Radionuclide
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Posts
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Joined
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Quote:I'm sorry but, something is wrong with your presentation of your point Frosticus. I'm trying to wrap my head around it and it is not my intention to attack you but, it may come out that way. It seems to be a bit hypocritical. On one hand you say that neither side knows what the result will be, blasting the opposing view for presenting a hypothetical as fact. On the other, you are making claims that they will change the system in some way to allow people. This claim is just as hypotetical. Yet those you propose a different possible outcome, are lying? Fear mongering? Ok maybe (though I think that is a bit harsh) since it is the worse case senerio. But until the mergers and exactly what happens is announced, it is possible outcome. And you cannot really deny that as a possiblity and more then I can about your claim. The main difference between us is which one we believe to be more likely.Originally Posted by Frosticus
No. And I've never claimed to. One side is making very bold claims about how we'd definitely lose our names/sg's/etc. That is fear mongering at best and outright lying to convince people at worst. I don't need to resort to that to make pertinent points.
This is truely where we disagree. To me, they would only do mergers as a cost cutting measure. And as such are not likely to develop new tech for a one off situation instead of using existing tech that is already in place.Quote:To steal your line of bluntness, a satellite service has nothing to do with a merger. The only thing it serves to show us is that they would indeed need to devise a way to ensure players could keep their unique identifiers. But we already know that.
As for the bolded line, Know? Really? When did the announce the mergers and the results of that action? Again, you blast others for stating things as fact but, do it youself.
You seem to have direct information about discussions regarding merger or shutting down the EU servers. Where is this information located, please?Quote:If preserving that information wasn't a priority they likely would have already closed down some servers regardless of the business reasons I covered earlier. The EU servers are indeed empty, they are remote enough to be buried without generating negative press about a merger (I think at one time there was even Asian servers) and they are probably not generating enough revenue to support the GM's monitoring them.
That to me is a pretty clear indication that unless there is a very substantial business reason to proceed they will first ensure that the players are taken care of in the event that they ever do merge.
Yes, the Korean servers were shut down in July 11th of 2007, the EU servers though dead, have not been. That to me is a pretty clear indication that the EU servers are still sufficiently paying for their cost. As NCSoft seems to have no problem doing so. The real question I have for you is, why do you beleve they would even do a merger of the EU servers instead of just shutting them down like the Korean ones?
We are back to the beginning of this little post, I won't repeat it beyond this: So, it is ok for you to may difinitive statements about a hypothetical situation but, no one else can?Quote:Having a fear of the unknown and proclaiming absolute truth about that unknown are two very different things. We don't know enough to make any definitive statements at all. Which again, one side of this discussion resorts to frequently. It's doubtful the devs know enough about this to make any absolute statements until they really sunk their teeth in to the matter. And even then they likely lack the expertise to make strong forecasts about the outcome. They don't know and we don't know exactly what would happen or how it would happen.
I don't believe that anyone is coming off like a religious zealot. We just hold a different opinion of what the outcome of the mergers would be. There is nothing wrong with that.Quote:I don't believe anything more needs to be said than that in conjunction with the business reasons stated earlier. Simply put, we don't know enough to take the risk and the ROI likely wouldn't be good enough to proceed. There is no need to come off like a religious zealot proclaiming the end of your sg's and all your names will burn in the fiery pit. It's unnecessary and frankly embarrassing. And to be blunt again, it is the reason I'll usually side with the merger people even though I don't think a merger is necessary or even the right way to proceed.
--Rad -
Quote:To be blunt, do you know that it will not occur? Quite frankly all of this is hypothetical anyways. Until such time as the company announces such thing, we are all sepeculating - Including yourself.Originally Posted by Frosticus
Not really interested in what you guys are talking about at this point, but you know that in a merger people would lose their sg, character name, etc? For a fact you know that?
With that said, know? No. Have an educted guess? Possibly. What happens when you move a character to a server where the name already exists? Unless they develop a new system to resolve those issues, that is the way the current tech handles it.
Well as a real person (not hypothetical one so mabe this does not address your questionQuote:Would those hypothetical people that quit because they lost those things still quit if they didn't? What does that do to the totally-made-up forecast that is based on absolutely nothing? 
