Steampunkette

Hmm...? Oh! I thought it was just -lovely-! Though I'd suggest a double boiler for a clank of that size. Perhaps?

Hmm... *gets a cute little far-off thinking look on her face* Brass... Something to spruce it up a bit... Maybe some scrollwork on the limbs. Nothing -terribly- fancy...

-Rachel-

Hmm? You'll have to ask the Fetish Bois. There might be some in the Cooling unit?

* smiles a bit and then looks out to the water, numbers running through her head behind her eyes as she fixes her hair into that tight whip-tail braid*

-Rachel-

*waves at Detra with a spatula, then looks up, squeaks, and prepares to duck and cover to avoid the splash that will never come*

Why you little! *with a grin and a giggle, she flips over a couple of burgers, then hands the grill off to a Fetish boi, then plops down to braid her hair into a single long tail, humming softly to herself, out of the sun on a deck-chair*

-Rachel-

*comes out of the Rookery in a modest two piece bikini, black with a brass gear-pattern printed on it, carrying a rather laden tray filled with hamburgers, hot dogs, and steak. She hands it off to one of the fetish bois and runs her fingers through her dark brown hair, then heads back inside to retrieve the second load of food: Various kabobs and veggies on a platter!*

Goooood morning, everyone. Who's up for a brunch barbeque, then, Hmm?

*she gives a bright smile and sets out the tray, then starts loading up the already hot propane grill (her own design!) with meat and kabobs*

Hope everyone's hungryyyyyyyy...

-Rachel-

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Having icons for the powers doesn't mean the powers are made, balanced and have graphics attached to them, though. That's in the same vein as people looking for the Killing Crew from the 2001 CoH trailer to be somewhere in the game, when they never actually existed in anything but name.

[/ QUOTE ]

I know, I know... It REALLY does suck, since there's a lot of awesome powers listed...
Empathy - Steal Energy
Luminous Aura - Light of Reason
Umbral Aura - Veil The Mind
Thugs - Rally

Just to name a few...

[/ QUOTE ]

You heard it here, folks! Issue 16 will increase the level cap to 60 and we'll get new powers in our primaries! They will be extremely useful to some players but most people will think they suck!

-Rachel-

Blue Steel does not have or use and 'I Win' buton.

He has the 'You Lose' power as an inherent, however.

-Rachel-

Farming isn't against the rules. Exploiting is.

-Rachel-

I'll just leave This here, then get back to work on my templating. =-3

-Rachel-

It's impossible for the Devs to be too RP-minded.

Just like it's impossible for them to be too PVP-Minded or too Balance-Minded.

-Rachel-

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
/stupidity

[/ QUOTE ]
Now if only the devs would do this... sadly, my "joke post", made to seem utterly ridiculous, is how they've handled things this past week.

[/ QUOTE ]except they haven't, its a purposely inaccurate straw man for a much more serious case and you know it.

[/ QUOTE ]
The fact that they've been deleting posts and threads that point out that they're not hitting farmer accounts, but are hitting accounts for people who simply had a level pact character that they hadn't logged on in a bit (when neither they nor their pactmate had ever stepped foot into MA) indicates to me that there's a far larger issue than you'd like to believe.

Sure, they probably actually hit some people that were "egregiously abusing" a bug. They also hit several people who weren't, but instead were using a specifically added feature (level pacts) in the manner in which it was intended (keeping an offline pactmate at the same level as one that had more playtime availability)... when neither of the characters ever entered the Mission Architect buildings and the issue they were trying to deal with was "MA abuse".

That sort of thing should bring about a public acknowledgement, apology, and reassurance it won't happen again. Not a cover up.

Since everyone seems to want to turn MA exploits into some sort of crime, here's a real-world crime example. If a cop turned a fully automatic weapon on a storefront that was being held up and hit 4 robbers and 2 innocent customers, you're damned sure that if they just said "oh well" about the civilians and then tried to bury that it ever happened there would be repercussions - whether the people were killed or not (people have posted that after days of dealing with CS they've gotten their accounts reactivated and characters undeleted). It's gross negligence on the part of the devs that it happened and they should own up to it.

[/ QUOTE ]

Your example is flawed. But allow me to expand upon it.

The injuries sustained by the two people who were NOT criminals were -minor-, easily repaired, and the two innocents were compensated for their pain and suffering.

In this particular case with a free month of CoH for their trouble in the one case I've heard of.

