PumBumbler

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Post deleted by Moderator 08

[/ QUOTE ]

Man, I think enri is running a post delete count contest or something. I don't know who's in the lead, him, philly or iggy.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm doing my part.

Are you?

[/ QUOTE ]

Man, I don't even rate. Shouldn't my post have been deleted as a matter of course of discussing moderator actions anyhow?

No and yes.

[ QUOTE ]
Post deleted by Moderator 08

[/ QUOTE ]

Man, I think enri is running a post delete count contest or something. I don't know who's in the lead, him, philly or iggy.

[ QUOTE ]
My thinking is that based on what the thread is about if he couldn't have made a comment on topic maybe it would be best not to make one. It looks to some people that 'oh look a Dev read the thread and doesn't give a [censored] other to crack a joke'. Regardless of what his job title is he carries a red name and with that an impression. Weather it is accurate to think he can comment on the topic or not the impression is there, which is proven by the fact that 2 people who posted in this thread saw it that way. Just a bad judgment call for him to post a joke in a thread where people aren't happy with the company and have yet to get any official response IMO.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think BaBs has a right to post about something that meanders around, even holding himself to a higher standard. However, this is exactly the point that I was making that even being unable to comment on the issue at hand is a ludicrous method of dealing with issues.

If BaBs were to even make a comment saying, "Hey, I can't comment on this until an official statement has come out," that'd be cool, but I'm pretty certain that a bunker mentality has made the head honchos decree that no one can comment on this until they have, and even acknowledging it is tantamount to treason.

It's like the proverbial elephant in the room. And actually I'm glad that BaBs has posted in this thread. However light-hearted his comment is, it actually highlights the gravitas of the situation at hand and how inane the current course of inaction has been regarding this situation.

We all know that many people follow the red name postings. To have one post in here simply gives this issue more traction versus slipping it under the rug.

It does tell you that at least *some* red names have read this thread.

BaBs is probably muzzled from saying anything it about this until Posi has.

Well reasoned and thoughtfully expressed.

You are correct in pointing out the hierarchy of Paragon/NCSoft may well preclude individuals from coming forward and giving us any insight into what went wrong with the level pact bans and the utter silence that has surrounded this issue ever since.

However, it is definitely my prerogative to "whine and moan" about it. Now why would I do such a thing? Because there is no other avenue to pursue for fixing what I perceive as a mistake.

If you choose not to talk about the issue, that's fine too, I'm not suggesting that you need to follow the same tack as me. But when you are labeling someone who chooses to make an issue out of something that you yourself have suggested wasn't quite right to begin with, maybe you should look at your own motivations for wanting to wash your hands of this.

Granted, there may never be a resolution that is satisfactory to the 'whiners' and the 'moaners', but what is the alternative? Suck it up? Sure, you could always turn a blind eye to injustices and screwups. But this _is_ Justice, and I think that this particular screwup had hit too closely to a section of the playerbase that has been here a long time and is quite familiar with the game. CoX is a community based game, and when people in the community are so adversely affected by the bans, perhaps the community needs to speak up.

Of course, like in any community, some will feel that this issue has never affected them and they have no need or desire to look at this issue. They would rather this entire event be erased from our collective memories and live in ignorant bliss.

Of course, others have chosen to leave. In essence, they'd rather put their money into a different place, and not reward NCSoft/Paragon Studios for this action. I'm not sure what their exit surveys have said, or how much weight the publishers of this game place upon it, but I don't believe that any of that information is looked at except on a quarterly or monthly basis, which dilutes the connection of leaving with level pact bans.

However, there is a subset of the players of this game who disagree with what was done and do not wish to inflict harm upon the game nor to its publishers. If you want to call them 'whiners' and 'moaners', that's OK, but I prefer to think of them as 'reformers'. The reformers want to establish a dialog with the publishers and convey to them how poorly thought out this strategy of silence is, and what the deleterious effect of banning via script has done.

It is entirely possible that there will never be a response from up high, and those who may want to speak may be muzzled. But then again, perhaps by speaking out, the reformers may be able to whine and moan their way to real and substantive changes that will improve the game.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I get that and like I said, without commenting on the bonifides of such action, the way it was announced was my focus.

