Continued from front pageOfficial follow up.ByPositronOriginal PostAfter reading most of the thread spawned by my "Abusing Mission Architect" post, I figured I needed to follow up on a few of the points I brought up. You guys had a lot of the same questions, so I think I can answer them FAQ style. Q) "If I powerlevelled a character, am I going to lose them?" A) Probably not. Only the worst of the worst, exploitive, powerlevelled characters will be removed from the game. We don't take retroactive punishments lightly, but some offenses are so egregious that no one would question their intent and those ill-gotten gains should be dealt with. I just want to emphasize that no one is looking to 'punish' anyone here, but rather remove the rewards of exploitive behavior. Q) "Are you going to give us an absolute definition of what abuse is?" A) I know a lot of you want to know an exact definition to see if you were actually abusing the system, or just playing the game, but I don't want to be set up in a situation where our definition of abuse is abused. For example, if we say that the definition is "you gained 4 levels in under 30 minutes", then someone will make sure that they gain 4 levels in 31 minutes, so they can claim they were within the allowed limits and not abusing. Someone said it best that the "definition" of reckless driving is purposely ambiguous, being "Disregard for safety". With this example, I would say that a good interpretation of abuse is "Disregard for the risk and/or time to reward ratio". Q) "Why are you removing badges we worked so hard to get?" A) I apologize in advance if we remove a badge that someone got legitimately through normal gameplay. We didn't want MA to become a badge farm (hence why kill-count badges don't work in MA). Unfortunately the number of "count" badges we put into the system promoted some pretty aberrant gameplay. People forming voting cartels to get Hall of Fame badges, missions whose sole purpose was to tick a badge count clogged up the searches, etc., made finding the honest-to-god story arcs harder than it needed to be. We hope that by removing these problem badges (and adding some new, non-problem, ones in the process) we can see a better play experience throughout the entire MA system. These changes won't happen until I15, but we'll get a list of the alterations to you guys early next week. Q) "Am I going to get banned for farming for badges?" A) Absolutely not. | Q) "What if people who have a grudge against me complain about my arc and get it banned? Why should I permanently lose a slot over that?" A) The first time your arc is pulled because of complaints, you do NOT lose the slot. If you get an arc banned and you do lose the slot, your only option at that point is to contact Customer Support. They are the gatekeepers to the slots, and can give you your slot back if it was banned in error. Q) "You say not to use the word "Farm" in the mission or description. Is that how you are blanket banning things?" A) We do not do blanket banning based on keywords or phrases. When customer service bans an arc, they are looking at the arc in question when they do it. I ask you not to use certain words in your title or description because players can still complaint-ban your arc, and then there is the fact that we are only human, and even if your "farm" arc is a complete joke/parody ABOUT farm arcs, someone might mistake it for a real farm and ban it, causing both you and us a headache in getting the arc unbanned. Q) "What about all the farming and abusing that goes on in the normal game? How come you guys don't put a stop to that?" A) We address rewards abuse all the time. We put timers on missions that could get reset for rewards. We take rewards off of critters that are considered exploitively farmable. Or we just change the mission. Merit rewards are another way we have handled the situation. You can't run really fast stuff over and over and get a reward every time. Again, we are looking out for "Disregard for the risk and/or time to reward ratio", and we take action. Q) "Why did you guys wait until after the reactivation weekend to do this?" A) We had a publishing blackout during the reactivation that prevented us from putting new code up onto the live servers. In the end, we hope you all understand that the changes we're making, no matter how drastic they might appear to be, are in the best interest of the game and those who truly enjoy playing it. Out goal has always been to make Architect fun and enjoyable for both the authors and the players. We feel that with these changes we're helping bring about the realization of this goal. Release Notes for 18.20090422.5T - 5/7/09 .  . Note from the Editors
