Lemur Lad

Just so it's clear, he said it was their intent several years ago in discussions when it was still a Cryptic title. That doesn't mean things haven't changed and it's still going to happen.

Please don't turn this into a meme folks. If it happens it happens. But if it doesn't people are gonna rant and rave and moan and cry because forumgoers are putting the broadest possible spin on a comment that is ambiguous at best.

Like Posi said it was their plan "back then" The rest of the post makes it pretty clear that things have changed since then. Please don't hold him to something without looking at the big picture.

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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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I love you guys.

I've had a lot of fun the last few days making new costumes and upgrading old ones. The new outfit is great on it's own and works very well in tandem with existing items.

Here is my Brute mixing and matching Roman, Valkyrie, Sinister, and standard items

Here's one combining the helmet with the Cyborg Mask and makes a pretty Intimidating Face

Another combination of the helmet and Wasp detail and you get Lobstrosity

And last one I like a lot. It's been hard to replicate the Statesman look. However under Full Masks I found the new Valkyrie mask. So I made an assasin from Praetorian Earth sent to undermine Statesman. Is she Tyrant's daughter? Is she someone else? No one knows. She calls herself Solid States

Just want to say welcome to everyone on a Mac. I had to make a choice several years ago to get a PC because I wanted to play games like this one. Now that this game has a Macintosh version, if ever I need a new machine I will happily shop for a new Mac if it's possible to get one.

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Good Idea LL!!

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Thanks everyone. I cleared out huge swaths of my mailbox per Ex's request, and I'm hoping to get a few shots this week.

We're used to that kind of angst. The last one was really nothing compared to some of the ones we had in the first few months of the Scoop's life.

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Bug Description: Character is level 10. I turned off xp to try and get a badge mission before outleveling the contact. I was solo, but when my partner logged in I discovered she was ahead. I turned my xp earnings back on to see what would happen, and the Pact server gave me all the xp I thought I had given up by turning it off.

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That sounds like exactly what I would expect to happen. All the descriptons of the pacts would have suggested to me that the pact will enforce the XP level to be the same. As you discovered, turning off XP just suppressed the gains, much as if you were offline.

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Whereas I would expect it to contribute nothing of my earnings to the pact, and not level either of us up, much less hand it all back to me later. If this is WAI for pacted people, then it need to be made the same for non pacted people. Let them pool the xp they would earn and get it back after they do the content they want.

However in this case I seriously doubt it is WAI. I could take a pacted person into Dark Astoria, farm as much as I want, then turn the pact off and leap much closer to 50 in one fell swoop, along with all the benefits of the farming of easy foes.

Level Pact plus XP Off switch

Server: Pinnacle
Zone: Port Oakes
Character name: Seer Skittle (Seer Keekee is the pact mate)
Time: 12/8/08 approx 11:30 am
Location: n/a
Mission: n/a
Mission Contact: Angelo Vendetti
Bug Description: Character is level 10. I turned off xp to try and get a badge mission before outleveling the contact. I was solo, but when my partner logged in I discovered she was ahead. I turned my xp earnings back on to see what would happen, and the Pact server gave me all the xp I thought I had given up by turning it off.

Interesting theory Beef, but they give a free reactivation for almost every new Issue. Just because you have something that really bugs you about this issue doesn't mean the free weekend has sinister intent all of a sudden.

Some aspects of the submission guidelines are a little outdated, I think we say 2 weeks for unsolicited submissions because we want the time to go over them. In the case of event reports or other timely things, that would obviously be handled differently.

Yup we're working on pretty much exactly that. Submission guidelines saved and linked, and a kind of "report your own event" questionnaire for people who aren't comfortable writing their own write up.

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Don't accuse me of drama because I had the guts to come in here and dissent and tell the truth.

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I won't. I'll accuse you of drama for feeling the need to lace your interpretation of the truth with insults and inflammatory language though. You can tell the truth without being a jerk. It actually works better.

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I think it also would help to have submission guidelines, so we know what we need to do to help. Sending a PM okay, but surely you need to see more than that and as submitter I'd have more questions such as:

Do I need a specific PM subject title?
How long of sample should it be? 100 words...200...1000?
Do I make a different file and link to it, or paste it in the PM window?
How long after I submit can I expect a response?
If my work isn't accepted can I resubmit?...If so, how long do I need to wait to resubmit?

Just basic FAQ/Q&A would help folks out a lot. I'm sure that's reasonable enough, right?

