Bright Shadow
-
Posts
1183 -
Joined
-
This is personally why I dislike Archery and never got around to leveling one past level 24.
To me, the entire of concept of a powerset being dependent on one signature power is just lame. It's why I also dislike Superstrength and how it's so dependent on Rage.
But Archery's even worse! Most Archery characters I've seen don't even use any power besides RoA in teams! They might kill some random runners with their other attacks, but it's as if all their other powers are suddenly obsolete. Stone Armor also has this issue. Once you get Granite Armor, all your other powers are more or less obsolete.
I just thing a single power or two shouldn't suddenly make a powerset go from "suck" to "win". -
As others have mentioned, it depends heavily on what you'd be soloing. However, maybe this might help.
Among all my characters thus far (excluding Masterminds and Controllers cause neither of them give me a "solo" feel and I'm a sucky Mastermind and I find Controllers boring!), the most solo-friendly one is my Dark/Fire Scrapper.
You get a very decent Single Target damage output to help you take down Bosses, EBs, and other sacks of HP.
You get a very decent AoE damage output to help you clear entire spawns in an instant, thanks to Burn and Blazing Aura.
The above are amplified with Soul Drain and Fiery Embrace, which boost your damage output to insane levels.
You get Healing Flames and Siphon Life as two very reliable ways to recover from damage, on top of all your shields.
If you do what I did and go for Soul Mastery, you'd get Shadow Meld, which can be combined with set bonuses to put you at Soft Cap defenses for 15 seconds in case you need to take a heavy blow or if you need to wait for your heals to come up when things are going bad.
You'd also have access to 2 Endurance Recovery powers (I took only one) and a self-rez.
With Issue 19, you can also take the Spiritual Boost that is perfectly suited to a Dark/Fire Scrapper.
All that is pretty much all you need to battle almost anything in game. I solo Rikti at +3/x8. I can survive Monsters and AVs on my own (sadly, I cannot kill them since my DPS is just shy of overcoming their HP Regeneration), and I can at least make a decent attempt at surviving and obliterating just about anything that's thrown my way if I play my cards right instead of just diving face-first into the ground or tickling the enemy with little pokes. -
Quote:Then the only way you can get a universal, unbiased, and "surprising" reaction to this particular detail of your character, is to just not put it in your character description and let people find out on their own, through the way your play the character.Originally Posted by Catministrator
Just to quote this a second time... because I really don't know how I missed the chance to clarify this the first round: This is the precisely the kind of RP I'd like to have for characters like Eri. Those little life-moments that help define whom a personality truly is; from the funny to the uncomfortable - the distraught to the resolute - the flights of fancy to the serious... It's these kinds of things, in particular, that I most like to envision when I sit down to write my intersexed characters. Character development. That, I think, is the real core of it. True enough, such things could handily be done regardless of one's sex; but for me, at least, it's those special moments that arise when you don't neatly fall into either that thrill me the most.
Think about it. Imagine the same Pixie scenario. If you put the "tag" in your character description, three scenarios would happen:
1. The player of the Pixie is turned off and just draws a big red circle around your character for a variety of unknown reasons, such as them thinking you're just here for ERP.
2. The player of the Pixie is turned on by this and would immediately approach your character because of a variety of unknown reasons, such as them finding this character detail interesting, or maybe they'd wanna get frisky and it's their thing.
3. The RP flows naturally and the player pretends they don't even know this detail. This RP could end bad or good depending on the characters.
However, if you don't put the tag, only one thing can happen: The RP flows naturally, the player doesn't know this detail, and the RP could end bad, good, comical, uncomfortable, awkward, funny, romantic, or a variety of other scenarios.
To me, the latter scenario is more fun. Because I like to let RP happen and sit back and watch my characters interact with others rather than trying to guide or force RP. -
Quote:I found that picture so adorable. xDOriginally Posted by Smersh
Sex and gender are two different things. You can also add orientation and expression to the list.
Here's a handy chart.
Any person can fall anywhere along the entire spectrum in all four dimensions. -
Before everything, I'm glad to know people can have a mature discussion about such a topic publicly. I haven't read most of the replies to the original post. So I'm just gonna reply to that.
I personally am very neutral to the whole topic. However, if I were to put myself in your position, I would just not think about it.
Personally, I find the idea of "tags" or "warnings" to be silly. Yes, I used to have them on one of my characters for a while, but then I realized why it's silly. And the reason for that is that instead of serving as "warnings", tags generally tend to filter out your interactions. What's wrong with that, you may ask?