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Dolls 5th Anniversary Events Over the weekend of May 2nd and 3rd, one of Triumph's largest supergroups, The Dolls, hosted a 5th Anniversary event, celebrating not only the game's fifth anniversary, but also their own. After the event was over, the Scoop had a chance to get one of the Doll's co-leaders, Fanci, to talk about the events. On Saturday the 2nd, the Dolls put on their own version of the popular game show Deal or No Deal. With a possible final prize of 500 million influence, one lucky Hero could find herself a big winner. In order to enter, all the possible contestants had to do was send a mail to Fanci giving the character background, and explaining what interests the player about the game. The winning contestant was Terra-Tek from the Girls of Nukem-High. Fanci commented that the event had a great turnout, and people "really got into the game," with people "booing the banker... nothing bad, just in fun." 26 Dolls lined up in Pocket D, each with an alphabet letter on their chest and an amount ranging from 10,000 influence through the grand prize of 500 million, and more Dolls acted as Banker, Host, and even led the cheering squad. Terra-Tek refused to make any deals, and finally got down to the last three cases. One Doll member observed, "Terra had everyone on the edge of their seats the whole time. The cases at the end were one of the lowest and the very highest." Those cases held the 500 million, 250 million, and 50,000 amounts. After making her decision and receiving the 250 million influence prince, Tera-Tek decided to walk away. Congratulations, Tera-Tek! On Sunday, the Dolls held a more traditional CoH event: an Atlas Park scavenger hunt. Find the Dolls, win the prize! Fanci admits they were rather surprised at the number of people looking for them, as they hid throughout the city. While a fun time was had by all, Sinenergy Kid, who took the 100 million influence first place, and Netherworld Kid, who captured the 50 million second, had perhaps the most fun. Congratulations, Sinenergy Kid and Netherworld Kid! When asked what inspired the Dolls to do Deal or No Deal, Fanci responded, "Well, we wanted to do something really neat for our 5th Anniversary, so we asked the SG for suggestions and we came up with that. I have to admit, at first I was like, "how are we going to do that?" but that more I thought about it, the more I was like, "we can do this!"" Fanci indicated that she and the other Dolls received compliments on their ability to pull off an event this large. She is also very firm in indicating that she did not do this alone, stating, "I would like to say that if it wasn't for each and every Doll that volunteered for this event and donations from them it wouldn't have been possible. We are just happy to be able to show COH and the Triumph server that we are happy for the 5 great years" She goes on to add, "I would like to thank my SG leaders for their support and time they help me put into this SG." A quick "Oh definitely," is the answer forthcoming to the question of if she would do it again, and a follow-up question - are you looking forward to the next one? - receives a similar reply. "Yes, of course. We do these events for all of CoH. " Of course, what is that next Dolls event? Only the Dolls know. Fanci would only say that it's "somewhat smaller" and sometime in June.  EventsMay 8Friday Flights of Fancy Server: Guardian Date: Friday, May 7th, 2009 Time: 10:00 pm Eastern / 7:00 pm Pacific Host: Textilian Details: AE Story Arc play-throughs Events continued. | EventsMay 9Wild Cards 5th SG Anniversary: Monster Mash Server: Triumph Date: Saturday, May 9th, 2009 Time: 4:30 pm Eastern / 1:30 pm Pacific Host: Niklarus Details: Go until most (or all!) of the monsters are hit, or until the Rikti Raid! See also: the player events thread Wild Cards 5th Anniversary: Rikti Raid Server: Triumph Date: Saturday, May 9th, 2009 Time: 8:30 pm Eastern / 5:30 pm Pacific Host: Niklarus Details: After then Monster Mash! See also: the player events thread UltraTroll Saturday SF/Trials Server: Triumph Date: Saturday, May 9th, 2009 Time: 3:00 pm Eastern / 12:00 pm (noon) Pacific Host: UltraTroll Details: Ice Mistral. (Group now has Ventrillo!) Cavern of Transcendence Trial Server: Infinity Date: Saturday, May 9th, 2009 Time: 12:00 pm (noon), Eastern / 9:00 am Pacific Host: Shelyx May 10Red Side Hamidon Raid Server: Infinity Date: Sunday, May 10, 