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We have guidelines written and repost them occasionally, but right now my thinking is we'll be far better served by having them in a specific place always visible and available.

Also several other thoughts kicking around to smooth out the submission process and make it easier and quicker.

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Just so it's clear, many of Tony's bald assumptions about how and why we do things are wrong. Just like any endeavor, we juggle. Game time, life time, Scoop time, and Dev Time. Tony had every opportunity to learn and understand this but he's either forgotten or refused to learn. We simply cannot bug devs for information then write about it. Just like any organization we have to go through channels. He's also putting far too much emphasis on news, and too little on community when we talk about the Scoop as a community newsletter. In the end though, none of that is here nor there. We do as much as we can with what we have. Could it be more? Always. Will we get there by treating everyone like employees and forcing them to do things they don't want to? Never.

No one deserves to burn themselves out over this project. It's got huge potential but if we forget that it's people doing the work, there's no point. It's a frustrating job. I've felt guilty as hell about abandoning everyone when real life took me from the game for a lot longer than I expected. I feel guilty that Snow works so hard and is essentially on his own. Same with Mantid. We can do it better, and even though now all I am is a reporter-at-large, I'm going to do my best to make it happen, same as before.

Now's as good a time as any to announce something we've been talking over for the last few days. Sometime in the next few months, the forums will be migrating to vBulletin. The transition will be smooth as they can make it, and we at the Scoop are talking about what we will need to do as a team, and how to take advantage.

That's what makes Tony's comments about how to do better a bit funny. We're being told something we're already well aware of, and are already working to change. We've actually been in a bit of a holding pattern on purpose because there are limits to what we can do and pushing to make the Scoop bigger and better would just lead to a lot of work we'd need to re-do under the new forums.

If the consensus remains as it has been in our discussions, we're going to use the transition time to our advantage and re-boot the Scoop. New forums will help our process, and our ability to make the Scoop better. A few weeks off, but we won't be quiet and on vacation when it happens. A recruitment drive and as much as we can manage to get a better idea of what the community wants to see in the Scoop.

Assumptions about what would make the Scoop better aren't going to do anyone any good. We will be working hard to build a good platform to get people involved and doing what they enjoy.

Anyone who wants to join in the discussions will have the chance to do so. Anyone who wants to drop us a PM is welcome to. Just remember how you frame what you say will have an effect on the response.

Edit- This is my last post in this thread for this week. I've said what I need to say about why I wrote the piece, backed Snow's decision to run it, and debunked what needs to be debunked about how we do things at the Scoop. Anyone who wants to talk more about it can send me a PM.

We like critique just fine. What we don't like is when someone acts like their way is the only right way to do things.


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I really think you guys dropped the ball on covering big news in this issue in favor of self-indulgent fluff.

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I really think you have no idea what the Scoop is about, even after all this time. News is fine when we can get it and the timing is right, but that's not what we're here for. It's a community newsletter, and a voluntary effort. People fit it in where they can in their regular lives. We do our best, but that other stuff always comes first. If we could be comprehensive about news gathering, then we would.

In any case, you're on thin ice when it comes to trying make the Scoop better. Next time instead of making broad assumptions about how we should have done things and didn't, try finding out how and why we made the decisions we did then giving advice on how you think it could be better.

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Besides, for several months, I did try to help out, offering my services and delivering articles, and felt quite unwelcome for my efforts.

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You really don't want to open that can of worms again. Let's just say that this version of events is exceptionally one-sided and drop it. You can say what you like, but people who were there are still around, and I don't think you'd come out of a blow by blow rehash of something you have said you wanted to put in the past looking as good as you think you would.

You were part of the Scoop, now you're not. Leave it at that, because what you're doing rings of taking cheap shots, not constructive criticism based on the realities of the situation.

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While I agree with the general problem of not being able to please everybody, that's pretty much the case for current RUN styles. If I were the type to look closer, I could say that Huge run like knuckle-dragging Neanderthals, Male run like they're constipated and Female run like they're running in perpetual high heels.


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True enough, but then you get into the question of "what is the power for" Running is to get around. Walking would be of no practical purpose except to show off a look. When showing off, you want to look the way you want to look. I can't think of a single time I made use of running to show off the look of my character.

Well ok scratch that. When I made a flying monkey I tested Male and Huge with different builds to get the most monkey-esque running look I could. However that was for my satisfaction alone, not to show off to other people.

