let you." There were no more words to be said. Redshadow analyzed his options. The car was narrow, and for some odd reason, the other Protectors seemed to be close-range combatants. They all had swords, just like him. He didn't have any more time to question the situation, though. The lead Protector dove in with a double stab that Thomas parried and counterattacked with a kick to the sternum. He then followed up his kick by slashing with his right sword. One of the other Protectors tried to stab from around his leader, but Redshadow deflected the blade and the Protector Leader's arm got cut, eliciting a yelp of pain. Hooking the pommels of his blades on the vertical hand bars of the car, the Redeemer vaulted himself into the leader. This shoved him into his entourage and knocked some of them off balance. Redshadow swiped at them as they tried to recover, and actually caught one across the neck. He promptly disappeared in a red haze that signified he'd been yanked to a Crey facility before he could be tagged for a police drone or sent to a civilian medical facility. Another got to his feet and Redshadow backed away as his assailant's blade hacked through one of the poles. Thomas kicked the now-broken bar's lower half and it bent toward the Protectors. He then stabbed at the leader, causing the Crey pawn to back into one of the railcar's windows, smashing it out with the hilt of his blade. The other two, however, were able to get in close enough to get a hold of Thomas. They hooked his arms in theirs and were getting ready to stab him when a heavy book came flying through the air and struck the one to Thomas' right in the shoulder. He cried out with the same voice as the lead Protector. "Augh! That was a corner!" Seeing an advantage, Redshadow placed his foot behind the ankle of his enemy and twisted his upper body, causing the Protector to trip and fall, dragging the Redeemer with him. The other crashed into another window of the car just as it entered a tunnel. While the resulting crash didn't kill the man, it did smash open his helmet and he disappeared in another red haze. | "This isn't going so well for you guys!" Tom shouted as he rolled away from the lead Protector's stabs, "Why don't you just give up?" "We have our orders!" the other shouted, "Get back on your feet and kill him!" "And that's why you fail," the hero growled as he grabbed the metal bar next to him and twisted it around so it faced his opponents, "You've got no imagination!" With that, he kicked the Protector leader's knee, causing the other man to stumble down in pain. He then leaned forward, gripped the collar of the Protector's spandex and yanked him face-first into the end of the bar. There was a sickening crunch and the body laid still. The remaining Protector seemed to go into a frenzy after that. He stabbed wildly at Thomas, his blade poking holes into the floor. At one point, the sword hit the track and was destroyed, sending the handle hurtling through the interior and smashing into the control box at the front. Thomas didn't know what would happen after that, but he figured the smoke coming from the computer couldn't be good. In fact, it wasn't good. Already, the Paragon Transit Authority's Central Dispatch Computer was registering the loss of control and was rerouting the car to a line that would lead it to Boomtown. The line was broken in Boomtown, though. "Ladies and gentlemen," the car's intercom announced, "Please make your way to the front of the car and the emergency medical bracelets you will find in the conveniently highlighted emergency container... They are active only for the duration of this emergency, and will aid you in escaping mortal danger in the case of a lack of heroic intervention..." "Kind of takes the edge of the emergency of the situation!" Redshadow yelped as he rolled from side to side to avoid the stabs, "You better do as she says!" The college girl, however, just clutched at her remaining books and shrieked. The Protector leader was pulling himself off the bar and getting back to his feet. The hero knew he wouldn't be able to fend them both off, so he took desperate measures. Noticing that the crazed Protector was now standing over him, he kicked his assailant's inner thigh. The Protector fell backwards and he rolled forward to get back on his feet. He also drove his shoulder into the man's gut, tackling him before he could gather his wits about him. The Protector's head went out the window and the helmet disintegrated from its impact with the tunnel wall outside. Before the red flash, Thomas saw the face for a brief moment and he paused, confused. The lead Protector saw his chance and prepared his deathstroke. However, Thomas noticed a glint from the reflection of the blade in the corner of his eye. Grabbing one of the discarded blades, he rolled away and stabbed his enemy in the belly as the Protector stabbed the seat. As the Protector wondered at his ill fortune, Thomas rushed to the girl. "We need to get the bracelet!" she shouted. "There's no time," Redshadow replied, "Hang on!" He had her put her arms around his neck and he kicked out the back window. As the train cleared the tunnel, he saw where they were and cursed. Leaping through the window, he said a quick prayer to whatever gods were watching that he could stick this landing and they would be alright. |