Well, if I were to make a character such as yours, and I wanted to incorporate that personal detail about her in all the layers of my RP (not just the sexual parts), I would prefer to receiver unbiased reactions towards it.
In fact, I'd prefer to not give any warnings or any tags, just to experience the interactions of characters who approach my character without any prior knowledge. Then, if appropriate, I would try to give subtle hints for the person I'm RPing with. For example, if I was playing your character, and a male character comes up to me, starts flirting, and eventually asks my character for her number or a date or something, I would have my character react accordingly. I'd have her possibly fidget, blush, or try to give him subtle hints that "I'm different..." or "...I don't know if that's a good idea...".
That way, the actual "finding out" part is embedded into the RP...just like in the real world. Which makes things far more interesting as you get to experience ALL the aspects of playing such a character, both the negative and the positive, THROUGH RP, not through the players.
So, my personal "solution" would be to just remove tags all together. Maybe put some background in your character description and make a subtle hint about it. But no more.
As I always say in RP: Let it flow naturally! -
Quote:Oddly, it's magically fixed right now. It could be that the issue was just related to my particular supergroup, but some people claimed the had the issue on other characters in other groups.Originally Posted by Master-Blade
Just reporting that I've tried the things above, and am not crashing or experiencing any oddities... and this is coming from someody who has crashed on several occasions just by opening the Contacts window.
We'll probably need to gather more information about who is having the issue to come up with a reason why it's happening. -
Sorry your thread is just headed into a bottomless pit, Blazefire. I hope this doesn't skew your view of Virtue!
-
Quote:You're using logic to argue?! How dare you! Get outta here!Originally Posted by BrandX
Or you could do something like this...
*Gives a passing glance at the nearby bar, deciding, heck, why not? Could use a drink anyway. A few quick strides and he's at the bar, leaning over the counter and giving an nod to the bartender.* "Hey. What's up? Can you grab me a beer?" *The bartender acknowledges him, and within a few seconds he's acquired his drink. *
Same amount of thought put into the RP, and it uses asterisks!
Edit: Also, yes! Pure healers are awesome! I have 5 Empathy Defenders with only one attack, and I'm making an SG of Empathy defenders with only one attack each. It's gonna be awesome! -
Quote:LOLOriginally Posted by MondoCool
But that's too much to ask, isn't it? I guess people so caught up in their own self-importance that they forget what other people think or care about.
I almost spit out my tea reading this... -
Are you crashing when opening SG Window?
-
This is an issue confirmed by many of my friends. It's simple. You click to open the SG Window, and the client crashes. This doesn't ALWAYS happen, but it happens almost 9/10 times. The interesting thing is that this is just suddenly started happening today eventhough no patch was released as as I know.
I'm wondering if anyone else is experiencing this issue? -
I really liked that! Thumbs up!
-
Quote:Electric Melee.Originally Posted by Schismatrix
i thought EM only had an AoE in Whirling Hands.
-
Quote:That's pretty much exactly what I'm trying to say!Originally Posted by seebs
Imagine that we define "genuinely expensive" in terms of "the amount of money you end up with if you don't really marketeer at all".
At some point, inflation will reach a point where a "solid IO build" has become "genuinely expensive". If the price of that solid IO build doubles, but the amount of money you get from punching dudes doesn't... -
Quote:Everything you said, I pretty much agree with. But here what I'm trying to pin point...Originally Posted by Nethergoat
As one of the regs noted a while back (Fulmens, I think?) the performance jump with the biggest WOW! factor is between an SO build and a solid IO build.
And that is well within the reach of anyone who plays 'normally' to level 50- missions, story arcs, a TF now and then, some tip missions....the inf piles up fast.
Right -now- a solid IO build is well within the reach of anyone who plays normally. Right -now- I can get a cheap Frankenslotted IO build in the mid-30s with only the money I earned up to that part. My concern is that in future, this won't be that easy anymore. Then you will HAVE to to start using market efficiently and get some know-how in how to use your resources and make very smart choices. I'm not complaining about "now" at all! And again, you could argue that maybe nudging the players into using the market more efficiently and make smart decisions on their money is a good thing. It could very well be true! But I'm just unsure of that.
