Steampunkette
-
Posts
1724 -
Joined
-
I'm gonna go out on a limb and say this is something that works this way because it can't be changed, not because the Devs want it to.
Generally you've got the Login server, World server, the Regional server, and the Local server working together, to avoid -too- much bandwidth hogging. Basically it's one super-computer with different processors set to handle different tasks with the exception of the Login server which is a master server controlling the network. When you enter the Local server is when instances are loaded up into the server's memory for use. In the case of randomly generated maps it generates them and loads you in.
Now that mission is in the local server's memory, taking up space. The engine was designed to dump that memory as soon as it was no longer a worry. So as long as that mission is active and/or has people in it: it's loaded. As soon as it's no longer active/noone is in it BAM! Gone to free up memory for the next person coming along to get into an instance.
Now -if- I'm correct, which I think I am, the engine would need to be restructured almost completely in it's resource management functions to handle this concern. And, as was stated in my CoH2 thread, it's probably not ever going to happen thanks to the investment < return paradigm.
-Rachel- -
Quote:Ehhhhhh I could -almost- accept this... But it also requires all you're "Fallen Angels" and "Risen Devils" or any character with a backstory that doesn't include "Brand New Hero" to walk up to a guy to relearn skills they should logically already know according to their background.Originally Posted by ClawsandEffect
Your problem, my answer to it.
The trainers aren't teaching you how to throw a fireball, they're teaching you how to use it effectively. Just because you know how to do something doesn't mean you automatically have the knowledge to apply that skill to a situation where people's lives depend on you doing it correctly.
Just because I know how to shoot a gun does NOT make me a soldier. As far as a trainer is concerned, a gun and a fireball are the same: They are both weapons which can kill innocent people if used recklessly. Their job is to make sure you have a proper understanding of tactics before they send you out with a deadly weapon.
It is perfectly logical that any city that has people running around with these kinds of abilities would want to ensure that they know what the hell they're doing with them.
You say training someone to do something you've never done is a stretch.
So, you're saying back Alley Brawler has never FOUGHT before? Now THAT'S a stretch.
I've played an Aussie heroine who was big stuff down under, who came to America to see what all the fuss was about. She should already know how to use all her powers in combat.
Other people play angels who lose portions of their power when they come to Earth because (insert reason here). It doesn't make sense for their character to go to a trainer all of the time to relearn all their abilities.
So yes. That -might- be a good way to canonically explain them. The trainers could make sense in that fashion... If your character's backstory falls into an extremely narrow band of "Brand New Hero". And even -then- only when you're learning how to use complex or incredibly dangerous powers as opposed to single-target effects, generally speaking. If I know "Flares" as a Fire Blaster there's not a whole bunch of stretch for "Fire Blast" really. since they do the same thing in a different animation.
Just because you know how to use a gun doesn't mean you're a soldier. But if you were pressed into a fight you'd be able to pull the trigger. You don't need weeks or months of intensive combat training to know "Point gun at bad man, pull trigger, bad man goes away" It might be an oversimplification, but, after being "Trained" in an AoE the first time to avoid the civvies or any items that look terribly important as evidence... You really shouldn't need a lot more help when you get your next AoE. Especially if the superpower is innate (Mutant/Science).
-Rachel- -
Quote:That's kind of what I'm asking you to suggest. An option that lets me keep playing the game, have fun with it, and not break the canon utterly.Originally Posted by Scythus
And what's option D?
-Rachel- -
Quote:Well here. I'll give you the option of telling me how to play, so long as you can offer an option D which is still fun to me, and still involves doing the villainside content.Originally Posted by Scythus
My opinion that "it's stupid" is not flamebait. It's my opinion. Flamebait would imply I was deliberately trying to illicit a negative reaction from you, which is frankly not the truth of the matter.
You are correct that I would still recommend option A, however.
-Rachel- -
Quote:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain...28DC_Comics%29Originally Posted by BrandX
Hasn't there been more than one Phoenix at a time?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain...rvel_Comics%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Lantern
Three most common examples.
And then this is just an example of how stupid things can get when people try to copy a name and can't get it.
http://www.supermansupersite.com/sgirl.html
http://www.supermansupersite.com/sboy.html
http://www.supermansupersite.com/krypto.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legion_of_Super-Pets
Including a HORSE that is in (requited!) love with Supergirl. I don't care how you twist and bend it. That they are emotionally involved was just... -weird-.
