PumBumbler

I used a level 4 last year but there was a high level kinetic with transfusion and transference that kept me ticking in the mosh pit.

Using a low level toon was enormously fun since it was hard to get hurt and and took a while to whittle him down.

It will probably take a LOT of level 1s though if there aren't any higher level helpers debuffing regen or providing heals/end.

From the get go, most of AE was so overwhelmed by poor writing, farms and assorted cruft that it was hard to find great content. Star griefing was rampant too, and then the nerf and bans afterwards just turned me off of AE.

I rarely touch AE now, but this contest really demonstrated what AE can do, from what I've seen. Too bad the rewards have to be given out by another player but a whole buncha loot and a well written story are good reasons to play anyhow.

FWIW, there are still prizes to won so if anyone is gonna look at that arc, now is the time.

Nice intentions but I don't think that a new zone will bring PvE people into the PvP fold.

From what I can see of why PvP isn't popular at all is partly perceived failings and the technical failings of PvP within CoX.

As it stands I believe PvP will always be unpopular within CoX until PvP is truly integrated within the game proper.

This means that PvP must be instilled within the game proper instead of acting as a mini game of CoX.

This also means the PvP rulesets must have as few deviations from the PvE ruleset (or vice versa if you wish to view it the opposite way).

If you look at the way that the CoX game system is supposed to expose you to more of the game's rules and richness as you level up (in essence a training regimen), PvP absolutely fails on this aspect because NONE of it gets thrown in at any stage, and most players will just bypass it without ever knowing it exists. The game's managers/devs/publishers need to get over the timidity of making so much stuff optional, as they put it.

The AHs and IOs were put in as being optional yet everyone gets invention salvage drops and it is pretty much integrated with buying and selling of stuff, yet there is nothing along the path of PvP to be worked into the normal course of a player's growth in CoX.

While it's great that the devs choose to put in sidestreets and alleyways for players to explore, PvP is the red-headed step child of CoX that gets the beats whenever any power is fixed/nerfed.

By the time the average player gets to the point of realizing PvP exists, they are usually so inept at it that most of them get turned off because the moment they try PvP they get whupped/griefed and sometimes trashed talked out of the zone.

Almost every player will start out by making toons that function totally fine if not great in PvE yet will never be competitive in PvP. While you can say it is the poor player who blames the game for his/her own failings, the ultimate failing is that the devs have never concentrated enough on PvP to even document things for the average player.

They've pretty much left it up to the rare PvP stars who are gracious enough to lend a hand to the rare newb who's ego isn't bruised enough to refuse help. That's the 1-3% that's left for PvP.

Once CoX integrates PvP so people get an early taste of it while they level, and that the rules actually make some semblance of conformity with PvE, then people will actually try PvP instead of shunning it. As it stands, every zone is a 'pro' zone, where the best players not only have a significant advantage, but also know the rules inside and out.

After that adding zones to fight over would be neat.

Gratz!

Welcome home!

I think there's room on our coalition slots, and we have all the porters blueside and most redside, so just PM me ingame @PumBumbler.

Chris Allys and Optomica

Yah I know it's a little bit premature, but I just wanted to wish everyone on Justice a Happy New Year.

Just remember, if anything goes wrong in 2010, you can always blame cho.

Welcome to this side of the pond.

If you haven't checked this out yet, you probably want to minimize the latency of your connection and choose an east coast server.

Currently, Freedom is the busiest East coast server by a fair margin, and the 2nd, 3rd and 4th busiest servers are all West coast servers (Virtue, Justice and Champion respectively). Virtue occasionally is busier than Freedom, and Champion more than Justice as well.

Ship raids are easily enough done with a small core of decent players, pug style. This means that the level of coordination and planning required are way lower than a hami raid.

This also means that getting a ship raid going on Justice is quite casual. Good ship raids can net a player upwards of 700-800 vanguard merits, so it also means that capping merits (9999) is kinda easy to do, and also lends to the casual nature of ship raiding.

The best thing to do is to ask around on the channels that Dan has mentioned. I believe that both the MotD of those channels will list ship raids now and then. It also doesn't hurt to ask around on those channels. Usually if there is enough demand from the general audience an experienced raid leader will step up and organize one.

You may have a kernel of truth in your thesis but it is too hard to decipher since you push off onto so many tangents that it diffuses your argument instead of strengthening it.

This is why people are dismissive of it.

Of course, your angry tone also pushes the rantometer into the red as well.

Less vitriol, more evidence = better discussion.

The secret to getting merms and enri to work is to flog them twice as hard as usual.

Interesting post.

Thanks for giving me an inside look from behind TJ's eyes. Sometimes it has seemed to me that there were 2 TJs in front of the keyboard.

Kudos to you for trying to better yourself. Whilst we have not always seen eye to eye on things, I hope that we will continue to have mutual respect for one another and I hope you one day reconsider your own prohibition on posting on the Justice subforum.

Best of luck on everything you do and see you on Justice.

I wouldn't worry about it if I were you.

There's always idle chitchat about people being 'sekritdevs zomg'. Heck I've been accused of being a dev. Denied or not, people will keep their jaws flappin'.

Just remember that the real devs also have logs of everything that is said in game and on the forums here, and if push comes to shove those logs will either exonerate you or put the stake in your heart.

Just keep doing what yer doing and don't worry about the fishwives.