I rarely visit this forum, so I'm probably gonna have a rough time getting in. It's cool! xDQuote:Originally Posted by seebs
See, I think what threw people is this: We get people in here all the time claiming that it should be quick and easy to get purples, and that's obviously silly. You've got the more interesting point that, while it's quite easy to use the market to get the money for decent IOs, it's the only practical way to get a decent IO build. People who aren't playing the marketing game will have a much, much, harder time.
The only way I can see to fix that is massive inf sinks.
And yes. Introducing more inf. sinks would help slow down the inflation, something that I think would greatly help everyone.
How many methods of destroying inf. is there right now, anyways?
There is the conversion to Prestige. There are market transaction fees. I think tailor costs would count too...wouldn't they? What else? -
Quote:That, or just meet people up. Make friends for your characters, and you'll eventually find a group of people that go well with your ideals and likes and dislikes!Originally Posted by Blazefire
Considering how odds are the only way I'll find a group that fits with my character concept is to post up her backstory, how would you guys recommend I approach that? I'm assuming a post on the appropriate forum indicating that I'm looking for an RP SG followed with a brief summary of the character?
Really, there are no rules or conventions to RP in Virtue, and don't listen to anyone who'd try to tell you otherwise. Do you what you find is fun, stick with it, and just have a good time!
The only tips I can give you are that most people use double brackets to indicate ((OOC Comment)), unless it's obvious from context that they're being OOC. Pocket D is a great place to jump-start our character and meet new people so you can then find those characters and groups you're interested in. Think of it as the matchmaker for the RP world in Virtue.
Other than that...go nutz! -
Quote:I don't know. Maybe, maybe not. On one hand, I believe that "using" the market should cover both selling and buying. And that if there is anyone who wishes to utilize it, they should know how to utilize it both ways. Honestly, I also think forcing new players to learn how to both buy and sell efficiently would be good for the overall health of the market.Originally Posted by UberGuy
But I really do think the core question should be whether that is really a problem. I'm pretty sure that's not one we players can answer firmly, but rather only give opinions on.
I don't really think it makes much sense to support a pure consumer standpoint on the market without much more radical changes to the Inf reward structure the game has had from the onset. Even with none of the inflationary forces we have seen over the past two years, you really can't be a pure consumer on the market if you aren't level 50, because of the way the reward rates grow with combat level (even discounting the I16 doubling of level 50 rewards). A level 20-something doesn't earn enough Inf/defeat to compete with even a level 45. Fixing just inflation won't change that, so is it really that worthwhile to make it possible just for 50s to be able to treat the market as a store? Does that really address the concerns of new players?
On the other hand, I feel like keeping track of salvage prices, visiting the market after every few missions to check prices, sell items that would be profitable, vendor the rest, making sure to do 5 tips a day, and conserve normal merits to use them wisely on Alignment Merits on the most profitable range of random rolls, and all that "efficiency" jazz is too much for some people to worry about in a video game, and I'm not sure if that would or wouldn't make the game hostile to some users.
Ultimately, you're right.
I don't think any of the players can firmly answer this question of whether or not this is a good or bad thing. -
Quote:Originally Posted by Arbegla
Your argument is that inf is losing its value, as 2 million inf, used to mean something, and now it really doesn't.
Thing is, we get that part. What your not getting is that 2 million inf still remains the same value as before, as the content hasn't gotten harder, and SOs are still very viable pieces of enhancements, and 2 million inf can pretty much net you an entire stock of SOs.
Now, when talking about IOs, those are much more affected by inflation, and things like higher level 50 earnings, the difficulty slider, and other things have all raised the prices due to inflation. In order to combat inflation completely you have to 1) gets rid of extra inf, and 2) get rid of lazy people.
now #1 is being worked on pretty hardcore by the Crazy 88s. They burn more inf in a week times then I've ever earned in my entire 4 and a half years of game play.
the problem is #2. you can't fight lazy, just like you can't fix stupid. Lazy people want things RIGHT NOW and in order to do that, they are willing to pay insane prices (like 1 million for an alchemical silver) Now, the 'you can't fix stupid' part kicks in, and you have 3 - 4 other people not realizing alchemical silvers can easily be purchased for less then 1 million, and they start bidding the same thing. Granted, this cycle usually only lasts a few transactions and then its back to normal, market sustainable prices.
Until you can manage to complete both problem 1 and problem 2 inf for IOs will always have less value then inf spent on SOs.Quote:Originally Posted by SwellGuy
Calling B.S. on this and hard.
...[snipped to conserve space]...
