What did you add?
Thank you all for your contributions
Always remember, we were Heroes.
I don't remember how closely it resembled Staff Fighting, but a couple years ago I posted a pretty detailed description of a Bo Staff powerset.
Well, I guess now's a good time.
Let's see. Excluding small numbers changes and bug fixes and such:
- I suggested the Defense set procs be changed from unique to normal rule of five bonuses. Thus did LotG become one of the most sought after procs.
- I suggested that tohit buff bonuses in the invention system be changed to accuracy buffs, and I suggested to Castle to investigate the existence of player accuracy buffs in the first place.
- I suggested some of the power changes in the latest Martial Arts. Particularly, the "Eagle's Claw boosts your crit chance" effect was a suggestion I made a couple times over the years.
- I'm responsible for some of the features in Real Numbers, in particular the tohit roll channel and the fact that combat attributes shows accuracy and tohit bonuses. I'm also partially responsible for encouraging pohsyb to "follow" pseudopet effects. I also specifically suggested adding a DPA field for attacks: real numbers was originally only going to show DPS.
- I'm significantly responsible for AE custom critters, at least in terms of capabilities. Even now I'm not sure what I should say here, but I now feel comfortable in saying that they exist in the first place because I championed them and even got the devs to delay the AE so that they could be added. I'm also primarily responsible for the way custom critters are currently valued.
- I long championed the critter accuracy changes that were eventually introduced in Issue 7.
- The "base brain" AI of standard critters uses an algorithm I created to address issues with critters failing to use all of their attacks consistently in many cases.
- I played a role in getting BaB thinking about DPA, and the net result of that was the various attack speedups that were added to things like weapon sets. As soon as he was comfortable understanding just how important cast time was, he began reducing it in cases he felt comfortable.
- The fact that the reward message that shows on your screen when you get a salvage or recipe drop has a color identical to the type of drop was based on a suggestion I made in Issue 9 beta.
- When Castle was expressed concern that the scaling passives Widows got might be too strong for a tier 1 power I suggested splitting them into Combat Training: Defensive and Foresight. Voila.
- I strongly encouraged Castle to look at cast time adjusted formulas for attacks, and the result of that is Claws and Widows. Claws in fact uses a formula that is essentially identical to the one I proposed to Castle, but it makes an error when its translated to AoEs. The net result is Claws became an AoE monster. Oops.
- I suggested some of the changes made to the control side of the Hybrid tree. In particular the fear+immobilize idea was an idea of mine to act as a way to synergize two effects into a pseudo hold.
- Elusivity is almost entirely an invention of mine that pohsyb slipped into the game engine probably when no one was looking.
- /ghide is the direct result of a suggestion I made to pohsyb when I learned about some of the global chat changes that were coming.
I also think I helped a little push the devs to look at Blasters. I think the devs were leaning in that direction, but I think I helped the cause by drumming up interest in looking at them again. Also, the snipe-buffs-range effect was a suggestion I made to Arbiter Hawk. To bad we'll never know fully how those changes would have all come together on live.
Also, Blasters, Arbiter Hawk said he liked the "nuke while mezzed" idea, but he thought someone would smack him upside the head if he allowed us to get away with that. I think we would have gotten it eventually though.
I also invented the term DPA (damage per activation-second) along with a term DPC (damage per cycle-second) that no one uses (everyone just calls that "DPS"), and the term "immortality line" which was probably a mistake.
I did *not* invent the term "arcanatime" - that was Werner.
One other thing: when BaB posted a message saying he thought it was unlikely the code would easily allow power customization, I posted a reply that said it was possible, and outlined a precise way it could work based on my knowledge of the system that BaB helped to inform in the first place. Although I was not to my knowledge responsible for the actual work done in any way, its fair to say I did at least predict precisely how it could work, because it does work in exactly the way I described then.
Oh, and I was the one that prompted Shonuff to make that signature icon. One of my cooler contributions.
[Guide to Defense] [Scrapper Secondaries Comparison] [Archetype Popularity Analysis]
In one little corner of the universe, there's nothing more irritating than a misfile...
(Please support the best webcomic about a cosmic universal realignment by impaired angelic interference resulting in identity crisis angst. Or I release the pigmy water thieves.)
