Judgement_Dave

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Gee golly geepers. That's a lot of Positron. I guess that will have to do for developer communication 'til we get I14.

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Yup - a load of Posi US side... and Castle paying a posting visit EU side... I'm getting spooked

off to check the Book of Revelation of St John the Divine and the Necronomicon - one of them must mention these signs & portents...

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OMG he has cleared up the REFORMED badge debacle!!!


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It's good that he's done that - although the explanation of the reasoning and history behind badge names/rewards is more interesting. Even if it doesn't tell us much more than we knew (or could reasonably assume) it just comes across as completely open and honest.

I'm far more interested/intrigued by the other posts - particularly the following line:
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And it’s not just dialog trees that are going to look at badges, and it’s not just crafting badges that will be looked at, so you guys can speculate away!


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About time we got branching/alternate mission arcs...

Not only the news about the reformed badge (see Reformed badge thread) but Positron's been posting a fair bit today in the US Developers board.

Among his postings are:

* a couple of posts with relevance to I14 (and beyond?)
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Here’s a bit of a teaser: We have big plans for these (and other) badges, and we really want them to mean something to your character. If you are in a dialog tree that involves creating something, we have the ability to look at your badges and see if you have taken the effort to prove yourself as a crafter. This effort would be rewarded with special options in the dialog tree that earn you better results, enable you to skip steps, etc. For this system to work, we’ll need them to be a reasonable indicator of the amount of work a crafter has put into crafting. And it’s not just dialog trees that are going to look at badges, and it’s not just crafting badges that will be looked at, so you guys can speculate away!

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With Double XP weekend now in the past, we can now go ahead with releasing fixes for some of the bigger, more obvious, yet not game-killing, bugs on the known issues list. We’re also rapidly moving towards getting Issue 14 beta onto the Training Room, and when that happens, further Issue 13 fixes will need to be rolled into Issue 14. We don’t want to close out 13 until we feel that we have nailed all the big-ticket issues, but we also don’t want Issue 14 to be kept out of your hands any longer than is absolutely necessary.


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* a post regarding stealth fixes not appearing in patch notes


Good to see info coming from the devs again.

I get the feeling that rather than being 'an end run around marketing' (as several posters called the comments about going rogue in the Reformed badge post) that this amount of info coming at once is probably more likely to be part of the marketing plan leading up to I14...


EDIT: Could be part of marketing - Notice that the posts were all posted at 14:09 and (looking at his recent post history) Positron doesn't seem to often write offline and then post en masse.

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They stopped supplying the shops to make ready for the new expansion boxset?

[/ QUOTE ]That doesn't seem like a bad suggestion, when you break it down further. When i14 hits... it would make perfect sense to re-release CoX as 1 stand alone game

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The comments from rednames a few months back gave me the impression that this year would probably see another boxset of some form - though I actually see I15 as more of a relaunch-friendly issue than I14.

I14 is mainly MA - not really the best hook to use for people who haven't fancied playing up til now.

I15 is, iirc, the big-storyline issue previously known as I14 before MA was split out into its own issue.
So I15 should hopefully see:
* A big storyline development
* Anticipated graphical improvements (based upon the discovery that the current engine can do more than the devs appreciated even if nothing else, like CoH2, is on the way yet)
* a reasonable base of player generated MA missions
* many of the inevitable I14 bugs squashed (like bugs, funnily enough)

IMO all this would be enough to warrant a relaunch and get some reviewer time to help shore up the game against CO and co. Though personally I'm hoping that we see a decent character-type expansion or rogue/variable morality system coming (or at least being announced) soon, which would just add to the relaunch-ability of the game.

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.9T3 has no patch notes, as the only fix included is for a backend system that doesn't affect gameplay.

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Backend System doesn't affect lag hill on ITF does it? Just had what I think most of the team agreed was the least lag-hit experience for months in the 3rd mission... seemed to be a lot less ambushes than usual as well...

