Now you're just being condescending. I am fully aware that homonyms exist in our language, and continuing the discussion when I've already gone down the "agree to disagree" route, while at the same using this mild insult, or "talking down" as I like to call it, is just bad form. But whatever, I'm already over it... honestly.
*waves white flag* Your unflinching devotion to trivial arguments far surpasses mine.
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You may not like the answer but the truth of the matter, just like life, the situation will dictate whether it would be better to hit absorb pain, toss out a fortitude, shoot off an attack, get out of splash damage range, move out of line of sight, dog pile rommy, split nitcus, etc.
[/ QUOTE ]None of my Empaths have ever felt the need for Absorb Pain. Not once in over 2 years have I ever felt that AB would have improved my circumstances.
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/36641/My-Little-Exalt
And that is your personal prefernce. I think everyone agrees it isn't a mandatory power.
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The person in question was on crack.
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Freedom Mains:
Sapphire Healer, Emp/Psych Def
Sapphire Blade, BS/Regen Scrap
Sapphire Gunner, AR/EM Blast
Izumi Reconstructed, Ice/Ice Corr
Operative Misaka, SoA
Arc #92364: The Shattered Sapphire
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So, technically, according to the definition that seems useful to me, the buffs that a random hero gives you while passing by are possibly not preemptive (since in my experience, they're often given to targets who are just standing around, with no real expectation that the buff will be useful.)
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It's this that will never allow us to agree, which was the irony that I pointed out before. If there is never an agreement on the definition of a term, arguing over when it applies is just useless. Whatever you all decide on this topic is fine with me. I think I'm going to stop with this one. Deliberation has been achieved. Congratulations.
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It's interesting that you bold that bit (I was half expecting it as I wrote that sentence that someone would pick it out.) Any time a person uses a word that has multiple meanings (and there are quite a few that do), there's some question as to which meaning he is using. The one that actually fits is usually the correct one to pick. (For example, the word that ends that last sentence means "choose," and not "pluck a guitar string", in spite of the fact that "pick" when used as a verb has both meanings.)
From the context of my post, the meaning of "preemptive" has to be something like the meaning that I picked out. (Either that, or I'm using the word incorrectly. But since there is a definition of the word that fits the way I used it, that's not the case.)
These other meanings of "preemptive" that people are using to prove that healing can't be preemptive are often meanings that suggest that either nothing or everything is preemptive, which means that in the context of discussing the game, they're useless. I would contend that most of the people who use the phrase "preemptive healing" and believe that such a thing exists in CoH are using a definition similar to the one that I suggested previously.
The fact that there are other meanings of preemptive which suggest that "preemptive healing" doesn't exist in CoH is a bit of a distraction. And since I agree with you that under those alternative definitions of preemptive, preemptive healing doesn't exist, that's not a particularly interesting conversation. (I'd even go a step further and suggest that because, under those definitions, preemptive healing doesn't exist, that's not what preemptive means in this context.)
Further, I argue that the definition I pointed out above is not only useful in describing what happens in CoH, but also suggests ways to categorize powers in the empathy set, and suggest strategies that players might attempt to use. Given that, you're welcome to erroneously believe that it's not a valid definition of the word, but I think you understand what I mean when I say it, so it seems a bit silly to get bogged down in an argument on semantics. (Then again, it seems that you missed part of the point I was trying to make, and I enjoy silly arguments about semantics, so I don't mind getting bogged down. Isn't that what internet forums are for?)
If somehow you're able to come up with some explanation as to how some of these other definitions of "preemptive" are actually useful in the context of City of Heroes, then we might get somewhere in this discussion. I still might contend that the definition I've been using is the best fit for the concept I've been trying to convey, but it does mean that perhaps a different word choice is in order to resolve the ambiguity.
(I think I actually prefer the word "proactive" personally, but whether or not that word applies depends on your perspective, and therefore gives rise to the same sorts of semantic issues.)