The view some people have of the market makes me think they are playing in Bizarro world.Finally! Someone got what I'm talking about! English isn't my first language, but I'm not -that- bad!Quote:Originally Posted by SwellGuy
Here is your failure to understand.
The market is not the base playing position.
...[snipped to conserve space]...
The game is fine with SOs. IOs of any stripe are a step up but not necessary.
Yes. You're completely right. But here's a point:
You can fix Issue 2 (people being lazy) through Issue 1. They're very much the same issue, in my eyes. And that's what I'm trying to expose. If lazy people don't have as much inf., then they wouldn't bid at such ridiculous prices. How would you stop people from getting so rich? That, from what I see, is related to where the money flows into the game. Currently, the amount of money flowing into the system is clearly much, much, MUCH greater than the amount leaving the system. So much that even with the market transaction fees, and the Crazy 88s, we're still seeing a really high rate of inflation.
Edit: Here's an example of my own. If I didn't have so much money, I wouldn't bid 1,000,000 on a Scientific Theory. I'm impatient and somewhat lazy. Yes. But if I didn't have that much money, I'd be FORCED to look for alternative ways to obtain a stack of 10 Scientific Theories, that A. Wouldn't raise the price of the Scientific Theory, B. Wouldn't empty my pockets, and C. Wouldn't aid the inflation.
Right now, the gap between the amount of money and effort needed to buy IOs and fully buff out a character is realistically higher than the amount of money and effort needed to simply use SOs on that character. And that's fine.
The "issue" and "problem" that I'm trying to point out is that this gap is getting wider and wider and wider at the same rate as that of the inflation. If you think this means "We should give everyone candies!", then I'm sorry, you're misinterpreting me.
What I -am- trying to say is that if this gap continues to get wider and wider as it is doing now, then at some point in future, it will be too much to handle for most players. The main point being having the option of solely being a consumer in the market right now, and slowly, this option is being taken away. If you want to get rich, you wouldn't be able to rely on the PvE game alone. You would HAVE to dig into the market. That's what I mean by "affecting new players".
Edit: Going back to the example I added above, now I've spent some big chunk of money on a large stack of Scientific Theory. To recover from this loss through only the game, I'd have to farm day and night! But instead I do 10 Tip missions, and sell a highly-valued IO on the market, and I not only recover from that loss, but I also make hundreds of millions in profit. This makes my pocket bigger, and so next time, again, I'm more inclined and encouraged to be lazy, because I have a very much disposable sum of cash!
Yes, the game is a step up from the SOs, and they're not necessary for you to be awesome in City of Heroes. Yes, not everyone should be able to get buffed out characters in a flash. But how costly this "step up" should be? Do we want IOs to be exclusive to the elite of the elite? Is that a reasonable cost for a "step up"? Do you guys believe that everyone should be forced to utilize the market as efficiently as all the more experienced players just because they want to buff out a single character with IOs?
If you think the answer to all those questions is a big 'yes', then go right ahead. I could be wrong. Maybe none of that will happens. And if it does happen, maybe it's for the better and I'm just being concerned about nothing. But that's just what I'm concerned about, and I'm trying to raise an observation for the more experienced players to see, and maybe think about it.
I am NOT trying to argue or prove a point! xD -
Obviously I've been confusing on my stance, statement and my argument. So I'm just gonna drop it. We're arguing about two different things.
-
Quote:I'm sorry you feel that way. I guess we just have to be quiet before this turns into a petty argument due to misinterpretations on both sides.Originally Posted by Nethergoat
Start with your badly flawed, poorly informed assumptions and lame pretense of heroically defending the 'casual gamer' who can't purple their warshade and work from there.
that's exactly what you've been saying in all your previous posts.
-
Quote:I don't get why you're taking such a hostile stance against me. I'm not trying to say you're wrong. I know you enough to know that you probably know more about the economy and the market! xDOriginally Posted by Nethergoat
The difference between everyone should get everything for free and everyone should get epic performance for minimal investment isn't much.
The market does NOTHING to create inf, it only facilitates moving it around between players (while taking a cut, making it one of the few inf SINKS in the game).
Inf is created by players beating stuff up and running content, not by marketeers plying their trade. Complain about the devs doubling the earning power of 50s if you want to tilt at the windmill of inflation- leave the market out of it.
You'll find welcome among the flat earthers and creationists I mentioned earlier.
