Snow Globe

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1) You are being far to literal in reading the badge text/name.

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Being to literal?!? Like the rest of the badges which say what you did? The badges aside from a bit of flavor says what you are supposed to get the badge for. Feel free to tell me with text like this

"Once you were considered a villain, but now you walk the path of the straight and Narrow."

What you think the badge is for? YES THAT IS A DIRECT QUESTION.

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That you have stopped beating on longbow. That longbow was forced to eat Dietrich's campaign and issue an apology.

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Souvenir: A Letter of Apology from W.M. Dietrich

You were pretty stunned when you received this letter from Captain Wilhelmina Marlena Dietrich of Longbow. In it she expressed, in her crisp and slightly condescending manner, her sincerest apologies for the unfortunate series of events that led to her attempt to shut Vanguard down. Those same events also nearly led to the end of the world

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Longbow considers Vanguard to be a renegade organization. A faction of Longbow considered Vanguard to be the enemy, therefore villains. After you've soundly made your point through 5 fingered justice, they were shown the error of their ways and had to publically claim that you were "reformed" in their eyes. At that point the badge name and text are affirmed.

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It is a CLEAR definition of what the badge is for. Combine it with its name on villain side "VILLAIN", You know as in a BAD guy, and the name they would get if said badguy changed to a hero , "REFORMED" as in a bad guy who has changed, and how else ARE you suposed to interpret it?

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It is so clear in your mind that you are not even open to the idea that you might be wrong.

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Using YOUR logic you would have to IGNORE ALL OF THE TEXT INCLUDING THE TITLE!!!

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Not at all. I see absolutely no conflict with either the badge text or the badge name and the requirements for the badge being earned.

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2) There was a way to fix this without any coding needed: Change the text & name of the badge.

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Yes there was. But they wished to maintain the name and the meaning of the badge as well as the story behind it and the Villain -> Reform change.

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Again, you do not seem to want to consider that your interpretation might be incorrect.

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3) All the other badges that I mentioned above require metagaming to get. That would be the only understandable reason for preventing heroes from this badge, yet they failed to do so to the other badges.

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NO THEY DID NOT ALL REQUIRE METAGAMING. I only looked at the first four, but those badge descriptions match the requirements used to get them AND those requirements were met by fulfilling legal missions. NOTE that that does NOT apply to reformed. The description and NAME are NOT being met by those going for the badge heroside.

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Wrong. Simply wrong. There was a specific reason that I started with those four and it had absolutely no connection with the badge text.

A villain has to enter the mission first so that the map spawns CoV critters. If a hero enters the mission first then there is no chance for the CoV critters to spawn. This is the only mission in the game that acts this way, likely because this is the only co-op Circle of Thorns map in the game.

Using this enables FOUR badges that were likely meant to be villain only.

Those four badges require critters that spawn in CoV only. Hellfrosts, Succubi, and Hordelings simply DO NOT SPAWN in Paragon City.

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Once more here are some of the ones you claim you must metagame.

"You've defeated 250 Cold Demons, making you Coldhearted."
"You've cut down more than your fair share of the Thorns."

Yep I did those exact things in missions provided by the devs. Where is the Metagaming! YES ANOTHER DIRECT QUESTION.

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Name one place, other than forcing a mission to spawn in villain mode (aka metagaming), in Paragon City/CoH. You can't. I repeat myself: Hellfrosts, Succubi, and Hordelings simply DO NOT SPAWN in Paragon City.

The problem you seem to be having is that you do not know what metagaming actually is, as opposed to what you THINK metagaming is.

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Metagaming is a broad term usually used to define any strategy, action or method used in a game which transcends a prescribed ruleset, uses external factors to affect the game, or goes beyond the supposed limits or environment set by the game.

In simple terms, using out-of-game information, or resources, to affect one's in-game decisions.

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It is NOT misinterpreting a badge's name or text. That is lack of reading comprehension.

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They don't want to change the text. They put very specific text on the badge. People found a hole to get around the text. Their decision was to stop up the hole and preserve the meaning. Your solution is for them to give up the meaning and leave the hole open thus cheapening the crossover badge meaning.

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Again, this is your opinion, not a statement from the developers.

However, I do have a statement of Positron's I would like to share with you.
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showt...Number=4800814
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Badges don't care if you are villain or hero, there are no (or should I say, very few) badges that are "hero only" or "villain only". If you are able to defeat an enemy required for a badge, you can earn that badge.
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Badges have two titles, two descriptions, and two graphics, one if your character is on Team Hero, and the other if your character is on Team Villain. In many cases these titles and graphics are identical. In some cases they are not. An example of the "not" would be the 10-level badges. They are exactly the same badge, just with different text and icons.

