Standoff

[ QUOTE ]
Do you think it might be a firewall problem?

[/ QUOTE ]
Hugely unlikely - a firewall would block pretty much everything, and definitely wouldn't disable a button in-game.

FWIW I suspect a minor database glitch, which the GMs should be able to sort if you let them know about it.

Yeah, that does seem likely for I13 - that said, I don't think the "3 Issues a year" makes 31st December the hard and fast (and very likely to be missed!) deadline for I14.

Issue 12 came out on 12th March this year, so I14 any time before that date next year would get them under the wire.

It sounds like one for the real support team to look at - I'd raise a ticket either on the main web page or by petitioning in-game with one of your other toons (be sure to mention the stuck toon's details!).

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

I guarantee you, good things are coming soon; and very likely some WOW factor stuff. They will HAVE too.

[/ QUOTE ]

I have said this very thing since the day NC announced they bought the game.

But I see not one sign of it and its been almost a year.
I'm now losing confidence in them.
There is absolutely no question in my mind they should be up there, waving the flag by now and they havent.

[/ QUOTE ]
Perhaps they take a different view of when things should be announced. Being closer to the MMO games industry generally, and as close as anyone can get to their own plans, perhaps they're in a better position to form a judgement about the best timing.

[ QUOTE ]
If you take i13 in its true context, it completely sucks.
In itself it doesnt, but practically everyone was expecting something major and we got (apart from Mission Architecht) same same same and an off line (??????) career "game", which this thread is supposed to be about, lest we forget.

[/ QUOTE ]
You're deciding it sucks even though they've only announced part of its contents so far? Prejudging much?

[ QUOTE ]
AND I14 is gonna be late.

[/ QUOTE ]
Why not predict NCNC being wiped out by an earthquake while you're at it? I13 doesn't have a release date yet, and we know nothing about I14's content or when it might be due - how on earth can anyone make meaningful predictions about whether it'll be on time or not?

[ QUOTE ]
Is it just me or has this thread become something like a car crash? I don't actually wanna look but I can't help myself.

[/ QUOTE ]
Given the topic it was pretty much doomed from the start.

I'm just playing the odds to see if I can get the last post in before the lock.

[ QUOTE ]
Ye gods, I got up to page 8 and gre sick and tired of the whining.

Point, the first (1). In the words of Agent J; "Move yo bum [censored]", and move it from Defiant to Union, if you want more crowds. Defiant, for England, is like a second test server, afaik. And you CAN transfer toons, all vet awards included, from Defiant to Union.

Point, the second (2). Maybe stop posting on a thread so long dead that I could play a tune on its ribs with some sheet music and some sticks....please :P Its silly.

Have fun, kiddies.

[/ QUOTE ]
Your talking down to people who've posted to a thread you think's dead and pointless might carry a bit more weight if you hadn't just, you know, posted to it yourself.

[ QUOTE ]
If those servers are on UK soil in the US they are only viable to UK law. It is a unique case I know but still it is an example of how some people make statements that are not quite true.


[/ QUOTE ]
You're thinking embassies? If it's on UK soil it's not in the US, it's in the UK, legally speaking...just surrounded by US territory.

[ QUOTE ]
I'm going to answer the questions regarding "why the heck are NC starting a marketing campaign?" with a question of my own. (I know they were a few pages back, but this is something I've considered a little bit this evening).

Why would any company run a marketing campaign for an existing product?

[/ QUOTE ]
Um, because it's a fairly standard business practice for a product you want to continue selling? Turn on the TV - several dozen adverts per hour for existing products on almost all channels - part of marketing campaigns.

Open papers, magazines, or just sit at home and wait for the junk mail leaflets to drop through the letter box - more advertisements for existing products that are part of marketing campaigns. There's a lot of it about.

[ QUOTE ]
I have some answers, but I'm interested in other people's thoughts - but here's a little question to get you pondering: When was the last marketing campaign for CoX?