Fan Fiction SpotlightSalvaged Meaning Life... It's such a... Strange concept. I've spent so, so much time looking at it, and I could never understand. Why? Why does life exist? What is its purpose, but to perpetuate its own existence? Intelligent creatures cherish it, their utmost important possession. Their lives... Their existence. But one has to wonder... Are they, any of them, truly, really alive? "I think, therefore I am?" But am I? How is my thought different from the fire that burns besides me, from the stars that shine above me, from the gravity that pulls beneath me? How is my thinking, my fighting to preserve myself any different from any natural phenomenon that self-sustains just because that is what physics dictate it should do? There is no point, no purpose to this sentient intelligence, for in the end, it all comes down to basic survival. Creatures spawn, survive, procreate and die, a never-ending process with no ultimate objective, no goal to strive for, but for this meaningless cycle of life, death and rebirth. Creatures live their pointless, meaningless lives, blind and unaware, throwing their energies towards the goal of procreation, never really knowing why they do. Like morsels into the maw of a ravenous beast, they fling themselves at the universe  and get swallowed whole by the winds of time. Like bubbles in the water, they pop into existence, float through their lives without meaning and pop out of existence when they reach the surface.This is a bit of a hard read. Samuel explores some pretty complex issues in this story, and all from the point of view of an as-of-yet unnamed narrator. It's an unusual narrator, too, and points out the very real problem of omniscience. Just because you know everything going on doesn't mean that everything has your attention. So far, the story chronicles the life of a man who becomes a monster. This attracts the attention of the narrator numerous times because of the sheer improbability of it, and that seems to surprise the narrator endlessly. However, the creature also repulses the narrator. Lines are crossed that almost cause the story's protagonist to intervene itself, but something as yet unrevealed stays its mighty wrath. During the course of the story, the narrator also waxes philosophic on the natures of the universe, desire, existence, and other esoteric conundrums. Sometimes, this derails the plot a little, but the issues relate heavily to the the motivations of the narrator and the antagonist of the story. It's more than just a battle between good and evil, it's more than a quest for the meaning of existence. It's more than what this little blurb can say about it, because blurbs aren't complex, and this story, with the concepts it tackles on a regular basis, is certainly complex.
| Writer's BlockHey everybody! I missed last week due to some trouble, but I am back. Taking that week off helped me think about what I was going to write about here so let me share that with you. We've talked about outlines, we've talked about giving background, and we've even talked about peer editing. I'd like to talk to you about an aspect of writing that I pride myself on the most: dialogue. If a good story is like a sandwich, the dialogue is the best part. Here's an exercise that I do all the time that I feel helps me a great deal in this regard. When writing your dialogue, say it out loud in the way that you think it would be said by your character. Try and get into character yourself and say the lines. Sounds a little like acting, I know, but go with me on this. Say you have a smooth talking villain who is monologue to a captive hero. The hero has said something to your villain which has sent him a little off his tracks but not out of control: "What is that supposed to mean? Hm? What is that supposed to mean?! Are you challenging my intelligence, boy? Are you questioning the brilliance of my plan?" With that, listen to it in your head. Does that sound like a smooth talking villain who is a little flustered? If it does, then it's fine. If not, re-write it to be more eloquent or calmer. After you think you have the lines down, say them aloud as if you were the character. Do the punctuation points work? Too many question marks? Not enough? Omit the exclamation pointquestion mark combo? After you've done this, then the dialogue is ready. This technique can work for any character, any situation, and for any purpose. Trust me. If you want to go deeper into the dialogue of your characters, say if you've been using your super heroine for a lot of stories, then try and get in her shoes and use the techniques stated in the first Writer's Block with Blue Battler. Blue Battler has some wonderful tips on writing or characters that are established and using their backgrounds as dressing for your dialogue. Now let's talk about writing for characters with accents. A lot of people have pirate characters now, western characters or people with varying accents. Try and find some examples of the accent you are going for. If you want a French accent, find a movie with a bunch of French people speaking English. Cowboy hero? Find a western and check out the dialogue. After doing your research, write the lines of dialogue out. Let's say these are your