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From three years ago. They had the opportunity to flag the badge villain only well before Issue 10. It has been around a year and a half since then. That left them a year and a half to fix this before the badge became available without metagaming (getting a villain to confuse you, defeating Longbow prison doors in PVP missions). Before Issue 10, they could have said it was an exploit fix and no one would have any grounds to get upset (if you exploit something and it gets taken away you only have yourself to blame).

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Most of those other badges were acquired with exactly the same amount of metagaming so they are just as "unintended" to get.

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Quite a bit less actually, since the RWZ arc means that heroes can fight longbow without going out of their way to do it. Conceivably, a team of 8 running the arc through Ouroboros for merits and/or drops a few times might have gotten the badge without even intending to.

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That is, I believe, my point. The others now require metagaming to get. Since Issue 10, Reformed doesn't to the extent of (a)the Winter/Valentines events Red Caps and (b) the Valetines mission with the CoV-only critters.

To refresh everyone's memory of this particular bit of metagaming:
A villain has to enter the mission first so that the map spawns CoV critters. If a hero enters the mission first then there is no chance for the CoV critters to spawn. This is the only mission in the game that acts this way, likely because this is the only co-op Circle of Thorns map in the game.

Using this enables FOUR badges that were likely meant to be villain only.

Example 2:
Cap buster there is only 2 co-op maps in the entire game that spawn Red Caps. The first one was thought to be fixed by changing the faction to "RedCaps". However due to a mechanic the correct faction popped out of the ground, and the next year the badge accepted both. The Winter event had both Red Caps and Tuatha.

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If that were the case then these also should have been blocked/changed:

<ul type="square">[*]Hero accessible only with the 1st mission villain side during the Valentine's event.
* Coldblooded | Coldhearted
* Hellfrost Gladiator
* Weed Whacker
* Hordeling Lasher Gladiator[*] Villain accessible only through winter event.
* Cap Buster
* Bane of Dannon[*]Hero side extremely rare spawns
* Venomous
* Tarantula Gladiator
* Blue Ink Man Gladiator[*]Villain side extremely rare spawns
* Weatherman/Weatherwoman &lt;-only 3 Outcast bosses total in CoV, under highly select conditions.
* Skull Crusher
* Regenerator
* Illusionist
* Untouchable[/list]...

Side switching doesn't explain things. Sadly I think the only reason we are left with is that the developer's whim changed.

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I don't understand why. If the Reformed badge was specifically intended to be given to villains who switch sides, to signify that they have switched sides, then what do those other badges have to do with it? It seems to me that those other badges are fine, and don't need to be changed.

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Show me 1 redname quote just 1 that specifically says the the reformed badge was specifically for switching sides and I would agree. However you can't. I KNOW you can't because that quote does not exist as of this writing. Most of those other badges were acquired with exactly the same amount of metagaming so they are just as "unintended" to get.

1) You are being far too literal in reading the badge text/name.
2) There was a way to fix this without any coding needed: Change the text &amp; name of the badge.
3) All the other badges that I mentioned above require metagaming to get. That would be the only understandable reason for preventing heroes from this badge, yet they failed to do so to the other badges.
4) Arachnos Rising history badge is STILL displaying on heroes that touch a plaque in Warburg. Heroes have no hope to ever complete this badge, yet the reformed badge was "fixed" first.

Instead of wasting coding time fixing a "problem" that could be solved with a text change, they diverted coding time from actual bugs.

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Obviously the reformed badge was intended for villains with the "Villain" badge who switched sides and became heroes. It was removed so it will function properly once they implement falling from grace/redemption in I15.

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If that were the case then these also should have been blocked/changed:

<ul type="square">[*]Hero accessible only with the 1st mission villain side during the Valentine's event.
* Coldblooded | Coldhearted
* Hellfrost Gladiator
* Weed Whacker
* Hordeling Lasher Gladiator[*] Villain accessible only through winter event.
* Cap Buster
* Bane of Dannon[*]Hero side extremely rare spawns
* Venomous
* Tarantula Gladiator
* Blue Ink Man Gladiator[*]Villain side extremely rare spawns
* Weatherman/Weatherwoman &lt;-only 3 Outcast bosses total in CoV, under highly select conditions.
* Skull Crusher
* Regenerator
* Illusionist
* Untouchable[/list]The problem is that at least two of the villain badges (Cap Buster and Untouchable) unlock custom weapons. If the reformed badge were truly for side switching there are plenty others that should have gotten the chop at the same time, but didn't.

Side switching doesn't explain things. Sadly I think the only reason we are left with is that the developer's whim changed.

