News from PAX
Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.
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don't think they can trademark the word "abomination," or if they did...it would be just as stupid as Paris Hilton trademarking "that's hot"
but...I put nothing past nobody...trademarks and copyrights are messy things... and random thought...wasn't Frankenstein the first abomination? Mary Shelley's descendant's should sue! |
The word "abomination" is public domain. The only way they could get in trouble is if the character himself bears a significant resemblance to Marvel's Abomination. Just from looking at the screenshot.....he doesn't.
Originally Posted by Dechs Kaison See, it's gems like these that make me check Claws' post history every once in a while to make sure I haven't missed anything good lately. |
They can't.
The word "abomination" is public domain. The only way they could get in trouble is if the character himself bears a significant resemblance to Marvel's Abomination. Just from looking at the screenshot.....he doesn't. |
In the same way both DC and Marvel have a character named 'Match'.
One is a mutant with fire powers, one is a Bizarro Superboy.
The likely reason 'Bastion' had to be changed to Citadel is because both are humanoid robots and that was close enough for Marvel to wave a stick at Cryptic since they were already on Marvel's radar. Even if Marvel didn't have a real case, the threat of costly litigation can be enough to scare a smaller company into compliance.
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Most of the claims are not for a "realistic" barbarian but for something less (as several people, including myself, have put it) "Santa's Little Helper," especially compared to the male pieces.
However, I do have to take issue with this:
A "realistic" barbarian outfit, for either gender, would consist of poorly tanned hides and a few scraps of cloth attached with rawhide stitching. And footwear? It would be A) Nothing, B) some really badly chafing sandal-type things, or C) some scraps of cloth tied around your feet (mostly worn in winter time) MAYBE you'd see some fur boots, but they'd look like crap. The simple fact is: Barbarians were not known for their tailoring skills. |
The word itself comes, eventually, from the Greek and basically means "not us" or "not greek." Know who they used it to describe? The Persians. a,pmg ptjers. Just look at these barbarians:
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/62/Archers_frieze_Darius_palace_Louvre_AOD487.jpg/419px-Archers_frieze_Darius_palace_Louvre_AOD487.jpg)
![](http://www.payvand.com/news/07/mar/Achemenid-Persian-officers.jpg)
(They also used it for the Egyptians. And at times for other Greeks.)
So if you want to bring up realistic, barbarian dress could be anything from "nothing at all" to well tailored outfits.
However, since that's not what anyone's talking about, I'd say the slew of images earlier covers it pretty well as far as what people are requesting for a female barbarian outfit "look." (Note the lack of fur-lined thigh high shiny boots.)
Most of the claims are not for a "realistic" barbarian but for something less (as several people, including myself, have put it) "Santa's Little Helper," especially compared to the male pieces.
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Santa's little helper is sexy, I'll admit, but I just don't think that's something I look at and think "Yor," but more something I look at and think "Playboy's Christmas special" (link safe). It's cute, to be sure, just in completely the wrong theme.
*edit*
And, honestly, the realism of the term "barbarian" is irrelevant. This is just a term used by several arrogant nations to refer to anyone else in the world. I just expected a Barbarian set to have a more rugged look, and the costume pieces we've seen only have that for men.
Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.
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Here is some "barbarian" style concepts I would like to see:
I am in the black leather armor and the horsehair helmet. To have similar items in game would be great (I made all of my pieces except the helm and did all the pewter casting).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKTmx...eature=related
A "realistic" barbarian outfit, for either gender, would consist of poorly tanned hides and a few scraps of cloth attached with rawhide stitching. And footwear? It would be A) Nothing, B) some really badly chafing sandal-type things, or C) some scraps of cloth tied around your feet (mostly worn in winter time) MAYBE you'd see some fur boots, but they'd look like crap.
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On the other hand, I'd be perfectly happy with the things you describe, Claws, and I think you'd find that many other people would also be happy with them.
Chainmail bikini aside, that Red Sonja picture I linked is pretty much exactly that.
As far as Xena and Gabrielle, I was thinking more Gabrielle than Xena for "barbarian". Xena is deliberately Roman in design and we already have Roman armor, even if it's level-locked.
Personally, I'm not that picky. My complaint is that I'd like something that I can hand-wave as being "authentic" as much as I actually care about any bit of costume on a superhero as being "authentic". I want it to look like leather, skins, and laces. Not like something I'd dig up in the Spencer Gifts Halloween section with the title "Sexy Barbarian!" on it.
I argree with most that the one astral merit a week is a poor reward choice and it should be one emp, but if the reward is one per arc when there are multiple arcs out I could see this as an issue. Imagine once there are multiple arcs out (someone used 7) the I would be able to get 7 hero/villain merits potentially in one day. I get excited just thinking about that.
Wow, that's extraordinarily kind! And I hope this doesn't come off as superficially deferential, but the honest-to-god truth is that I'm mainly just the guy that keeps the server running. (And really, Sekoia is very helpful at that, too.) The real wizards are the unbelievably prolific writers and editors, including Eabrace, Sekoia, Aggelakis, Blondeshell, and a whole bunch of others--the list could go on and on, literally hundreds of contributors at any given time.