lines: "What in the heck are you talking about? I've never seen him before in my life!" Now let's say that this character is a cowboy. Depending on the accent, you may have to omit letters, add apostrophes, or even misspell words to get the sound right. For example: "What in tha heck'er ya talkin' about? Ah've never seen im before in mah life!" Sounds about right doesn't it? Look back at the different methods I've presented: mine, Blue Battler's, and this accent one. Utilize these to your advantage as much as possible. Remember, this is the best part of the sandwich. Make the dialogue interesting; make the dialogue something people will remember after they read your story. I'll go into this more during the next edition of Writer's Block, showing different types of dialogue for different situations and such. I hope this technique helped! Write on! |
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Because I have to look at youDearest Poodles and Muffins, It's that time of the week again, where I, your own humble Arbiter Fabulius, sends down sparkly love from my condo and greet you, the muddled masses, and inform on what you should be wearing, because it is PAINFULLY obvious everyday that you don't know one bit on that. Today I will answer a few more lucky letters from people just like you, be they Paragonian, or from my home country, I care not. All I want to do is make you feel better about what you look like, even if it hurts... which it might, I mean some facials are just NOT pretty, lemme tell ya. With this I think I should leave a little poll up for you all to discuss amongst yourselves... I am thinking of, since you all bear your sould to me every week, my little grubby lovlies, that I, too, should do the same and tell a little story of how I came to be where I am... Perhaps when I frst met our dear and sainted, Lord Recluse, and helped him... Or perhaps how I got to be in the Etoile Islands in he first place? If you also notice, later on in the article, you will see that I have the answer to Our old friend Psychoic Hatter's dilemma, with before and after shots! Gloriousness to behold, I promise you! And now, let us start this weeks journey with our first letter! Dear Arbiter Fabulous, I have purple skin, vivid bright blue hair, and no pupils in my eyes. I often have trouble finding colors that don't clash horribly with my skin. I've already used basic white for one costume and basic black for another. I tried gold, but that was just too gaudy. Now I'm out of ideas. How can I look good without having to go through the trouble of having my skin repigmented? Please help! Purple in Paragon P.S. I also have large, demonic looking wings coming out of my back, so capes and trenchcoats are out of the question. P.P.S. Despite my appearance, I am not a demon, and have no interest in looking all big and scary and demonic. No more so than usual, at least. Dear Purple Strain, Alright, let us start with the basics again... Silhouette proportion, fit. Without an understanding of your measurements, I am unsure how to approach this, the use of your wings as an afterthought throws me off, I mean, how you come swooping in is one of the first impressions you give. However, wanting to subdue your image is admirable. Few people can get away wth the demon look, honestly, and those that do... well need we really put them in OUR class of people, of course not. I digress, my dear... as well as apologize, many good clients of mine have a touch of the "down under" in their look and they look marvelous. Alright, so you tried to bring about a bit of reprieve to the eye with a basic monoschome, an excellent idea, as well as noting that gold CAN look gausy, anthough a splash of sunflower can bring out your natural beauty. One thing I would recommend are metallics still, silvers to be precise... Go with as we say in the biz, "The Top Bar" using metallics when you can. It will draw the eye away from the skin tone, while not overpowering it. In fashion, you have to know what your flow is as well, take a picture of yourself in the mirror with varying clothes on, then notes how your eye travels over yourself naturally in those outfits. This is key. I would recommend a nice solid tribal look, not only will it give you a rugged, let elegant look over your skin, but the flow of these, especially from a certain belt I know of would compliment any figure. You need to make your look your own, but there are rules and protocol to follow, not because they are tenets to follow because they are there, but due to time and testing, certain ideals in looking good hold true. Now then, I expect a full report on your new look, with a before and after picture, and if it's not up to snuff, I *WILL* be sending some of my "personal assistants" to give you a "permanent makeover" here in the Etoile Islands, reprogramming all the bad stuff Filthy Serge obviously put in your head, I do think a nice bulky armor would do wonders for you, and I have a lovely back accessory that would make those wings a non issue for you. Love and Cuddles, Arbiter Reginald Fabulous! | How lovely! It seems even the poor unhelped wretches in Paragon know there is only ONE true Icon when it comes to fashion, and it's not found in Steel Canyon... How that man stays in business completely eludes me, I