Discussion: Were Throwing A Party And Youre Invited!

They're contacting Ebilbay to make sure any naughty code sales get pulled down (like account sales), before simultaneously distributing a potential several thousand dollars worth of codes to the winners.

*gives sideways glance at naughty sellers*

Or there's a problem with (insert Star Wars Imperial music cue) MARKETING.

Maybe Marketing is disturbed by our lack of faith. Or displeased with our apparent lack of progress. Or accepting Avatea's apology. Or destroying us ship-to-ship. Or sensing something. Or looking on Avatea with their own eyes. Or have decided they want to launch the NPC costume set as a "Celebration Pack" costing $19.99.

Bah at the news! I still have to wait in suspence for mine

I gotta say, I really don't care about the codes at all, but I think that you may be laying the blame in the wrong place here. Why would Marketing care at all about this? To me this seems like more of a case of "Oops, my mistake. I'll fix it when I get to it." I mean really, Marketing? The codes were already promised and someone screwed up by not giving them all right from the beginning. Now they have to fix themselves. If you think that is far-fetched, keep in mind that this is the third or fourth "Contest/Give Away" in a row that Paragon Studios has messed up. Do the research, it's right here at the top of the "News, Events & Announcement Discussion" section of the forums.

"Do the research"? Did you hear that last night on a cop show and thought it sounded so cool you had to wedge it incongrously into a forum post to sound clever? Unnecessary aggression ftl.

Marketing runs the competitions and promotions. Marketing accompanied Avatea and the other rednames to each contest, whispering in their ear with guidance about what to say and do during each party night on each server for this event. Marketing come up with the contest ideas, prizes and how to distribute them.

Nemesis is a Marketing plot. In fact literally so, if you think about it

Nope, I was questioned about it by another forum poster when I mentioned the contest screw ups in another thread. I figured before I tried to explain it again to another lazy individual, I would tell them where I got my facts from. So I was not being clever, I was being lazy myself and telling people in advance. Sometimes it is just easier that way.

As for the rest of your post, the over-dramatic conspiracy theory was funny.

The Electric-Knight ______ Malfaz _____ Zox'Oculox

@Zethustra

"Now at midnight all the agents and the superhuman crew come out
and round up everyone that knows more than they do"-Dylan

www.pauldamonthomas.com - Original Music

Pretty clear in this post here from September 9, 2010 that someone screwed up. Not a bad screw up but part of a trend regardless. Then on September 14, 2010 another post by Avatea saying there has been a delay in getting the costume codes out. So it is obvious there was a screw up, it really doesn't appear to be Marketings fault, and it really does appear to be a case of "Oops, my mistake, I'll fix it when I get to it".

So you want to jump all over them for a delay and continue to refer to a supposed "trend" of screwing things up?

They gave stuff out for free.
It looks like it will take them less than two weeks to give every convention costume code to the winners.
The only delay is a perceived one, as no time table was set. The party pack code was given immediately (To me and anyone else I've seen talk about it).

I'm thinking they may have been matching the globals to the forum handles and I don't know what else may have been tying them up before they could send all the codes... they do other things at their job as well... Not just give out gifts).

I think the apologies and such from Avatea were more along the lines of a nicety. You know, politeness... Then again, based on your posts about this stuff... Maybe you don't know.

Look... I'm right there with the feedback that the Party Pack was overpriced. Ever since that, I've seen some real vitriolic nitpicking from you and some others and it is a bit absurd.
I dare suggest, in the kindest way possible, that perhaps you might like to lighten up a bit.

"another screw up. A trend of screw ups"
Over this?
C'mon!


If you're that upset over the way the company has been, I honestly and sincerely suggest you take a step back and see if you feel the same way afterward (Not saying, leave or quit or anything. Just an honest, healthy reevaluation), because all you're really accomplishing is generating negativity on a message board. Whether you take issue with the fact that your negativity is not garnering results (They're not changing nor replying to specific things you wish for them to) or not... it's all you're accomplishing.

