Fleeting Whisper

Maybe I'm biased because usually the only global channel I pay attention to is Repeat Offenders, but I've never been on a team organized from a global channel that I would consider a PuG. Or maybe I just have a different definition of PuG than you do.

It's not a huge load (or even a noticeable one) if the game's rendering is even something remotely approaching intelligent. I'd like to give the devs the benefit of the doubt on that, and say that they're using a reasonable hidden surfaces algorithm for their rendering process.

Unless there are extraneous vertices being hidden (which we wouldn't be able to determine without opening the building model up in a 3D editor), what you've shown here is actually design EFFICIENCY, not inefficiency. And even if there are extra verts there, the inefficiency produced is approximately 4 bytes of data per extra vertex, give or take depending on what sort of data structure is used for the verts. And even then, it's only inefficient if there are more hidden verts than there are visible corners along the seam between the two joined buildings.

Send pohsyb a PM.

Problem not solved. [Rooted] and [Granite Armor], the two powers in Stone Armor which slow you down, are resistable slow effects. Speed Boost grants 175% slow resistance, which negates the slow from Granite/Rooted entirely. Then SB adds 50% speed on top of that.

I agree. However, I also think that part of making a relationship with someone you like work is making compromises. I say find someone you like and don't worry whether they play CoH or any game at all. If they like you as well, they'll at least try out your hobby, even if they ultimately decide they don't enjoy the pastime. And if they don't, so what? You don't need to play the game 24/7; take some time off and spend it with your partner

Don't forget the sequel

But it kills the pun.

What does any of that have to do with PuGing?

Aside from the obvious, this right here is another reason against the idea.

Super rare "Purple" IOs were added to the game as an extra tier of power for level 50 characters to strive for. Only level 50 characters can slot purples, and kitting out a character full of purples generally takes a long time. If 50s get retired, then purples LITERALLY become useless.

Going Rogue will have characters of a few different types:
Hero: Access to Wentworth's Fine Consignments, the CoH zones, and the Praetoria zones
Vigilante: Access to Wentworth's Fine Consignments and all zones
Rogue: Access to Black Market and all zones
Villain: Access to Black Market, the CoV zones, and the Praetoria zones

Presumably, since you can also start non-EAT characters in Praetoria, there will also be Praetorian characters who have yet to pick a side, and are restricted to Praetoria until they get off the damn fence. But we don't have very much information on that.

And in Praetoria, the Carnival of Shadows are called the Carnival of Light, and they're heroes instead of villains. The clockwork were created by Positron and Synapse's counterparts, instead of by the Clockwork King. Lord Recluse's counterpart is dead. All of the counterparts to the Freedom Phalanx are evil. Nemesis never became a megalomaniac.

Just because something is true in our dimension, doesn't mean it's true in Upsilon Beta 9-6. Hell, Belladona Vetrano never even died in Praetoria, unlike Ghost Widow who died in 1989.

Also, I wouldn't call a Night Widow a thug. The Night Widows are Arachnos' corps of assassins.

Unless the CoHV world is being drawn with a Heedless Painter algorithm (and I rather doubt it), this is actually much less of a problem than it appears. The wall-behind-the-wall is only being drawn for you because your camera is inside the wall. If any kind of hidden surface algorithm is in place (and I'm willing to bet a considerable amount that a HS algorithm of some kind is being used, though I can't pretend to know which one), then your Figure 3 isn't actually drawing the hidden wall at all (or your character, apart from the hand, for that matter).

If the HS algorithm is any good, then the decision to not draw a hidden triangle is extremely fast, so has negligible impact on performance. The only impact is the memory requirement to store the vertices of the model. Unless there are extraneous vertices along straight edges, that's not really a problem either. In fact, in the specific example given, not having overlapping models would require more vertices, and therefore require more storage space for the model.

CoV graphics lag comes from models with higher polygon counts than CoH, and overlapping surfaces where the near surface does not completely obscure the far surface (ex: grates on the floor in Grandville, or the webbing in the Tangle)

For clarity: Two opaque models overlapping is not a very big issue. One model with extraneous vertices, overlapping faces, or overlapping vertices can be a problem or not, depending on the way the model is rendered. Two overlapping models in which the near model can be seen through is similar to rendering the two models side-by-side.

Aside from the red letters bit, that's basically how they already are. Most even have similar text as mission title in the navigation window, so even other people on your team who don't read the mission text will know.

Now, what might be interesting would be a "Stop soandso from escaping!" mission where stopping them from escaping means doing something other than killing the target. (Cinematic example: the hero hacks into the computer systems of the villain's lair to shut the blast doors out of the base before the villain escapes)

This would essentially be like putting a timer on the mission. If you could slow the target down (eg, vulnerable to slow/immob/hold/stun/sleep, but invulnerable to damage), it would be a timer that you could have some control over, depending on team composition.

It would also lead to a neat kind of "showdown" fight: you've just locked your enemy inside the base with you, preventing his escape, now he's going to stop trying to escape in order to fight back.

But we alreay have them...

Are you saying magic isn't fantasy?

Err... I believe I already said that Story Arcs, Trials, and Task Forces have different target MPM. Story arcs don't have a 60% penalty to their merit rewards, they have a 0.4 TaskMultiplier for the equation to determine the reward. Yes, that's 60% less than a Task Force (TaskMultiplier of 1.0), but by the same logic, Task Forces have a 16.66% penalty when compared to Trials, or a 33.33% penalty when compared to Raids.

Prove it before complaining. I'm not saying it's impossible - we've proved issues with the game's RNG before, specifically in relation to drops on certain specific special maps. But without data to back up such a statement, you're blowing a lot of hot air for what's more likely just your own crappy luck.

I haven't run a TF in at least a month. Possibly two, I don't recall. And yet I recently added three purples and a SHO to my MM's build. I wonder where those came from? Considering neither SHOs nor Purples are obtainable with merits and my MM hasn't run the RSF in almost a year... it's quite puzzling, don't you think? I mean, apparently the only way to get any good enhancements is by splurging on overpriced IO recipes at the merit vendor...

I don't even know what you're talking about any more. The merits over time metric encourages the powergamers to run content as quickly as they can. Unless you equate "fast" with "bad", I don't know what conclusions you're drawing here. I don't even know what you mean by "punishment for superior tactics".

Some contacts are Arbiters, though

Namely, Arbiter Leery and Arbiter Daos. They even have a faces
There's also Arbiter Sands who shows up as an AV/EB in Faultline, with a distinct personality.

Yeppers.

Also, I'm going to reiterate once more that a price cap of 1 million is laughably low. While a level 10 character isn't likely going to have 1M without being lucky, a marketeer, or having turned off XP for some time, a level 50 character can earn 1M by just running a radio mission or two.

We do.