Party_Kake
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Posts
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Joined
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Quote:Are you freaking kidding me? Then it literally IS GAMBLING, and is thus exposing Paragon Studios to LEGISLATION which regulates this.Originally Posted by DumpleBerry
My only viewpoint, really, is that if they want us to treat it as a cheap point-sink trading card game...then the cards need to be cheap and trade-able. At least to some extent.
It's not a ccg because you can't trade the stuff. It's more akin to collecting stickers for one of those sticker collection books (which feature super heroes galore, but I don't hear anybody complaining about THAT) or putting a quarter into a temporary tattoo or gumball machine. I must not be the only kid that was told I was allergic to red food coloring. So yes, it was a "gamble" in your apparent definition of the word that there was a chance that buying a gumball with a quarter would be worth it. Because I might end up with a gumball I couldn't chew.Quote:
Anyone who has ever collected trading cards KNOWS that it's a gamble with real money. That's the whole POINT of trading cards, from a manufacturers standpoint. If they're really going to stick to the 80 point cost--then that's only ONE DOLLAR A PACK. And one dollar a pack is WAY cheaper than what the old trading cards I used to buy cost.
So make sure I can trade with friends some way, and add some tracking component to the game so I can see what "cards" I'm missing and still need to track down.
This is not a controversy. And quit treating it like a catastrophe. -
For shame!
I don't just take the time to answer every question asked of me, I literally walk up to everyone labeled "Help Me!" and I ask them if they need help with something. If they don't, I let them know to ask me if they run into something they do need help with.
But on a more serious note, I don't expect to hold anyone else up to those standards. It's a social game, you're free to make mistakes.
It is good that you chose to take the label off afterwards. Even if it is nothing more than a vanity plate at the moment, it's at least a good start to make sure that the title starts to mean something. We're all adults here, the game doesn't have to police us. -
Quote:I may be posting late but I was here and reading while the 1200 post knee jerk reaction wsa going on, and knew at that point that I needed to wait for more official info before even making a comment.Originally Posted by Snow Globe
Seeing that you are coming into this late, I suggest you read all 1,200+ posts in the following thread for the background on this issue:
The UNofficial Super Pack Feedback Thread
Short form: It is gambling with real money to get the stuff a player wants with a fairly good chance to be disappointed. The packs have items that directly appeal to VIPs to convince them to buy the packs. Many of us have been through several Collectible Card Games and don't want any part of it here.
I've played collectible card games that worked, and games that failed hard.
Does anyone here even remember that City of Heroes had a collectible card game? Eh? As I recall the randomness of that was HARSH. Good luck getting the basic stuff required for a character, LET ALONE enough copies of important abilities to build the spec you want. And if you wanted a specific combo of tanker powersets, there might not be a named hero with that combo, so you'd have to build it yourself, with the mannequin-like "custom tanker" hero card.
Also although it shares many characteristics of gambling, and being a ccg veteran, I know what you mean, there are key differences with that that need to be said. Namely, if you've never been to a casino, you should visit one. There is a huge difference between an FLGS and a casino. Comparing CCG's to gambling is like comparing D&D to gambling. The randomness alone is not a valid comparison.
If I go to a casino and put $5 in chips on a table and don't win, I possess nothing.
If I purchase $5 in CCG content or super packs, I possess something. And, it turns out it's something desirable.
If I purchase $5 in new dice (man what a deal that would be), I have new dice! I hope they're lucky because my character would sure love to avoid a repeat of the haunted house we ran through last saturday session. Any sane logical person would say that I obtained nothing of value by obtaining new dice, but I'm a gamer and I know better.
A casino is a very seedy place and a unique experience, and it's always bugged me that people talk about gambling without really knowing the significance of that word. Gambling means randomly winning or losing money, or exchangeable tokens that have money value, or chips that don't really have money value but can be exchanged for money, depending on how you look at that.
In M:tG it can be considered gambling in the sense that when you buy a pack, you can literally sell the rares for a LOT of cash - back in Zendikar block you could pop open a pack of Worldwake and get Jace the Mind Sculptor which was literally worth more than a box of those same boosters. The game suffered, in my opinion, from a very serious "cost of entry" problem where nearly every standard legal deck required 4 of that guy, which would set you back $500 or so. And that, while deplorable, is a side effect of the problem that the game designers literally can't stop the real world market from dictating the value of the cards.