I've been a part of railing against a company to no avail. Best thing I ever did was step back and figure out if I still enjoyed the product regardless of anything else going on around it (Their mistakes, decisions I disagree with, current and future business plans). Once I realized that I was entirely capable of having fun within the bubble of the actual product, my feedback and forum presence was much happier (Even though it was equally critical).

Also... In a world of monsters, NCSoft, at worst, is a pretty cool, kind and friendly monster.

Just my thoughts.

The Electric-Knight ______ Malfaz _____ Zox'Oculox

@Zethustra

"Now at midnight all the agents and the superhuman crew come out
and round up everyone that knows more than they do"-Dylan

www.pauldamonthomas.com - Original Music

OK, Electric, first off, I did not jump all over them for screwing up, I pointed out that they have messed up the last three or four contests/give-aways they have conducted. I do recognize that Avatea making the post where she admitted her mistake was nice and I will add classy. Her making another post saying there had been a delay was nice and classy as well. It does not change the fact that there was a screw up. Like it or not, it is a trend. Once is a mistake, twice is an oops, three or more is a trend. Especially when the mistakes are so close together. Really though, you invested a little too much emotion in what I said in that post. To be completely honest, my only intent was to point it out as a way of nudging the company and reminding them that quality does matter.

As for the rest, let me first start by saying that like you, I too love this game. Maybe that is why this micro-transaction model rubs me so wrong. Well that and the fact that for so long I believed this company was different from all the other MMO's out there. The "Emote Pack" though is, in my opinion, a slap in the face from a quality vs price standpoint. I could handle, even if I didn't like it, the other packs that actually added some form of value to the game for a majority of players. That one adds almost no value and what little value there is goes to only a small segment of players. They dropped the ball there for quality as well.

And my other comments? Complaining about lag almost all the time? What's wrong with pointing that out? Quality again. Buggy releases that take weeks to fix? Quality. Issue releases messing up almost every aspect of the games, not just the stuff they are supposed to add? Quality. Let me add here the fact that the on-line store sucks for both access and ease of use. Quality. What about any of this is nit-picky? It is all almost constant and certainly repetitive issues with the game as of late. Quality.

If you have decided to give them a pass even with all this stuff going on, that is your problem, not mine. I will remind them of the high standards of quality they should have whenever possible.

Something occurred to me while writing this post. I really wonder if not having a direct competitor has actually hurt this game lately. Champions On-Line came out and proved to be such a joke that everyone seems to be laughing it off. I think Paragon Studios has too. Heck, even DC Universe On-Line won't really be a direct competitor since it is a console game adapted for the PC and that rarely works out the greatest. Without a direct competitor though, this company may be doomed to stagnation since there is no other game to out do, nothing to push it.

The Electric-Knight ______ Malfaz _____ Zox'Oculox

@Zethustra

"Now at midnight all the agents and the superhuman crew come out
and round up everyone that knows more than they do"-Dylan

www.pauldamonthomas.com - Original Music

But how much of the game is new? New zones? Not all that much different really. New maps? Kinda. New missions? A few. What is truly different though, how has the game grown?

The alignment system is probably my favorite "new" thing. I really like the tip drop aspect to be honest. Even so, they are really only a re-hashing of old style missions, instead of a new mission type. Even switching sides does not really give you anything new, no matter how much badge hunters like myself like the idea. How about a zone map that actually feels like you are in a zone instead of in a mission map. How about a zone where you can actually get environmental damage if your standing in the wrong place, say a lava flow or a mudslide.

What this company really needs is some innovation. Totally different environments. How about underwater zones? Space? Maybe some alternate body types such as huge females, snake lower bodies, or the centaur style animal lower bodies. Powers too. How long has the request for a "Water" based power been out there? I will admit that the Powers are probably the companies strongest point, but keep it up, don't get lax.