[/ QUOTE ]

Even in those cases, I think their communication could be better. They often ask for feedback and then provide no follow up. They ask people to evaluate things, and then simply upload a change with little final explanation or reasoning. There are more than a couple recent examples of things being pointed out in closed beta that go completely ignored... with little to no response during beta.

But even in those examples, an apology isn't what I would want to see. It serves little purpose. I'd like to see processes change. I'd like to see testing become more structured. I'd like to see future communications where we currently don't get them, and better communications where we currently get bad ones. Do better at what they're trying to do... that's better than an apology in the long run.

And yes, I realize your blog lists that as something that should happen... I just don't see the need to dwell on an apology at this point when that alone won't achieve much... assuming inappropriately banned people were properly "apologized" to already. In general, a general apology won't bring back those that have left... the devs changing how they do things might.

[/ QUOTE ]

Most of the time, people only say things so they receive affirmation. Anything contrary to their point of view gets discarded. I get the feeling that beta is kind of like that for the devs.

And if you contradict me, I'll plug my ears and yell LA-LA-LA.

[ QUOTE ]
Pum, I'll go you one better tho...

*Officially*, the only recounting of recent events is completely without official response.

Thus, they have handcuffed themselves into creating a situation where people can spread the word, whether via the internet or via in-game discussion and the staff cannot offer contradictory evidence.

Imagine the lunacy in such a situation - the majority of the people who educate others are those expressing a contrary position and the staff are forbidden from offering any counter-evidence or arguments.

I only attended public school, but that doesn't make sense to me.

[/ QUOTE ]

I guess you weren't around from 2000 until 2008.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
But before their can be any forgiveness there must be contrition.

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't disagree. However, my conjecture is that the company take on this is that posting a public apology only serves as fodder for those looking to stir up dissatisfaction. Sure, silence on the matter does the same, but it doesn't leave a physical record that someone can point to when someone demands "proof" of bad behavior on the part of the devs.

It would be a messed up position to take, but looking around in general at behavior in forums, one I can see someone thinking is sensible and necessary.

I'd like to see that apology & have people feeling better, but given the conjecture above, I don't think it's likely.
(If any dev sees this, I'd be happy to be proven wrong!)

[/ QUOTE ]

You've traded civility for accountability in that argument. While it may preserve the peace it will not engender any goodwill or positive feelings for the group of people who were affected or offended by the dev actions or lack of apology.

In essence, you might want to ignore a situation as much as you like, or 'spin' things, but just remember that you are leaving behind a group of disaffected and disenfranchised players, many of whom will remember this as they go forward to other games or stay within this one.

The long term effects of such a trade off can be felt in damaging ways by simply having such players dissuade new people from even trying the game. If you could imagine a situation wherein a player would be chatting in another game and expressing interest in a new issue of CoX, and then having another player tell them about the seemingly spurious and capricious banning of their CoX account. Not only has CoX lost their original player, but also many other potential players.

If you wish to look at it from a cost/benefit perspective, it will now require even more investment in advertising and marketing in order to lure potential players into the game.

As well, those that have NOT left the game will also bear the scars to some extent. They may not stop playing and paying, but their loyalty to the game will be severely diminished. This means that many things they would do normally, such as helping others, organizing events, or merely convivially interacting on channels, forums or zones, would be severely curtailed. As this game is an MMO, in effect, less positive interaction makes CoX less fun to play for everyone else, which leads to lower retention of players. Which means lower revenue.

As an example, simply talking about this matter like we are now has disturbed a lot of the community here. Taking the hit now, but accepting and admitting the mistakes that were made, would go a long way in ameliorating the damage that is being done.

There is a group of hardcore and dedicated players now facing a conundrum. They absolutely love the community here, even iggy (sometimes I confuse love with hate), but they have a hard time reconciling that with the actions that the developers have taken and would not like to reward poor conduct.

While an apology or admission of mistakes could be used as fodder, I believe it would likely have an opposite effect on those who are patiently waiting for one. I believe that if any of the devs were so inclined to put forth their point of view publicly, it would only be of positive benefit here. As many of the forumites here have pointed out, that the closeness of the developers to the players has been one of the big strengths in this game.