) that would quit in the hypothetical situation where I lost those things, the answer to your question is obvious. If I don't lose it, I will continue to play as I do now. But, what it really comes down to, what is the way in which I do not lose it. For instance, I have no problem with charactername@globalhandle creating new identities in the new shared environment. But, based on the reaction to a question about doing this at HeroCon the result, there was resoundingly negative. This could be representative of the community at least, or not. I don't know but, if I was not happy with that solution would I stay? Not anymore then I would in the situation where I get a free rename token. So, the real answer to your question is maybe.
True. It is all speculation in this thread, including yours that they would develop new tech to keep that information. I'm not quite sure I agree with your safe bet assesment though.Quote:The actual fact is that we don't know what would happen in a merger, but it is a safe bet that they likely wouldn't proceed unless (ignoring the business side of things that I already talked about earlier) they could ensure that the majority of people kept their unique identifiers.
The fear is a result of the unknown. And as you pointed out the result of a merger is unknown. They could be unfounded; they could also be justified. Regardless, the result is the same you saying there will be some mechanism to allow us to keep them. It holds as much truth to it as the fear tactic with one exception. The one I already pointed out, I know how a paid-for-service to move characters to another server where that name is already taken is resolved. I don't feel confident that they will develop new tech in the situation where they are merging servers.Quote:It would be nice if people stopped using the fear of losing personal identifiers as their silver bullet in these arguments because that fear is unsupported. It's a valid concern that needs to be addressed, but continually stating that it would definitely be one outcome is very misleading. I'm not accusing you personally of fear mongering, but I know that the infamous list quoted earlier in this thread relies on that tactic heavily and is painfully transparent and weakened as a result.
--Rad -
Quote:Honestly, I don't believe there is a solution that can fix those problems without upsetting more of the population then just doing it. Which is why I believe that when mergers happen, this is the route they will go.Originally Posted by Smurch
Then help the devs find an alternative you can live with.
Really? Don't see people saying that the server isn't losing people or that it is as good as ever. I see people saying they can still get teams. Perhaps you are reading more into it then I.Quote:The majority of what I'm seeing in here is sheer denial "oh I can find a team whenever I want and I get blind invites, so nope, the server isn't losing people! It's as good as ever, gosh golly! Yeah the empty streets? Thats just because people are teleporting to missions!"
As for mission teleport, most I say provide more then that as an explanation such as a heavily instanced game, and mulptiple means of travel, and no incentive to street sweep. Again, I do not see that as buring your head in the sand but, reason why on a smaller server there is an appearance of no one on even if there is. Are there more people on the street on a more heavily populated server? No doubt about it.
Answer this hypothical question, with populations of the servers being equal between CoH and another game like WoW, which one will be seen as having more people? I say WoW because you will see far more people out and about doing outside missions and walking or riding to a mission.
I hear what your saying. But, businesses also fail because they not not attempt to retain their current customers. Attacting new customers is good. But, to truly grow you need to do both, you would not agree?Quote:Maybe not. But I'd also like to suggest that maybe if it gets to the point where maintaining these servers is costing them new subscriptions as opposed to maintaining an ever shrinking existing base, then it might be a better business decision in the long run even if it alienates some long time players. Or at least might be perceived as one by the NCSoft Bean Counters who aren't the Devs, but who the Devs have to listen to.
I've seen businesses fail because a struggling business owner refused to change to appeal to new customers, because such change is risky and would maybe alienate the few customers they have left. Nevermind that the few customers they have left aren't capable of supporting the business in the long term.
Telling someone how you find teams is not telling them they are stupid. It is teaching them UI of the game. Those of us that are on smaller servers can find teams just fine and here is how we do it. But of course, since we can find teams we are just blind to the smaller population right?Quote:It's not good for the business for players to enter into Mercy Island for the first time and never see another soul. Not in an MMO. Look at how many threads we've seen in just this year from new players asking "is this game dead? I don't see anyone in my server" only to be dogpiled by the "small server purists" and told the reason they don't see anyone else is their own fault because they're TOO STUPID to use search tools and global channels a fresh-out-of-the-zig player is unlikely to know anything about. Which is also not a good thing. You never get a second chance to make a first impression, and that's two bad impressions in a row: a lack of visible population and a hyper-aggressive player base who resents anyone even suggesting for a second that there might possibly be a population problem on some servers.