As for your comment on the server activity, that is both a weak point for the company and a strength for the players. The companies weakness in that the stability of the servers is horrible as evidenced by the lag and "server disconnects" going on all the time and all around the clock. It is a player strength because of all the people that have either come back or decided to check out all the new shiny stuff. Most of these people will probably not last more than six months (if you believe most articles in gaming magazines about MMO's in general, not this particular one).

Overall, while I love this game, I am not really seeing new innovative stuff going on. Just a lot of re-hashing the old stuff.

As for the M&G part, that started out as a question I was asking for a friend that refuses to enter the forums anymore. It later turned into something else when someone asked me about it. I'll leave it at that. The negativity comment may be appropriate if all you look at is my posts in these "Emote Pack" threads, but look at my comments in other threads and I think you will see that I try to give praise where it is deserved too. For instance in the various Veterans Reward threads I generally feel positive and not because I am a Veteran, but because the rewards seem to fit. Overall, they are mostly small incentives to stick around and a way for the company to say thinks. I can feel the love there. I have even tried to get others to "calm down" as you suggested (mostly the PvPers).

I'm not sure how your not experiencing the lag though. I would be tempted to call you a liar on that one, but I have read a lot of your posts and I am certain that is not the case. I happen to be a member of multiple Global channels on several different servers and the one theme I see a lot is people complaining about lag and being "Mapservered", not to mention the broadcast chatter going on backing it up. Almost daily my own lag is so bad that I turn the game off in frustration. It is slightly better when the servers are less populated, but only a little. I did a TF the other night in which one guy got booted from the game in every single mission and the lag for everyone else on the team kept getting us killed, the old "dang, lag, I'm dead" issue.

Buggy releases and messing the whole game up is easy to explain and I will only give a brief description here. Issue 17, why did it knock out the Markets for a day and a half? Issue 18 did too, but that one is understandable with the market merger. Why did they both screw up the globals for a day or so? I didn't see this personally, but I did see a lot of people on various channels taking about not being able to find the mission doors because the arrows were not there.

I have now been told on several occasions that it must be my computer, but I doubt that. Here's why: Quad Core Processor (2.67 Hz each), 64 bit system, 9 gigs of Ram, more hard drive space than I will ever need (not that it really matters in this case), and Cable Internet at the highest possible transfer rates. I also use the highest quality cables I can buy. All in all, this computer is way above and beyond even the recommended levels to play the game that NCSoft lists.

Relative to when? Since the split with Cryptic? Wellllll.....

• New powersets: Dual Blades, Willpower, Shield Defense, Pain Domination, Dual Pistols, Demon Summoning, Electric Control, Kinetic Melee
• Weapon Customization
• Ouroboros
• New hairstyles
• Cimerora
• VEATs
• Powerset proliferation
• Hollows revamp
• Level-Up Boost
• Combat Attributes
• Inspiration conversion
• Day Jobs
• Multiple builds
• Leveling pacts
• Reward Merits
• New costume pieces, including the Super Boosters
• The ability to change gender type via the Science Origin Booster
• Mission Architect
• 5th Column Task/Strike Force
• Costume change emotes
• New character faces
• Dominator AT revamp
• Enhanced sounds (footsteps, etc)
• Power Customization
• Enhanced difficulty options
• Pets persisting between zones
• Server queues (contrary to what some think, this was added in I16, not I18)
• Super Sidekicking
• New badges
• Ultra Mode
• Four new arcs (two blue/two red) utilizing new Doppleganger technology
• Positron Task Force revamp/split
• Animated tails
• E-mail attachments
• Alignment System
• Four new zones including a new starting area
• Praetorian revamp
• Market Merge
• Cathedral of Pain (counts as new given how short a time it was up and how long it was left unfixed)
• Countless other QoL improvements

CLEARLY THE EXACT SAME GAME

Hmm...

Paragonwiki has 6 listed HERE.
Freakshow Boss Costume
Carnival Harlequin Costume
PPD Hardsuit Costume
Knives of Artemis Costume
Ring Mistress Costume
Praetorian Clockwork Costume

And then there's the latest ones, the Ghoul... And the Praetorien Police.