[/ QUOTE ]
I can remember one a year or two back, but damned if I can recall exactly when. In any case, surely the relevant thing's surely why they'd do one in the immediate future. Some thoughts:

* New owners
* Large amounts of new content about to appear, courtesy of new owner's increased investment
* Competitors starting to appear on the horizon

Three digit age, eh?

Happy birthday RW - careful not to strain anything as you open your royal telegram!

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
He's not really a pet - he's more like a very trusted friend - he hears all my thoughts and secrets when he's getting groomed - I think he understands too

[/ QUOTE ]

I... cannae... resist...

[/ QUOTE ]
Ah yes, good old Father Ted. Classic Irish documentary series from the mid 90s.

My recollection (similarly imperfect) was that they could have allowed customisation of "sticking out of the caster's body" part of the power, but they would have reverted to the default form as soon as they started flying through the air.

Short of red name input we'll never know for sure, but in the interests of coding simplicity it seems likely they'd try not to have multiple power animation systems if they could do everything they need with one.

[ QUOTE ]
Logically, this should be easier to do than full power customisation since I'd assume the projectile model is seperate from the impact model (which is the bit they currently can't change).


[/ QUOTE ]
I'm not sure it is - I can see the arrow animation (arrow-shaped fx flying from point X on the firer to the target) using the exact same mechanism and being just as baked in as (say) a fireball animation (fireball-shaped fx flying from point X on the firer to the target).

The actual fx might be a bit simpler for some of the weapon animations but having to duplicate the entire set for a different look, then keep it synchronised as future changes are made, would still be an issue.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
This is the can o' worms I mentioned initially. It's quite hard to catch all the "not originally intended" cases, especially if someone has hacked the data file to do something unpredicatable.

[/ QUOTE ]

But if the options are selected mostly by drop-down boxes, like the costume creator, then it doesn't matter too much whether you can access the file client side. It would be like having an offline costume creator with text files: sure, you can "hack" the file and change the line that refers to your top as "Take That re-union tour t-shirt", but when you load the costume creator, it would then default anything like that which it could not find to generic spandex.

I imagine if they have something similar for missions, if they store files on your home computer, so if you change the line that refers to "map type" to something out of range, it will default to a standard map or prevent the uploading of the file.

[/ QUOTE ]
They might have mutually exclusive options the standard designer blocks out, like high flying Longbow ambushes (e.f. Mayhems) on an interior office map. Hack the file to set exclusive options and things could go horribly wrong when the game engine tries to set the map up.

It might even be something as mundane as keeping database sizes manageable - 18 storage units, with up to 1,000 (near enough) items in each gives 18,000 items to keep track of. Multiply that by several thousand for all the bases that could do the same, and you're into 10s of millions of items.

Sure, in practice most bases won't have nearly that many bins, but it's generally a good idea to design for worst case scenarios so you don't get any nasty surprises later.

Not an actual commitment, but there is this:

[ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]
Player:There was one little teaser in Positrons letter about the love for bases that are coming, but no major mention of it in the features list. Is that an oversight?


[/ QUOTE ]
Lighthouse: There are so many details to Issue 13, we couldn't possibly fit all in to an overview. Expect to see those details come out between now and the public open beta testing for Issue 13.

[/ QUOTE ]

Also, there are two separate sets of forums because there are two sets of game accounts; one for US servers, one for the EU servers. As forum posting's linked to having an active game account, two sets of forums are needed too.

Excellent - and welcome to the game, and forums!

[ QUOTE ]
That's all well and good, but doesn't change the fact people who use excessive force are whinging about excessive force when it isn't them using it. Rare does the complaint focus on anything to do with due process.

It's "BLUE SHIELD, BAD".


[/ QUOTE ]
Hey, we use the tools we're given - if the devs (= the Gods of the game world) choose to make things like axes and firebursts available, and not mace sprays and billyclubs, what can we do?

And at least we use them with restraint - subdue the targets until they're teleported off to the Zig's medibay for an asprin and cup of cocoa. Unlike a particular Blue PPD rep, who did far more damage with a far less extreme weapon.

[ QUOTE ]
Here's the thing a lot of you guys forget: the Clockwork King had killed and brutalised a number of people with his creations prior to that incident.