mean, come on, at least some of those gangbangers show more initiative, if misguided in their look... However, if even the Rikti can giver their entire army a makeover, which, let's be honest, they NEEDED.. surely some of you, and THEM can take their lead as well... I mean imagine how splendid the Carnical of Shadows private parties, (which are AMAZING, might I add) would be if they had a good budget and a guiding eye over their neo-renaissance rebirth... You know... I do have my retirement fund and DeVore's private number.. one never knows... Oh TANGENTS! Here is another letter, one from someone closer to home for me, with a few problems that I was a bit nervous to touch, imagine that! ME! Cautious about a makeover... let us see what has to be done, shall we? Dear Arbiter Fabulous: i am at a cross-roads, a bit ago i was told out of the blue by a do-gooder to either wear a shirt, or not wear pants with my normal hurt-an-orphan-and-steal-their-candy work clothes. being an average size green lizard man, with large wings i am at an impass, i love my classic brown cargo pants, but i know it's my job to look as well as i can when i take an old lady's purse, and thanks to....biological reasons i won't be charged with indecent exposure and be killed by bane spider death squads, your thoughts? P.S. is the fashion world really a system of absolutes? P.S.S. large power armor and a top hat work well together... Dear G-rated, Alright, well thank you for having me tune in to WTMI, remember, children read this page... let's not get too graphic or descriptive of stuff.. and keep it to fashion. Ok, I am NOT a fan of cargo pants, period, I feel the whole fashion for comfort thing is gone out of line... If you wanna feel like you never got out of bed, then I suggest NOT GETTING OUT OF BED... HOWEVER, with your WORK, these CAN be helpful, and as such I think you should make them your own, perhaps a secondary color... a nice pattern to jazz it up, REDEFINE what cargo pants can be... As for a shirt, why not. I mean I think you should do something to class up your image... you want your name to gain reputation right, you want the jobs to be easier, no? Well if your image gets out there, and folks will know who you are, and they may just put up a little less resistance out of fear, now won't they punkin. No need to answer, I know I'm correct. As for your post-scripts... Yes, there ARE absolutes. And thank you for that advice for our dear Hatter... SPEAKING of our Dear Hatter, I recieve HUNDREDS of emails on what to do for our good friend James! After reading them, and THOROUGHLY ignoring them, I decided to forgo all that thought out.. stuff and go with something that actually works! So here I present BEFORE and AFTER!
I was inspired by the retro-futurism of Nemesis, with the anonymity of the Carnival, going for something Industrio-Victorian as well as Neo-Classical. I call it perfection! Not only does it compliment the hat, but he no longer has to breathe the same air as the riff-raff he must associate with now and then! DELICIOUS! See you on at Fashion Week! Arbiter Reginald Fabulous. About the Author: Arbiter Reginald Fabulous, Esq. Is the head of the Bowl and Doily Spiders, a small but crucial division of Arachnos devoted to maintaining the Arachnos look and theme.. His daily duties involve communicating with the heads of many factions to ensure all projects would be recognizable as Arachnos on first glance, as well as uniform inspection of troops. He lives in St. Martial with his girlfriend, Operative Beard, a mechanic of the Fliers he met while her semi-pro softball team was practicing nearby. He is rumored to have the world's largest collection of Johnny Sonata memorabilia... If you have a question for Arbiter Fabulous, send a forum mail to Equation, with the heading of "Dear Arbiter Fabulous," as well as ingame to @Equation.. or to him personally on the Virtue Server at arbiter fabulous! |
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View on BluePredictions, Part 2: The Revenge!Back in October I turned to the Market section of the forums for predictions regarding the impact I13 would have on the economy. That thread has long since vanished, but the column I wrote afterwards[/rul] still exists. To fully assess the accuracy of these predictions, we would need detailed data regarding average prices in every category from before and after I13 launched. Unfortunately, all I have to go by is my own memory, plus some notes scratched on the back of an envelope. Even worse, the impact of I13 itself has been mixed in with the impact of various other events, such as the reactivation weekend, the merit duping bug, the recipe duping bug, and the lengthy outage of the market servers. Nonetheless, I will not let that lack of data deter me from my appointed task: to hold these so called prophets accountable. Despite the murky mix of events, there do seem to be some clear changes in the wake of I13. For one thing, the conversion of Base Salvage to Invention Salvage via Brainstorms has dramatically lowered prices on all Invention Salvage, across the board. Common Invention Origin recipes and enhancements surged briefly, probably because of dual builds and the usual shift away from crafting during the excitement of a new issue. Other changes are less