-Rachel- -
Using the "Ninja Leap" emote while flying or hovering returns your character to their previous elevation in a "Kung Fu" stance.
-Rachel- -
Phone Numbers.
That's it. That's all. Phone numbers. Un-ambiguous strings of numbers strung together.
Using 1 (XXX) XXX-XXXX you can have over a billion combinations of different numbers (I.E. different characters) without overlap. Meanwhile character names need not be unique.
The telephone number string could be easily put into a "Cell Phone" directory friends list or whatever. Add the character's name, AT, level, and a small picture and you've got a way to locate whoever you want indexed by all the current values -and- a phone number.
Heck. Wanna make it more "Super Heroic"? Make it the MedCom system's numbering. Individualized identification numbers on ever hero license.
Now you don't need unique names and have a method which is canonically sound, since every hero must register and all villains come out of a prison system and, thus, have their own numbers.
And I apologize, Sam, if it seems like I'm browbeating you or coming at you sideways. I'm not. Every post I've put in should be read deadpan, flat, and emotionless except -specific- words that I visually accent.
-Rachel-
*Edit* Err... HeroComm was Star Trek... I meant MedCom >.> -
Quote:First off! You seem shocked that a person willing to rewrite the entire storyline of "Half" the game is willing to write off the existence of trainers. Think about that statement before you reply. It's okay. It doesn't make sense for most character concepts to need a trainer (not a specific one, mind you. any trainer will do. even War-Witch who wasn't a member of the surviving eight!) to use their powers. It's a concession made for the style of game being played. it's that simple. It's why the Zig is a revolving door. It's why Frostfire can be fought a dozen times a day in the same building even though he's been arrested.Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow
*sigh*
I never asked you to accept anything. I can just as easily point out that it doesn't make sense that bullets do knockback and that arrows fly in a straight line, but it kind of does, doesn't it? How many people have you seen complain about it? How many people even notice? To my eyes, it's explanation enough that Back Alley Brawler has dealt with enough young heroes to know how to help them develop their own abilities. If you think of him drawing diagrams of thought patterns and waving around FMRI scans as a means to train up a psychic, then you're overthinking and overspecifying the concept. ANY part of this game can break if you set it as your objective can break it. We're allowed to do too much for it to be any other way.
But to refuse to believe that a veteran hero would know how to help other heroes unlock their own potential? Aside from dismissing Penny Peterson's entire existence, you're overlooking the simple fact that the trainers aren't devising techniques for you to learn. Those techniques are yours as soon as you pop up into the world, and ever trainer you visit can help you with the exact same. All you need is a trainer to help you realise them. They're your powers as learned by you. The trainer is only a guiding force, not a source of power and knowledge.
Really, why are you so determined to bring down trainers, when it's so much easier to shoot at things like Fateweavers and Hero Corps Field Analysts, or to attack the Trainers' ability to swap builds for you? Those DON'T make any sense whatsoever, yet even with the concentrated effort to prove the game doesn't make sense, no-one has yet mentioned them.
I have no problem with claiming your powers to be something they COULD be. Presenting energy as radiation or temporal force I can live with, so why not? But trying to present Ice as energy, when it clearly deals cold damage and scores extra hurt against fire-based enemies and less against ice-based enemies... It's ice. You can call it sand, tar, time or cookie dough, but it's ice. I don't buy it. You can change the look, but you can't change the graphics and, moreover, you can't change your damage type. When I get hit with it, it still says Frozen Shield in my buff bar, and I can clearly see you using a kaleidoscope Jack Frost.
The ONLY way I can deal with this is if people go the whole hog and explain ALL aspects of their powers, including why they do the damage type they do, why they have the effects they have and why they don't look like what they're supposed to. Again, energies are easy. No-one can really say what radiation is supposed to do, given how many different things radiation actually does in the game, so claiming that it does damage and stuns is a good way to ret-con Energy Manipulation, Energy Melee and even Energy Aura. But taking Dark Armour and Dark melee and colouring them a yellowish-brown is not enough to claim you're playing a sand character. You still need to explain why your sand draws its power from the Netherworld, because I'm pretty sure Nethergoat is all out of magical sand.
A decent explanation is required if you want to claim things are what they are clearly not. Just the bare claim is not enough.
