Lighthouse_NA

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I'm not sure exactly what I'm supposed to do, but I did put a lot of time and effort into writing this Guide to Grandville. I keep reading Lighthouse's posts, and I don't know what I'm supposed to do with it, but I would like to offer it for inclusion into the Guide to Guides. I looked, and there are no guides about Grandville.

If posting a link to it here isn't enough (which I suspect it won't be), what am I supposed to do to get it noticed?

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I added your guide to Grandville to the Guide to Guides. Great guide! Thanks!

Gather your teams and get ready! Shape up your soloing prowess! Get those eager lackeys and sidekicks in line! It's time to clean up and cash in!

Another Double Experience Weekend looms on the horizon! Mark January 26th to the 28th on your calendar because you won't want to miss it! All weekend long, experience, infamy/influence and prestige rewards will be doubled! It's time to level up!

EDIT: Just for anyone checking this post, the Double XP weekend ran from Jan 26-28 and is over.

Due to some extenuating circumstances the above mentioned forum trimming was not able to be run. We are planning on running it in the near future and will post here when it is completed.

I fixed the link to Harbinger's guide and updated the Stalker Link to Guide's post.

Thanks again, Milk Weasel!

Thanks Poison Pill! I updated the Guide Link Post for Masterminds with your new version. If anyone has any refinements or something that was missed, please post here or PM us. Thanks!


For anyone who may be interested in helping to update a Guide Link Post (like the one Poison Pill did) visit this post in the Player Guide forums.

Community Digest
Announcing the new Community Digest!

This new feature will function the same as the current Dev Digest, only it will display links to the various posts made by the Community Team. The Dev Digest will display a list of the posts made by the Development Team members.

This way, those who want to find information by the Devs can more easily do that without wading through a sea of Community posts.

Return of Red Names
Back in December, we experimented with changing the Community Team member names to an orange color. The intent of this change was to help make the Dev Team posts in the Dev Digest stand out. Unfortunately, the Dev Tracker used a different system from the regular forum posts and so it didn't reflect that change. Also, the color change wasn't all that great, in that some people couldn't really tell the difference anyway. Also, it didn't really look good if you were browsing with the City of Villains color scheme.

Now that we have the new Community Digest, all CoH/CoV support members, be they Developers or Community, will have the same red color names.

To discuss this announcement, visit the General Discussion Forum.

On Monday, January 15 we will be purging old posts off the forum. Threads that have been inactive and not received a new post that are over 2 weeks old will be lost. This is a regular process that we do to keep the back end systems of the message forum performing smoothly. The forum put on a little too much weight over the holidays and it's time to hit the treadmill! For anyone who's noticed delays in browsing the forums, this should help to speed things back up.

EDIT: Also, we wanted to note that old posts in the Player Guide section, as well as development or informative historical posts that have been flagged to be kept, will not be removed in this process.

We will be testing the double experience event on the Training Room this weekend, January 13th and 14th. And yes, if everything goes well with this test then you will be seeing a Double Experience event weekend again soon on the Live servers! Of course, we want to be sure our test of the event is good before announcing the Live event times, but you know it is coming!

In terms of testing, if you are not familiar with the Training Room Test Server, visit this thread about how to copy your characters to that server and how to set up your computer to access it.

To discuss this announcement, visit this thread on the Training Room forum.

Thanks Milk Weasel! I updated the Guide to Blasters link post with your new version. If anyone has any refinements or something that was missed, please post here or PM us. Thanks!


For anyone who may be interested in helping to update a Guide Link Post (like the one Milk Weasel did) visit this post in the Player Guide forums.

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o,o speaking of Wiki's.. was wondering, would there be any links to outside guides and sources? I'm particularly thinking about Paragonwiki when I say this.. they have a number of helpful pages on ingame items, and are always constantly expanding on them!

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I dropped Tony at the ParagonWiki forums a line. If anyone knows the gents who run that site, please forward my email Lighthouse@ncsoft.com Thanks!

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will there be a "dibs" style thing so that multiple people don't run through doing the same one only to have the quickest typer get the coveted title?