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Whatever the reason - talk about it here.

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Don't have great problems with any ATs/powersets though some of my villains have been levelling at a painful rate that's more due to lack of teams and so alting on other characters!

The only ones that I really have a genuine issue with are the few I have on Vigilance/Zukunft - it's my own doing, but being essentially an English speaking monoglot doesn't help when I can't understand a darn thing so teaming fills me with dread and even enhancement descriptions are double-dutch to me!

BTW - purely fills me with dread due to language issues on my side. The few players I've met on the non-English servers seemed a nice bunch.

I did once get a team on Zukunft (after explaining that my German is limited to not much more than 'es tut mir leid aber Ich kann nicht Deutsch sprachen' which is probably an incorrect attempt to apologise for not speaking German). The team was good and enjoyable - they spoke a little English, but it turned out that I understood more German than I usually admit (it's not so much the comprehension as the creation of my own sentences that gets me) and I kinda got on OK and the rest of the team were very understanding... So a good experience, but I still don't play them much!

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.9T3 has no patch notes, as the only fix included is for a backend system that doesn't affect gameplay.

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It should be pretty easy to get translated patch notes that state "this patch is purely for backend systems and shouldn't affect gameplay" and can be quickly posted whenever one of these crops up...

Y'know stop us all wondering what's changed, what's broken...

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Everything has been shiny since Villains was released, you just needed to have the texture settings high enough to get it.

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I've yet to have a quick look at patch notes to check, but I'm pretty sure I remember a patch updating a lot of the textures to higher resolution ones. I only started early 2006, so this would have been some time after the release of CoV - my hazy memory guesses at late 2006 or maybe early 2007.

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Issue 7 updated CoH to CoV textures.

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Darn - I spend ages scanning patch notes from ye olde times to come to the same info I could have got just by waiting for other posters to state.

Guess I can post the info/link from patch notes though (for I7 Destiny Manifest released 6/6/06).

The general graphics section told us this:
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Default graphic settings have changed slightly. Will not affect existing settings or the advanced graphics settings options.
Changed the way the texture quality slider is interpreted:

Very High: all textures at full resolution.
High: texture dimensions capped at 256x256.
Medium: texture dimensions capped at 128x128, all textures reduced by one mip level.
Low: texture dimensions capped at 128x128, all textures reduced by two mip levels.
Texture quality is now treated the same in CoH and CoV.


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But the CoH specific graphics also said:
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Updated and improved many textures and visual effects throughout the game.


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Not sure if that's merely referring to the then-new parity between CoH and CoV textures, or if a lot of extra shine and sparkle was added at the same time.

Maybe the CoH graphics improvement helped lead to the redesign of Hamidon, and the 50-person limitation being placed on the Hive. Maybe gfx sparkle killed the (non-US) Hamidon event...

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If there were khelds in zones i wuld go skulking around with my void hunter rifle

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Try the high level Mayhems PPD will provide you with targets for it.

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Did they change the void hunter rifle back to affect any khelds? Asking after scanning the old patch notes and seeing this (from 11 April 2006):
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Void Hunter Rifle temp power will only do extra damage, Disorient and Knockback against the Kheldian critter in the story arc in which it is granted. It will no longer have these effects against Kheldians outside of that arc.


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Everything has been shiny since Villains was released, you just needed to have the texture settings high enough to get it.

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I've yet to have a quick look at patch notes to check, but I'm pretty sure I remember a patch updating a lot of the textures to higher resolution ones. I only started early 2006, so this would have been some time after the release of CoV - my hazy memory guesses at late 2006 or maybe early 2007.

Gratz on your latest RL ding!

That's irritated/annoyed me - I spent most over 50 hrs on that to level characters to a point where I could spawn 3 Titans... Spawn the 3 and no badge. And a shedload of people turning up at the last minute with no patience nor discipline.