Just curious, but what do people think they suggested that actually made it into the game?
|
And now that character's days are numbered...
Syphon Strike
Prophet of The Ancients Returned
50 Kinetics/Psychic Defender - Virtue
Back after two years of WoW!
Doom.
Yep.
This is really doom.
I don't think any of my suggestions made it into the game (likely a good thing ), although I did do the original documentation for the Cyborg Super Booster. I got a couple PMs from red names from that thread, including one that implied my screen shots were horrible (aaaannndddd... he was right, so I redid them all without a puke-worthy color scheme
). Some of the videos I posted highlighting various power customization changes were used as part of an Massively (I think that's the one?) overview video... you can even see my EM/Nin Stalker running around with recolored pompoms!
Well, I guess now's a good time.
Let's see. Excluding small numbers changes and bug fixes and such: [...] |
![Confused](images/smilies/confused.gif)
Originally Posted by ShadowNate
;_; ?!?! What the heck is wrong with you, my god, I have never been so confused in my life!
|
Two more things:
This is in the "woops" side:
According to Arcanaville, it was my fault that Willpower ended up being as strong as it is. Castle used a survivabillity model I built to benchmark the set at one specific moment in time (45 seconds likely.)
That on itself was not an issue, but comparing to other sets that had click heals, it would saturate the full power of the heal within the 45s mark and not average it over time. This made willpower look actually ok when compared to it's peers, using that metric.
I never intended it to be used that way, though, my goal was to draw a zig-zagging survivability over time chart with it by entering multiple time points in increments of 5 seconds.
The other bit is Brute damage. In city of Villains beta, I brought up an issue, brute base damage at the time, buffed to it's damage cap, was lower than scrappers. I brought this up with the hopes the damage cap for brutes was increased... instead the developer increased brute base damage resulting in the insanely powerful brute we know today. Woops...
I think my dev chat summaries and my coverage of the first Player Summit helped refine the streaming/scheduling format that was used for the second.
Though they might've been due to parallel design and influence, I've found parts of my Hellfire Elementalist EAT design in Bio Armor and what had been released regarding Radiation Armor.
Until I see something that states to the contrary, going to assume VK is right
![]() |
Did... did you just repost the patch notes for the last 5 years?
![]() |
Another term I introduced into the lexicon of this game I was reminded of: Cascade Failure. I believe my complaints about cascade failure and the problem of defense vs resistance asymmetry for debuffs indirectly led to the devs introducing defense debuff resistance for SR and then other defense sets.
[Guide to Defense] [Scrapper Secondaries Comparison] [Archetype Popularity Analysis]
In one little corner of the universe, there's nothing more irritating than a misfile...
(Please support the best webcomic about a cosmic universal realignment by impaired angelic interference resulting in identity crisis angst. Or I release the pigmy water thieves.)
Not much. I may have been responsible for the naughty halo (I asked for a Hellboy-style crown of fire). I found an infinite-influence bug. I found (by accident) something where Behemoths weren't using Invincibility most of the time. I made sure Electric Melee stalkers could build an attack chain without pool powers.
I wasn't the only person to invent Frankenslotting, but I wrote one of the first guides on it; I like to think I generally eased a lot of people into the invention system.
It is to my deep regret that I didn't get Spine Stalkers' signature power renamed to Assassin's Hug. But I tried.
Mini-guides: Force Field Defenders, Blasters, Market Self-Defense, Frankenslotting.
So you think you're a hero, huh.
@Boltcutter in game.
Sadly, I can't point at any little thing in particular that I might have gotten added (though I'd like to think that my "List of Support Suggestions" had an influence on Poison's buffing). There were lots of things I talked about that got changed (Longbow's unresistable sonic grenade, the original typed vs positional defense set bonuses), and I was active in a lot of the Beta discussions on new powersets, so I'm more just generally part of the gestalt of the TheoryCrafters.
But, hey, Mids, you know?
Global @Diellan - 5M2M
Mids' Hero/Villain Designer Lead
Virtue Server
Redside: Lorenzo Mondavi
Blueside: Alex Rabinovich
Got a Mids suggestion? Want to report a Mids bug?