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Yeah, if there is that kind of response where it becomes an issue, then I'll go off of who comes through first with an edited link post that we would use.

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Too much work. The easy way:

1. The player-editor who is updating the Kheldian Guide Post goes to Kheldian Guide to Guides thread hits the quote button on the first post of that thread (with all the links) and, presto, gets a copy of the post with all the UBB tags.

2. The player-editor edits the post and posts it. The updated version is now the last post of the thread.

3. The player-editor emails you, Lighthouse, that the Guide has been updated and can be found at the end of the guide-thread.

4. You, Lighthouse, go to that player-editor's post and hit 'quote'. You now have the version with all the UBB tags. You can then cut and paste it into the first post using your special mod powers to edit 'uneditable' posts.

5. This also allows other players to see the player-editor's edits and to make additions and corrections.


If there is any player-editor for whom this process is too difficult to comprehend... then they shouldn't be doing web based editing.

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Good plan thanks for the input. We'll likely proceed that way after I can test out if players can get the UBB tag information for the existing Guide Post.

As for the Wiki style implementation, yup that'd be great. However I'm a realist and am not confident we could pull something along those lines off in the near term. So, getting the existing system dusted off and up to speed is our current target.

EDIT: Changed the process for updating at 10:30 AM Jan. 10th (see below) to use a post submission method instead of e-mail.

EDIT: I added a list of guide link posts that have been updated. I also removed the reference about using code tags. They aren't needed and just make the thread get all wonky.

Also, to clarify, my request is for people to update the posts of links that point to player guides, not editing the actual guides themselves.

So, for those of you keeping score from home, you might remember my earlier post calling for guides to be updated since we were working to update the many posts on the forums that link to all these fine Guides. Problem is, it is a pretty serious chunk of time to get all those posts up to snuff and well I won't hide behind excuses so I'll just say that it hasn't been done.

The thing is, it's a real shame to not have all these excellent resources available and easily found. I don't want my busy schedule to hold that up. So, in thinking about how best to tackle this I wanted to put the problem in front of you, our most excellent forum community and ask for volunteers.

What I'm looking for are people who are willing to take a category or two and create a revised version of the post containing all the new links.

Let me explain further. For example, say someone is willing to help update the Kheldian Guide Post. What they would do is the following:


1. Visit the guide post they want to update.

2. Click the "Quote" button, just like they are replying to that post and wanted to quote it. This will give the person editing the original posts UBB code (with links and all that).

3. Using that content and UBB code, create a new post that is updated. This would include links to any new guides and any new information, or orginization they feel is appropriate for that Guide post.

4. Post their revised version as a reply to the end of the thread where the guide link post is at.

5. Send a Private Message to Lighthouse letting me know you have posted an updated guide link post.

6. Then, we'll take a look at it and if the revised guide post looks good, then edit the original post and paste in your revised version and give you credit in that post as the "Official Guide Post Editor."

7. Once we use your revision, we will send you a reply private message and you will then have the option to have your title changed to "Official guide Post Editor."

Thanks in advance to anyone who is willing to help with this!


Guide Link Posts that have been done:
Corruptor by milk_weasel
Dominator by Necrosis
Guide to Guides by milk_weasel
Blaster by milk_weasel
Masterminds by Posion_Pill
Brutes by HAK
Stalkers by milk_weasel
Controllers by Muad_Dib
Defenders by milk_weasel
Kheldian by milk_weasel


milk_weasel is on a roll!

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Without wanting to come across as whiny (because Dev Q&A sessions are paradise for information freaks like me, and I love them wherever they happen), why is this happening over on WarCry, instead of here on the game's own forums? Isn't this just the sort of thing the community could do with in the run-up to I9?

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In a nutshell, It's a partnership. We want to spread the love and by collaborating with the Warcry network we bring wider coverage than just doing something here in our corner of the web.

Introducing the Ask a Dev article series on CoH Warcry and the Warcry Network! Each article of the series will introduce a new member of the City of Heroes and City of Villains Development Team and ask them questions about the game.

In this first article, you get to meet Lead Designer Matt "Positron" Miller. Head over to the Warcry Forums and pose your questions Matt. Later this month, Warcry will select the top questions and then Matt will give us his take on them.

