Lost Ninja

So to sum up:

You like shields
There already are some futuristic and modern shields in the game (beta).
There will be more added before i13 goes live and probably more in the future too.

So what exactly is the problem?

You probably won't agree with me, many don't (the fools ). But I think to an extent all MMOs are like this, I know I had much the same issue when trying to level characters in WoW and to a certain extent GW. However IMO if you don't put some work into levelling a character you don't get the same rewards.

My current levelling sequence is roughly:

Atlas/Galaxy -> 5/6
Kings Row -> 10
Steel Canyon/Skyway City -> 15
Faultline -> 20

Then I either do some of the Striga Arcs or do a bit of grinding to get the first of the Talos/IP arcs to 35 At which point I can do either RWZ arcs/missions, do some Roman Zone missions or carry on doing story arcs in Brickstown or Founders Falls.

Peregrin Island I move to at 40 and either run paper missions to get a good contact or if I have one start on the arcs there immediately.

You could go to Croatoa as well but personally I hate the place.

However there is always points at which you grind to a halt unless you do some grinding.

Problem with that is we don't know what format the .costume file will be, it is possible that it is encrypted and decrypting it is breaching EULA (modifying game files) as is the current case in extracting things from the .pigg files.

Personally I don't really care one way or another on actually having a standalone creator, it'd be nice sure but my interest won't wane through lack. However I really hope the .costume file is plain text, XML or the like.

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Cavemen with glow in the dark shields that are made of some kind of force field... maybe you read different history books to me...

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Maybe you didnt look at all the variations of medieval/lump of rock shields...

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I was trying to point out that while some shields could no doubt be construed as based on past events others are not.

In fact I don't see a sing;le shield that I would take as that primitive, the oldest there looks to be Celtic, possibly Bronze Age but certainly not cave men.

Besides how you tell the story is far more important than what props you use. I wonder how many BS scrappers, axe or mace tanks (not even looking at Katana or Ninja blade) have a weapon that is as modern as they are? Yet each is old tech. Or ancient weapons weilded for the good of modern peoples.

The devs are giving us tools to realise new stories its that simple. Yes you can just take it at face value but that I think is your loss.

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Looks like its becoming city of cave men / medieval.

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Cavemen with glow in the dark shields that are made of some kind of force field... maybe you read different history books to me...

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I can think of a possible exploit with this...

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How could you possibly exploit this!?

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Edit the file manually and gain access to parts you haven't unlocked, would be my guess. I rather hope that its not possible to do that but still be able to fine tune the costume offline.... now that would be neat.

I always thought they were some form of recharge station... PPD Hardsuits would fit but also officers needing a quick rest and recharge before heading back onto the streets.

BTW the cells are traditionally downstairs not up!

My guess is open Beta will start when the Halloween event closes. So that people can actually be testing stuff rather than trying to kill zombies on live.

My duos no longer need to be online together to see what each is wearing...

This thread full of WIN!!!

I wonder if the 'allies grant extra' type powers will be capped at 7 (party based), only from party members (still party based) or if they will have a higher cap, say ten, like other similar powers in other sets and will be from all allies in range...

I hope for the last as it will really benefit from mother-ship or hami raids, but expect the second.

Two tin cans and a bit of string if they can't afford a phone...

It is entirely possible that the actual settlement includes a clause that precludes the release of any standalone character creator within certain terrorties. There is no reason that it is just a copyright issue. When the action was settled the settlement could easily have included things like that ad even specific power sets that Cryptic (now NCNC) agreed just not to include. ANd as was said there is no way we'd ever find out exactly what the settlement was due to the NDA on it.

((Short of working in the legal departments of either.))

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i know it's using it's own engine, but it always has a base line similar to another engine.

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Sorry to disappoint but this just isn't true, while some games are in effect forked from existing engines some also start from scratch. Especially MMOs as MMOs need completely different systems in place generally to work. The City of Heroes engine is AFAIK and certainly from other replies does seem to be an in house engine designed specifically for this game, while it is possible that NCSoft could sell the engine on (or license it) for other programmers to use it is again AFAIK the original deal.
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HL is actually Q2 with an upgrade, and when steam came, 24 bit textures where possible.
the COX engine has to have something similar.

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Why? Just because two or more engines do the same things does not make them even closely similar. I play several 3D games, each presents me with a 3D semi realistic viewpoint, each has some apparent physics, each is a first person shooter. Yet each is a different engine (Doom3, HL2 & CryEngine 2) none are based on any of the others.
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i'm asking this for a simple reason, if i know the basic lines then i know some of the limits better then currently.

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Even if you knew the original engine perfectly it is very unlikely that you would be able to suggest things that the devs either haven't tried or are unaware of simply because the engine is 4-5 years old and has had many many changes since it was first laid down. Some of the changes seem to be poorly documented, (see the podcast thread).

And as the engine isn't an off the shelf engine it isn't possible for you or anyone who doesn't work (or an ex dev I expect) for NCNC to know how anything is done at the code level except in generalities. Even if they released the source code for you to read through I doubt that you would be able to just look at it and be able to say you know what they are doing wrong. Even if you yourself are a high level programmer specialising in games... if you are applying for a job with NCNC might be your best bet.

I agree with the OP, more props for our characters that make them appear a little more than 2D.

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For me the clunkiness of the system, especially in regard to Server Transfers, highlights how poor NCNC are at designing some interfaces.

It'd be logical for an automatic check and warning as part of the Transfer process too. But no, you have to do it manually before you transfer or you just get renamed.