But this is the sale of a randomized collection of virtual goods which are not necessary for players, and it's meant to provide players with something for their purchase. I'm seeing a distinct detachment between what we know so far and what people are assuming will happen.
Frankly I will have to see which costume parts are exclusively in it and what the odds are of getting them before I come to any conclusions about how "bad" it is for the game. -
Quote:targeting VIPs in a predatory manner? Like, with a harpoon gun? I'm not seeing that.Originally Posted by Snow Globe
Players are, justifiably, saying that by doing so Paragon Studios is targeting VIPs in a predatory manner. I don't think anyone denied that the original idea would sell (and often). The issue was if they were going to sell in a manner that didn't feed on addiction.
And there was already a assured rare or very rare per pack.
If there were an in-game mechanic that caused "free" enhancements and recipes and costume parts to stop dropping for VIPs so that VIPs were forced to spend more money to play, THAT would be predatory.
This looks like a way to enhance the value of a VIP sub. If these packs are only available to VIPs, then it's like a whole new thing that adds value to the VIP status.
Cool to hear. Has anyone mentioned what date it stops being available? I'm looking forward to taunting people with something they CAN NEVER HAVE.Quote:Originally Posted by Zwillinger
Once you are awarded the Celestial costume set, i.e.; spend your Reward Tokens on it, we do not claw it back if you unsubscribe from VIP status. -
We're gonna need a bigger boat.
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So I found a hilarious bug on the test server when I decided I was going to get ten each of all the enhancement sets at the same time.
I ended up with a huge shopping cart, like 20 or so different items, and some of them I wanted multiples of.
so I started from the bottom. clicked the drop down, and it only went as low as 5.
I could only purchase a total of 5 of that set.
the second to last item in the list, I could only purchase 8 of that set.
that's when I realized what was up.
You see, the dropdown menu can't show up below the paragon market, it can't "hover over" the game screen, so it gets cut off. and it always drops down, it can't "drop up."
You should fix this so that the dropdown box can be shown in its entirety. just think - that's 7 enhancement sets per person, per shopping trip, lost in sales, all the time!
you guys can check this out on the test server right now, just add a whole bunch of stuff to the cart and then play around with the drop box that lets to select to purchase multiple quantities of each item.
Since a whole bunch of stuff is free on the test server, you can test this out right now at no cost. WHEEEEEE bug squashing awaaayy! -
I notice on the beta that there are new enhancement sets available in the market but at cost instead of free, it's worth noting that if you haven't considered it yet, you could include randoms from those (or even random sets, but rarely) in those packs. for 80 points, if there was a 1 in 3 chance of getting an enhancement (and if an enhancement, a 1-in-10 or so chance of getting the entire set rather than just 1), that could really drive sales. It's not like you're working with a limited supply. encouraging people to buy the packs in droves is good for business, right?
Quote:As a VIP, I buy something I want, I get it. You shouldn't take that away if I'm in a bind and can't make my payment for the month (lol). Now, if I had paid for something labeled "Only VIP players will ever be able to use this and if your VIP subscription goes away so does this" that's a different story, but at that point I'm not paying for the thing, I'm paying for other people not to have it, which is both weird and mean.Originally Posted by Positron
Hey guys...
The simple solution sounds like "let us keep them" but we'd like to avoid the future argument of "why do non-VIPs get to use VIP costumes?"
I would say the logical choice is to let the thing only be purchasable by VIPs but to let them keep it if their sub lapses, and just to introduce other stuff later on for new guys. the celestial stuff was very nice, and I'm looking forward to its replacement.
When DOES that become no longer available, anyway? -
I also play another game called Vindictus, and every once in a while it informs me that my ip address has changed since the last time I logged in. I've written down the various ip addresses when it happens. there doesn't seem to be a dang thing linking any of them together. they're way off from each other. I don't think using ip addresses is going to work.
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Grats is applicable in a few situations:
1) an npc sees you level and says "grats!" for humorous effect. hard to program.
2) you've hit a landmark level, like 10, 20, 22, basically one of those levels where something cool happens you've been waiting for.
3) you leveling is something fun and exciting to break the ice and start conversation.
4) it's been a while since you leveled, and you're a step closer to something cool.
5) you just got something really awesome, like the flames of prometheus. swirly light be damned, that's frickin gratsworthy.