certain, but many people are reporting that the supply of set recipes is dwindling across the board, especially in pool C. Prices don't seem to have skyrocketed. In some cases they haven't gone up at all. It's difficult to be certain, though. For many of the items I checked, there have been no sales at all since I13 went live, so I have no current price data to go on. A few months from now, we will have a lot more data, but that data will be further muddied by all of the other changes which are expected to occur during the next few months: the holiday event, January's double XP weekend, and the Valentine's Day event. Issue 14 should go live sometime this winter, and Issue 15 in the spring. We may never know the true impact I13 had on our economy. I should also point out that these predictions were made before I13 was even in closed beta. Not everything in this issue has turned out the way some people expected. The details of the merit system, in particular, surprised many people. But no more excuses! Predictions were made, and now they will be JUDGED. (Actual predictions have been edited for length) Name: Necromatic Prediction: High priced recipes go down, moderately priced recipes go up, salvage goes way up. Result: It may be too early to tell about the recipes. The duping bugs certainly crashed at lest one high priced recipe price, but overall there isn't an obvious decline. Salvage, of course, has plummeted. Name: Combat Prediction: Prices will rise Result: Not for salvage they didn't. Everything else seems to be holding steady. Common enhancements went up in price, but those are beginning to settle down. Name: Whiteseeker Prediction: Some things go up, others go down, but nothing really changes except the ongoing inflation of highly desired items. Result: Not a very precise prediction. Some things did go up and down, but we're not currently seeing top tier items go up. Name: Shred_Monkey Prediction: Chaos. An early salvage shortage. Result: Brainstorms eliminated the early salvage shortage. I can't argue with chaos, though. Name: EvaDestruction Prediction: It will be easier to get a team together for an Ouroboros arc. Result: The biggest growth in teaming seems to be Task Forces, obviously driven by a desire for merits. Name: Hell_Jumper Prediction: Very rares will stay high priced. Purples will go up. Result: Other than the crash which was probably caused by exploits, I haven't noticed a huge drop in top tier prices, or a big surge in purple prices, but I suspect that is the direction in which things have begun to shift. Name: TheCooler Prediction: Everything will go up except top tier IO's, which will dip down and then go up. Result: Well, there was a dip, though it's hard to say how much was caused purely by an unexpected exploit. Salvage certainly didn't go up. Commons went up, but didn't stay there. Set recipes may be starting to climb now, but it's hard to say.
| Name: LadyMoon Prediction: more people running story arcs instead of radio missions. Result: This is certainly true among soloists. I'm not sure about groups, especially heroside where missions are given out in a random order sometimes, which makes it hard for teams to synchronize. The biggest change seems to be an upswing in the running of all task forces. Name: Kitteh Prediction: Mid pool C's and all pool B's will go up. People will be grateful to farmers for providing rare salvage. Result: I think the farmers are still waiting for their thank-you card. Mid pool C's haven't shot up, but they may be inching up. It's hard to say, because of a lack of data. Pool B's don't seem likely to go up, since people are running more non-radio missions. Name: Plasma Prediction: Initial price spike. Top tier IO's will soon drop. Low to mid-tier pool C's will go up, but trash is still trash. Result: The initial price spike seemed limited to common IO's. As for the rest, the magic eight ball (our final arbiter) says, "too soon to tell." Name: Honcho Prediction: Devs increase drop rate of salvage, add base invention salvage storage, and increase personal salvage storage. Common recipes stop dropping. Prices drop on all recipes except the cheapest pool C's. Almost all pool C's sell for 5-15 mill. Result: The salvage drop rate did not go up, but we did get invention salvage storage. Personal salvage storage has not changed. Common recipes still drop. Prices on pool A's seem a little higher to me so far, not lower. Pool C prices may be shifting to a median value, but they aren't there yet. Name: Hotchili Prediction: Prices on top tier IO's and salvage spike at first. Most desirable IO's remain expensive long term. Result: I haven't heard about any price spike except on common IO's. It's too soon to say about the long term. Name: Dragos_Bahtiam Prediction: All good recipes spike early on. It takes weeks for merits to have an impact. Result: Thanks to a merit duping bug, I think merits have already made an impact. It seems to have been the common IO's which had an early spike, rather than good set recipes. Name: Smurphy Prediction: Merits will not be tradeable. It will take 90 minutes to earn a random recipe, or ten times that for a specific recipe. Result: Merits are not tradeable. At the dev standard 12 merits/hour, 90 minutes is about right to earn a random roll. Specific recipe