2009 Time: 7:00 pm Eastern / 4:00 pm Pacific Host: Mrs_OSHA Details: Hosted by the OSHA Academy. EoE farming on Thursday, May 8th. May 11Cavern and Eden Trials Double TF Server: Freedom Date: Monday, May 11, 2009 Time: 10:00 pm Eastern / 7:00 pm Pacific Host: Luna_de_Nocturne Details: Starting time is for Cavern of Transcendence; Eden will be approximately 45 minutes later. May 12Kid Engineer & Nomme Get Married Server: Real Life Date: Tuesday, May 12, 2009 Time: 9:30 pm Eastern / 6:30 PM Pacific Host: Nomme & kidengineer Details: Nomme's Wedding News & Kid's Wedding News Eleventh Hour TF Server: Infinity Date: Tuesday, May 12, 2009 Time: 10:00 pm Eastern / 7:00 pm Pacific Host: Textilian Details: Ernesto Hess May 15Fusion Force Five! Server: Triumph Date: Friday, May 15, 2009 through Tuesday, May 19th Time: 8:05 pm Eastern / 5:05 pm Pacific Host: Emerald_Fusion Details: 25 events planned over 5 nights! Fusion Force's 5th Anniversary. See thread for more details. May 16Feline Fellowship 5th Anniversary Server: Triumph Date: Saturday, May 16th, 2009 Time: 11:00 pm Eastern / 8:00 pm Pacific Host: Justice_Chicken Details: Pocket D 1v1 Round Robin PVP Tournament Server: Justice Date: Saturday, May 16th, 2009 Time: 8:00 pm Eastern / 5:00 pm Pacific Host: Mercury_Down Details: Pocket D. All AT welcome, prizes are hero-only (sorry!) |
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Fan Fiction SpotlightThe Kooks She squinted in the light and dangled a blurry hand in front of her face. Figures darted back and forth around the bed, the machines pulsing and chirping as they came and went. There was a shadow above to the right. It tapered to a long tube that hung down and was secured to her other arm. She began to claw away the bandages. A woman took her hand."Oh dear don't. We're not ready to remove that yet." "It isn't necessary." "Honey you've been through a lot...don't worry. Just be patient and we'll have you back up on your feet in no time." "I'm not worried." She focused her vision on the doctor. Young man. Dark features. Middle Eastern, early thirties. He caught her gaze and leaned forward shining a small light in her eyes. He mumbled something to a nurse about vital signs. He took her hand in his palm. "How are you feeling?" "Adequate." "Adequate?" He laughed. "That's an interesting response. Any dizziness? Headache? Any strange sensations?" "No." "How about temperature? Do you feel hot or cold?" "No." "How is your mood? Feeling sad at all?" "I want to leave." "Well you are doing very well physically but we don't want to rush things... but I do have a surprise for you." He stood up and nodded to a nurse. The was a slight commotion as a middle-aged couple entered the room and made their way to the bed. The woman was well manicured and perfumed with a tangled nest of dyed blond hair. Her embrace as she leaned down was firm but faltered quickly. She covered her mouth as she stood back up. Wide desperate eyes. In contrast, the man was relaxed. Even jovial as he patted her hand. Like an inmate set free, some great burden lifted. "Hi honey. How do you feel?" The woman leaned down again. "Callie... sweetie. We love you... we're so happy... to have you back." She covered her mouth again as she straightened up and the man put his arm around her. She shifted in the bed and smiled wanly. "Hi." "Oh you look so pale..." The blonde glanced furtively around the room at the nurses. "Is there anything we can get you? Are you hungry or thirsty? You haven't had any...." She trailed off, mumbling inaudibly. The man shrugged and put his arm around the woman's shoulder. "I'm sure they're taking excellent care of her dear." She raised her hand, signaling the doctor. "Oh... yes, dear what do you need." "Can I speak to you alone for a moment?" "Oh... um..." He looked at the couple. "Mr. and Mrs. Greene, would you mind stepping outside for a moment?" "Oh, of course not. We'll be right outside." The man smiled and led his wife towards the door. She looked back over his arm as they left. "Dear, we'll be right outside if you need us." The doctor took a seat next to the bed and took her hand as a nurse pulled a curtain around the bed. "What's wrong?" "Who were those people?" | "Oh...." He glanced towards the doorway. "That was Mr. and Mrs.Greene. Your parents. You don't remember them?" "No." "Well you were in a coma here for a week. Memory loss is not uncommon for this situation. Try not to be alarmed it will come back grad-" "I'm not alarmed." He leaned back in the chair. "Why don't you clear your mind for a moment and tell me whatever memory pops into your head." She stared blankly at the ceiling for a moment. "Just my name." "Callie Green...." "No." "Oh? What is it then?"  "Recursive." "Pardon? What did you say?" "My name is Recursive." This is a bit of an unusual read. Most fiction posters adhere to a format where dialogue is broken up between characters, leaving a space between single sentences of conversation. Frozen, however, presents the dialogue as one chunk that's separate from the narration. When I first saw it, I was worried I might get confused and wind up having to reread the paragraphs in order to figure out who was saying what. Surprisingly, this is not the case. Frozen has a very interesting way of writing dialogue, the characters speak in a way that makes the reader understand exactly whom is speaking. One sentence has a female bent, another a male's. One is demented and confident, another is aloof and analytical. With the help of the narration, this method of writing works out very well for FrozenDeath. Aside from the style, the narrative itself is also a chillingly compelling piece. A young woman loses her very self and is replaced with by the persona of that which possesses her. This is something of an anomalous occurrence, however, and she finds herself embroiled in a peculiar power struggle. Now, the odd thing for most readers is that these characters are "villains." Personally, I'm pins-and-needles waiting to see how this one turns out. I highly recommend it to those of our readers who peruse the playerbase's works of fan fiction, and that they take a look at it soon. It's located in a section of the forums that is subject to forum purges, so I wanted to get the word out as soon as possible.  City of Comic CreatorsThe City of Comic CreatorsThis one's been sitting in my Inbox for a while, and for that, I apologize. It was presented to me by a party interested in garnering publicity for the hard work of those involved, and I wound up dragging my feet on it because I can't think of what I can say that hasn't already been said about the talent behind the CCC. First, we have Ascendant and Chase_Arcanum, two celebrities among the fanbase (both famously and infamously) whose work has helped set a precedent for the world our characters live in. Then there's Sin_Stalker and drrmidnight, both of whom I've presented the works of in the Fan Fiction Spotlight. There are others, too, many of whom I've only recently had the opportunity and time to peruse their great work. 8Baller, Olantern (he had a Valentine's story presented in the Spotlight), Kinetic_Kitten, Torroes_Prime, GoldenMasquerade... The list goes on and the talent is never in short supply. The amazing thing, however, is that the various lauded comic creators have come together to provide an index of their works in one easy-to-locate website. This is a fantastic project, and I'm interested to see how it progresses as time goes on and the capabilities of their mediums expand. |
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Monkees of the EvolutionInterview With: Super Monkee | |||||||||||
Monkees of the Evolution Interview With: Super Monkee Q) What is the name of your group and what made you choose it? A) SG name: Monkees of the Evolution. The name came about from a funny song me and a couple friends had written. The 3 of us started playing CoH at around the same time. Of course we had to form our own supergroup ASAP! Since we had just written that song and were getting such a kick out of playing it, we decided it should be our SG name as well. Q) What is your base designer(s) name A) Spectacularr/Super Monkee Q) What server is your base on? A) Guardian Q) When was your super/villain group established? A) 12.28.2005 Q) What is the approximate value of your base? A) 25 million prestige Q) How much time have you/your designer(s) invested in your base since you started building? A) I couldn't begin to tell you how many countless hours/days/weeks I've spent in edit mode. When issue 13 was released, my SG was wondering for a while there if I was actually ever going to PLAY the game again... lol! Q) What is your/your designer(s) favorite base item? Least favorite? A) For aesthetics, I really like the banners and the Veteran reward items. A few well-placed items can add a lot to a room. For building purposes my favorites are, of course, the Floor Safe and the Floor Tile. Those 2 items are the cornerstones in my base building. As for least favorites.... I don't really think I have any. Between the 2 Monkee bases and what we can now do since issue 13, I have found a variety of uses for