I actually haven't applied my codes yet... I'm a slacker!


You might be able to get the person who sent you the codes to tell you which is which, but they may be sending them out like that intentionally, to avoid real market sales and such (I have no idea, just speculating).

The Electric-Knight ______ Malfaz _____ Zox'Oculox

@Zethustra

"Now at midnight all the agents and the superhuman crew come out
and round up everyone that knows more than they do"-Dylan

www.pauldamonthomas.com - Original Music

I am guessing everyone is getting them via their regular email address, not in-game email, right? *obsessively refreshes inbox* WAANT!

As for applying them, go to plaync.com, log in to your game account, enter the code, and apply it against your City account. If you are already logged into City you may need to log out and back in before the codes apply. Then, open your powers window and under one of the sections on the right (labeled temporary) you will have the costumes as toggle powers. You can then drag them into trays, etc. (Sorry if that's not what you were asking, that's how I interpreted your question..)

Nice! I wasn't even thinking along those lines when reading the question, hehe.
Good job

The Electric-Knight ______ Malfaz _____ Zox'Oculox

@Zethustra

"Now at midnight all the agents and the superhuman crew come out
and round up everyone that knows more than they do"-Dylan

www.pauldamonthomas.com - Original Music

OK, I am willing to address these. I think you may see less innovation than you think. But I'll let you be the judge. Keep in mind though, I am not saying the game is dead or dying as some have suggested. I am only saying that Paragon Studios may not have the edge that they would have if they had a direct competitor and that this game may not be as good as it would be if it did. Direct competition is after all the biggest drive for innovation no matter what field you work in. You either push harder to out perform your competitor or you get pushed to the side and ignored. Here is my views on your list:

New Power Sets, Powers Customization, Power Set Proliferation, Weapon Customization, Multiple Builds, and anything else to do with Powers - I already said that Powers were this companies strong point. I just don't want then to get lax there is all. Innovative.

New hair Styles, Costume Pieces, Faces, Ability to change sex, Animates Tails, etc. - I did make the mistake of not listing Character Customization as another strong point of the company, but as I stated above, where is the rest such as snake bodies, centaur style animal bodies, animal heads, etc. . . that people have been asking for. They have been innovative here so far, but again, don't let up.

VEATs - pretty much had to come about thanks to the previous HEATs. Really though, they are just slightly different ATs, not innovation. And where is the power set customizations for these guys? Not innovative, but close.

Ouroborous - very limited zone map, no enemies to fight. Kinda nice to play your old missions over again in cased you missed something (badges). Not Innovative, but close.

Cimerora - still a limited zone map, but at least it has enemies to fight if you want to. Still, it only has ONE new enemy set. Not innovative, but close.

Hollows Revamp - they tweaked the numbers, not to innovative.

Level-Up Boost - I remember when people first started asking for that several years ago. Nice touch, but not innovative.

Combat Attributes - yea, kinda nice to see those. More helpful to the Power Gamers than the casual player, but nice none the less. Innovative, but only by a little.

Leveling Pacts - Not sure if any other MMO's do this or not, but it is probably one of the most innovative things I have seen about this game other than powers and costumes.

Reward Merits, Architect Merits, Vanguard Merits, Hero/Villain Merits - just a new reward system. Good idea and a good way to get you to spend your INF, but not really innovative.

Inspiration Conversion - good idea there, glad it came along, but innovative?

Day Jobs - I will grant innovation here. If it was just a badge it would not have been, but adding the minor benefits of your day job put it over the top.

Mission Architect - Not innovative at all. Many games include this idea. I can remember back about 25 years when I saw it in a game called "Ancient Art of War".

5th Column TF/SF - 5th Column is a rehash of an enemy type from WAY back in the game. Same series of the same old mission types. Reichsman is fairly cool though, I will grant you that. Unfortunately, that is one character out of the whole TF/SF. Good TF/SF, but not Innovative.