In the follow up article that includes Matt's answers, we will also introduce the next Development Team Member: Cryptic Studios Creative Director, Jack "Statesman" Emmert!


Use this thread to discuss this new series.

Introducing the Ask a Dev article series on CoH Warcry and the Warcry Network! Each article of the series will introduce a new member of the City of Heroes and City of Villains Development Team and ask them questions about the game.

In this first article, you get to meet Lead Designer Matt "Positron" Miller. Head over to the Warcry Forums and pose your questions Matt. Later this month, Warcry will select the top questions and then Matt will give us his take on them.

In the follow up article that includes Matt's answers, we will also introduce the next Development Team Member: Cryptic Studios Creative Director, Jack "Statesman" Emmert!


To discuss this series, visit the General Discussion Forums.

A cold front on the horizon brings back winter to the streets of Paragon and outlying Rogue Isles! On Monday the 8th of January, the Winter Event returns! Cold weather is expected to last through the week, ending on Monday the 15th.

So put your scarves and gloves back on! Old Father Time will be back with presents galore, and there’s plenty of opportunity to collect the winter badges you might have missed!


To read more specifics about the original Winter Event, visit this news story.

To read information about the original Winter Event from testing, visit the Training Room (Test Server) Forum.

To discuss this change in weather with your fellow players, visit the general discussion forum here.

Thanks so very much to everyone who sent us their information. We've sent that on to the press agency and you may or may not hear back from them.

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Have you written, or thought about writing, a Game Play Guide? If so, now is the time to revisit it and spiff it up! Or, get writing and put your game play wisdom down in black and white!

One of the initiatives the Community Team will be tackling is to update the many guide posts on our forums. These guides are an excellent resource for our community and we want to keep them current and up to date.

So, make it your new year's resolution! Forget the gym and write or update your guide today!

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Huh?

Let me repeat... Huh?


Who is this "Community Team"? And how is it *you* are going to update *our* guides? Are you going to correct them, change them, update them yourselves?

Or... just hound us to do it?

NCSoft/Cryptic can't even put out a competent game manual. As much as we (mostly I) begged for you to put the text up on the web ahead of time so we can proofread and correct it. You didn't. What comes in the game box is incomplete and often wrong. Your game manuals are a 3 on a scale of 10.

Other information, like how demorecord works, how macros/binds are parsed, the hard numbers of powers... you won't release. At least not at once and comprehensively. We have to hound the devs in PMs for information you should have made available all along. It was the hard work of players who figured most of this out and published it.

Now that Statesman is no longer micromanaging things (and completely reversed his philosophy of keeping us in the dark with the numbers by taking a paycheck to put together Prima's I7 guide), the devs are more forthcoming with real numbers and info... but it's not enough.

Because NCSoft gives us so little resources on their own game websites, it is the players who've put together the best sources of information on the game. I go to vidiotmaps, badge-hound, nofuture, paragonwiki for information on the game. NCSoft's CoH and CoV website is a joke for information. Let's take an example: On the CoH website was an attempt to list all the emotes for us. Compare that to what Mantid did. Mantid gets a 9. NCSoft employee gets a 3.


If you really, really are serious about organizing guides and information, Lighthouse. Then NCSoft needs to have their own version of Paragonwiki that will serve as the online game manual. And you need to get the Cryptic people to look over the info and correct it and fill in the blanks so we know it's the real deal and not a player's best guess.


Otherwise, just organize the Guide to Guides for us and let it go.

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We are not re-writing player guides. We are updating the posts that link to them since they haven't been updated since, oh around Issue 6! Sorry for any confusion.

The business section of the Austin American Statesman has a feature about virtual worlds celebrating the holiday seasons featuring City of Heroes players. Read the full article here.

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Gee, I update mine every new issue without having to be told. Then I post it in the Guides Forum. Then I post a link in the appropriate forum's Guide thread. Then that thread doesn't get updated for two issues.

Why don't you update your Guides, Lighthouse. We've been updating ours anyway.

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That's what we are doing. We totally agree that it sucks that things haven't been updated in a while. The Community Team will be digging in to bring them up to snuff!