A very long time ago, still in single-digit Issues, I brought up that all the civilian NPCs milling about didn't seem to be doing much of anything. I suggested that there be some actual activity with them; people carrying groceries, workers carrying their equipment, stuff like that. A couple updates later, I started seeing NPCs walking around doing stuff. I don't know if anyone even saw my suggestion back then, but I've always given myself a bit of credit for it.
I added absolutely nothing...
-this message has been approved by Texas Justice
My mind wanders so often you've probably seen its picture on milk cartons. - Me... the first person version of the third person Steelclaw
I think Arcanaville is the only player acknowledged in the GR credits.
Math geniuses, ain't it always the way.
The Alt Alphabet ~ OPC: Other People's Characters ~ Terrific Screenshots of Cool ~ Superhero Fiction
A few months before Issue 16 hit beta, I wrote Castle a PM getting rid of Electric Armor's Conserve Power and replacing it with a heal, "and while I'm at it, I'll suggest a name, 'Energize.'"
I'm sure such a thing was already in the pipeline, but what can I say.
Also, "Kill Skuls" was kind of my fault. Sorry, folks.
Later on,
Gate
@Generator
Mostly Pinnacle, with scattered alts on Liberty, Freedom, and Justice.
I had a great time playing with you!
I was in closed beta testing for issue 11, which contained the dual blades powerset. I remember some of the players complaining that the standard run animation needed tweaking, as it resulted in the characters stabbing themselves in the face while running with weapons drawn. So after reading that, I went into Poser and did a quick render of a female figure holding two swords- I did several run poses for her- one was pretty tame, with the blades angled out slightly to avoid poking her. But another was much more dramatic, with her arms out straight, pointed backwards a bit, and both swords held out that way. Well, the retooled DB run animation ended up being pretty tame. But some time later, Ninja Run was released, and it looked amazing, with the arms positioned very similar to my rendering, albeit with a more exaggerated body posture.
So I dunno- was it pure coincidence, or did one of the devs file away my little render during I11 beta, thinking "Hmm, we might use this later?"
Either way, it was pretty cool to see something so close to my little Poser render end up in game.
A (Golden Gate) Bridge Too Far- arc 299315
Crazy NIMBY's, Railroad robber barons, and kickboxing Engineers, Oh My! Go back in time and join the fight to save a San Francisco icon!
I think Arcanaville is the only player acknowledged in the GR credits.
|
Since it no longer matters and the NDA expired a while ago, I was asked to develop the custom critter valuation system for the AE under contract to Paragon Studios. I offered to work with the devs for free but that sort of thing can be dangerous: as a contractor, everything I produced would be covered under work-for-hire. Volunteering it, I could still potentially assert IP rights like copyright.
So there was a short period of time where I wasn't an employee of Paragon Studios, but did work for them and with them on one small project.
There's two funny stories about that which I've never been able to tell until now. The first one is that to test the work we were doing they had to give me access to a server that had a build with those changes. That server was referred to as the Vendor server, which probably means different contractors used it at different times for similar testing. That server eventually became what we call today the Beta server, separate from the Test server.
So I had access to the Beta server before anyone else, and I was seeing stuff from I18/Going Rogue on it. But I didn't really play with any of it: I strictly testing my thing. But the funny part was that because I had access to the I18 beta server for months, no one thought to regrant me access for I18 closed beta. So, the last day I logged into the vendor server was I believe March 27th. On April 2, closed beta testing for I18 started. And no one told me. I didn't find out I18 beta testing was actually running until the third week of April, when a dev asked me a question about something he thought I was testing. Because I was already enabled on the server, no one submitted my name for I18 beta. Which means no notice went out. Which means I didn't get an email. Which also means no one enabled me onto the Beta boards. I basically got into I18 beta late, because none of the devs thought to invite me into it, because they figured I was already there.
This was not the first time I failed to get into a closed beta on day one because everyone assumed I was already in, by the way. It was not the second time, or the third time, or the fourth time, sigh.
The other funny story... I think I'm going to save that one for later. Its not *as* funny right now, but it probably will be later.
