Judgement_Dave

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Damn you JD, are you a Brighton man?

<remembers the singing Big Issue seller, shudders>

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I'm not from Brighton if that's what you're asking.

Not sure if Brighton Man is slang though... maybe similar to being a San Franciscan or Philadelphian (low fat or otherwise).

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Back to the OP...

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Thought I'd never see that line in this thread.

Wonder if the I12 feature of additional character slots was just because it's something that people have been wanting for a while or if it's because of I13+ expansion (moving to either new ATs, rogue or just massive power proliferation) meaning that your average player is going to want a lot more slots than just 12 per server to try out the new goodies?

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it's a really big issue.

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You mean it's the City of Magazine Sellers expansion?

I suppose magazine seller would be one new AT to take up extra slots...

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I7 *was* a debacle. I'll take my future issues when they're good and ready, thank you very much.

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And I'm sure that has always been the aim of the devs and I'm not trying to hurry them along.

I bet if you asked them before I7 launched they'd have said that it was ready and they thought that they'd caught any big bugs... and compared to how totally broken the game could have been I guess that they may have.

I think the testing of issues has improved with the past 2 or 3 issues (although there's always room for improvement) and so I doubt that we'll see another I7.

Out of interest, does anyone know how stable the dev team was for doing I7?

Just wondering quite when the post-CoV-launch trimming of the team to 15 took place... it may be that I7 (a big issue by itself) was developed whilst the team was being reduced, which would have just added problems and uncertainty to the mix. Certainly wouldn't have helped get a bug-free issue developed smoothly.

A little different to the current scenario where a (supposedly) big issue is being developed whilst the dev team is growing in size. It's still creates some upheaval and added pressures, but doing any job whilst your team is growing is usually easier and a better atmosphere than doing it whilst your team is being decimated.

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Romans? In 300? Where? I didn't see any...

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I think there might have been some Romans hiding behind the samurai.

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Nah, that was Vikings... Couldn't you see all the spilled ale from their quaffing? There was so much of it, boats were sinking!

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Did 300 re-use the baddies army from Blazing Saddles?

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I too have concerns regarding I13... I got the feeling with I12 there was a distinct move away from the classic superhero comicbook game with Cimerora, clearly trying to cash in on Frank Miller's 300 and the subsequent movie.

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Greek & Roman mythology has always provided half the storylines for modern tales of heroism. At least cimerora seems to be taking us closer to the well of furies and the established backstory of CoX rather than being a total rush thrown together since one of the devs got 300 on DVD...

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Take your time, dev chaps. I'd rather see announcements when they're ready, not when forum whinging reaches fever pitch.

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And they do wait until they're ready.

A lot of my OP is because it looks to me like they are ready (or almost) - hence the trip to NCNC and the announcement about CoH/V unification (as a prelude to future direction of IP development.

Whilst not running the dev schedule to forum rants, it's often the way that we see increased argumentative behavious in the 2 or 3 weeks before issue announcements are made.

The timing of announcemets very possibly has some link to forum activity, as it doesn't hurt NC to start dribbling out information if it looks like the playerbase are getting increasingly restless. After all, a press release/announcement or two can distract the playerbase whilst having no impact on release schedule. Not really the tail wagging the dog as much as the dog having an unruly tail that can be brought in line by going for walkies an hour earlier than usual...

OMG - we planned to make an announcement in a week about a release in about 8 weeks time, but the players are starting to get really miffed... what can we do??? Maybe make an announcement this week that we're planning a release in about 9 weeks time.

* The last 2 weeks or so the forums seem to have got angrier - I usually see this as a sign that it's been too long since the last update and we're due another.

* I12 was early May iirc - allow 6+ weeks for I13 announcements and alpha/betas (closed and open) and we're probably looking at about the right time for a new issue (placing it late August/early Sept).

* Last week's announcement about CoH/V merge/unification seems (to me) to be the slow start of I13 (pre-I13) announcements.

* Last week, the NC Europe community team got a visit to NCNC.

This last one I see as potentially interesting. Companies don't usually jet staff halfway around the world just so that they can escape the UK alleged-summer... I feel that they might jet them around the world if they want to make sure that they're up to speed on the next big thing before it's announced to the public.

I think that the portents are there for an I13 announcement either this week or next... I'm just wondering if it's tomorrow or Friday.

Or in other words - yippee - I think a distraction from the forum arguments is imminent.

Anyone got any ideas how we manage to grab Kerensky for pre-Issue rumours? GR's effect upon speculation just isn't the same as a manic Germanic influence...

Got a few levels on minor villains on Defiant (couple from about 12 to 15).

Got my stone Tank from 42 to 44 on Union.

Also moved my Fire blaster c.2 levels to about 44.

Moved from mind/storm from about 18 to c.25.