So, we thought we'd let the community know we are going to be doing that.

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Not everyones.

And I think this would be his way of saying that he is about to update the Guide Guide.

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Exactly! That is what we are about The Guide Guide and all the sub Guide posts in each of the Archetype sections.

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Extensive guides or quick, but to the point guides?

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Whatever strikes your fancy!

Have you written, or thought about writing, a Game Play Guide? If so, now is the time to revisit it and spiff it up! Or, get writing and put your game play wisdom down in black and white!

One of the initiatives the Community Team will be tackling is to update the many guide posts on our forums. These guides are an excellent resource for our community and we want to keep them current and up to date.

So, make it your new year's resolution! Forget the gym and write or update your guide today!

For anyone interested in moving characters to join the European Community, you should take note of this recent announcement from Bridger, the EU Community Coordinator:

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The US to EU Character Transfer system was designed to allow European City of Heroes players who had started playing on the US servers before the European version of the game was available to move to the European servers without losing their favourite characters or having to buy another copy of the game. It has now been available for over a year, during which time the demand for the service has gradually diminished, as those players interested in moving to the European servers have done so.

As such, we will be permanently shutting down the US to EU Character Transfer system on 17 January, 2007.

We are currently working on a special badge for those who have made use of the system. This will be awarded at some point following the shutdown of the system, once we have a full list of the eligible accounts.

If you have US characters that you wish to move to the European servers, you should do so as soon as possible, and definitely before 17 January, 2007.

For more information on using the system, please see the following Knowledge Base article:

City of Heroes Character Transfer: US to Europe

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In order to help address confusion as to who does what, we've changed the coloring of names of Official posters on the forums:

Orange Names: are Community Staff, Forum Administrators or Moderators. These are people who work on the forums, collecting or distributing news and information and helping to answer or address questions or issues.

Red Names: are Cryptic Development Team Members. These are people who work directly on the game, whether they are designers, coders, artists or production staff.

EDIT: Unfortunately the color scheme doesn't carry over to the current implementation of the Dev Digest

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The fact that this thread is STILL going in my opinion makes an absolute mockery of the Rules , specifically this part, which has already been quoted earlier I believe.

"6. Censorship Posts.

All posts referring to message board censorship will be removed."

This thread is directly violating the forum rules and the reds are not only letting it slide, they have posted in it.

Its madness. Madness, I tell you.

Eco.

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Hi everyone,

I wanted to reply back to this thread let you all know that I've read it and to bring it to a close. While I understand well the above rule that MrCaptainMan quotes, my intention in letting this thread ride was an important one: to hear your thoughts, feelings and concerns regarding the forum moderation. As the new "Sheriff" in town, I certainly do not want to dictate without being receptive to your concerns.

One other change you will notice, that is a result of your feedback, that is all Forum Moderators and Administrators now have a Orange color name. Crytpic Development Team Members continue to have a Red name. This will help address any confusion between the two teams as well as perhaps make reading the Dev Digest, looking for Development Team Member posts, easier. Ideally, we would have multiple digests; but I'll leave that for now as something to work on later

Another thing I would like to point out is the fact that our forums rely on you, the people who visit it, in part for moderation. On any given day there are simply too many posts for the Moderation Team to actively read each and every one. We ask that our readers, should they see something that is not in line with the Message Forum Rules and Guidelines to let us know by clicking the "Notify Moderator" button that can be found on the lower left of each post. That button is right most of the three in the "Post Extras:" section.

In closing, allow me to again thank you for your input. I know that our moderation, at times, can seem inconsistent. This issue has been a high one on my list since coming on and I hope that, as the months progress, you will find a noticeable improvement in how things are being handled. Our Moderation Team is a great bunch of people and we are working hard to make our customer's experience a good one.

Respectfully yours,
Lighthouse

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The webpage says the Gamester will put presents in the zones on the 18th, but the email I received says the 21st.

Is the Gamester just trying to keep us on our toes?

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We decided to move the "phase 2" of the event up to the 18th so that people would have more opportunities to open presents. Because well, we all love the presents!