-Rachel-

At one point you could get killed while the countdown was still going, avoiding debt, pop a waken and run around. Then the power would kill you AGAIN when it hit 0.

It's been fixed.
-Rachel-

A Compromise, then?

How about making them unlockable for both real world money or in game currency (such as Merits)?

A Maximum of 9 costumes. 1 is free, 3 are earned, 1 is purchased with salvage, and 4 that can be purchased with merits OR Real World Currency (for people who don't want to 'waste' the merits)

It gives an option, and could put more money into the game's coffers.

-Rachel-

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Regarding debuffing toggles:
Radiation Emission's and Storm Summoning's debuff toggles also draw aggro. Do you skip Snow Storm and Hurricane on Storm Summoners or also avoid taking Radiation Infection and Enervating Field on Rads, or do you just not play the sets?

[/ QUOTE ]
This wasn't directed at me, but...

I don't ever open with Snow Storm - slowing their rate of attacks doesn't help me when the response from the mobs is going to either mez or kill me and turn it off anyway. I typically open with either Freezing Rain or Sleet, so I at least have the knockdown and mob panic mode to break up the alpha.

As for Radiation Infection... no, I don't use it much on teams past the 20s unless I'm the one expected to be taking the alpha. By those levels I expect you to have your defenses and accuracy mostly covered so that I'm not wasting 3+ seconds every encounter with a -def -tohit power instead of just using less than 2 for EF to make everything die faster.

[/ QUOTE ]

I can agree with this post, mostly.

I'll still hang onto the -acc -def toggle for

A) Hard Targets (AVs and the like)

or

B) Damage Resistant/High Damage teams

On the former it's obvious as to why I hang onto it. Every miss counts. But on a Damage Resistant and High Damage team? I'd rather they never miss (except on a 5% or lower). And if someone has a high damage resistance (Invulnerability for example) debuffing Accuracy is -far- more effective than debuffing damage. The damage will be reduced twice before it lands -or- the damage has a greater chance of not landing in the first place. The latter seems more useful on high DR teams.

-Rachel-

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
You are getting an advantage by abusing a game mechanic in a manner clearly not intended by the devs: EXPLOIT!


[/ QUOTE ]
zomg!

Delete the character and ban the account!

[/ QUOTE ]

It's too late! People on the forums have already read the post and they'll be exploiting immediately! Ban the entire Forum Population!

/stupidity

-Rachel-

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Buffs don't make a To-Hit check. They just get applied. Debuffs have to hit you.

[/ QUOTE ] I didn't know that, that's awesome thanks.

Samuel, I think it's ingenious.

[/ QUOTE ]

Glad to help!
*cues "The More You Know" song and star animation*

-Rachel-

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
(Quick Reply)
However you (general You) can choose, within the confines of a contract, to give up freedom of speech on specific topics. In most cases breaking the contract results in serious litigation.

For example. Breaking a Non Disclosure Agreement can cost you (General You) thousands of dollars if the breech of contract damages a company's image, or their product's image.

Every person who utilizes the forums has agreed to the terms of such a contract. Wherein they limit their freedom of speech on specific subjects. Threads that discuss 'Bannings' or 'Character Deletion' are breaking that rule. The Devs have every right to 'Silence the truth!' when the truth should be discussed only in the appropriate channels which every End User has agreed to.

Spreading news or 'truth' of people being rolled back or having characters locked damages the image of the company and the product. This can result in a loss of profits.

So rather than overwork the Moderators in their attempt to enforce the rules TAKE UP YOUR (General You) ISSUES WITH CUSTOMER SERVICE.

This is -NOT- a Civil Rights Issue. This is NOT The Abolition. This is either an -error- in the game's coding which needs to be repaired or it's a duly notified punishment being meted out.

Subverting other threads to your (general you) purpose will not help the matter and will only exacerbate it as multiple threads unrelated to the 'Taboo' topic get locked or deleted based on your (again, general you) actions.

Please. Follow the rules and take it up with Customer Service rather than doing your (general You) best to defame a -good- game.

-Rachel-

[/ QUOTE ]

Since CS can do nothing to change policy explain how that works? I lost no toon and got no ban I have no need for customer service. I merely think that a change in policy would better this game however this player section has the most closed minded people who don't bother to read posts. Not arguing that i have free speech here Laxx wants to say it applies only to the government i looked it up and the definition says different. Did not anywhere in that post say it applied to these forums. I also knowingly accept my punishment for violating the EULA.

