SilverAgeFan

Some of the old stories have great foundations. They just massively need a face and gameplay lift. I personally am fond of the *story* behind an arc like the Terra Conspiracy (I think that's the one)--an ancient blueside DE introductory story. But the good premise gets lost when the overwhelming majority of said story is told through a dozen defeat-alls scattered across the entirety of Paragon.

Complete removal of this story would make me a little sad as it would represent an opportunity squandered. Meanwhile a proper robust action retelling of this story using the wider range of updated mission writing tools would make me happy indeed.

Hmm I was under the impression that it was legit, due to the fact that it quite accurately predicted the animal pack by a several weeks. It also reads like his posts did when he wrote much freely on the boards...

Ah cool. Thanks for pointing that out. Missed that detail!

Was thinking about this today. There is a risk of deleting vouchers... I might not. You might not. But SOMEONE is going to make the knuckleheaded mistake of deleting a voucher on a character before claiming it. Is there a mechanic to resend a new voucher to a character?

Perhaps vouchers would be better if they should show up not as badges but in the same area with the familiar interface mechanic of vet badges with claimable rewards attached?

Otherwise, I can almost guarantee that support will be dealing with accidentally deleted voucher tickets.

o rly? studies like this: http://www.cracked.com/article_18461...-addicted.html ?

Dude, you're talkin' out of your hat at this point.

At the end of the day, we're not rats in skinner boxes. To some degree, many games have creative "sandbox-y" elements to them. For some people who play, this creative element is THE main reason they play. Witness the nearly INSTANT success of the genre-launching-voxel-based-indie-game-I-cannot-mention-here-because-it-will-get-my-post-edited-that-in-less-than-a-year-has-generated-potentially-as-many-sales-as-CoX-in-seven-years. Some people want games. Some people want digital toys. Some people want combinations of the two. Some people don't mind chocolate and peanut butter. Others hate it when their peas mix with their mashed potatoes.

At the end of the day, there are members of this (and probably ALL MMO's with any diversity in there player base) whose tastes are so varied that they will never see eye to eye on contested game design choices. And no misapplied behaviorist "psychological theory of everything" is going to make that evaporate.

Just as you're asking those that can't see your point to pretty much deal with the new rewards as proposed, you gotta deal with the reality that there are many players (can't say what percentage--whether it be a paltry 3% or significant 18%) whose reason for playing CoX is, first and foremost, creating new characters from costumes through powers and feeling the simple satisfaction of watching them interact in a semi-theme appropriate setting. Equally as valid a play preference and source of satisfaction as the long effort leading to structured rewards and measurable increases in character efficiencies.

I personally enjoy both just enough that I am on board for these rewards as presented for the most part. My bias leans towards the satisfactions the creative aspects of the game world and character systems can generate, but I see how both can be rewarding in different ways. And my personal preferences shift from night to night, depending upon how my day has gone and my appetites. But I get that there are those who favor one set of play preferences almost exclusively over the others. And as we can see throughout this (and other threads on this 20.5 issue release) both parties have a tough time accepting any additions or changes to the game mechanics that hinder their own preferences. Folks who want structured rewards are adamant about keeping all unlockables in place to the point of name-calling and folks who are all about creative freedom are threatening to quit over what they see as a trend of game mechanics that limit their access to any new creative elements.

To be honest I see it as a "participation based" vet reward. Not saying whether it is a good or bad design decision, but that's how I'm taking it. Also the reality is 7 years of piecemeal development (not meant pejoratively!) has produced a strange network of rewards throughout the game. Philosophically it becomes difficult to redesign any one part without adjusting another. Not making excuses just describing what I see as a level of calcification that binds gaming worlds that have been continuously developed post live for numerous years.

Thanks for making this clear! It's a bit complicated to describe but it makes sense now and I can actually see how what you said earlier today, what was said in the uStream AND what is written in the press release are all actually true at the same time--even though it initially seemed to be contradictory information!

Again thanks for taking the time.

This reads to be in line with what the press release page says about these rewards. But something very different is articulated in the uStream when they describe something being sent via gleemail to your global account that will then be redeemed for any character you log in and claim that with.

At the very least, if the gleemail that is generated is perpetual--meaning you can claim it over and over on your full stable of existing characters--won't it expire after the same number of days that any gleemail with an attachment does?

I think these conflicting descriptions are what has caused some confusion and the resulting frustration and disappointment some people are expressing.

I haven't watched the entire video, but what exactly was said in the chat? Because the transcribed bullet point clearly states that the 20 E merits is for a cosmetic item. This, of course, could be an error in transcription.

In some agreement here as I tend to juggle characters and character design in a similar fashion. From the prices mentioned though, my understanding is they may be fairly cheap. What I would prefer to see added: allow us to ALSO buy global unlocks for these items--at say 10x to 30x the individual price. So if an aura costs 2 or 3 astral merits (<--strictly invented price!) to get an instanced unlock token, what about a global unlock ranging from 20 to 90 astral merits as seen fit?

For those of us who are costume wh***ing altaholics, buying at 20x to 30x's the price would be a "discount" were we to put the aura on all characters. But most likely, none of us will. Instead what that buys is the convenience of being able to freely play with applying that to most any character as we try to see what fits.

I'd be up for the one time grinded out purchase instead of what I now foresee: log out, find an incarnate with merits, buy one token, log out, log in claim it, try it at the tailor. Nope. Remember a character it may work on. Start at step one, repeat. Nope doesn't fit. Start at step one with alt 1 for different aura. Repeat. Nope. Oops out of merits on that incarnate. Find new incarnate with more merits to continue process.