6) you're hanging out with friends and you really just want to say grats for something.
note that at no point in this list is the grats mandatory. because that's sinful. never force gratitude. -
Quote:I'm calling it. the new nickname for mm's is "The Sausagefest Class."Originally Posted by Scythus
I demand that this happens. MMs are such a sausage-fest.
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Quote:Oh my gaw yes.Originally Posted by SteelDominator
I support Female MMs. Especially Carnies can you imagine them as pets as powerful as they are! O.o
When I found out that Carnival troops could be earned through the incarnate system I was stoked. I fully intend to have an all female-or-genderless minion master, and since I have my robots, I just gotta make sure I unlock my alpha slot and get a bunch of psycho xp. -
Quote:Bah! Meters talk!Originally Posted by Johnny_Butane
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What I do take issue with is Bruising improving Brute and Scrapper damage (and improving it more than it does for the Tanker)...
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Leave dps meters out of this game!
If you're contributing to the team in ANY WAY, and your actions lead to the target dying faster, that's YOUR DAMAGE. YOURS.
Nobody can take that away from you! You added brass knuckles to those teammates, you get to take credit for some of the damage they're doing. -
They claim that players would abuse the emotes with the collapse and the pushups thing?
You can do that already, the other way around, can't you?
I guess if nobody's thought of it, it doesn't count?
I suppose it's equally unlikely that the "male on male" has been abused?
If you can show them that those emotes don't work or that the problem isn't that bad, I'm sure they'd reconsider. -
a limited-use temporary power of the quantum rifle, which does mad crazy damage to more powerful foes but does normal damage to minions.
Also it does extra damage to pb's and warshades, just to stick to continuity.
That could be a wonderful thing to just grab when you really need to finish a mission and you can't handle the big guy at the end, and you're about to have to quit playing... -
Quote:Although I'm hardly an expert on the subject, I'd wager the Industry is aware of most of the big fans, and the line between "fan" and "pro" tends to blur as you reach those levels. At any rate they probably hired her partly because of her ability to stir up debate and interest like this, so if that is the case, they chose well.Originally Posted by Obitus
Apparently*, Ms Simone wasn't yet a comic book writer when she made her site, and when she went on her campaign to solicit industry opinion about the site. She was a fan. Depending on your vantage, that little factoid could put a whole new spin on the discussion.
(* -I say apparently because I spent way more time than was healthy reading up on the subject as a result of this thread. I neither knew nor cared who Gail Simone was before.)
That is an interesting factoid though. -
Quote:I was about to say!Originally Posted by DarkGob
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HOLY OFF-TOPIC POST BATMAN
This is a meaningless THREAD about in-game art. That logic doesn't belong here! -
When I first saw that there was the opportunity to get costume slots 6-10 for my characters I went straight away and did it. No hesitation at all. I have some characters with old looks that were modified as things changed in the costume editor, but I was able to figure out what the items were renamed to (I imagine that's the source of the invalidation issues). I do have old(er) characters with their classic costumes, and most of those haven't changed, but I always find time to create new looks for all my characters.
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Quote:It was a disparaging comment, related to the topic at hand.Originally Posted by DarkGob
I don't even know what that means.
His boobs are bigger than his package, if you get my gist. -
Quote:Wow, I pointed out right off the bat that I was going off on a tangent, and apparently I've offended you. Sorry. Mind not throwing a fridge at me next time?Originally Posted by UberGuy
Look, there are things about CoH that I like, and which distinguish it from other games. If there weren't, I would have no loyalty to it - I could substitute any other game and it would offer me the same things I enjoy. Every game system has distinguishing features that give it this sort of consistency and distinction from its competition. D&D 3e had a consistency of features. D&D 4e has a consistency of features.
Claiming it's different every time I play it without acknowledging that it offers consistency of experience (and consistently different experience from other games) would take willful ignorance. This is what I am talking about.
In any case, this was not even what you rebutted, going off into garbage comparing the business models of a cereal and game maker, thereby stretching the effective context of my analogy beyond all possible recognition. In effect you built a strawman argument out of a simple analogy by arguing extensions of it that were never meant to apply.
Your post was dumb. That you argued against the analogy itself (badly) without any clear intent to argue something about either WiR, sexism in products (like D&D) or like/dislike of 4e D&D. As a result, you threadjacked a topic that was already about three steps removed from the OT. So your post was both dumb and massively off-topic.
I won't be responding to you about this again. Not in this thread at least.