Costume Change Emotes - I don't use emotes much, but if I could make it stay on one particular emote EVERY time I changed a costume that would be nice. Might even use them more often then. As is it is just a pain and I ignore them. They lost the innovative edge due to that and the fact that it is almost a mandatory feature to explain a sudden costume change ala Firestorm, Iceman, Superman, Spiderman, etc . . .

Super Side Kicking - rehash of an older system. I personally like it, but a lot of people do not since they can no longer get the xp from +5 enemies when being Power Leveled. Not innovative.

Dominator AT Revamp - rehashing an old AT to make it work better in comparison to the other ATs is not innovative.

Enhanced Sounds, Ultra-Mode - This part of the game was completely ignored for years and had to be updated. The one good thing about CO and DCUO was that Paragon Studios had to look at this for competitions sake. In other words, necessary not innovative.

New Arcs, Positron TF Re-Vamp - not new, just rehashing the same old missions.

Doppleganger Tech - New, Innovative, win! Only because it can changed for each character you run that arc with though.

E-Mail Attachments - Not impressed. Just keeping up with the rest of the industry here from talking to friends that play other MMO's say and from what I have seen in a few myself.

Alignment System, Side Switching - Innovative idea that got drown out with a rehash of the same old mission types. Added to this is the fact that even the developers admit they wanted this to happen in 2005 with the release of CoV and you get a not so fresh or innovative idea.

Praetoria - 4 zones cost me just as much as I got when I first bought CoH in 2004, then CoV in 2005. Added to that is the fact that in all these zones we only got 6 new enemy types? In an ENTIRE WORLD? I was amazed with Praetoria too at first, but once the shiny wore off it really begins to look a little under done (IMO).

Market Merge - Had to be done, otherwise it would have destroyed anyones ideas of switching sides. After all, would you take your level 50 main to the other side if you lost all your cash in the process? I am sure a few would, but I think the majority would not. So not innovative, necessary.

Cathedral of Pain - rehash of something that never worked right to begin with. Then they didn't even bring back the "Item of Power" it was supposed to award that gave everyone in your SG, who was playing in SG Mode, a special little buff. Not innovative.

Countless other QoL improvements - I won't address them until you list them. I have a feeling though that a QoL improvement would have a hard time falling under the innovative category, but you may be right.

I could be wrong, but I see a lot less innovation and a lot more "necessary changes or upgrades" on this list. Of course this list is all "In My Opinion" and you therefore have to make up you own mind. Oh and BTW DarkGob, though I disagree with you, that was one heck of a list you came up with.

Wait, wait, wait. I really didn't want to be drawn into this conversation but I have to chime in here. You're saying that SSK is not innovative because the PLers are pissed that it's now harder to be PLed? I have to whole-heartedly, 100% disagree.

The Side-Kick system (pre SSK) was already innovative, because many other games have no such compensation. You play with people at your same level range, or you're either overpowered or ineffective. Period. The SK system itself was a fantastic innovation. Then to take it to the next step and remove the requirement of "Mentor Tetris" is just mind-blowingly awesome. I cannot overstate the greatness that this feature embodies. Any group of people with any set of toons across any level range can team together and get XP. That is fantastic, and not to be brushed aside because the PLers have been inconvenienced.

I don't know about anyone else, but my codes were definitely identified, all laid out in a nice little table with the description for each code above it. That might vary depending on the community rep who sent them, though; I got mine from Avatea. I don't know for sure, but from what I've read if you apply a code for a costume that you already have on that account, I believe the code is just wasted (i.e., it's still applied to the account, but since the thing that it unlocks is already unlocked, it does nothing).

Re: GMan3 -- I'm not going to continue this conversation if you're going to dismiss all the changes that have been made to the game as bad. Clearly the devs must have done something right in the past 3 years if you're still playing.
It was pretty easy, all I had to do was go through the pages for each Issue release since the Cryptic split (Issue 11 on) and pick stuff out.