[/ QUOTE ]

I would suggest, instead, creating a thread in the Suggestion and Ideas forums, then. Where you discuss this policy change.

As it stands you knowingly violate the EULA in a thread that has nothing to do with the issue being discussed. This can and possibly will cause -this- thread to be locked. Far better to openly request a change to policy in the appropriate forum.

As for Gear_Freak. You're proving yourself to be nothing more than one of the many Tweens who fought in the great Console Wars against Sega or Nintendo. You have a moment's pity from me, and then hope that you'll grow out of it.

And Angel? What is right is protecting their jobs, their livelihood, and their families. If this game shuts down that's one massive moneymaker they will not have. 'Right' is, sadly, subjective to the person in questions knowledge of the situation or inference upon.

I'm not directing this at anyone. This is not a negative or cruel thing. I simply wish to ask if Critical Thinking is no longer a part of mainstream curriculum? It was something drilled into my head for the entirety of elementary school. But I did notice that it seemed to drop off in High School. Did they remove it completely?

-Rachel-

Take a look at each of the links to Issues on this page: http://wiki.cohtitan.com/wiki/Issues

Issue 1, for example, added the following:
2 New City Zones

* Peregrine Island - This zone, north of Talos Island, is home to the secretive Portal Corporation.
* Rikti Crash Site - In this zone, the Rikti War still rages. Join the battle and keep Earth safe from the alien invaders.

New twists to missions

* 5th Column Prison - When you're defeated in certain equipped 5th Column bases, you will have more to deal with than a hospital bill.
* Circle of Thorns Crystal Prison - Like the 5th Column, if you are defeated in selected lairs, the Circle of Thorns will have a big surprise in store for you.
* Circle of Thorns Gate Room - The Circle has found a new method of protecting its dark secrets: the Gate Room.
* Circle of Thorns Orichalchum Crystals - Magic can bring power, or magic can bring pain. These crystals have become infused with the Circle's dark magic, and heroes will often find themselves surprised by the results.
* Tech Danger Lab - Technology can be somewhat unreliable. The only way to find out what the Tech Danger Lab holds is to experiment and observe the results.

Outdoor Mission Maps

* The villains of Paragon City have taken the fight to the streets.

Content For levels 40-50

* The sick amusements of the Carnival of Shadows have turned deadly. Learn the source of their powers on your quest to save a single soul.
* Expose the darkness in Countess Crey's closets and bring her secrets to light at last.
* Begin to plumb the depths of the mysterious Malta Group.
* Nemesis: How far will the Prussian Prince of Automatons go in his bid to conquer America?
* As with many new technologies, Portal Corporation's advances involve great risks. Venture to alternate realities to keep Paragon City safe from the many hazards of the multiverse.
* Is there any hope for peace between the Rikti and Earth? Not if you don't keep your eye on the factions that have begun to splinter Rikti society.
* The Praetorian supervillains may well be the greatest threat your fair city has ever faced. Take the battle to their home dimension to keep Paragon City safe.

Trial Room

* Sewer Trial Room - Deep within the sewer system, something is growing. Characters between levels 38 and 40 must battle the Hydra to keep it contained - but be sure to come prepared for a long, hard fight.

Tailor

* Now your costume can change and evolve with your hero. At 3 locations within Paragon City, you can update your outfit - for a price.
* At levels 20, 30 and 40, you can earn extra costume slots by performing tasks for Icon's tailors. Now you can customize your look on a daily basis! You may perform these tasks at any level after the initial level.