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Uh... I moved Lost Ninja (blaster) from Union to Defiant, and while I got a free rename because I had a Lost Ninja on Defiant it didn't happen automatically. For a while I had both Lost Ninja's in the character list together.

I don't care about my global name one jot, globals weren't added till long after I started playing. I have two now and if both were taken I have no doubt I could think of another. But character names mean something. Losing them would mean the game losing me, I'd be extremely upset but at that point what is the point in carrying on.

Pyroclastic Flower Fire/Kin named for the Pyroclastic Flows that sometimes are emitted by volcanoes. Likewise her twin is Pyroclastic Sarge named for the same effect but described as a surge.

Lost Ninja Whilst trying to come up with a name I was listening to a remix for the c64 game The Last Ninja... Sadly it wasn't quite original, there is a guy who follows the series Lost who also has this name but so far there seems to be only about 2 of us world wide.

The Facilitator She facilitates justice with her dirt great sword. Interestingly it appear to mean something in Spanish though I don't know what, but I get an awful lot of tells from people asking me things in Spanish.

The Clause My friends make fun of me for this one. When a lowly lawyer in a law firm needed to be rescued by a hero (Facilitator) from a bunch of Malta toughs she vowed never to be defenceless again. A Claws/WP scrapper with no travel power following the path of pure natural powers.

Bad Cop She isn't really, created as one of a pair of Kin/??? defenders back when I first started multi boxing properly, her sister Good Cop was Kin/Nrg she was Kin/Dark (hence good and bad). Nrg isn't a good synergy with Kin what with all the knockback so Good Cop vanished in a teleporter accident... Bad Cop still searches for her till this day.

Schizophreniac While in therapy to cure her schizophrenia Schiz was taught to build robots and impress her alter egos onto them... finally got to a point where most of her ego is in electronic format.... in a the form of an army of robots... Never did work out where her dark powers came from.

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1.) is it possible to make water so that we can dive in it, swim deep and even have an empire under water?

[/ QUOTE ]1: There is a mission in the Imperous TF which has underwater swimming, so it seems possible.

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You don't actually swim though, there is no vertical movement, you just have a swim animation underwater. If the pools were fifty foot deep you'd fall to the bottom and only be able to get out with fly or jump. But while ta the bottom you would appear to swim. I suspect that if the add a swimming system they will grant a fly like buff when under/in water to give you a vertical movement, however it doesn't appear to exist yet.

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4.) what kind of power, that was on the drawing board, isn't possible?

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Don't know any that have been on the drawing board but web-slinging/grappling hook type powers have been said to be impossible.

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5.) if something isn't possible currently, but a different team working on a different game knows a solution, do you take the trouble to let him work on it or do you just ignore the problem and say "it isn't possible"?

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That would only work if the other game used the same engine. Its not about what you know or don't know how to code its what is possible within the code. For instance it is possible to pickup objects in HL2 engine games but even if you know the code that makes that possible it wouldn't be possible to use the same code to make it work in CoH

Biggest issue is closed bids. I don't want to make oodles of inf off the auctions, but having to sell things with no real way of knowing what other people are selling for means I can only go on the last five... If the last five sold at x but the going rate is y I stand to make a loss or profit and thats just luck of the draw. If the system was open I could make my own decision as to what to sell for... either that or add an API/system that allows me to track stuff over a longer period than just the last five minutes I have been logged in for.

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So you both like WoW's system AND dislike it?

As for CoX, I still say it should list the average of what the item has sold for, ever since from the beginning... none of this last 5 items thing. That would lead to stable prices. As for the 10% cut: you vulturous curs!

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Damn copy and paste for dropping me in it again.

Last line should read CoH auctions.

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it can't tell how many previous kills you made.

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Load of good that does...

Personally, I don't like using third party 'tools'.
Closest thing that I use is vidiotmaps' printout versions...

a numerical indication when mousing over a progress bar would be great, though.

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Still better than what is there now, and you don't have to wait for the devs to look at the idea realise its a good one and add it to the game. TBH It should give details in at least % on any bar in badges but until it does this can help a bit. Especially if you use it all the time.

Get Hero Stats... use it and it'll tell you how many of each mob you have defeated. (From when you start using it, it can't tell how many previous kills you made.

However I did remember some of it...

<font class="small">Code:[/color]<hr /><pre>
Window 3 4 5 6 Scale Colour ? 1 2
chat 0 719 360 381 0.798476 3095ffff 88 0 2
</pre><hr />
Colour isn't RGBA (might be ARGB not sure) I remember taking a while to work it out.
1/2 Are something to do with whether the window is visible and whether it is minimised or not.
3/4 Position I think
5/6 Height/Width or the reverse I think

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I don't think so, no, it applies to all windows.

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...bah, for the size is possible with

/window_scale chat &lt;value&gt;

but i not know for opacity option

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If you look in the file created when you save windows (some where in options) it is a plain text format file that I think is created in the root of the CoH folder (though might be in the folder namsed as your account name), you can set the alpha level of each window in that. However IIRC you need to reload the game between each change so it can't be done on the fly. Long time since I played with that file so can't remember exactly what you need to change.

edit:-

File is called wdw.txt have a play maybe you can work it out sadly I can't find my notes for what I found when I looked at it...

Apart from the MM change listed above... gotta say I can't off hand think of any power that I use that I want changed.

Though regen back to i3 levels might be nice I can see why the changes were made... and I prefer MoG now.