I said I will leave, which is about as important as you staying since you are on virture and it does not impact you. I find that statement to be callous, btw. Since it is not liekly to impact you, you have no problem if your fellow players are forced into accepting the possible loss of character/SG names andthe loss of community that we feel on our servers (I think all servers have this but, merging communities will change the dynamcs).Quote:I play on Virtue, so any decision the devs make isn't likely to impact me terribly much (which does kinda blow the "they'll anger existing players who will leave the game in droves!" theory out of the water: if only the lowest pop servers are merged, the casualties should be minimal)
I never said players will leave in droves. What I said was I doubt I am alone and that there is a possiblity that enough will leave to no longer support 5 servers. You may be right. It may be minimal. But, there is the certainty that I will be gone.
You don't play on a smaller server anymore because you didn't enjoy it. That is fine, for you. Not all of us agree.Quote:Originally Posted by Smurch
So if you wanna just say "oh you don't know how cool our small server is" (despite the fact I did play on a small server and that's WHY I don't play on one anymore) then fine, but I'd rather we find a way to help the game thrive in a way that's best for everyone. Wouldn't you?
I would love to find a way that is best for everyone. I'm going to turn the tables. Come up with a solution that addresses the issues that you have discounted; the name change issues, the fact that some like to play on smaller servers, and that retains the relationships that we as a community have built.
--Rad -
Quote:Originally Posted by Smurch
I originally played on Protector. When I came back to the game after a hiatus a year ago January, Protector was dead. All the SGs I knew: gone. Streets: Empty. Pocket D: Vacant 99% of the time.
I moved to Virtue, and things were much better. Recently, a player we knew from the old days logged back in after a couple years break and said Protector was so dead, so he moved to Virtue too.
I understand having loyalty to your chosen server to a degree, I do, but honestly, many of the servers are seriously underpopulated these days, especially compared to how they used to be. To pretend the populations haven't been steadily shrinking because you have "no problems" finding a team is sticking your head in the sand.
Sooner or later, the devs are going to need to cope with the fact that some servers have populations that are drying up. As someone pointed out, it's not good for the game for a new player to log in the first time, select a server at random, and see no one else around. Eventually, something will need to be done: a server merge, a single-server solution, something.
You can stick your fingers in your ears all you want but there is a reality that while you might enjoy playing on a server where you can usually pretend successfully that it's a single player game, this is not good for a business, and a business decision is likely to be made at some point that is probably going to make you very unhappy.
It'd be alot more productive to talk about real solutions to dwindling populations on some servers and thus have at least some voice in shaping that eventual solution than to keep asserting that everything is fine and nothing needs to change, ever. Because like it or not, that's probably not true.
Not everyone who disagrees with merging the servers are blind to shrinking populations. I for one am not yet I am still against it. I am against it because of issues that will arise as pointed out due to character and SG naming.
I will quit the game when they start merging. I'm not saying this as a threat but, as a fact of what will occur. What that tells me is that they are entering into a maintenance mode because the subscriptions are below a cost effective point to maintain them. That and if I lose character names (some of which I have had since weeks after launch), I will be quite displeased. I might be alone in that. So, the real question becomes is that a good business decision to lose customers as a result of that decision? I am not about to predict numbers but, if we went down to less then half the servers we current have as suggested up thread, there may be a fairly signifigant number who feel the same way as I do. If that occurs, is the remaining population large enough to be cost effective to pay for those servers?
--Rad -
Happy Birthday!
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Quote:Both are great resources but, don't be afraid to ask either here or on the help channel when in game (by typing /hc <your question> in the chat box). We like to help newbies here and many of us race to do soOriginally Posted by lcwest
Thanks guys! I read everything so don't feel bad if you wrote a lot :P All your answers really helped in my basic understanding of the game. I'll check out the Mentor channel and Paragon Wiki for any other questions.