In any case, with regards to the "WiR" thing going on, probably the worst thing that anyone can do is try to adjust a story based on their perception of it. WiR is not a "thing" that can be applied to a story like a sticker. It's a trend. And as a trend, it's something to be aware of when writing stories.
If we suddenly realized that 50% of new shows on TV were crime dramas, we'd want to be aware of that if we were writing one, so that we could make our story stick out.
Some people say that "fridging" is when you kill a character to empower another character, in which case uncle ben and gwen stacy are probably the biggest (and most well-done) examples. Bruce Wayne's parents fit right in. Those are two incredibly well written stories, and two very memorable characters. Attempting to piggyback on their success isn't a bad thing. It's smart!
The problem is when it's done very poorly, and a character who was a breakout inspiration for a group of comic readers gets thrown under the bus, and a lot of fans get pissed, and the industry suffers from losing readers without understanding what happened.
Gail's a writer in the comics industry. She has to look for this kind of stuff all the time, it's no secret there's more to what she's saying on that blog than anyone's read into it. -
Quote:Not enough flag in his ship to qualify for that level of plot immunity.Originally Posted by DarkGob
Yes, because they're going to kill off their flagship character.*
*No, Superman doesn't count. -
Quote:confirmed. The "Poor" debuff prevents them from getting all sorts of cool powers available in the market for the LOW LOW PRICE OF...Originally Posted by DarkGob
I heard free players will have a constant debuff applied to them until they pay for something, confirm/deny?
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Quote:You said, "I feel like I had been eating Corn Flakes for 20 years, and one day... "Originally Posted by UberGuy
Oh for ****'s sake.
It was an analogy comparing how I (would) feel about two things. It was not an analogy comparing Kellogg's and WoTC. Breaking it down as if it was a comparison of those two things is completely pointless.
Jesus.
directly comparing your experience of eating cereal to the experience of playing games.
One is the same every time.
One is different every time.
Comparing the two, or even your experience relative to the two, is like comparing two things that are opposite! Because it IS comparing two things that are opposite! -
I've been running a lot of missions lately and every time I zone into the mission area I get the same picture of Statesman versus CyberStatesman, in the very actiony but quease-inducing gender-deprived pose.
On the NCSoft page for City of heroes/Villains it has the same wallpaper as one of three downloadable promotional materials. Also there's a little arrow that leads to 3 more wallpapers, just noticed that.
See here: http://us.ncsoft.com/en/city-of-heroes/
(Under Wallpapers, on the right. The top picture is the one I'm referring to)
I'm sure it wouldn't take much to say, randomize or cycle the loading screen. It's not really a necessity, just one of those things that might help the aesthetics by preventing the picture from getting stale.
Also I'm really hoping that guy isn't that unfortunate. I mean shrinkage I can understand but I personally wouldn't allow for such an unflattering portrayal of myself.
Also the picture of Maelstrom is quite intimidating, until you picture him saying "SCHWIIING" what with the logo being right there. lol. -
I'm more interested to see if there's someone out there that skips enhancements completely and just uses inspirations.
Side note: Please don't do this. It was painful enough before I found out that inspirations stacked, I can't even fathom how harsh it would be to get past level 15 like this. I know every time I forget to update my enhancements, I get frickin owned. But usually you don't hit a 6 level spree without remembering to check. -
Quote:May I butt in here?Originally Posted by UberGuy
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I feel like I had been eating Corn Flakes for 20 years, and one day I bought Corn Flakes and in the box were little cubes of wheat bran. The makers decided that bran cubes had a better cross-demographic popularity, so they came up with this new cereal but started calling it Corn Flakes. It tastes OK, but it's sure not the Corn Flakes I want.
Corn Flakes makes money off of selling the same thing to people to eat every day. their business requires no innovation to stay afloat.
WOTC makes zero money on players who already have all the 3e and 3.5e stuff they want from official sources and are spending their cash on third party brand items.
WOTC makes money when they introduce 4e and 4.5e (D&D Essentials).
If you buy 4e, you can still play 3e and 3.5e. But now you can play 4e also.
If corn flakes changes their product at all, they lose 100% of their customer base and income and have to re-earn it, along with more people to make up for the money they invested in such a scheme. This is what is known as a BAD MOVE.
If WOTC changes their product, they lose no money, but they do still have to sell products. Each and every product they sell has to re-earn their customer base, because they can't sell you another copy of the player's handbook after you ate the last one.