It doesn't make sense in the continuity of a character. Ergo it has to be handwaved. Why does it -have- to be handwaved? Because Brickstown has been overrun by criminals who broke out of jail for the past five years. We're not talking about a jailbreak and the people who broke out were returned to prison or escaped into the populace. We're talking about a huge number of guys in jumpsuits who are -always- in the zone no matter how many times heroes arrest them. Day in and Day out. More prisoners on the streets than the prison complex could support or jail, unless it stretches beneath Raccoon Ci... err... Brickstown like an ant colony.
So that's a game-required handwave. So are trainers, to me. Because it doesn't make -sense- that a person who has never done any of these things himself and is, in fact, incapable of doing these things by quirk of birth, twist of fate, or whatever could possibly teach people things he couldn't ever -do-! Sure! you can point to school and teaching mathematics. But that's an entirely mental exercise. Sure! A soldier can learn from a legless drill sergeant how to run through an obstacle course. But that's a purely physical exercise that the drill sergeant -was- capable of, previously. Teach someone to do something you can't possibly understand from the first person perspective? Impossible. I can't teach someone how to create C4 because I've seen C4 used before, or to weigh out the right charges or amounts.
Without personal understanding of how things work it's impossible to teach someone else how it works.
Now if you want to argue how the Zig being a revolving door makes sense: Please! Do so! And do so in such a way that it doesn't disturb civilian life as it's been presented to us or in any way alter how the game world functions outside of superbeing (I.E. like a normal, modern, american city with people walking or driving to work on a daily basis)
-Rachel-
Edit: As for the "Cold Damage" argument. Let me slow your body down, molecule by molecule. Tell me. What happens to your temperature when atomic motion slows? Does it drop? Explained. Also the character in question doesn't -use- Jack Frost or even have the power. If and when she gets it she'll be RPing the NPC pet as non-existent. That any effects it creates are simply further effects on her own part. -
Actually only the first part was for you. And yes. It is absurd that you searched the internet, found a word hidden in the bowels of the English language, took it as your name, and held it up high as a proud example that good names aren't taken. And yes. You did hold it up high and proud by putting a forum topic up with the title "Good character names are running out, huh?" The "Huh?" in particular insists response and does so in a "high" fashion.
As for most of the rest of your post: A lot of that wasn't direct responses to you. I didn't think I'd need a definite break of post to explain that text which blatantly didn't connect to your post wasn't directly in response to your post.
The "48 Good Names" example was assuming that people wouldn't use -every- synonym for fire but would instead slip in "Captain Fireball" and "Lady Flame" without a whole lot of variation. The idea was to keep the number of "Good" names (read Obvious names) small for the purpose of the demonstration. Even if people have a very narrow viewpoint on what constitutes a good name for a fire-based character and wind up using names out of the same batch of synonyms their chances of running into the same name are small. I'll notice you didn't quote or dispute that fact, so why are you taking out one of the variables of the equation and arguing it? We could make the number of "Obvious" names larger and the result would shrink. We could make it smaller and the result would grow. But i think assuming less than 50 fire-based names with only minor changes from specific words filling in the difference is a good baseline.
For your benefit On Virtue the names:
Flame
Fireball
Campfire
Coals (Seriously? I didn't expect THAT one to be taken)
Cannonade
Char
Conflagration
Ember
Flare
Heat
Holocaust (Not available for obvious reasons)
Inferno
Luminosity
Phlogiston
Pyre
Rapid oxidization (Yup. Seriously)
Scorch
Sear
Tinder
Bombard
Fussilade
Salvo
Volley
All are taken except for Flame, which is unavailable. I suppose there must be a DC or Marvel comic with that name. Now I've just put up 23 words which, by themselves are probably fairly decent names in some cases, good names in others, and a bit of a stretch for a couple. I did not go into the various Captains or mis-spellings, the word alterations because I've spent enough time alt-tabbing between the check name button and this page to show you that most of these words are taken as names. I'll also note that these 23 are the only ones I checked, but every one of them (Coals?!) was taken or unavailable.
As for the chance overlaps being too big of a chance: Eh. That's more than a touch of selfishness speaking. And no. I don't want your names. I don't want anyone's names. But if fifteen people all want to be called "Fire Guy" more power to them. It doesn't hurt -you- to see a bunch of newbs running around with the "Obvious" name. And you can sit back and dig through the internet for obscure words to have your own private name that noone will ever take.