And yes, I do realize that the market doesn't generate infamy. But that's what I'm saying! What you and your "people" do by destroying infamy, along with the market transaction fees isn't nearly enough inf. sink to stop the vicious cycle that the market is stuck in right now (according to what I see. I could be wrong!). And from what you say, I think that's what causes what I'm observing: Increase in prices, and drop in value of 1 inf.
That's my observation.
From that, I draw the conclusion that this causes a high rate of inflation. This high rate of inflation is reducing the value of 1 inf., which makes everyone "poorer" as a whole. No matter how much inf. you have, your X inf. would then be worth X/Y inf. This would have a more significant impact on those with less total inf. And soon, it'd reach a point that in order to be a consumer in the market, you -have- to first be a seller. Currently, being a seller is rather optional, since you can still get quite a lot of raw inf. from just doing the content and using Merits to buff up your characters. But when it reaches a point that you have to pay 1,000,000 per common salvage, being ONLY consumer wouldn't be an option, and some players just aren't interested in being sellers. Should they simply accept that and say bye to shiny stuff?
That's it! That's all I'm saying!
I'm not saying I have a solution. I'm not saying the marketeers are doing wrong. I'm not saying we should give everyone candies and lollipops. And certainly, I'm not trying to prove anything. -
Quote:True. And yes, you're right. It'd far and far easier to obtain SOs and other vendor items then. However, there would a much larger gap in price between using IOs and SOs.Originally Posted by _23X_
Here is the basic flaw in your theory. As the market price skyrockets people will be willing to buy things from the market for more and more, but the vendor prices stay the same; so say a common salvage that currently sells for 500 in the future sells for 5 million. A new player gets this salvage as a drop as he is punching street thugs in the face and being bombarded with SG invite spam, and other player created distractions. He is told to sell it on the market; it sells for 5.5 million and in less than 20 minutes of play time he has a bank roll that will buy all his SOs till he is 47 off of one drop! ....
nope I am not worried about the new casual player at all.
Having 5.5 million in a land where everything slightly better than the norm (IOs vs. SOs) costs 5 million at the very least isn't exactly being rich.
There was a time I had 2 million inf. and I considered myself a rich kid on the block!
Now I have a total of about 2 billion on my main characters, with most of them IO'd out to the teeth, and I don't even consider myself remotely rich. That's my concern.
The concern that the value of 1 inf. is dropping, and dropping FAST as long as anything beyond SOs is concerned. -
Quote:I've never ever stated that anyone should get anything for free. The bottom line of everything I've said has been this:Originally Posted by Nethergoat
Judging by the actions of your many predecessors, you'll keep whining about not getting everything for free because it alienates the poor "casual gamer".
Feel free to prove me wrong.
If the prices in the market continue to rise at the rate they've been rising since the introduction of market, within the next year or two, the prices of the high-end items in the market will be beyond control. There will be a massive increase in the total inf. in the game, which would result in a general increase in item prices across the board. This, in the end, would hurt everyone, and the new players the most.
I'm no economist, but that's just my theory. I'd happily like to be proven that my prediction is wrong for some logical reasons. -
Quote:...You see right through me! My cover has been blown! What shall I ever do now!Originally Posted by Nethergoat
Sanctimonious concern for the poor, poor "casual gamer" is what poker players call a "tell". You can keep pretending if you want, but we know your game.
-
Quote:Flipping Common Salvage for 1,000,000 a piece is effort? And allowing that to happen is balanced treatment of all users?Originally Posted by Miladys_Knight
Actually the market rewards the players in a very balanced fashion. The more effort in, the more rewards out.
I'm not upset about anything. I have no issues IO'ing out my characters and earning phat lootz (I usually pay more than needed too because I'm impatient, and fully aware of how much I could save if I waited some). I'm just concerned about the health of the market in the future and the perception of the more inexperienced or casual players.Quote:Originally Posted by Miladys_Knight
If you are upset about how much purples cost in terms of A merits you should know that you actually got part of your wish. The devs told us that you would NEVER be able to buy purples with Merits because we couldn't hold enough merits to be able to buy even 1. They've changed their position on this recently. Also the market itself has undergone some "buffing." Posi told us for almost 2 years that it would be impossible to merge the markets due to reasons of DOOM that he was never willing to share with us, and even though they kept on telling us it was all one game, the last bit that stayed separate was the market.
Oddly enough one of the first things that happened when War Witch took over the reins from Posi was a market merger and it was smooth sailing. I've yet to see any DOOM as a result of the merger and rants actually decreased for quite a little time.
We were all new players once. They will learn as we all did.