Decided to get a presence on Union CoV and so spent Sunday levelling an new MM to level 23 (iirc part of the weekend with your VEAT). After a lifetime of 27 hrs, this is now my 3rd highest villain...

No idea INF wise - not particularly good, partly as I was playing low-mid levels.

Powers forgetting game/engine limits?

A fortune/misfortune manipulation power letting you battle through pure luck - e.g. your foe goes to shoot you but trips over their laces and shoots themself.

Time manipulation (heck I always liked teleport - give me this and then Hiro clone ahoy).

Line swinging - partly to see if Paragon/RI install a network of skyhooks.

I'd love a power to leave my body and hop from foe to foe, controlling them and using their powers (kind of like Azazel in Fallen).

A power that allows me to independently send off dismembered parts of my body (see Clive Barker's 'The Body Politic') - mainly so I could try ghosting a mish by sending my head/eye off on my right hand (but not my left - left can't be trusted for such an important job).

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Wait, so you're actually the ghost of a dinosaur?

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A bird of prey, actually. Usually a wedge-tailed eagle, being as I'm an Aussie and all.

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Phew - that's one mystery cleared up!

Now what was it you were saying about future developments...

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They used to, until Rikti found a way to turn them off. Which means they're quite unnecessary now, and may get removed eventually.

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I can't see it happening, not before CoH2 (arguably just as unlikely) - for the Devs to make the Paragon City gameworld seamless would take a completely new game engine, not to mention a lot of work to fill in all the gaps between the discrete zones we have now.

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Pretty sure that a year or more back the devs mentioned that the war walls may come down... of course a lot has changed since then with the IP buyout and NCNC formation.

I'll see if my search-fu is up to finding the thread about it.. there was certainly one on these forums (And I'd guess in General Discussion).


EDIT: search fu came up trumps... though it was a while back (August 2006). This thread discusses the possibilities after the devs had mentioned that the war walls may come down after the zone revamps that started with Faultline.

wb





EDIT: Damn - a simple 'wb' when I could have made any number of references to you not being lost anymore/finding your way back to us.

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Igneous?

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Right - time for a few missions with them in them then.... I want my mission creator

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I've said before that they need a bit more action, it's almost as if they were thrown into a few hollows missions and the the gulch just so that *spoilers* they could be used in the Cavern of Transcendance without popping out of nowhere.

I had hoped when the hollows revamp was announced that they'd get a bit more love, but instead we've ended up with a hollows-lite using the feature that no two spawns should use the same foe group. If you get the feeling that I'm not the revamped hollows biggest fan then you're obviously quite observant.

Yup. Bring on the mission creator.

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(are there any Hero only groups that don't appear in villains?)

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Igneous?

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So long as it's not something silly like the LOTR one - where you can level up based on time offline - given how fast we level and the decent SK system in this game, it's hardly needed.

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Unless they're upping the level cap to eleventysquillion and eight!




Joking, thankfully, and it is hardly needed.

Although the changes to the xp curve, the VEATs (giving an incentive for more CoV 50s) and the recent high level TF/SFs have had me thinking that we're very possibly seeing a move in CoX towards some form of endgame... I could well imagine some form of post-level-50 development being possible, though not necessarily involving levels/gains as per 1-50.

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an offline character reward system

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Is that an offline-character reward system or an offline character-reward system?

Guess that the former is the more you don't play the better your character becomes (but it reverts to normal once you log them back in).

The latter is we've got a reward system which gives your characters cookies, uber-powers and animated hair, but the system is offline for the foreseeable...

Master Z said more or less the same but you're last reply so I'll quote you...
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They did 'gift' anyone who had an account access to both sides when NCSoft bought the IP but it was a one-time deal.

Now it's continuous/permanent.

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But since it was only meant to be Good vs Evil that was still available for sale you had to be very unlucky to only have one side or the other - or have had something like the PC magazine (might have been PC Gamer?) giveaway from last Christmas which gave CoH or CoV... i.e. it was cheap promo to get rid of old stock.

So that means that it's not really a big deal, which makes me think that the 'this is needed for what we are going to do later this year' is really the entire point of the press release. Get the CoX name some publicity and start the slow build-up of hype/anticipation for whatever they've got planned.

And referring to it as plans for the IP may just be a more business-like way of saying the game and background what we done thunked up all by ourselves.

Although saying IP rather than games does also open up the possibility of non-game tie-ins, but would they really depend upon CoH/CoV unity?

Please publish a hardback collection of your guides.

The Skyway Dash

Well at something like 19:10 and still no sign of Damz we had a race (hoping that the results will stand) watched over by .Magma Man.

The turn out wasn't quite as big as it could have been, but we saw 6 participants in the race. Only 6 turning up did mean that we could all join one team (along with Magma Man as our judge) and so could see everyone's progress on the map.

Seeing everyone on the map is odd as you can see how far behind everyone else you are! Seriously...