Meanwhile it would offer a more friendly air to the new player who just spent over an hour fine-tuning and tweaking his costume to be exactly what he wants who then spends several minutes in frustration searching the internet for a synonym to a name he wanted when he got his costume set, before he even started on power customization. Perhaps he started out with "Fireball" and will wind up with "Phlogiston Sphere". Sure it's a ungique and interesting name, but it certainly doesn't roll off the tongue in the middle of a Fifth Column fist-fight. "Phlogiston Sphere?! Nein! You can't be here! You were supposed to die in the reactor!"
-Rachel- -
Quote:No.Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow
A trainer doesn't become a trainer unless he actually knows this stuff, and all of the Surviving Eight are old grizzled bastards who, by this point, have worked with more heroes than you've even seen. And this is not an ad-hoc spin, it's the reality of the game. Everyone from 2004 onwards has been coming to these people asking for advice on how to train their magical gravity-bending or their technological fire blasting. Even if they didn't know, I can guarantee you that they know now.
No. No. No.
I'm not going to accept that because a tech hero has been around since the 70's he can train every person in the whole game in every power regardless of source, method of application, or character's understanding. I'll tell you what. Let's find a Cop who's been around since the 70s. Now let's have him teach a class on being a Cop to all the Psychic Detectives, Forensic Analysts, K9 Trainers, and Computer Technicians. And he'll train them -all- in how to do their jobs in the way they are individually supposed to do it which he has never in his life done.
"Oh! But he's worked with dog units, computer techs, and psychic detectives!" That doesn't give him the insight into the field from the -inside- of the field. If a hundred people come to you and ask you questions you don't know the answer to you don't spontaneously come up with the right answer through some mystical "Trainer Fu".
Yes. i can understand "Oh. But it's Canon!" but Canon which makes no sense iin the greater view of reality is Canon which should be rewritten. So EVERY type of Character -EVER- can be trained by him, huh? I'll point you to the Issue 12 powerset proliferation text.
So now Brawler is training heroes in powers he's only ever seen used by Villains before. Yet he has no problem "Training" them right up. The system is a handwave in itself, attached to a time-extending device. Why would the devs care that you spent 5 minutes running to the trainer? Because you'll have to log off before you do the next mission in the arc and come back tomorrow and play again. This extends your play-time out by another day thus extending their money by another day.Quote:Using his newly built Resonance Manipulator, the Villain scientist known as Dr. Brainstorm has discovered a way to alter the energy strands which connect every Hero and Villain to their powers. This discovery has not only opened the door to new powers for his fellow Villains in the Rogue Isles, but has also done the same for the Heroes of Paragon City ! Specifically, new characters of almost every Hero and Villain archetype gain access to an additional primary and secondary powerset that they didnt have access to previously. Details to come!
Training someone to do something you've never in your life -done- is a stretch. Assuming that the same method will work for every possible hero with the same style of abilities and archetype is a further stretch. Assuming that Brawler mystically gets the ability to train people who've developed powers he's never worked with before? Further stretch.
Or do you consider even describing your powers as something they are not as a gamebreaking handwave? For example powerset customization for gravity or Ice control to become time-manipulation?
-Rachel- -
They've kind of got infinite spawns... so that's good for them. And safeguards can be strung out FAR longer than Mayhems, in general. Though even still it's no more XP than street sweeping enemies of your own level.
On the other hand... I would like if the temp powers granted by standard Safeguards and Mayhems were still granted through Oro Flashbacks. Just in a weakened manner. Like shorter durations on how long you keep the power, longer use between activations (for the self rez or team TP) or smaller buffs for the auto-powers.
-Rachel- -
Mega-Joule.
She was an Elec/Elec blaster slotted, primarily, for Accuracy and Endurance modification with Damage being in her last slot or two.
She wasn't terribly useful to most teams. But was pretty useful against AVs, since she could sap them to the point of brawling, basically.
-Rachel- -
Quote:There's no such thing as Good or Bad logic. There is only Logic. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LogicOriginally Posted by Scythus
I'm not flamebaiting. I'm just verbally expressing my facepalm at your logic. I see your logic, I just don't agree that it's GOOD logic.
Whether you accept my -explanation- as "Good enough" for you is different. But my logic is impeccable and irrefutable. I don't like playing the Villain, but I like playing in the zones and fighting against the interesting enemies, enjoy the music and style. so I play Heroes in the Isles and rewrite the mission text as I go along.
It's impossible to defeat this logic because it's a logical course following an opinion. Since my opinion "I don't like playing Villains" cannot be argued in one way or another we have only the logical path of determining what I do with my opinion. A) Ignore things I do like (atmosphere, powersets, archetypes, character concepts, zones, etc) B) Ignore things I don't like (the story) C) Play a Villain, which i don't like to do.