As to the Brainstorm conversions: in light of this change Fabricator should be reduced to 2,000 crafts. The 1,000 to 10,000 jump never made much sense anyways.

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this is the exact same feeling that all the pvp people felt when I13 was dropped in our laps.

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I've been very quiet on the PVP front because I rarely PVP. This doesn't mean I don't fully understand your frustration. A few major base changes (the removal of base salvage for instance) were not even given the option of being tested. So I fully sympathize with you. However both the PVP changes and the Base changes were a part of the patch notes before Issue 13 was released.

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We were told of the change AND they confirmed it was not an error.

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No, we were told of the change almost two months after

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Oh, so we WERE told, just like I said.

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Being told after the fact, with a two month delay is not exactly being forthcoming with the information. It is more trying to cover their collective backsides.

A lot of players are getting sick of the attitude being displayed.

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Oh, get over it.

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Until such time as I post something that is against forum rules I am free to post my criticism of the developer's actions.

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I'm just tired of the astonishing amount of whining over this item.

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I feel the same about the posts telling telling people to "get over it" when players have a legitimate complaint.

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We were told of the change AND they confirmed it was not an error.

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No, we were told of the change almost two months after the fact by a line buried in the middle of a large patch note. This happened at least THREE YEARS after heroes started getting the badge and 1.5 years after the ability to get the badge became widespread without workarounds.

The error here was that whoever chose to change the status of this badge did so thinking that the players would meekly accept it. In your case, it appears they were right.

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It seems pretty obvious to me that this ties into some future development and their longstanding policy is to tell NOTHING about future developments too far in advance. I really think you should expect only silence on this.

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Then they should have the intestinal fortitude to post that this is for a future development. They know a portion of their customer base is upset with this, and instead of being open with the reasons they are hoping people will "just forget about it." They tried that with the Base changes during closed beta. That flew about as well as an anvil. Instead players got more and more upset to the point that someone -had- to respond. Even that response was not very warmly received.

I seem to be repeating myself a lot since the open beta: the developers need to be far more open with players.

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..ok.. NOW .. someone tell me if theres a spell check around here I can use... I just KNOW im misspelling stuff left and right


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Use Firefox, it has a built in spell check.

Due to some unforeseen real life issues for a number of staff, the Jan 16th Scoop will be delayed to next week.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

We will have either a double sized issue or two issues next week in honor of the weekend event.

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Can you be more specific? Generally the layout is the same as it has been for all of 2008, though a few things shift issue to issue. I did the layout for the last two issues to give Mantid a break and we both have different styles.

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Ok let me try to explain.

Before I noticed the headlines in the middle and more bolder I guess? To me the pages don't jump out anymore.

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Ah, I use a smaller headline typeface (lower level headline). I think it is the difference between the style sheet that I use compared to the one Mantid uses. I'll see about making mine closer to his. Thankfully this is something I can change without asking a moderator to change for me. I should get a chance sometime this weekend to do that, depending on my homework.

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Looking deeper, this was entirely my mistake. I forgot to class the headline html tags properly.

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But, since I enjoy asking for the impossible... what about an RSS link that would generate for each topic or thread on the boards? So you could subscribe to topics and posts that interest you?

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I think that is handled by vBulletin itself, if I remember correctly.

We've had one interviewer ( Teldon, "Behind the Mask") leave the Scoop due to time issues. Perhaps you sent the request to him?

You might want to get in contact with HumanMiracle or EmperorSteele.

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Can you be more specific? Generally the layout is the same as it has been for all of 2008, though a few things shift issue to issue. I did the layout for the last two issues to give Mantid a break and we both have different styles.

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Ok let me try to explain.

Before I noticed the headlines in the middle and more bolder I guess? To me the pages don't jump out anymore.

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Ah, I use a smaller headline typeface (lower level headline). I think it is the difference between the style sheet that I use compared to the one Mantid uses. I'll see about making mine closer to his. Thankfully this is something I can change without asking a moderator to change for me. I should get a chance sometime this weekend to do that, depending on my homework.

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Also, the first page never used to have an index, and the calender is gone.

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Ok, I really don't understand this comment: There has been an article index consistently for over the last year. There IS an article index in the current Scoop:
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Vol. 2, Issue 29 January 9th, 2009

Community

Behind the Walls Arena

Get Involved!

Secret Ids: Part 2 A Villain Christmas

Under the Hood

Fashion

Because I Have to Look at You

Base Showcase
The Pack

Comic
Masthead

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And below the two pictures those links, the Official Calendar is there.