One more thing about the credits. Being listed on the Going Rogue credits page is pretty cool. But what's really cool is something else. When I was up there at Paragon Studios for the Freedom focus group preview, Matt Miller (Positron) showed me a wall in their offices. Its the Going Rogue wall and it has a Going Rogue theme painted onto the entire wall. Players who have visited the studios may have seen it. Apparently every developer that contributed to Going Rogue signed that wall, and he asked me to sign it as well. So my signature is on the Going Rogue wall, along with all the other developers at Paragon Studios.
Now that's really cool. The sad part is it completely skipped my mind to take a picture of it when I was there, and at the moment no one has access to the building to take one for me. I hope that changes, before the end. It may sound sappy, but for me, to be told that the devs felt I was, in some small way, a part of the team that helped make this game we all love, meant a lot to me. And The Wall seemed to say that even more strongly than the game credit did. I didn't show it then, but my signature is rather shaky because of that.
Thanks Matt, and pohsyb who I think originally pitched me to Positron and I worked with on the code side, and Castle and Black Scorpion who I worked with on the data side, and everyone else who QAed the thing. The system is precisely the way I laid it out originally except for one thing a QA person suggested (kinda sarcastically, but he was absolutely correct) which was that we should not give full XP to all-melee critters, which was possible even with my melee penalty. The 40% maximum value for all-melee critters is the result of that specific suggestion. That closed an exploit loophole, so thanks to that guy whose name escapes me at the moment and may want to remain anonymous in any case. Nobody can think of everything and that includes me: all MMO development is a collaboration. Also thanks to the producers who oversaw this project, Bruce Harlick, who oversaw it for about eight seconds; Art Min, who oversaw it right up to the point where I actually started to do real work, and Nate Birkholtz aka Second Measure who I had the chance to meet in person and is a great person. Not just great in that he's a really nice guy, but also great in that he's such a ginormous person I was looking straight up to make eye contact. If they added Second Measure as an NPC in the game they would have had to scale the real Second Measure down or the Zeus Titans would be too afraid to engage him.
[Guide to Defense] [Scrapper Secondaries Comparison] [Archetype Popularity Analysis]
In one little corner of the universe, there's nothing more irritating than a misfile...
(Please support the best webcomic about a cosmic universal realignment by impaired angelic interference resulting in identity crisis angst. Or I release the pigmy water thieves.)
The biggest thing I can take credit for is the Lore rebalancing and the nerf to Cimerorans, all of which is now never going to actually see the light of day. So, yeah, there's that.
I like to think had something to do with the nemesis staff going to vet rewards. I bugged the **** out of them forever.
I was also a huge supporter of the fanart section and did my best to encourage artists to create. Getting the artists and commissioners together.
Also, though I am uncredited mostly, I helped a bit on City Scoop, doing interviews and representing the fanart section.
I suggested Dink paint the tip of the Retro Scifi rocket pack the secondary color and it happened shortly afterwards >.>
A bigger achievement that I was actually really looking forward to involved I24's Crey spawns in Brickstown being changed. When they revamped the spawns in Bricks, they actually let Crey do PR stunts with the people and be more like a legit business and less like Arachnos or the Council. But they still conned red and would attack you on sight. So I brought this up, told 'em the problem, and brought up the point that Crey aren't evil when seen in the public eye. Only behind the scenes and when they can make a profit. So Crey spawns got switched almost immediately after to con neutral to players.
I thought it was such a cool breakthrough to better represent a group I love and felt was always poorly handled. I was really hoping we'd see more stuff like this with Crey in the future, but I guess we won't :\
While I've never been directly responsible for anything, I was involved in the CoH beta, the CoV beta, and every closed/VIP beta with the exception of the Mission Architect beta. So, barring MA, I'd like to think that I've done my little part in helping to polish a sizable chunk of the game's content over the years.
Positron: "There are no bugs [in City of Heroes], just varying degrees of features."
I can't say I've ever added anything, but I like to think that, given the time, I would have.
I like to think the post I made a while back at least influenced the recategorization of badges that happened back in the day.
![](https://images.encyclopediadramatica.se/a/a1/JRangeravatar.png)
I also made the avatar Jranger used in MSPaint.
Nobody cares. I know.