I choose option B. you believe I should choose option A or C. Option C, for me, is not an option. It's not enjoyable so I won't -play- a villain. Option A amounts to "Stay Heroside at all times" which cuts me off from the entire other side of the game. As I don't want to lose half the game (more or less) I am forced to choose option B, as it sacrifices the least of what I like (nothing) and leaves me with everything I do like.
There is no "Facepalm" to this. It's simple logic.
Facepalm, by the way, is more flamebait. It's a derogatory statement which infers your extreme disdain for my statement, regardless of how sound my logic is. Your only argument -against- my logic, thus far, has been "It's stupid", ultimately.
-Rachel- -
Quote:Psssst! not gonna get the kind of response you're looking for. Stop flamebaiting me, or I'll simply stop communicating with you.Originally Posted by Scythus
Desperate reaching.
-Rachel- -
Quote:Umm... You're the one arguing that a "Trainer" is feasible, Scythus... not me.Originally Posted by Scythus
And yet you can mentally delete an entire game's text and write your own story. Amazing.
A superpowered trainer is an acceptable stretch, but noble heroes resisting evil governments of their homeland going to Paragon City to rob banks and kill cops is reaching. Massive reaching.
this isn't a Bugs Bunny Cartoon. I'm not going to mysticall argue for the Trainer's existence. You'd have to have gotten the conversation down to "Does not!" and "Does Too!" for that to even have a fraction of a chance to work.
And even then, I'd be going along with the joke. Not arguing for their feasibility.
-Rachel-
Edit: Ah! Misunderstood.
Nope. It's acceptable to you. And you also assume I have my heroes killing people and robbing banks. Though I do have some of my heroes play "Robin hood" with Arachnos' cash, or The Family's.
Edit Edit: Explaining the original, mistaken post: You seem shocked that I was willing to ignore the existence of trainers when I'm happy rewriting an entire storyline for my character every time I run a mission redside. So your second statement seemed utterly out of place and confused me. Though if you don't "Get It" by now ("It" being why I rewrite the storyline for different characters) then I'm at a loss as to what to tell you. Go back and re-read my posts. There's not really anything else I can say. I roleplay Heroes because I like playing heroes, not villains. My characters don't kill, even when fighting Arachnos, the Rikti, or the Rogue isles Police. -
Quote:Combat practice is not the same as "Flex your left pectoral muscle"Originally Posted by Scythus
Wolverine was not one of the original X-Men. The dude joined much later and already had a century of experience. In any case, the very first issue of X-Men has Xavier running the original team through a combat practice.
It is; however, stated in "Origin of Power" that the first atomic bomb is most likely responsible for mutants in CoH. So there is an overarching connection.
Training someone to jump through a hoop is a physical training that any person can understand the mechanics of and fairly easily describe the mechanics of to another person. Same thing goes for climbing a rope. But flex your left pectoral muscle. use a mutant power you've never used before and I'll describe it in utterly subjective terms from my personal experiences.
You can't possibly describe something that subjective and individualized to someone else. It's like describing the color Green. It's Green. Someone else may perceive what you see as Green as Blue. But because his parents and teachers call it gree he calls it green. We'd never know that he has the -perception- of that color differently. Because he can't explain it as anything but green.
So flex that left pectoral muscle, Scythus. Or better yet, reach down inside and grab that tingly feeling and pull it up to the surface and make it into a fireball.
-Rachel- -
Quote:Eh... Charles taught Jean Grey how to use hers telepathically. And Scott Summers how to keep his under control with the Specs. He didn't teach Wolverine how to heal faster or Beast how to jump.Originally Posted by Scythus
By that assumption, the whole premise of Charles Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters doesn't work because all the mutants have different powers and thus wouldn't be able to teach each other. But if you read X-Men at all, you'd know that this wasn't really the case. Xavier taught the original X-Men how to use their powers HIMSELF.
Seriously, if the X-Men can do it, then BAB's mutant assistant surely can.
I've always understood the X-Men as teaching mutants how to use their powers for GOOD instead of evil while also teaching them the basics they'll need to get ahead in life where, outside of his college, they'd be ostracized and attacked, insulted and assaulted, and likely drop out of school or use their powers for selfish and likely destructive ends.
Plus this isn't Marvel comics where one gene is the cause for all mutations and can be suppressed.