items I never would have used before. There are still some items I wouldn't use in either base, but that's not to say I might not use them in a base that I could be helping someone else with. It all depends on the Style/Format of the SG/VG. Q) What is your/your designer(s) favorite thing about base editing? Least favorite? A) I really like building cool functional rooms. I would have to say my favorite thing about base editing is when the particular room I'm working on really starts coming together, when my vision starts to become (virtual) reality. I also have to say I really like the lighting aspects of the base editor. Once I get the style set and the core of the room built, I turn all the lighting to black and place various lights throughout the room for a more natural feel. My least favorite thing about base editing I would have to say is the amount of times I get disconnected while in edit mode and the delay time it sometimes takes just moving an item a few virtual feet, let alone across the room or base. I used to hate stacking the desks. You know, when you've got that next desk you're stacking all lined up just right and you click to place it... and your mouse/cursor moved ever so microscopically and you put it down a level or magically in another room. But since I found the Floor Tile I no longer have that problem. Q)Did you get your inspiration from anyone specific or was it right from your imagination? A) My inspiration pretty much came from within this kRaZy head of mine. I have a pretty vivid imagination. I do have to say though, that the idea for my Prison was inspired by a base I had seen on Freedom server. Q) If you/your designer(s) could give just one piece of advice to a new base editor, what would it be and why? A) Be patient, take your time and ask questions. There are a lot of people out there willing to help. (Not everyone, but a lot) Use the Official Forums, as well as the Base Builders Inc. chat channel. I have found both of these to be excellent sources of information on building. Oh yeah... and most of all... Have FUN! |
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Because He Has To Look At YouA Guest Article Hello, my little American chums! Our beloved fashion guru Arbiter Fabulous has unfortunately been tied up ensuring that all the Arachnos Widows out there have received their wonderful new butt capes. As he is busy in the mailroom sorting out deliveries with his ace team of Bowl and Doily spiders he has asked me to fill in for him this week. He assures me that he will be back writing for the scoop very shortly, and for his adoring fans not to panic! So don't panic, you sad, pathetic, needy creatures; Crime of Fashion will hold your hand and tell you what to wear. I can barely hold back my contempt for you all, but I will try! Fashion is a fickle mistress and she is telling me over and over again that you are doing it wrong. So listen, and obey. Dear Arbiter Fabulous "I am a warrior princess from another dimension and don't know the first thing about earth fashion. No one treats a 16-year-old girl in medieval armor with the respect and deference that a noble woman deserves. Someone even told me to stop fighting crime and go back to school. I need an outfit that commands respect, shows my noble background, and stops old ladies from telling me to get back in school. Please help!" The Emerald Countess of the 5th house of Talovar Dearest Emerald Countess Ah, the problem of adolescent crime fighters. Have you actually considered getting an education before fighting crime? Probably not, but one can hope that the next generation of crime fighters can read and write with more than crayons. Now that I think of it, hell yeah, drop out of school heroes, don't learn to read and write - more power to us villains. Anyway, I think we have to take a leaf out of the book of American teenagers who have been dressing older in order to pass door security at bars for generations. Let's make you look older and more regal. What says regal more than a tiara? Royal elegance is what we are after, so a nice flowing cape, a pretty skirt, and a haircut will do you wonders. I think keeping the color palette as it associates with your name, I mean who would respect the Emerald Countess if she wore Orange and Blue? Behold, you high school dropout, behold! Dear Crime of Fashion "I am from an alternate dimension where they don't have super powers but would really love to enter Paragon City and fight crime! Can you create an avatar for me in the world of City Of Heroes?" Dr Doctorman Dear Dr Doctorman No one in your