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Mr. Minden. I was stunned upon hearing the news that you'd resigned. Trying to keep the forums up and running, the community informed and appeased, and all of the other things you were responsible for is not an easy task, so I've always had a deep appreciation for anyone willing to take on that challenge. To me you always seemed to have a cool head and genuine concern for the community and their personal issues, even when they were driving us a bit nutty.

You're the first person to choose to part ways with us since we were folded into NCSofts arms a little over a year ago. Rationally, I know that losing people is inevetable, but deep down inside there was some small part that our team, this game, and this community was so awesome that anyone lucky enough to join us would never even think about leaving.

Plus, you were foolish enough to give me and Jay a redname. Just thinking about his inuagral post still cracks me up.

I refuse to use 'future endeavors', so I'll just wish you the best of luck in whatever it is you decide to do. I can only hope that we're able to find a replacement with as much passion for this community as you and your predecessors have shown before the groundlings devour us all.

Cheers.

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Well said.

I'm going to reserve my comments for an article in next week's City Scoop. Most of my exposure to LH comes via that project, and Snow_Globe agreed to run a retrospective piece.

Name:Lemur Lad
Global Contact:@lemur lad
Level of Classification:bigger than biggest
Origin:Natural
Super Rank & Super Group: the New Mythos

My own experiences in short:

I played solo on the 3rd setting with SOs, as a Mace/Shield brute. Overall I did well. However I tend to feel a portion of my success can be attributed to the mitigation provided by Mace (which is a lot more than other melee sets than I'm used to).

I did worst against larger groups of foes (two groups or group + ambush) with defense debuffs (longbow). However I did incredibly well in situations where I could cluster the foes tightly (again AoE potential of Mace+ the 7' range).

I faced down 3 elite bosses, Aurora Borealis, Numina, and a Longbow Ballista. I usually died at once in the process of clearing the surrounding low ranks. I could not stand up to the EB solo without purple inspirations, however overall I used less of those than I have in other characters, 2 at a time was enough to keep me from getting hit often.

I feel like I did alright, however I think about how I'd perform on a team against team sized spawns, and I just don't know how well it would translate upwards. I think about Vanguard or Cimerorans and I'm afraid. I think about IOs and I realize there's a lot of help I could get there, but I'm not sure that's how I should judge the set.

Thoughts-
I duoed in low levels with my girlfriend and we both had phalanx fighting. General impression is while the self buff is nice, the range is shorter than I'm used to being even when it comes to other melee teammates. If I duoed with one of her squishies, she'd never be that close, AoEs are just too dangerous.

Solution extend the range, or possible add a further buff to AoE def.

Mitigation- I got mitigation in my primary, and did ok, but there didn't seem to be enough in the set itself. Shield charge was ok but not consistently usefule based on locations.


As for real solutions I'm just not sure. I'm not enough of a numbers guy to say. I'm posting from my gut and saying I like the set but I'm not seeing it as a set I'd feel comfortable running on the highest difficulties solo or teamed.

I know the game isn't balanced around that, I'm just saying that the community tends to judge a set based on how well it handles Invincible and that may be where a lot of the dissatisfaction is coming from.

You're up way too early. Unless of course you're babysitting the BackAlleyBawler for the weekend or something.

Just wanted to say, the Issue Updates looks particularly spectacular.

Please consider using a similar format for the Game info page for Geography and Know your Adversary?

I dunno. I could be overawed by it. It's just the banners looked pretty distinct and cool. I guess 1 for every zone and enemy could be an artwork overload.

PS- PLEEEEASE consider a new schedule for adding updates to the info sections. More zone write ups where they're seriously lacking.

The new site looks Great! thank you for merging the Information sections of the CoH and CoV. It loads nicely.

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Also, it's friggin' hard to come up with appropriate bonuses for the day jobs.


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Why do you think I didn't?

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My advice is, not to bother. A Player's idea of a new bonus isn't going to balance out in the end most of the time anyway. Names for jobs, badges, and locations however are great.

Event related Day Job Badges! I know Holiday is the only event that currently has it's own "spot" but that could be changed:

These badges would need a shorter duration and no Accolades since events don't last 30 days usually.

Ski Instructor/Snow Bunny- Logout in the Chalet

Cupid's Assistant- Valentine's event

Trick or Treater- Halloween event

Architect- logout in your SG base.

Lineman- logout on a power line.