For some reason reminded me of the bad side of old Hami raids...

meh - guess I'll be off to Tabula Rasa for a few days, whilst I still can.

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Defenders Solo. They just suck in terms of pace. Controllers vary but Defenders win hands down on slow.

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Hasn't dual builds helped a fair bit here though?

Note: that's actually a proper question, not rhetorical - all my defenders are still on a single team-oriented build.

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There may be a the merest hint of the possibility of an infinitesimal chance that NCSoft may decide to spontaneously develop CoX2 using the Crysis engine, but should that event occur it won't be tomorow.

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Of course it won't be tomorrow - I let the devs have weekends off!

I'll even let them have Monday morning off if any of them support teams in Superbowl - heck, I'm too generous to them, really I am.

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Why is this relevant? My concept character is now at level 5 on the LIVE server thanks to the level pact system. This means that as long as I get the character I pact'd her with to 50 I will eventually have a level 50 in Outbreak. It also means that as she stands now she can make use of the Pocket D and base teleport powers which breaks the contact line.

So what's everyone else's thoughts?

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So it looks like vets/permatemp teleport powers may only be available when you train up (pretty sure PD VIP is, didn't realise base tp was) but if you join a SG/VG and get defeated in outbreak/breakout do you still get the option to go to a base hospital?

If so then you could theoretically get a xp-pact character defeated in the tutorial zone and go to the SG base whilst your pact buddy levels you - exit base through usual base teleporter to get the same effect of a 50 emerging into the city zones without the usual.

Not tried anything along these lines - but I'm guessing that one or more of the following probably applies:
* SG base isn't available upon defeat in a tutorial zone;
* SG base is available but only allows exit through the 'entrance' portal (so back to tutorial zone);
* Upon entering city zones an initial contact is assigned/chosen regardless of charcter combat level;
* It isn't considered a problem for higher levels to enter the city zones with no contacts.

I'd guess that the latter at least partially applies, in that it is highly unlikely that anyone would stumble upon this by accident and, if indeed possible, it gives no advantage so isn't really an exploit but merely a quirk. I doubt that the devs worry much about experienced players engineering odd situations which convey no advantage...

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Good to know that you cant post your opinions on certain things without ppl making fun of you or attacking you :-)

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Part of the problem is that you have often been stating things as facts - not as opinions. And the facts have been false, and when challenged on their veracity you've evaded/diverted attention rather than either provide authentication or concede that you were wrong.

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Have fun, till the next one posts an opinion which isnt yours, then you can start all over again :-)

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Anyone merely naysaying just because the opinion isn't their own isn't being a constructive poster.

Anyone stating rubbish as fact and getting upset/evasive when called on that isn't either.

I'm sure that most people will happily attack false info posted here. And obviously the people who do attack false info didn't believe that info themselves, as they knew it to be false. The people attacking your opinion are doing so not so much because it's your opinion as that it's wrong.

Found this on the US boards that backs up the point:


this what happened in the last game i played SS/WP hackers ruined it for everyone hittin mobs and not always dyin and just anything to cheat there no extened maintenance there trying to catch the SS/WP hackers and we pay for it so unless people don't let board moderators know of troll poster's in the forum it we ruin it and there we not be a COH FORUM IT WELL BE GONE TO THE MOGHEDIENS!!!!!!!

Well the ITF I'm about to start should see me have a character on a 3rd account at 45+ with Crimson as a contact... so looks like later or tomorrow I'll be triple boxing with shared completion!

Hopefully get 3 ready for Sunday...

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yep. According to paragonwiki, it's given by Cadao Kestral. I remember doing it, and how weird it felt to be saving PPs instead of beating them up.

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There is?!?! My bad *hides*

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You've been busted, n00b!

Your cake was coming but then we had some success with the Ban Khorak campaign and it got cancelled... sorry.

So... Do I take it that today's your cakeday?? if so, Many happy returns!!



Ban Khorak - you know it makes sense.