[ QUOTE ]
Well, crap. That means that it runs via bootcamp w/WinXP but not the Mac version. Oddly enough it runs just fine on my non-pro. I wonder if it's because hers is an ATI & mine is an NVIDIA.

Thanks, folks! I appreciate the replies.

[/ QUOTE ]

Graphics corruption might be because of the hardware instead of just the drivers. Have you tried other 3D games on the machine? Does it work in XP under bootcamp OK?

You can also try downclocking the GPU with this tool, although you should be careful not to damage the hardware by overclocking.

If underclocking fixes the corrupted textures, or other games or bootcamp also show corrupted textures, your GPU might have issues outside of driver problems on OS X.

[Edit. I just saw that your x1600 is NOT supported by the ATi tool, so that part isn't a help to you at all.]

I'm not sure how you got to the latest version of leopard, but you might want to try installing Leopard Graphics update (here) and then running the combo 10.5.7 updater (here). Sometimes the delta updates aren't as reliable in updating all the software components.

PS. One more edit. This thread here on the apple forums details people with hardware issues with the macbook pro x1600 models and some various attempted fixes. Some were successful, others not. Hopefully your problems aren't because of hardware defects. :P

[ QUOTE ]
I just want Coh to allow "native" resolution for multi screening, instead of stretching. I got 3 of the same displays, and it makes me sad that i cant have super wide screen mode on (instead everone and everything gets pulled out of proportion so even an 8 ft tall twig like toon looks grossly overweight). If not that i wish we could set a window for all of the chat windows, nav, bars, map... etc, and one to jsut enjoy the look of the game. I hate wasting such a beautiful game on having to see all that other stuff to survive. On my mac this all becomes even worse. I think you should move your dock onto the left most "wall" and play on your middle or rightmost display. Thats how i do it (usually in windowed mode so i can have Paragon Wiki open on the other screen).

Someday I can hope that those of us who use multiple screens will be taken into consiteration when MMOs are made/developed.

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't think this will happen. It used to be that you could set the camera distance to a much larger number than it is currently. I remember stretching my windowed CoH to span 2 monitors. Very slow frame rate, but it was an impressively wide view.

You cannot do that now because I think the cap on camera distance is set such that there is no advantage given to other players in PvP. The field of view would be greater on dual monitors and therefore you'd be able to see opposing players approach you.

Like you, I play with dual monitors, and I'd love to be able to have the UI elements truly float off the screen so I could plunk them on the other display(s). I was envisioning a Herostats like program that wouldn't just monitor the information coming from the game, but would be able to replace the UI elements such as the friends list, channel chats and hopefully even the map.

[ QUOTE ]
Didn't they just kind of talk about maybe banning some of the most egregious farmers and haven't even done that yet? Honestly this whole things seems like yet another tempest in a teapot that's perhaps all this forum has ever has been good for. If that's all it takes to get you to leave then it seems more like you would find some other reason to leave soon anyway.

[/ QUOTE ]

This whole game is a tempest in a teapot. Blaming forum people for responding to the actions of the devs while somehow missing the whole issue altogether doesn't really give you much credibility when trying to downplay the issue itself.

Try reading from here and here for a primer on what has gone on if you're really interested in knowing why people are peeved, whether they were affected directly or not.

There's actually alot more information on the forums. If you want to know more, just ask and I can provide more links.

Nothing is ever truly fixed in this game. I noticed that the toggles dropping on zoning bug is back every now and then.

[ QUOTE ]
I'm staying.

Though I'm sure nobody cares; just like I don't really care that people are leaving.

[/ QUOTE ]

If that was the case then you needn't have posted.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
GOD IS ALWAYS WATCHING YOU, JUDADS

[/ QUOTE ]

*hides under an umbrella so none of the gods can see her*

[/ QUOTE ]
God sees through the eyes of all small children.

And dogs.

[/ QUOTE ]

Not all gods watch from above. Some watch from below, up your skirt.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Why thank you.

[/ QUOTE ]

It was sooo not you

[/ QUOTE ]
I did offer you use of one of my accounts, though I may or may not have been entirely serious.

[/ QUOTE ]

He's always serious. Especially around teh gurls.

Jack is OK when solo but in the late, high end game he's kind of lacking when in big teams facing big mobs like in the iTF.