Now if you meant the missing upcoming player events, I am sorry, but I didn't have the time to compile a new one for this month. I did check the player events section, and at the time there were mainly just real life meet and greets listed. Sorry, with my limited time I don't frequent that section.

Sadly we had three people leave the Scoop for real life concerns just in the last two weeks, another ended their column in December, and I just found out that I'm going to be buried in homework for the next 3 months.

So, you want to help out?

Can you be more specific? Generally the layout is the same as it has been for all of 2008, though a few things shift issue to issue. I did the layout for the last two issues to give Mantid a break and we both have different styles.

Thank you for correcting the mistake in the base page Niviene!

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How does the one month free work for those of us that are automatically billed each month for playing? Would it just not bill me for the next month? Or would I not really get that perk? Otherwise, I WANNA BUY IT NOW! lol

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It would not bill you the next month. Basically it would push back your billing date 30 days.

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Maybe it is too easy and existing debt (previously unpaid rent) should be rolled into the new base rent cost after it is calculated on the 1st of each month.

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I'll have to disagree with this section (edit: of your suggestion) as it is theoretically possible to amass more "debt" than the base costs (not anytime soon given current upkeep prices, but who knows what items will get upkeep next &amp; how much they'll be).

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I should mention that the Scoop will be taking a break until the new year.

Have a Merry Festive Season!

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An update for everyone:

We will resume the Scoop on January 9th.

Oops, here's mine.

Objective Feedback:
Initially the Katie Hannon Task force gave 10 Single Origin enhancements for fighting the AV TEN TIMES (remember, the S.O. Reward was for defeating an AV) and 1 S.O. for completing the Task Force.

Now, those 11 enhancements are replaced 1 SO for defeating 10 AVs and the one for completing the task force was replaced with the merit equivalent of half a S.O. enhancement.

Specific suggestions for the KHTF:
Make Mary #1-9 elite bosses, drop a SO at the end of the task force in addition to the merits, and give a 1 use version of the summon Katie for those that have used up the 5 charges of the temp power.

Subjective Feedback:
Can a developer please point to how groups can do the Eden trial in less than an hour? I think it is time to get serious on fixing the shortcuts if this is the reaction.

A task force should be worth at least a Single Origin. If it isn't, then either the merit rewards are too low or the prices too high.

At what point is the cut off of "too little merits" for the task? I can already guess the next TF on the merit reward chopping block is going to be the ITF. I had groups finish it in an 80 minutes, I've had groups take up to four hours. People have already posted completion times of under 30 minutes. So a range from 1 merit:under a minute to 1 merit:10 minutes.

Again, with TonyV's post (linked above), the paragonwiki.com link is correct:

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Hey all, just thought I'd make kind of a neat announcement.

As a lot of you probably know already, around three months ago, the Paragon Wiki parted ways from Wikia and has since been affiliated with the Titan Network. The only problem was that Wikia was still in possession of the domain name we had used since 2005, and had it redirected to an old copy of the wiki on their site that was no longer maintained by the administrators. Well, yesterday, that finally changed as we have re-obtained ownership of all rights to the domain name!

That means that that the domain name ParagonWiki.com is once again pointed to the correct place, and you can once again use the name that the wiki is arguably best known by to access to the site. The Titan Network URL (wiki.cohtitan.com) still works, is still just as official, and will remain so. You still use your Titan Key to log into the wiki, which is the same as it has been since September.

With the loading tip having the old domain name and some old links still pointing to ParagonWiki.com addresses, though, I just felt that this was something that was really important to do. Also, it opens up a few more possibilities for expanding the wiki that I'm hoping to announce Soon™. In the meantime, though, which URL you use is completely up to you.

Thanks for your continued support and coolness!

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Both http://wiki.cohtitan.com and http://paragonwiki.com are correct.

I'm going to pass along a event for Pinnacle Villains on Dec 27th:
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showf...umber=12708537

Have a happy holiday!

I don't have Snow Globe on all servers . I could (and have) made some "close clones" on most though.

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very nice, any chance you could post some build instructions?

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This thing is build with some self invented techniques that I don't believe Lego Factory would recognize(especially in the construction of the upper body), so no official build instructions. Besides, some of the parts on this thing are from old exo-force kits which I don't believe are even stocked at the moment anyways.

oh yeah, and thanks for the comments guys

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Self-invented techniques are part and parcel of design (especially Lego).

I would actually 2nd the request for some/all of the steps involved.

Have you considered trying to use a lego cad program (a few unofficial available from http://www.ldraw.org/ )? Other lego mechs examples can be found at this site.

And as to availability of parts, you can try eBay or bricklink as well as the Lego store.

Finally, can we use the pictures in the City Scoop?