prices vary, but many pool C's are about ten times the cost of a random roll. The bunny nailed his prediction! Name: Khenal_Baroney Prediction: Everything will jump for about a week, and then settle down to below current prices. Result: Only common IO's jumped in the first week. Other than salvage, nothing seems to have dropped yet (except the one recipe hit hardest by the duping bug). Name: Frostweaver Prediction: Everything jumps up by 50% in the first week. Good PvP recipes will triple, especially mez effect procs and recharge reduction. The 'big hitters' will be red fortune, thunderstrike, tempered readiness, regenerative tissue, impervium armor, reactive armor, and Executioner's Contract. There will be a rare salvage glut. Overall, good sets will go down, median sets will go up, and trash is still trash. Result: Common IO's jumped by a couple of hundred percent in the first week, but I don't think anything else went up by 50%. Rumors from the PvP crowd make it sound like they aren't doing a lot of shopping. I don't have the data to compare those specific recipes, but Frostweaver was certainly right about the salvage glut. It wasn't just rares, though. People made huge numbers of common in order to maximize their progress towards the Fabricator badge. Overall, my magic eight ball is still saying to ask again later. Name: Scientist Prediction: Short term salvage glut will dry up into a long term salvage shortage. Cheap stuff goes up, high end stuff comes down. 3.5 merits for Positron, and buying a specific recipe will cost around 25 merits. Result: I think the short term salvage glut is beginning to dry up. The price convergence hasn't happened yet. The merit numbers are higher than Scientist expected, and the ratio between buying and earner is smaller. What about my own prediction? I predict that many people who weren't in this article, people who never put themselves on the line with public predictions, will suddenly claim that they knew all along that things would turn out the way they have! This column will be my last one, folks. I hope they have been interesting and educational, since electronic newsletters make lousy bird cage liners, what with the price of LCD screens these days. Good luck out there! Remember, this is a game, not a job. It doesn't matter how well it pays if you aren't having fun! |
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Q) Who is your base designer and who are your supergroup leaders? A) The base desginers are a wonderful comedy duo of Arctic and Deathdevill... besides base building they do a saturday night spot at the local club... Death always kills, and Arctic chills the audiance. The base leaders are the council of we don't really care who leads... they consist of Deathdevill, Tabbi, Arthos, Darkmark and Not another fire kin... everyone but Deathdevil really don't care about being leaders and only keep the title to pick up chicks, except for Tabbi who uses it as an outlet for anger issues and likes to kick people who have funny names and smell strange. Q) What server is your base on? A) Justice... but we feel we're good enough to have our own one and would like to start a chant for an OZ server. Q) When was your supergroup established? A) Nov 2007 - the base and the people were always there it just needed the love of a great leader like Deathdevill to pull all the elements together. Q) What is the approximate value of your base? A) Plot 11 million, power station 5 million, total base 30 million, love that went into it... priceless. Q) How much time do you spend working on your base? A) So much that my wife filed for divorce and Arctic's kid was born and is now in college. All up about 15 hours a day for 6 weeks... till it was done. Q) How much time have you invested in your base so far? A) Loads, this is the 4th Warriors base Q) What is your favorite base item? Least favorite? A) My favorite base item are the long spikes from the ceiling so I can scratch my back. My least is the giant head... I don't like the way it looks at me... it has a window to my soul and today its the round window. Q) What is your favorite thing about base editing? Least favorite? A) My favorite thing about base editing is finishing. Least... is starting. Q) If you could give just one piece of advice to a new base editor, what would it be? A) Lock yourself in a basement, with loads of coffee, junk food and energy drinks... and bang your head against a wall till its done... or hire someone to do it  like Arctic he is cheap but I think the end product was definately worth it.Thank you for this preset interview... its been emotional Deathdevill (Warrior of OZ). |
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Vol. 2, Issues 28
December 19, 2008
The City Scoop a publication for Supers by Supers! 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 Ex Libris. or Niviene
If you would like to do a feature article, have an event covered, or join "The City Scoop" team please PM Snow_Globe
If you need some Advice contact Lady_Athyna or would like to Ask The X contact LiquidX
If you have a base you would like featured, please contact EnnVee
Finally if you have a Classified Ad or Recipe you would like included please contact: MistressNoire
The City Scoop
Terms
GM Lloyd
Hello again. Thanks for your attention.