--Rad -
Quote:I hope this is re-visited. Not having the pop-up is wonderful. I love options but, I want the option to not have to click a pop up every time someone casts this power on me. I would much rather see this pop-up with the addition of a always-accept/always decline option.Originally Posted by Avatea
- Players may once again choose to not accept or decline the Mystic Fortune buff power.
--Rad -
Quote:They had more reason to be.Originally Posted by Quin
Final Fantasy XI players just before WoW came out were better doomsayers than you guys.
--Rad -
Quote:Originally Posted by Mattwo7
I don't have Aion. Funny that they try to phish me for a game I don't have via email tho.Just re-iterating this. There is no harm in double checking that this is not the issue, right?Quote:Originally Posted by Impish Kat
It couldn't hurt to double check, jus' sayin'.
And if that fails (i.e. it shows the correct e-mail), contact customer support by phone since no player is going to be able to resolve this issue:
Phone Support
We offer telephone support for billing and technical support issues only. You may contact a member of our Billing or Technical Support Teams by calling the number below. We do not offer telephone support for general game support issues. Any calls regarding game support will be directed to use one of the available support methods listed in the Game Support section.
From within the US: 1-512-225-6359
From outside the US: (++1) 512-225-6359
Mon-Fri
12pm to 5pm, Central
--Rad -
Quote:Because fixes aren't based on the bugs rarity. They fix what they can, when they can. It sounds like they determined the cause of this crash before the one you are describing. As a result, it was fixed first. Doesn't really makes sense to hold this fix back simply because it impacts less people, does it?Originally Posted by Sunstormer
Shame the most common one with the tailors STILL not fixed and crashes everytime despite being told it was been worked on the day after i17 release...
Why fix the rare ones first and not the major ones?? It makes no sense.
--Rad -
Quote:I think you are being very generous with issue number in that scenario. Since no program can or ever will be bug free. we would still be waiting for I0.Originally Posted by M_I_Abrahms
Are you kidding? If the standard was "no bugs at all" we'd still be waiting for I5.
--Rad -
Quote::rolls eyes: Yes, I realize Synapse is the rewards dev as well as a powers one. He also is not the only powers dev, meaning that while he is working on those badges, both Castle and Black Scorpion can work on other areas. With that said I don't really believe that adding those badges took up more of his time then the 1 powerset I know he worked on (i.e. EC) and he may have worked on more then that, which was my point.Originally Posted by Bionic_Flea
Your emphatic no, is emphatically wrong. Synapse works on badges, powers, merits, and drops. So time he spends doing one thing necessarily takes time from any other thing.
--Rad -
Quote:Acutally, I don't he is making as good a point as either you or he thinks he is. The particular devs that make badges (art and zone designers) are not the same people that would be involved with MA or PvP except where they place badges in those areas - which has not happened since issue 7 for PvP and Issue 14 for MA - In other words on the release). There is a little overlap with MA and PvP when it comes to powers and the custom critter powers (i.e Black Scorpian).Originally Posted by Bionic_Flea
I think Xanatos is making a good point though. The devs are dedicating a lot of resources at the AE and are about to double the number of badges. Are those areas that players think should be getting that attention?
There are lots of little subcommunities in this game. I think that is one of it's strong points. All of the subcommunities would like bug fixes, changes, improvements, etc. I think most people understand that they can't cater to all of these subcommunities every issue. But some communities get attention every issue and others are simply told about vague plans on the horizon.
In particular, the PvP and the Base subcommunities have been left hanging for a long time.
So the real question is, did doubling the badge number as you pointed out truely have a negative impact on PvP development? And the answer is emphatically no. Did the changes to MA have a negative impact on PvP development? Yes in terms of powers as time was spent with the critters. I think it would be more accurate to say that MA and new power set development (DP, DS, KM, and EC) was the true resource hog. And quite rightly so as the PvE subcommunity is quite a bit larger the the PvP subcommunity.
Oh and to anwer the original OPs question. Mine is Badges = MA = PvP. I have 1 character I actively badge with, I have one arc published in MA, and I rarely PvP.