[/ QUOTE ]
And who's to say that:

1) The guy BS beat up was actually the right guy at all? There's a reason courts and things exist, rather than the police officers on the ground dispensing instant justice whenever they suspect they've found the perp.

2) He wasn't being mind controlled/Confused/etc... by some puppetmaster type, and was effectively a victim himself.

[ QUOTE ]
Furthermore, anyone who uses a weapon set, a variation on fire, etc, has no right to complain about the guy with the shield.

[/ QUOTE ]
Oh, I think they have.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Blue Steel is responsible for the 'birth' of the villainous Clockwork King. After tracking down a suspect involved in a police homicide committed by robots controlled via telekinesis, Blue Steel beat the man nearly to death and left him for dead. This man's body was never recovered, and was beaten beyond repair. However, the Clockwork King's brain survived the encounter, and he used his powerful telekinetic powers to build himself a clockwork body, leading to the rise of the Clockwork King.

[/ QUOTE ]

Source

I've never liked this guy since I read that. In a game that celebrates heroes he seems anything but heroic, more like a fascist bully-boy thug and personally I don't think he has any right to be blue side. Even some of the darker mainstream comicbook heroes don't go that far when apprehending suspects.

[/ QUOTE ]
Hell no - it particularly grates given the back story in Frostfire's bio:

[ QUOTE ]
Calhoun [= Frostfire's civvie name] was first arrested for a disastrously failed attempt at super-powered heroism. At age 17, he witnessed an attempted armed robbery at a convenience store. Although he had neither training nor experience, he intervened, freezing both the robber and store clerk in blocks of ice. He then attempted to melt the clerk free, but the stress caused his powers to “spasm” uncontrollably. His fire powers ignited the building, and the ensuing inferno destroyed the building. Although Calhoun escaped unharmed, several people were killed in the blaze, including the clerk and the robber. .

Calhoun surrendered himself to the authorities. Although the District Attorney’s Office offered a deal for 5 years of jail time acknowledging his pure motives, Calhoun refused, believing wrongly that the jury would find him innocent. He was stunned by his conviction. Still, the judge was extremely lenient in his instructions, and a relatively light sentence was handed down as Calhoun’s heart was judged to be in the right place.

[/ QUOTE ]
Frostfire, a civilian, tries to help and gets given a jail term when things go wrong.

Blue Steel, a law enforcements officer, gets no documented punishment and to keep his job when he knowingly beats a suspect to death (or what would have been death if the suspect hadn't turned out to have unique superpowers).

Free the Hollows One!

[ QUOTE ]
F-f-f-frankenslotting?

[/ QUOTE ]
Oooops!

Details here - it's even easier, really...set IOs without paying attention to the sets.

[ QUOTE ]
For all the poor little villains out there...
Change the CoV UI to more... CoV.
As in change Super Group window to VillanGroup or alteast change the enter SG mode button to enter VG mode.

[/ QUOTE ]
Not sure this is needed - "Super Group"'s fairly neutral in the first place.

If it had said "Hero Group", and used that for villains too, then certainly a change would have been nice.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
The only drawback in leaving an "old" IO slotted is that it'll be giving you a smaller increase to Acc/Dam/whatever than a higher level one would.

[/ QUOTE ]

But with Set Bonuses, that doesn't really matter.

[/ QUOTE ]
Well, depends on the bonus - some of them are very nice, particularly as they bypass ED limits on stuff you've already got well slotted (damage, for example). Other sets give you very ignorable stuff, like +2.5% duration to incoming Sleep, +5% jump height, etc...

[ QUOTE ]
Ah! Finally! I get the jist of IO Sets! Joy!

[/ QUOTE ]
They are very handy - for Frankenslotting if nothing else.

Yes - IOs never turn red and become useless like the other enh types. The only drawback in leaving an "old" IO slotted is that it'll be giving you a smaller increase to Acc/Dam/whatever than a higher level one would.

Weighed against that lower level IOs mean, as Hero2 said, that you're less likely to start dropping set bonuses when you exemp.

<removed>