Im a Game Master for NCsoft, one of the team supporting City of Heroes/City of Villains. This post and the one previous, Four Points, are part of an attempt to explain some things about Game Services.
We have to be careful about how this is done. Most of the communication we have with our players is case by case, without much explanation beyond the rules in the Code of Conduct given to the players at large.
There are reasons for that, but please dont think we begrudge anyone for it. There are some things weve not been prepared to talk about. But were going to try, because we want you to know and I dont know any better.
This is our pledge. We will not tell you anything we dont honestly think you need to know. We will try to be as honest and open as we can be. We dont want to set any expectations we cant address. Well give you something worth reading each time, or at least something we consider worth reading. We want this to have a purpose, and we want to at least maintain and possibly grow that purpose.
A few ground rules, then.
1. This will be a regular feature. To start, itll be coming out every other week on Fridays. There might be changes in that schedule, but probably no less often than that. Regular Internet features such as columns or blogs are easy to start and hard to maintain, but I dont want anyone to start reading and then be left hanging.
2. This is going to be one-way communication, at least starting out. If you want to respond, you are welcome to post replies in the discussion thread, but dont expect replies from me, at least not right away. I will be reading and using responses as the basis for future essays, but there will likely be a number of questions I cant answer. Please dont expect replies in the discussion thread, and please dont send me private messages. Sorry!
3. Dont blame the developers or community department for this. I have to be respectful of the developers and Ex Libris, for these boards are theirs, not mine. They and the moderator staff will be policing the discussion posts and responses just as they do anything else here, and I thank them for their support. Ill be keeping them in the loop about what Im doing here. But this is a column about Support, so thats what youll be getting.
4. I wont be using examples or opinions I cant back up. I dont want this to be one of those columnists who declares something to be true and leaves out the reasons why. You all have the right to call me on that if I ever do that. If I do give examples, itll likely be good ones, but I dont want a mention by me to be a reason to play nice any more than I want it to be a reason to misbehave.
5. Dont ask me about game design or features. Beyond having to support it and rules of conduct, how the game works is not my purview. Youd all be better off asking each other anyway, and well get back to the reasons why, later.
6. Please dont use this column to ask support questions. There are other places on the board for that and if you use the in-game feature, its much easier for us to help.
7. Please follow the rules of these message boards. Those still apply, and Ill try not to stir the pot too much.
8. Please believe I love you all. You are all collectively the reason City of Heroes is a popular game, and the reason why all of us have jobs. If I didnt think I could provide something useful for all of you, I wouldnt be writing this.
Im hopeful we can keep this going for a while, though theres a real risk of running out of material or hours in the day. Im still a GM and answering player petitions is the main part of my job. Issue 13 is upon us with Issue 14 close behind.
There are a lot of players who never read these boards and might not even know theyre here. Im counting that those of you who read these boards regularly are well connected enough to help spread the word.
Thanks for reading,
GM Lloyd
Vol. 2, Issue 28
December 19th, 2008
Community
Phil at the Movies
Get Involved!
City Fiction
The Redeemers
Fan Fiction Spotlight
Writer's Block
Fashion
Because I Have to Look at You
Markets
Predictions, Part 2
Base Showcase
Welcome to OZ
Comic
Events:
December 20th
Virtue
Wedding
Reception - Music by The Cape!
December 21st
Champion
OtC
Hosted Costume Contest
Liberty
Are
you ready?!
December 27th
Freedom
1st Annual Coalition of Arachnos Winter Event Bash
Justice
PvPEC
Justice Melee Madness
Nike IX by imagesbyalex