--Rad -
Quote:Originally Posted by Tokyo
Please don't give the devs anymore ideas on what to nerf for future updates.
K, thanks. bye! d;DTrue ... this time (but only since it does not affect them). Though, as you can see from the post I quoted above they are already ramping up for when it does.Quote:Originally Posted by Sayer
They aren't the ones "whining" about it since as has been stated repeatedly, it doesn't really affect them
--Rad -
Quote:They are intelligent enough to find it but, not intelligent enough to realize it will be fixed at some point? Whining about it after the fact losses them all the +intelligence they had.Originally Posted by Tokyo
as Mac has stated and other semi-intelligent forumites have stated; these "nerfs" or "fixes" whatever you call them; do little to deter or punish exploiters and farmers because exploiters and farmers tend to be intelligent.
--Rad -
Quote:Originally Posted by Demonic_Gerbil
So when do enemies get fixed so they can't target you while you rez? Because if we can't hit Freaks when they rez, why can they target a player when he pops an Awaken - or during said player's stun following the awaken? Fair is fair.
It doesn't
--Rad -
Quote:You mean Castle, one of the group of people, that has direct access to the metrics (i.e. datamining) to back that statement up? That Castle? Seems a fairly strong tangible statement to me, TBH. And obviously one he based the decision on to make the change.Originally Posted by Another_Fan
We will have to agree to disagree about the number of builds that can use Botz five times. The only tangible evidence on that is Castle's statement that it was becoming too heavily used and stacked.
--Rad -
Quote:It could be painful as well.Originally Posted by Frost
Very good and important advice there.
You might THINK you're telling somebody "Feel pain!" but you're really saying some very inappropriate things about the anatomy of their mother...that could get awkward.
--Rad -
Quote:Haha. Great line Fulmens.Originally Posted by Fulmens
Oh, money. You may find yourself making silly amounts of money selling things in Wentworth's or the Black Market. You may find yourself wanting things that cost silly amounts of money in Wentworth's or the Black Market.
How you feel about this probably depends on which one happens to you first.
Welcome back!
And just want to echo the Welcome back.
--Rad -
Quote:Originally Posted by JJDrakken
I heard this is where the free beer was.
JJ
Nope. Pinnacle is the drunk server. Beer's on the left as you enter.
--Rad -
Quote:Originally Posted by Nylonus
Did I see their tails moving?
Yes - http://www.cityofheroes.com/news/gam..._overview.html -
Quote:You mean besides maintaining two codebases (PvE and PVP)? Thereby doubling development time and testing? I agree there is no harm.Originally Posted by Lucky
Thye should just make a PVP server for those of us sick of the grind. Have instant 50s free accolades and any recipes from a vendor. It would only be a pvp server so I dont see the harm.
But of course lolpvp nothing like this is ever gonna be done most likely. sigh.
--Rad -
Quote:Thank you. Not a bad name you got there yourself.Originally Posted by Emberly
Now that is a hell of a good name.
I have Hail of Lead, a Storm/DP, and Bullet Hell, who is as yet a placeholder.
--Rad -
Quote:Something that will help you out a lot is the Paragon Wiki. This site gives information on just about everything (warning there are story spoilers there to).Originally Posted by geremyd
claws thanks for the good advice and confusing me a ton lol. Power pools I guess I have to read up on them.
I got a lot to figure out with this game it seems a lot more detailed then other games I have played. I'll be on later tonight working on lvling.
Just to show you how the information is presented here is some of the topics we have in this thread:
http://wiki.cohtitan.com/wiki/Power_Pools
http://wiki.cohtitan.com/wiki/Travel_Powers
http://wiki.cohtitan.com/wiki/Enhancements
http://wiki.cohtitan.com/wiki/Invent...n_Enhancements
This might also be something good to read over. It'll help with some of the basics to the game: http://wiki.cohtitan.com/wiki/The_Pl..._to_the_Cities
Hope this helps and welcome to the game!
--Rad -
While, I have not started to play him. I have Overglocked (a Kin/DP Corrupter) on Pinnacle.
--Rad