Also, I can't help but give a huge shout-out to people like Diellan (lead Mids developer), GuyPerfect (lead Sentinel developer), Keen (lead CIT developer), and DeProgrammer (lead Waterworks developer and generally helpful guy on other projects as needed) who keep the rest of the Titan Network updated. I just cannot emphasize that enough, it really is a group effort with a lot of people contributing. Although, don't get me wrong, keeping the server running really can be a fun and sometimes challenging task, but fortunately, it's one I kinda like. ![]() |
So all of you who work on it have saved me a lot of time and effort over the past 4+ years and helped keep me playing. You PWers earned the nod as far as I am concerned. The only collective group I hold in higher regard keeping me playing are the developers who have made our game.
total kick to the gut
![Frown](images/smilies/frown.gif)
This is like having Ra's Al Ghul show up at your birthday party.
To those who think the Signature Story rewards are the promised "Solo Path" to Incarnate:
It isn't.
Was never intended to be.
It's simply a bonus being given to players who play the Sig Stories.
The solo path Incarnate stuff is later. By the time you guys really pushed to having us include it, 21 was already locked down, content-wise.
Also note: Solo Path does not equal "at the same rate as those who do Trials". Those players will ALWAYS advance through the system faster. Otherwise the Trails will shrivel up and die, and those people who (gasp) like them will never get a chance to run them.
Positron
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I have to chuckle at all the demands for realistic barbarian costumes in a game that is based on a genre of entertainment which is not known for realistic outfits on any of the characters in it.
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And defining "realistic" barbarian outfits as "you know, a chainmail bikini like Red Sonja wears" is even funnier.
A "realistic" barbarian outfit, for either gender, would consist of poorly tanned hides and a few scraps of cloth attached with rawhide stitching. And footwear? It would be A) Nothing, B) some really badly chafing sandal-type things, or C) some scraps of cloth tied around your feet (mostly worn in winter time) MAYBE you'd see some fur boots, but they'd look like crap. The simple fact is: Barbarians were not known for their tailoring skills. I agree that a fur loincloth should be available for both genders, though. |
Your last sentence has basically been the thrust of my complaint.
More or less. To be perfectly honest, I'd be content with simply seeing the pieces men get on women. That, and I'm more than a bit disappointed that all female clothes these days have to come with high-heel boots. Some sets these are appropriate for, but Barbarian just ain't it. If anything, the Barbarian set was the right time to add large, thick fur boots for both men and women, and I do mean FUR boots, not fur TRIMMED boots. This was the right set to add actual fur tops and animal skin shoulders, and even maybe a new animal hide cape.
*edit* And, honestly, the realism of the term "barbarian" is irrelevant. This is just a term used by several arrogant nations to refer to anyone else in the world. I just expected a Barbarian set to have a more rugged look, and the costume pieces we've seen only have that for men. |
For any OCR folks monitoring this thread for feedback to pass on devs (the art team, in this case), in order to avoid the sorts of complaints that are showing up here, I recommend keeping in what I call the "Rule of Clothing" in modern, Western society, the one that has produced most of your players: Both "male" and "female" styles of clothing exist. Men may wear the "male" style, while women may wear either "male" or "female" styles. (For the purposes of this game, I'd even extend the definition of "clothing" to cover things like musculature, size, and shape.)
I'm not commenting on the rightness or wrongness of this, but I think it's at the root of the constant player complaints of "why isn't this available for female models?", a complaint that has, historically, mystified the costume development team.
"Bombarding the CoH/V fora with verbosity since January, 2006"
Djinniman, level 50 inv/fire tanker, on Victory
-and 40 others on various servers
A CoH Comic: Kid Eros in "One Light"
Also note: Solo Path does not equal "at the same rate as those who do Trials". Those players will ALWAYS advance through the system faster. Otherwise the Trails will shrivel up and die, and those people who (gasp) like them will never get a chance to run them.
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This is what I think is wrong with most raid systems, honestly, doing them are not really fun.
This is a service-oriented business, and it's all
about keeping the player happy over the long term.
So you have to listen and pay attention. If a large
portion of your playerbase is screaming about
some change, you be wise to listen. - Raph Koster
On a random positive note, I really like that Numina poster. When the "Who Will Die?" story is done, I'd like to see the promo/chapter pictures offered as base decorations.
The solo path Incarnate stuff is later. By the time you guys really pushed to having us include it, 21 was already locked down, content-wise.
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But then hindsight is 20/20 so...
EDIT: *Instead of solo-path, i should say team-optional.
Also asked about Kheldians sucking, Posi said it's bring addressed.
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Someone asked about more alternate animations for current sets. Response was that the 'animation team' is 2 people and 'visual fx team' is 2 people. Basically, not enough resources to do a bunch of cool new stuff while also revamping all the old stuff.