-Rachel- -
Quote:Okay. So he's got assistants to train my Magic user in learning new spells.Originally Posted by Scythus
What, it's too hard to imagine that the most popular heroes in town don't have a staff of assistant trainers on hand where some might know how to train your mystical character? Just because we don't see him taking you to his private gym doesn't mean its not possible. You're already mentally rewriting the entirety of CoV, so why is it so hard to think BABs has specialized aides at his gym?
Does he also have Mutant trainers who can help my mutant hurl fireballs? That's pretty presumptuous, in itself, that it's something even other fire-users can teach. Do me a favor. Flex your left pectoral muscle. It's easy. all you do is focus on that muscle and move it. Can you do it? Keep trying. just flex that one muscle.
Why would it be any easier to teach a mutant how to throw a fireball using their mutant powers? And that's assuming it's a similar mutation! Fuerboll (my fire mutant) secretes a gelatinous oil-based substance that catches on fire when friction rubs across it. Pyro (of the X-men series) has Pyrokinetic control over flame, but can't create the stuff. Could -he- teach Fuerboll how to throw a fireball? No?
There are many, MANY character concepts for whom a "Trainer" makes no sense. how about a demon coming into power after being weakened by her inter-dimensional travel? Does she need a trainer to regain her strength? No. how about a superman styled character. Trainer? No.
-Rachel- -
Fuerboll
Nacht Maus
Viperinae
Hydraphidae
Sacred Blade
Stormbringer
Cobalt Constable
Shining Starlight
Silversaint X
Agate
Velocity X
Darkfall X
Mindtwitch
Neutrino-Girl
Jumper Girl
Portal Girl
Graveyard Girl (noting a trend?)
Psi-Girl X
Starlight X
Gizmo-Girl X
Pei-Mun
Longfang Vasquez
Samantha Bogart
Timesplitter X
Honey-Bee
Frankengirl X
All names I've used on Virtue. Any that has an X beside it is one that I used the i for L trick to get because I simply gave up hunting through synonyms and getting rejections.
I think I'm fairly inventive with names, but really... Finding a word so obscure that there's only 1 reference on it on the entire internet and holding it up as an example of how "Good names" are still available is absurd, Samuel. And you should be ashamed of yourself!
Yes. Most people will say that "Obvious Names" are going to "Obviously" be taken. Haha. Yes. Sometimes you have to get "Creative" with names. But sitting on a high horse and waving your finger at others for not being inventive or creative enough to name their character a word or phrase so obscure that even well educated people will have trouble figuring it out without googling it isn't good naming. It's a last resort.
How many Beta players started out with obscure, strange, or downright abstruse names for characters? how many started out with names just as "Obvious" and "Uninventive" as the ones people have been trying to get ever since? Just because someone equally uninventive got to the name before someone who joined 3 years on DOESN'T make the new player uncreative, short-sighted, or uninventive. It just makes him late.
Sure. ou can name your red and gold spandex-clad fire/fire blaster Jim Taylor or "Operative Flame". But is that truly the heroic name he deserves? No. he should be named something inflammatory and brightly burning! And when you've exhausted every word that means "Fire" in English (and another language or two!) you'll either compromise from the name he deserves to something... Less. Or you might change his entire theme just so you can get "Operative" in there, or Cyber-Flame or something else.
Honestly? I don't care if there are Fifty "Cobalt Constables" standing under Atlas Statue. God knows the chances of that happening without being an organized event are so astronomically small as to be irrelevant.
Ultimately, it was a design choice Cryptic made when they chose the naming convention. They have seen the error of their ways, obviously, since in Champions Online you can share names with other players. Even though the chances of running into your doppelganger there are, by far, more likely than here.
Why would it be more likely there? ALL Fire-using characters are blasters. ALL Ice using characters are blast-trollers. Etc. In the City of Heroes game you've got 5 different archetypes with a total of 44 primaries. Of those 5 overlap when it comes to fire (Thermal Radiation, Fire Melee, Fire Armor, Fire Control, and Fire blast.) So Five out of Fourty Four.
On http://thesaurus.com/browse/Fire there are 48 synonyms to Fire in the first two entries. Sure not all of them make decent names, but let's go with Fourty eight "Good" names using a synonym for flame OR a synonym for flame and a pronoun or title. Mr. Fire, Captain Flame, Fire Girl, etc.
So now you've got 48 "Good names" for a fire character. I've just done a Virtue search this moment on Heroside for the total amount of un-hidden characters. 761 heroes.