Ernst Uder (in particular) seemed to get away to a great start - I know as I was eating his dust and seeing him whizz away into the distance... I didn't get everyone's powersets, but he must have been a kin... I had Ernst down as winning (and me in 3rd or 4th place) until they got flattened by the mobs.

Luckily for me, their death happened just as my siphon speed recharged and this time several yellows and purples meant it actually hit...

Anyway... the race was quite close with the following results:
1st DB-48124 (me)
2nd 119 (@MiG)
3rd Death Runner (@Amasing Flame)

Runnerbot (Heart Attack on the forums), Ernst Uder (Blue Peter?) and Runrunfastfast also put in sterling performances.


Sure that all the competitors hope that everything's fine with Damz... and that they were only kept away by dodgy technology issues.

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Yes.
Recluse doesn't stand a chance given the amount of infiltrators he's now allowed into his organisation and that doesn't even allow for the villains who only pretend to show him some allegiance.

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That's a very good point, he's got hundreds if not thousands of very annoyed and very capable 'destined ones' who will be gunning for him. Tactical error me thinks from the so called mastermind.

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Surely it's better to have 'hundreds if not thousands' 'gunning for him' and for each other than to have only one or two who could concentrate on deposing Lord Recluse?

Maybe a tactical masterstroke to have so many that they will expend too much energy fighting each other.


Yes - I know CoV doesn't pit you against other PCs, but if a similar situation did exist in reality surely each villain would be interested in knocking out the competing destined ones.

Odd that you bring up twisting logic...
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it is not the only possible interpretation

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Its the only interpertation that makes any sense.


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Isn't that the fallacy of argument from personal incredulity?? i.e. I don't believe it (or it doesn't make any sense to me) therefore it cannot be true.

You are betting upon a single possible outcome when there is not enough evidence to logically discount others. There is presumption, assumption and feeling but no evidence - the single haiku is not much to go off.

Again - I think it most likely that your reading of the haiku is correct.. but there is not the evidence to state that it is the only single possible meaning of the haiku.

Very good idea.

Given the international appeal of CoX, I'd have thought it a good idea to do something along these lines unless the devs were already planning more terrestrial content outside of Paragon/Rogue Isles.

And, however they do it, the game could do with a low level co-op zone.

BTW - Even though they're only 1-2 line idea I liked that you're obviously trying to put some effort into rationalising why heroes and villains may be in the same mission.

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it has an obvious interpretation

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There is no other explenation. Patrons are the only thing that are locked for villains but not for heroes.

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And the simple fact that villains and Lupin are mentioned may not mean that it is limited entirely to them.

I recall you to be a teacher with a mathematical slant:

The value thirteen
Is not imaginery
But a real number

If I state, quite correctly, that 13 is a real number does that mean that no other number is a real number??

Giving an example or clue (especially when limited by a poetic structure) does not mean that you have given an exhaustive list of changes nor a complete list of qualities defining the set of attributes/features to change.


It is more likely reading the haiku that it's the CoV APPs that are to change (with regard to being unable to repick them during respec) and that is the obvious interpretation. But it is not the only possible interpretation - and stating that it is does nothing but attempt to subdue debate/discussion of possible alternate interpretations.

Given that this isn't life or death, I'd rather enjoy a lively discussion (even if I believe some participants to be wrong) than see two or three people proclaim their vision of the truth and try to stifle other viewpoints!!

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1) If hero ancilleries where available for villains, you wouldn't need a respec (unless you had already started on a patron) you could just pick them.

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Probably correct - although the haiku is fairly limited and not a complete, detailed guide to I13 features! Using a Lupin reference and the pick from all can help convey the message that villains will be able to alter (in respec) what has previously been a decision cast in stone - i.e. the APP can be changed.

A change to CoV APPs to make them re-selectable during respec would be a big enough change to hint at in a Haiku, but a Haiku wouldn't neccesarily give enough room to expand upon the matter... Especially if other changes are hinted at in the same Haiku.

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4) No mention of the corrolory: Heroes getting patron powers. You can't have one without the other

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Poppycock!

Of course you can have one without the other. Unless maybe the development language forbids it... checks books on languages from assembler to C to Logo and Actionscript.. nope - can't spot anything in development languages that explicitly stops it.

It's also possible that APPs for heroes and villains would expand for some form of parity but the poetic structure of Haiku does limit the depth of detail revealed.

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Waaaay to obvious, Positron needs to do better if he is to keep up with Mender Silos.


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Not neccesarily too obvious - it has an obvious interpretation (which you give) but that may not be the correct one! Even the expansion of CoV ancillaries to include non-patron pools (as in CoH) is outside the 'too obvious' reading you give but may be entirely possible.

EDIT - although I agree that Posi is probably not as devious a clue/hint-giver as Silos or our own beloved Kerensky. Isn't it about time K drops some I13 hints...