Redbone

While this will get lost before anyone with anything close to a redname can see it, here goes:

In order for the consumers to make an informed decision, is this the ONLY pre-order exclusive you guys are going to have or can we expect more to pop up as we get closer to the release date?

(Yeah, I know, they should have mentioned this before the prepurchase phase, so "informed decision" is already a bit dinged up, but that horse has already escaped the barn.)

Edited to add: and I will not be surprised if this goes the way of other preorder bonuses quite quickly, being released as a Vet Reward for the old timers.

After years of being menaced by villain groups at every location and having to give out millions of free costumed to heroes to fend them off, in a cost cutting measure, Icon hired Paladin to act as security. Local heroes were outraged they could no longer get "extra costumes." In related news, Annah, in Croatoa is alleged to be in negotiations with Jack in Irons to collect all the "Halloween Salvage" for her from her on out.

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I have to agree with lowering the HoF requirements drastically. As it stands, it is just far too difficult for an arc to even have a real fighting chance at it, regardless of quality.

I approach the "why" from a different perspective. I have a Dev's Choice Arc, quite possibly the DC Arc with more promotion than any other arc in the game (including the Guest Author arcs) because it was not just featured by the Dev's in many places for a long period of time, but because it won two awards from them. So, let's look at what this one DC arc has going for it it terms of advantages most arcs do not:

1) Selected as a Nominee by the Devs for the 09 AE Awards.
2) Won its category at the 09 AE Awards.
3) Won the top honor at the 09 AE Awards.
4) Because of the above, was promoted on the forums and main site by the Devs.
5) Promoted to Developer's Choice and was "front page" for many many months.
6) Was nominated for the Player Choice Awards.
7) First Runner up in its Player's Choice Category.
8) Because of all the above, was featured in several off-site web articles.
9) Because of the above was mentioned in several more off-site web articles.
10) Has been live since day one of the AE system.

So, thanks to all the above, one would expect it would have a sizable number of ratings, at least enough to get to HoF status (were it not already a Dev's Choice). Nope, 724 ratings as of this moment.

If, given all those advantages an arc cannot, in the course of more than a year, reach the number of ratings (never mind the 4.5-5 stars needed) for HoF status, what chance do most arcs, even exceptional arcs, without those advantages have?

While base raiding is offline, some might still want to build an Aeon Capacitor to place for when they come back or as a decorative item. However, if you build one now, they will not place. Their INFO indicated under "Category" "Invalid String Parameter" and under "Cost" (which should be 40,000 prestige) "11549636."

So, it appears something in a more recent patch really borked them good.

Edited: After tinkering around a bit, they CAN be placed, but they are more fiddley than before. Their info is still borked however which may or may not have something to do with it.

The Winter Event this year was interrupted when the Winter Horde made two discoveries: First, that they like badging and second, that they're all afraid of heights.

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And you think cleaning up behind a regular horse is disgusting.....

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Ocho, in a fit of nostalga, takes one last look at the Taj Mahal before Ultra Mode.

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I love his response to beign told he's stolen the design:

"This design was not inspired by NCSoft's City of Heroes. Any similarity is coincidental, and the designs are significantly different. I made no reference to City of Heroes when designing this shirt. My inspiration came from elsewhere."

Yeah, from a BBT character who is wearing the design you ripped off from NCSoft, you idiot. So his defense is "I didn't steal it from you I stole it from someone else," without knowing that someone-else was using the exact thing he's being accused of ripping off.

SO yeah, Come on NCSoft, this fellow really needs to be slapped down HARD.

One of the biggest problems with being a superhero: Bars askign for IDs always lead to compromised secret identities.

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Why is it the guys with Superspeed and Hasten ALWAYS take the longest to order?

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Just out of curiosity I popped over to see what it would say about my (ancient) video card. It said nothing, but I'm fairly sure I heard laughing.

Capt. Sparrow: Ahh, THAT'S why the rum is gone....

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The problem is, what we define as "evil" in an absolute sense doesn't exist. It's based on the observer's viewpoint. At the risk of Godwinning the heck out of the thread, the typical example of "absolute Evil" in the modern world is usually Hitler, but his position as Master of Evil was only determined by historical hindsight by the winning side. The majority of Germans didn't consider him evil, and he definately didn't. His leadership of Germany is still one of their highpoints in modern history (the economy was better than ever, services worked, they had order and law and went from a provencial area into a world power in very short order). However, the whole "ruling the world" thing and the Holocaust show him as "evil" to most people today (and yes, there are a sizable number who do NOT believe that). Had germany won WWII that situation would be reversed.

Evil is determined not by action or intent, but by hindsight.

To use another example, Manson is seen as one of the gurus of evil, especially after sending his followers on a murder spree to start what he thought was going to be a race war. But change the context, put him in a uniform and have him sending his troops to take out a cell of terrorists to disrupt a group of cells and suddenly hes a hero.

Evil is determined not by action or intent, but by context.

A third example... Susan Smith placed her children in a car and rolled it into a lake because, she claimed, God had told her too. But change the historical setting and she could have been one of the great heros of the Bible, like Abraham (who was stopped just short of carving his own child) or Jephthah who sacrifices his daughter because he promised to in order to win a battle.

Evils is determined not by action or intent, but historical setting and morals.

The Ghouls (thank you Devs for using the proper term) do appear to be the Pretorian Vazh (with or without Dr V they're filling that genra niche). I just want to know what the collars and wristlettes are for now. And I want to know how accurate the Descript is, especially the "beating one makes the others angry." It would be very cool to have a foe that, if you engage one others in the area get an aggro range bonus (say an "aggro range boost" that extends 100 feet and triples the aggro range) and come after you. It would make them a particularly challenging foe to fight because you'd have to be very careful about your movements and when and where you engaged them or risk massively overaggroing.

Theologians are having trouble reconciling the fact that God Himself joined the zombie battle in Founder's Falls... On the side of the zombies. That He used pink lightning was a can of worms they refused to open.

If I am a winner, I permit NC Interactive, Inc. and NCsoft Europe Limited to use my name, likeness, photograph, hometown, and any comments that I may make about myself or this contest that I provide for advertising and promotional activities. I also certify that I am at least 13 years of age and am eligible to participate in this contest.

The best/funniest boot I ever got was when the team leader, a Fire/ tanker, booted me (an Inv/ Taker) because he was lead tank and kept dying while I was "taking his aggro away" and staying alive. Yes, that was his stated reasons.

Duuuuude... I have sooo taken to many inspirations...

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Once it gets thrown off, expect it to stay thrown off. I've had mine fixed twice so far, and can already see it's off by a month again when my next one comes due. I have a feelign I will be annoying Support every 3 months like clockwork from here on out.