Assuming even distribution of Archetypes and Primaries that's 17.29 people on the server right now that all have the same primary, heroside. 86.47 who all share Fire powers.
ASSUMING those 86.47 people each chose evenly from the list of 48 "Good Names" 1.8 people will share the same name. That still leaves over a Dozen zones and five ten-level level ranges for them to be in, not counting instances. Shall I get into the odds of them being on at the same time of day?
Ultimately those 2 (rounding up) people have nearly no chance of ever running into each other. So what, ultimately, is the harm of players having the same name?
Lack of uniqueness. Perceived ownership of a commodity only made rare, unique, and special by a system put into place by the former design team who realized their mistake and rectified it in the next game they created.
I have no love for the unique names system. I find it limiting, boring, and incredibly arbitrary. There is no good reason a person should have to search through thesauruses and obscure phrases for what they perceive to be a decent name indicative of their character. I will not, however, try to lobby for it's removal, since it's functionally impossible from everything I understand of how the game indexes characters.
Needless to say, Clockwork Symphony will do things quite differently...
-Rachel- -
Quote:This one I've got to call you on.Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow
Trainers: I don't see how that is a problem. The process of training itself is cut out entirely (as in, you pick from a menu whereas something like Revenant would have made you actually TRAIN), but the concept of visiting a veteran handler to get advice on how to train up a brand new ability is not at all meta-game. In fact, games where you spontaneously develop a brand new ability our of the aether without having used anything even remotely like it is rather less believable.
My level 4 Fire/Fire mutation blaster walks up to Back Alley Brawler and asks his advice on how to hurl a ball of fire granted by my innate mutation. Brawler knows how to do that -and- explain it?
My level 2 Gravity/Force Field Science Controller who I RP as having control over time itself walks up to Brawler and asks him to teach her how to reach through reality to grab a forklift from a junkyard 3 years ago and sling it at a foe before returning it to it's appropriate place in the timestream. And he knows how to do it AND explain it?
Brawler is a Guy. Sure he's a hero and a Boxer. but the man uses technological boxing gloves. He shouldn't be able to teach my magic user the right words to call forth magical ice as easily as he teaches newbie fighters how to box.
So no. Trainers make FAR less sense in the context of a super-hero game (where powers are generally inherent to the character) than it does for a Fantasy game. though the exceptions to that CAN BE Magic and natural. You don't teach someone how to be a mutant. You don't teach someone how to be a gene-spliced catgirl. And you certainly don't teach someone to be an alien. But for martial artists (Boxers, fighters, gun-wielders, sword-swingers, axe-men, etc) it makes sense and also for people who LEARN magic. It can make sense for -some- Tech origin people...
But overall it's a horrible time-wasting measure put into the game to make you spend an extra 5 minutes running to the trainer before logging out.
-Rachel- -
Quote:Ehhhhhh... Maybe? Though both Emperor Cole and the Resistance seem to be the type of people to fight against villains, regardless of which side they're on.Originally Posted by M_I_Abrahms
Actually, one could apply the Lawful/Chaotic labels to the Villains as easily as they do Heroes. Lawful Evil Villains would enjoy the freedom crushing and (implied) civilian killing that Tyrant's laws offer, while the Chaotic Evil villains can find Tearing down an evil government as much fun as a just one.
But we'll see!
-Rachel- -
Quote:Actually i think that depends entirely on your understanding of reality. The Resistance knows Tyrant to be a tyrant and not the hero of the world that the mass media portrays him to be.Originally Posted by M_I_Abrahms
You must have missed that big thread a couple weeks ago. The one that finally decided that Heroes make more sense in the Isles than in Praetoria, as Recluse is actually the LESSER of two evils when compared to Tyrant.
For a person that -accepts- the Mass media and what they've likely been taught in school, Emperor Cole is just as sweet, humble, and kind as Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej (a man who, in his youth, studied in a buddhist temple and traveled across Thailand talking to locals and helping them out in whatever ways he could) being a hero under his rule is just as noble as it is in Paragon, if not moreso.
If you believe the Resistance, then it's easy to become a hero on the side of rebels and nigh-terrorists.
Basically you can be a good person in either direction. Either good in a lawful manner (uphold society to protect the populace in what is, ostensibly, a utopian society) or a chaotic one (destroy the established regime to bring freedom back)
Ultimately i think it will be harder to play a villain in Praetoria than a hero... As you'd have to just be flat out evil, which both sides would probably resent...