Ultimately, it just sounds like a PITA for those of us who approach the game an angle that focuses on creativity.

I'll be buffing my Singularity a lot more come issue 20.5 if this is true...






...hrm. Just re-read that. Not sure how to avoid any unwanted innuendo.

They were likely chosen first and foremost as a design decision to ameliorate the complaints that the conceptual range represented by the first four trees were far too narrow. But they will likely at some point be explained in narrative terms as you outline above. The developers have consistently done so with everything regardless of its true bearing on the overall game lore from the trivial--like power proliferation and AE--to the profound--such as zone revamps or introductions.

As far as potential connections for those you needed help with:
- Rikti: there is Hero 1/Honoree or maybe even U'kon Gr'ai
- Nemesis: Lord Nemesis, Mender Silos, the other Menders
- Phantoms: did they edit the list? I don't see that there. Are these just phantom army phantoms?

Had not even considered this aspect of the change...

Go back and re-read the notes. The auras are unlocked--but account wide unlocks. The footnote is just clarifying that once you do unlock these special auras, they will be available post 30 for any character who has done the aura mission as opposed to booster pack auras that are available from level 1.

If you wish to get around this you can use one of the aura vouchers to use them from level 1 forward.

Lots of interesting changes. Will be curious to see the prices of these items.

Two items that stand out in particular is the rainbow path aura and the ascenscion cape complete with glowtech. Curious to see what these new chest emblems will be as well. Mildly bummed that the ascenscion set will be level 50 only. But so be it.

Also very happy to see some of these new lore pets listed. I had specifically requested the Rularuu pets. Very happy to see those. The storm elementals are a pleasant surprise. As are the polar lights.

Fingers crossed that i21 or i21.5 includes a range of new judgement trees.

Mixed feelings about the now AoE nature of shield buffs. But with an */FF 'troller incarnate, I do find myself spending long stretches buffing the entire league. So for whatever costs this adds, it will probably ultimately be worth it just like inherent stamina ultimately was... surprising QoL streamlining move though.

Good work team.

Edit: Hoping with the new backpack tech finally worked out for the Steampunk booster, we eventually see a rigid back detail added for the Ascenscion set. With those glowtech emblems, seems like this set more than most could manage a highly stylized armor-plate-sorta-mini-wing rigid back detail.

It was indeed a blast. About 1/5 to 1/3 of some of those original members still show up on my global list. But most of us have drawn back to our home servers, developed different play schedules, styles and commitments. It was one of a number of themed groups that started getting off the ground about the same year (four+ years ago IIRC). I think some of us dedicated theme-sters simply spread ourselves too thin over too many great concept groups. Burnout resulted for many.

Since then, I tend to focus, sticking with my own first love of silver aged heroes and villains.

I eventually moved my SPI character from Protector to Triumph (one of the last active as far as I know) during free transfers a year or more ago now. I lost his original moniker of Captain Tomorrow. But I eventually settled on one I've grown to love: Skywright. And he's been nestled into one of my two themed silver age teams much like one might see a pre-Golden Age Pulp character like The Phantom or The Spirit given new life in a new era.

Back in the day, when I helped launch the Society for Principled Investigation, we had dozens of wide ranging characters that melded well with this booster pack.

A stage magician as well as a mentalist were just two of our many bullet points.

We had a couple rocketeers, steam driven automata, a Native American scout, a tramp steamer captain, a man-lizard from the lost world, a hairy long bearded hermit who wore rags at best, a tight rope walker, a cavalry man from the US civil war, a tesla scientist, a second generation utopian from a free love community (who went by "Bloomer Girl"--one of my favs!), pith helmet and jodhpurs wearing adventurers, a Houdini-esque escape artist, a barnstormer, and many many more beyond that.

Pretty much any and all blueside archetypes and power combinations were represented. With a bit of imagination, steampunk can be much broader than I think some folks assume. (and I might add that all of these characters were each played by different people--we had pretty solid participation in our first year with SG nights bringing out 16-20 people each time. The thing that ultimately did us in was the non-existence of SSK and playing sidekick-mentor tetris trying to make teamups work on SG nights.)

Though retro pulp is not necessarily steampunk, one need not look further than League of Extraordinary Gentlemen or the fairly recent Sherlock Holmes film to see that most any type of character from the antebellum through turn of the 19th-20th century can easily be given a steampunk treatment. Really all one needs to do is familiarize themselves with those wider genres of pulp and historical fiction to find a wide range of inspirations for characters and treatments. No need to limit oneself to already explored themes within the sub-genre!

This is about where I fall for the moment. *shrug* Enjoying some parts of the game, not so much others. But things come and go in cycles for me. Depends as much on real life as it does the game at the time.

Fresh air and a little bit of challenge IRL does wonders to reinvigorate my own enjoyment of the game in most any shape.

Here's a question, also related to the complaint of the perceived slow trickle of art items being released for use in game: could existing particle FX be easily (and quickly?) repurposed into base items--essentially FX fields that base designers could quickly place as objects in their designs? I.e. add a tornado field to a room and a tornado FX would dance around within the boundaries of that FX field. And a fire field to an area and you have an instant fire pit. Snow. Ice crystals that grow and twinkle. Fireflies. Sparks. etc etc.