dimension has super powers? That must really suck! Remind me to plan a vacation to your world so I can enslave you all! A defenseless world full of human sheep for me to control and dress, Bwahahahahaha! As requested you sad powerless fool, here is what you would look like if you came to our world. Dear Crime of Fashion "Y'know what would be a fun challenge? For Arbiter Fabulous and Crime of Fashion to try a design swap, each one designing a new outfit for the other." M I Abrahms Dear M I Abrahms The only problem with this idea is that I can barely pry Reginald out of his accursed Arachnos uniform. As an Arbiter, he is incredibly dutiful to Arachnos and rarely takes the suit off. However, I would like to design him an off-duty look. Something that screams "FABULOUS" a lot more that it screams "I WORK FOR A GIANT MAN-SPIDER!" Anyway, here is my proposed look for Arbiter Reginald Fabulous. I throw down the gauntlet of challenge to you Arbiter Fabulous: bring on my makeover! So long everybody; Arbiter Fabulous will return to critique you shortly! Crime of Fashion City Scoop Fashion Reporter, and Mills & Boon cover model. Thanks to Kitsune9tails for the critique of this look on test | |
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In The Scoop | |
Monday has arrived. There is going to be a showing at Pocket D and I am hoping to be able to meet the artist that the show will be featured, DARK JEDI. When I read his name, I feel like I should be hearing some sort of thunderous dun-dun-dun music in the background. My old friend Neko Fury, who is also an artist, is in town for a few days and has agreed to join me for the show. Neko and I plan to leave early to try to get there before the crowd that is bound to attend the event. We arrive to see that this is a red carpet affair with cameras and bright lights everywhere! We exit the limo and are escorted quickly to the Lord Recluse Gallery. As we enter the gallery, we receive glasses of champagne and spot several celebrities of note. The room looks totally awesome with dim lights and candles all over. The artwork is placed about all around the room. Some pieces are hanging on the walls, and others are on fancy easels with golden lights shining onto the work. I am quite impressed with what I see, and the gallery is quite crowded with many of Dark Jedi's supporters and fans.  As Neko and I are escorted into the main gallery, we are brought over to the man of the evening, Dark Jedi (aka: Light-Speed), who looks very nice in his black and gold tux. Very classy! I ask Dark Jedi to tell us a little bit more about himself. "Well, " he starts off, "I have been a member of the City of* family since day one launch day. Actually, about three weeks before launch when I received my beta invite. I have lived on Victory ever since then. Victory forever! I have also been a member of a really strong Supergroup named LoneSTAR since right after launch and we've all stuck together through the years. It's a great group of people. "  Dark Jedi brings us over to the piece he did on Comrade Hero. Awesome piece of art! Dark Jedi says to us "Comrade Hero was described to me as a powerful hero of the Russian people, and therefore needed to be placed in front of a notable monument. The Mamayev Kurgen was selected and I modeled her to be placed in the background. A very impressive piece. There is soft classical music playing in the background among the softly lit gallery. The ambiance is fantastic, but I wonder where the orchestra has been hidden. I see a huge mural across the room where the music seems to be coming from. I'll have to see if Dark Jedi can bring us to that one sometime tonight. I ask Dark Jedi about how old he was when he started dabbling with his artistic talent. "I remember having my mother show my drawings to other family members when I was about 5 or 6 years old. I also have vague memories of correcting other kids' drawings in second grade and they actually listened to my critiques, so I guess it was pretty early. I'd always been an 'A' student in art, but looking back, I don't think I did anything good until college. Before that, it's all just simple line drawings on school notebook paper. " We walk over to an art piece of Juggertha. Also, awesomely done! Dark Jedi fills us in on a little bit about this piece. "Juggertha was a lot of fun to pull together due to the opportunity to render his destructive path. Computers render relatively clean environments, so I spent a lot of time 'dirtying' up the setting. "  |  Next to that piece was another City of Heroes piece, which was naturally