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I asked about rifle models proliferated to all rifle sets. They said some wouldn't make sense, I said flamethrower out of sniper rifle doesn't make sense, Posi then said it's not as easy as just porting them over.
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...
Bah I expected more exciting info from PAX than this tbh. I don't give a fudge about barbarians, I want military pack damn it. No interesting screenshots, no dates, no info on new powersets and no excitement.
![Mad](images/smilies/mad.gif)
On a random positive note, I really like that Numina poster.
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![Stick Out Tongue](images/smilies/tongue.gif)
@Golden Girl
City of Heroes comics and artwork
Also note: Solo Path does not equal "at the same rate as those who do Trials". Those players will ALWAYS advance through the system faster. Otherwise the Trails will shrivel up and die, and those people who (gasp) like them will never get a chance to run them.
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I don't think any of us who want a small group or solo path have ever expected it to be "at the same rate".
We just want something that is actually viable versus the current nigh non-existant snail route.
They can't.
The word "abomination" is public domain. The only way they could get in trouble is if the character himself bears a significant resemblance to Marvel's Abomination. Just from looking at the screenshot.....he doesn't. |
It might help if the devs gave us some info in this area as well. It's not cool to work on a toon for months and then have the name yanked. If we can't use the damn name then don't make it available to us.
/this
Most of the claims are not for a "realistic" barbarian but for something less (as several people, including myself, have put it) "Santa's Little Helper," especially compared to the male pieces. However, I do have to take issue with this: as you're bringing up "realistic." The biggest problem is "Barbarian" depends on who you're talking to. To the Chinese, the Europeans - you know, people who did have tailors and weren't running around in animal skins - were barbarians. To the Romans, the Celts, Goths, Visigoths, Britons (until they were brought within the border,) picts, etc. were all barbarians. The word itself comes, eventually, from the Greek and basically means "not us" or "not greek." Know who they used it to describe? The Persians. (They also used it for the Egyptians. And at times for other Greeks.) |
According to Wikipedia:
The primary function of the word "barbarian", and its cognates, is to differentiate members of one's own society from people perceived as being outside of it, and to posit that one's own culture is superior. The word barbaros in Ancient Greek was an antonym for civis and polis. The sound of barbaros onomatopoetically evokes the image of babbling (a person speaking a non-Greek language).[4] The Greeks used the term as they encountered scores of different foreign cultures, including the Egyptians, Persians, Medes, Celts, Germans, Phoenicians, Etruscans and Carthaginians. In fact, it became a common term to refer to all foreigners. However in various occasions, the term was also used by Greeks, especially the Athenians, to deride other Greek tribes and states (such as Epirotes, Eleans, Macedonians and Aeolic-speakers) in a pejorative and politically motivated manner.[5] Of course, the term also carried a cultural dimension to its dual meaning.[6][7] The verb βαρβαρίζειν (barbarízein) in ancient Greek meant imitating the linguistic sounds non-Greeks made or making grammatical errors in Greek. |
Still, the most common modern usage generally refers to Iron Age European themed tribal groups.
Dr. Todt's theme.
i make stuff...
@Golden Girl
City of Heroes comics and artwork
If the only reason people will run something is it's the only way to get a reward, you make that to rethink how you are doing them. If they were fun, people would do them anyway.
This is what I think is wrong with most raid systems, honestly, doing them are not really fun. |
I really hope this solo path is worthwhile. Surprise me devs.
Yeah I'm gonna have to go with WRONG on this one. I don't know the details of the agreement CoX made with Marvel, DC etc but I am quite sure you are incorrect. I had made a bunch of new toons a few months ago and they all got genericed; the names included: Apocalypse, Longshot, Wildcat, Sentinel, Tombstone etc. So, if you know something I don't, I'd appreciate an update. I was rather choked I had all of these names taken away when they were available for me to take in the first place.
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When the developers want to introduce a new character to the game world, the name and appearance of that character can be run past the NCSoft Lawyers who can give a yes or no.
Customer Care is not going to run every player-created Wolverine or Apocalypse past a lawyer. They are going to err on the side of caution and generic you. It's got nothing to do with whether they could be successfully sued for trademark violation. They aren't going to take the chance.
@Quasadu
"We must prepare for DOOM and hope for FREEM." - SirFrederick
I have to chuckle at all the demands for realistic barbarian costumes in a game that is based on a genre of entertainment which is not known for realistic outfits on any of the characters in it.
And defining "realistic" barbarian outfits as "you know, a chainmail bikini like Red Sonja wears" is even funnier.
A "realistic" barbarian outfit, for either gender, would consist of poorly tanned hides and a few scraps of cloth attached with rawhide stitching. And footwear? It would be A) Nothing, B) some really badly chafing sandal-type things, or C) some scraps of cloth tied around your feet (mostly worn in winter time) MAYBE you'd see some fur boots, but they'd look like crap.
The simple fact is: Barbarians were not known for their tailoring skills.
I agree that a fur loincloth should be available for both genders, though.
See, it's gems like these that make me check Claws' post history every once in a while to make sure I haven't missed anything good lately.