Reason is that he has a slow aura that attracts aggro. That is nice except he gets cut down pretty fast then when trapped in big mobs, which tends to happen alot in the late game. I think Animated Stone is a tougher pet. Out of the pets I've seen so far, I'd rank them in this order:

1. & 2. Singularity and Phantasm (tie)
3. Dark Servant (defender/MM, but it's really good)
4. Animated Stone
5. Confused 'pets'
6. Jack Frost
7. Fire Imps

Dunno about the fly trap thingy. Never really paid attention to it. WS fluffies I have no clue either. I guess if you have perma PA that would be the best though. I suppose I have a preference for ranged pets since they tend to last longer in iTF and ship raids, where meleeing is suicidal unless you have a high def or resist.

If they beefed up Jack's defense or added some S/L resist I'd like him a lot more. As it stands oftentimes I can cast him and watch him get dropped after he cycles an attack or two (usually because he'll run right in).

Account sharing is verboten. MA exploiting is verboten.

[ QUOTE ]
Sassy, it's been 20 days since we were told "We are aware of your concerns and we are looking into it."

It'd be nice to know that they are sincere, and I'd like to hope they are, but I've learned that unless it's to talk down at us, probably not going to get any other sort of official statement.

I've let it go.

[/ QUOTE ]

Letting it go is probably the most expedient route. Letting go is too.

[ QUOTE ]
Incognito,

Soulbound Allegiance is not helping your Imps. There was a post recently where the devs specifically say that it does not work on Imps (I think it says any pet that does not summon as level 50 it does not work on).

If I can find it I will post it.

Not sure if the set bonuses still work for you though.

[/ QUOTE ]

SBA proc is not working on anything below 50 atm, including imps. Apparently this is fixed on test (i15), but afaik it was only tested on imps at 50. Exemp and MM pets below 50 I'm not sure if it is 'fixed' or 'working as intended'.

Set bonuses should be fine.

[ QUOTE ]
I need to borrow an account for the next girls night any volunteers?

[/ QUOTE ]

Come over and its a deal! Wait, what are you volunteering for exactly?

nekkid and perky? you have my attention...

Uh you left out 2 of the best powers that mind has.

Mesmerize and confuse.

If you're soloing 75% of the time, just remember that the Mesmerize can single target sleep most of the enemies you encounter. In one shot. That includes AVs. Very handy for setting up your rad debuffs on an enemy and chain sleeping them. Most of the time you won't even need to hold them.

As well, the single target confuse is your best friend. You can pretty much use any old enemy as your pet in order to get around the more difficult encounters. As well, confuse is aggro free.

Both the powers you skipped can be fitted with the purple sets for confuse and sleep. Both are relatively cheap, so you should be able to find a decently slotted set for little cost. The procs may not be the best, but you'd be surprised at how much utility you get out of the confuse set. The set bonuses are nothing to sneeze at either.

You have speed pool, flight pool and leadership pool. I'd recommend eliminating leadership unless you are gunning for vengeance (more on that later). I'd also change up so you have hasten, super speed and hover. A 4 slotted air superiority and unslotted fly is kind of a waste, imo. I'd use super speed with a stealth IO in sprint to get ghetto invisibility.

Health and stamina only have 1 slot. Slot them with procs or more IOs. I'd take hurdle over swift any day, especially if you want to skip hover (depends on if you have a jump pack or raptor pack, but I tend to stay away from fly unless you have a specific theme in mind).

You've taken EM Pulse, so I'd make sure you put a performance shifter proc in Stamina at the very least.

You have the leadership pools without vengeance. You also have taken Mutation as a level 49 power. 25% of the time you'll be teamed. Mutate works and I'd suggest taking it earlier. If you're not going after vengeance drop leadership entirely. It is that good.

I'd highly recommend an armor if you're taking the APP. Usually 3 of the 4/5 APP powers are really good too.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Keep posting y'all. Maybe some good will come from this.

[/ QUOTE ]

that's neither 2 - 4 paragraphs nor constructive.

[/ QUOTE ]

Neither was that.

You should have asked him to do better, that would be constructive. By the way, this is 2 paragraphs. And I'm asking you to do better.