fabulously done. Dark Jedi smiles as he explains this piece to Neko and me. "Here we have The Vanguard League. This piece was done for the Vanguard League, a supergroup located on the Victory server in the City Of Heroes. I received a ton of screenshot references for their in-game models and tried to replicate the characters as closely as possible. As a result, this piece took several months to complete. Ensuring every character had equal treatment was an added challenge, but I'm very happy with the results. " I was curious to know what Dark Jedi's art pieces were like when he was growing up, so I asked and he replied, "I used to draw Easter Bunnies. Yes, Easter Bunnies. Complete with a basket of eggs and everything. All the time. Hey, I was 6. I used to draw in school all the time. It was kind of distracting having sketches everywhere and no actual notes, so my mother took my pencils away. She figured if I had nothing but ball-point pens, I'd have to pay attention. As a result, I can now draw very elegantly with a ball-point pen. It's amazing the level of shading that can be achieved with a pen! " As Dark Jedi leads us over to the mural, LoneSTAR Lineup, where the orchestra is most definitely performing behind, I ask Dark Jedi what is his favorite piece of work that he has done thus far. Dark Jedi shares, "I would have to say I'm caught between two. One of my favorites is the piece I did for the cover of Fanzine number 1 that features Statesman and Lord Recluse fighting back to back against the Rikti Invasion. My other favorite for its sheer scope HAS to be the piece I did featuring my entire supergroup; 42 heroes all modeled and rendered in 3D. It took several months of daily work to assemble and is over 6 feet wide when printed. " Neko and I stand staring at the amazing detail of the LoneSTAR mural. I turn to Dark Jedi and asked him what he used to create it. Dark Jedi said with a proud smile, "I've become a huge digital art fan. I used many of the standard 3D programs including MAYA for the core modeling, Poser for the human models, and VUE for the rendering processes. Of course, a liberal amount of Photoshop goes into every stage, too. " As I take another look around the gallery, I am so amazed at what I see! I ask Dark Jedi where he gets his inspiration from, and he thought for a moment and then replied, "I read a lot of comics, watch plenty of Science-Fiction, and play computer games almost nightly. I have a sketchpad next to my computers so when a commercial or TV show sparks an idea, I can scribble a thumbnail immediately to preserve the immediacy of the concept. If an image gets overworked, it can suffer... so getting that initial energy is vital. " The evening was getting late and I already had ideas for my article floating around my head. I asked Dark Jedi if he wanted to say anything special to his fans and the City Scoop readers. He quickly replied, "If someone wants to be an artist, just keep drawing! Listen to other's feedback, but make your own choices about what you want to do creatively. Learn from observing, and don't be too proud to criticize your own work. My own personal 'self-improvement plan' is, whenever I finish a piece, I try to find three flaws in it that I could do better next time. That way I'm always pushing forward to make each piece better than the last. " With that, Neko and I thanked Dark Jedi for his hospitality and congratulated him on the success of his show. Writer's note: For anyone who is interested in viewing Douglas Shuler's (aka: Dark Jedi) art work, you may visit his websites at http://www.douglasshuler.com/ or http://douglasshuler.deviantart.com/ "Bring me your visions " - VexXxa |
The Hecktic Life | |
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Snow_Globe Cende | |
Lemur Lad EnnVee | |
EnnVee - Bases Mr_Grey - Fan Fiction Spotlight Reyne_Maker - The Hecktic Life VexXxa - In the Scoop Neuronia - PvP Correspondent Hostile_V - Humor TopDoc - Under the hood - Behind the Walls | |
Barron_ - Barron's Kitchen Mistress Noire | |
Teldon - Behind the Mask HumanMiracle - The People On | |
Fleeting_Whisper - MArc reviews Bubbawheat - MArc Guides | |
Crime of Fashion Equation | |
Mistress Noire - P.E.R.C. SGAlliance - P.v.P.E.C. | |
LiquidX Lady Athyna | |
Needed! | |
Mantid Snow_Globe More Welcomed. (Need HTML skills.) | |
Cende Comrade_Hero More Welcomed. | |
Art Correspondents Event reporters HTML Layout Puzzles Writers | |
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Vol. 2, Issue 45
May 8, 2009
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 Niviene.