-Rachel- -
Quote:Dun-colored? Or you could've accented the D in and for the illusion of alliteration? We also would've accepted Dank (with all the water around you have to imagine it would be!) disheveled, dreggy, dingy, discolored, despised, dim, drab, dusky, dull, doleful, damnable, dour, dismal, dreary, disheartening, discouraging, dispiriting, or depressing!Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow
Everything is always dirty, dark, disgusting and d... Dunpleasant.
Thanks for playing. =-3
-Rachel- -
Quote:Maybe people are bored of the heroside content from doing it over and over and over against for months or even years on end. So instead choose to head villainside for an atmosphere change, though they still want to be Heroes?Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow
*edit*
Something I feel I have to append:
I do not mean to judge, criticise or presume. Your characters, your subscription fee, your game, your call. You can and probably should disregard my opinion when it comes to actually making and playing your characters. I don't mean to dictate what you should do or think, not in the slightest. I'm merely illustrating a specific point, specifically that it takes a fair amount of ignoring, rewriting and tuning out aspects of the game to get a heroic hero in the Rogue Isles, and that it's unreasonable to deny that much the same can be done to Paragon City, perhaps even to fit in a similar character. It's not a question of who's right and who's wrong and who's heroic and who's villainous. It's a question of spin, and spin can, and should, go both ways.
In short, I can see why someone would want to bend the rules and have a heroic villain (which I assume will go Rogue with Going Rogue), but I can't see why one wouldn't want to try to make the exact same concept on the hero-side. The game supports it no less, put it like that.
As I've said before a few times, I don't like playing villains. I was brought up with a pretty hard moral streak (not saying anyone else wasn't!) that makes it -hard- for me to enjoy villainy for the sake of villainy. I can take it, in small doses, through the filter of someone else' actions being shown on a TV screen. But if you put the choice in my hands, even if it's pixelated pretendy time fun; I won't have fun with it.
This isn't to say I don't enjoy First Peron shooters.... There's just no character to those. It's a faceless nameless mannequin going from point A to point B and shooting another faceless nameless mannequin to protect a flag, rack up kill counts, or some other inane game. It's no more violent to me than ranged tag in a virtual world. Tag! Go back to the spawn point.
As for the List of zones you could use for a "Hero in a Dark Place", heroside; You should add The Hollows, Crey's Folly, The Sewer network, the Abandoned Sewer Network, Warburg, Siren's Call, Recluse's Victory, and Bloody Bay as well.
But it still doesn't account for new (to the player) content, different enemies (find me Sneaky Freaks, Wailers, or Corallax, blueside in -missions-!), a different atmosphere, different -music- (sure it only changes between districts, but that can mean a lot for tone), and a different style of story when you alter it slightly.
It also doesn't help when you have to pass through shiny happy city zones to get from one of those locations to another to play your Darkity Dark Dark hero...
Villainside, however, EVERY zone is dark. I'm already doing a pile of handwaving. To make a Heroside Point of light Hero I'd be doing more handwaving, seeing more of the same content, same enemies enemies, hearing the same music, etc. There's less of a lure to do it Heroside and less of a reward to doing it, too.
There's a lot of perfectly good reasons that you've accepted and agreed with, Sam. if they're not enough for you to "See" why we do it by now, i doubt you ever will, Hon. =-(
-Rachel- -
Quote:if you recolor Energy aura you can get a nice windy effect... add lightning melee and you've got yourself a fun time! =-3Originally Posted by Leo_G
Perhaps Air/Storm defense? You can either deflect incoming attacks or just move yourself out of the way using air currents?
I'd say Telekinesis because WP really has nothing to do with affecting other things with your mind. Literally bouncing swords and bullets back with pulses of psionic power sounds different...and Energy Aura *could* fit that bill...but it has *no* psionic protection >_>
I still think Goo Armor would be entirely unique. Who hasn't thought of at least 1 character who can be splattered into a puddle and reform back into normal in a matter of seconds? Someone throws a punch at you? Their hand gets stuck ^_^
A suitable techy defense set with techy implants and game mechanics could be something but is more origin specific...
Kinetic Aura? Because Energy Aura, again, doesn't fit that bill. I already have a concept for a guy who can absorb an enemy's attack and fling it right back at them.
Can't think of anything else
I'm not sure kinetic aura can really be done. So far as i understand there is no reactive power setting available (for damaging people who hurt you or gooping their fists with goo armor)
-Rachel-