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Since then, any new character I've rolled (unless it's a concept that needs a lot of investment) I try and earn my way on. It certainly keeps those early levels more entertaining than before. Not sure if I'd quite go the the lengths the OP suggested (and yes, I know it was a lighthearted suggestion) but denying some of those things that have made life so easy has rejuvenated the early levels for me.

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I usually don't transfer any INF/enhancements to new characters partly to make them earn their own way and partly:
* to see a more natural progression to the character that makes me understand them better (it's easy to play a character without understanding it if it's always enhanced to the max);
* to check that it is still possible to 'compete'/get along without outside help.

The latter I started considering as soon as WW/BM was announced and some people expressed worries about the coming market and new players being priced out of the market by veterans. Since then I've only ever transferred INF for a couple of characters and they've never had any problems. If anything the market made things a lot easier for new/un-financed characters, but I'll keep on making new characters pay their own way partly to be sure that they still can.

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Bah fair enough, I withdraw the statement, I just remembered a lot of RPers tend to have more than one account as well but come on, the people with many accounts aren't exactly in the majority as Mog is implying.

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I'd imagine that to be the case - and I'd also imagine that newer players are less likely to have multiple accounts ever since buyable slots arrived just before last Easter.



I got the 3rd account for me (to enter the TF Omega challenge) about 10 days before they announced buyable slots - I'm peeved off but had already put enough work into my character for it... If they announcement had been just 2 weeks earlier then I wouldn't hav egot that last account.

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However, surely if a significant proportion of people feel that, or show mathematical models of imbalance (either positive or negative), would you not prefer the Devs to focus their "rebalancing eye" on that? Or would you prefer they wasted resources by not listening to players and looking at sets/powers blindly.


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I find this possibly quite naive regarding both the devs/players and regarding the tools that can be used for datamining.

Players often have the wrong impression, therefore the devs putting too much weight in the players demands (regarding set balancing issues) may be the wrong thing to do. Not listening to anyone but analysing the data (which doesn't present an opinion) is probably the way to go. I think that the devs are smart enough to have figured that one out for themselves.

When you datamine or look at the power/set data, you aren't neccesarily looking at individual powers/combinations in turn and giving it full consideration. Simplifying it it's more likely that you're telling the database/computer to go away perform a load of calculations on all powers/sets/combinations that have been used (and we have data for) and bring back certain metrics for them.

The metrics may not just be things like mean/peak dps, which players concentrate on. They may include things like average time to hit level 10/20/30/x, percentage of playtime spent with debt, defeats per hour, defeats per hour vs individual foes etc etc

Up until this point, it probably isn't really a case of the devs focussing their 'balancing eye'. The legwork is probably done by the computer - hell: that's what computers are good at.

Once the computers done its work, any powers/sets/etc that fall outside an acceptable range (either underperforming or overperforming) can be identified - then work to check the result, understand why it's happenning and attempt rebalancing will probably be done by a dev.

This second part has to be directed at individual sets/powers etc - but the 1st part (identifying what actually needs looking at) probably doesn't. If it does then NorCal need a better data analysts.

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Many players DON'T have more than one account, the only people that do are dedicated farmers and PvPers for two very different reasons, farmers so they can pad their farms and PvPers so they can PL a character they fancy trying out at high end PvP.


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Sory Dr - utter tosh to state that 'the only people' to have more than one account are farmers and PvPers/PLers.

I do neither yet have multiple accounts - and I recall other (non-farmers/PvPers) saying they have multiple accounts in threads gone by.

It can be seen as weakening the entire post to include a statement that is so easy to show is false.

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Oh and btw what exactly is the RWZ challenge?

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Varies for AT - look in some of the AT-specific boards - but basically a challenge something along the lines of:

Take down a pylon whilst 2 spawns with at least 2 bosses and 4 lts are attacking you and using no insps or outside buffs.

i.e. it's just a hard, personal challenge with self-imposed limitations.