If you would like to do a feature article, or join "The City Scoop" team please PM Snow_Globe.
If you would like to place a classified ad or have an event covered, contact Cende, EnnVee, or Lemur Lad.
If you need some "Advice" contact Lady_Athyna, would like to "Ask The X" contact LiquidX, or need help with fashion, "Ask Arbiter Fabulous."
If you have a base you would like featured, please contact EnnVee.
Finally if you have a Recipe you would like included please contact Barron_.
The City Scoop
Abusing the Mission Architect
Official Announcement
By
Positron
Original Post
When we created Mission Architect, the goal was to have an outlet for players to craft cool stories, using our assets, that other players could play and participate in. Other players could rate those stories and the best-of-the best would rise to the top.
While we have accomplished some of those goals with the initial launch of Mission Architect, some have found ways to abuse the system we put in place. We are not blind to this happening, nor did we not expect it. However, it is time to take action regarding it, so please be aware that we are about to implement a zero-tolerance stance on the extreme abuse we are seeing in the system.
One thing was made clear to me when I interacted with the players on our Anniversary. It was that you guys really don't like the powerlevelling that is going on with MA. The constant spam of MA PL teams forming, requests for "Meow" missions, 5 star badge cartels, and the inability to find quality content in the Mission Architect listing are all things I heard complaints about over and over while I was logged in on Tuesday.
Vol. 2, Issue 45
May 8, 2009
This Issue:
Official Announcements
Abusing the Architect
Positron's Followup
Community
Dolls 5th Anniversary
Events
Fiction
Spotlight
City of Comic Creators
Base Showcase
Monkees of the Evolution
Fashion
Because He Has To Look At You
Arts Showcase
In The Scoop
The Hecktic Life
Masthead
So here is a list of things that are going to happen:
Players that have abused the reward system egregiously may lose benefits they have gained - leading up to and perhaps including losing access to the characters power-leveled in this fashion.
Currently, some badges are being modified, and some may be removed from the game entirely. The list of changes being made to the MA badge system is not final yet, but you will be made aware when we have a concrete plan.
Players who knowingly use an exploit when creating an arc, run the risk of having access to MA suspended, or worse- depending on the severity of the action, their account banned.
Players who have a story arc banned for any reason, will have it continue to use up one of their publishing slots. Players will NOT be able to unpublish this slot without Customer Service's help. This sets up a "three strikes and you're out" policy. If an individual gets three story arcs banned, they will no longer be able to publish since their slots will all be used up with banned arcs.
This lock will not take place on the first level of "complaint banning", where an arc has received a larger number of complaints. Players will still have a chance to fix the arc.
If Customer Service looks at an arc and determines it was banned in error, they will mark it as "unbannable". At that point the arc can not be banned for any reason. The unbannable flag will reset if the player makes any changes to the arc at that point, and the arc can be banned again.
Remember, publishing slots are account wide, so players will not be able to log in another character on their account and use their slots instead.
Players are urged to avoid using common farming terms in their story title and/or descriptions. Even if it's a joke, DO NOT run the risk of having an arc banned and requiring Customer Support to grant you your publishing slot back.
Some of you have taken the stance of "how does powerlevelling hurt the game?" and "shouldn't I be able to play the game the way that I want?" What we want to make clear is in order to keep the game fair, balanced, and challenging, we have to maintain a risk:reward ratio. This is a ratio we've spent years attempting to achieve. Mission Architect is not immune to this, and we are taking swift action to see that the problems players are seeing and are being exposed to are remedied.
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