Power Bug Fixes

* Decreased the difficulty of higher level foes. Foes 4 and 5 levels higher than you are now easier. Foes 6 and 7 levels higher than you are slightly easier, but still very difficult.
* Fixed a bug that made some powers buff/heal less in an AoE if it hit a villain target (like Transfusion, Siphon Power, or Twilight Grasp) that was higher level. These powers will now buff/heal based on the casters level.
* Fixed a bug that was causing Scrapper/Regeneration/Resilience to drain a tiny bit of END every 10 seconds.
* Fixed Short Help description for Claws/Focus. It used to say it was a Melee AoE, but it is actually a Ranged Targeted power. Power did not change, only description was corrected.
* Fixed Short Help description for Storm Summoning/O2 Boost. It used to say it was a Ranged AoE, but it is actually a Ranged Targeted Ally power. Power did not change, only description was corrected.
* Fixed Short Help and long description for Energy Blast/Explosive Blast. Actual damage is Moderate, but description said it was Minor. Power did not change, only description was corrected.
* Fixed O2 Boost and Clear Mind Resistance to Sleep (it would awaken slept Allies, but it gave no resistance).
* Burn now also protects the caster from Sleep and Hold effects.
* Fixed inconsistency in the short and long help of Energy Blast/Explosive Blast (power did not change).
* Provoke now accepts Accuracy Enhancements.
* Added a Critical Hit (small % change to do double damage) to ALL Scrapper Primary attack powers. Existing scrapper powers that already had critical hit damage have a higher success chance than other powers.
* Added Resistance to Hold and Knockback to Moment of Glory (technically, this is a bug fix).
* Decreased the Accuracy BONUS of higher level villains when attacking lower level Heroes. This change effectively improved Defensive powers (buffs and Defense armors). There was a discrepancy that made Resist Damage powers more effective against higher level foes than Defense powers. This change does not change any power directly, but allows Defense powers to be more effective against higher level foes. They should be equally effective as Resist Damage powers. This change does slightly reduce a higher level Heroes ability to hit lower level villains, but it should be hardly noticed since High level Heroes are significantly more powerful than lower level villains and will still hardly miss anyway.
* Fixed a bug that allowed Slow (Slow Recharge Time) powers to increase a target's recharge time to infinity. Maximum debuff to recharge time is now 4 times normal recharge (this applies to villains and Heroes).
* Fixed a bug that allowed Debuff Damage powers to debuff a target's damage to zero. A target's damage can not be debuffed below 10% of its normal damage (this applies to villains and Heroes).
* There is now a MAX damage resistance of 90% for all (standard) damage types. No combination of powers or enhancements can bring your damage resistance beyond 90%. Any damage resistance beyond 90% will go towards damage resistance protection (it will protect you from getting your damage resistance debuffed).
* Increased Max possible Resistance to Speed Running, Flying and Swimming to 100% (villains and Heroes).
* Fixed Collision/Selection box of many larger villains.
* The minimum resistance for a character has been increased. This change limits the susceptibility of characters to damage when they are debuffed. The limit is now four times the damage the power would do if the target was not debuffed.
* Increased defense of Ice Armor/Frozen Armor and Glacial Armor.
* Increased defense of Super Reflexes/Focused Fighting, Focused Senses and Evasion.
* Heal Other and Twilight Grasp can now be resisted (in case the target is suppose to be resistant to Heal). This is a fix. All other Heals were always resistible.
* Changed schema of CoT Mages Kamikaze power (Without giving away too much, their Kamikaze power will appear less random now, and you should be able to employ countermeasures to deal with this now.)
* Added system chat message to villain sniper attacks.
* Fixed small typo in Shadow Maul critical system chat message.
* "Underling"-class villains like the Rikti Monkeys have had the reward for defeating them placed more in line with their difficulty.
* Fixed Totem Damage resistance.
* Fixed Provoke's accuracy.
* Fixed Burn Radius (it was smaller than intended. It now functions as it should).
* Fixed a bug with certain Powers that debuff resistance's. Before this change, a power which affected resistance would apply this resistance to itself. This resulted in compounding the intended effect, which made the power work incorrectly overall.

For example: Imagine one de-buffed a villain's resistance to Fire Damage powers, thereby making them more susceptible to powers of that nature. On the next combat tick, the villain's resistance is calculated again, but this time he's susceptible to Fire Damage powers-- including the one which made him susceptible in the first place. So, he would be made even MORE susceptible. On the next combat tick, it would happen again, etc. The compounded resistance makes the initial debuff much more powerful than intended. In fact, a very small stack of this debuff ends up being completely unresistable. Freezing Rain and Enervating Field are the two powers which are affected by this change. In typical circumstances, you should see little difference in their effects. When stacking these powers, though, you will see the change. If you've been using a small stack of these powers to trivially take out an archvillain or monster, you will find that you will need to stack more of them. In short, instead of the stack multiplying and compounding over time, its strength becomes the sum of the stack; as was intended by the original design. Hero resistance buffs have always been unresistable; they will not be affected by this change at all.

Mission Bug Fixes

* Penny Preston will no longer give her mission to characters under level 30.
* Serafina will now sell the proper Enhancements.
* Broken Story Arcs have had a fix-attempt made to them. If you have had clues in your clue bag for several levels, go back and talk to all your Contacts to see if you can complete Story Arcs that failed to complete the first time (depending on your level, completing these missions might be rather easy).
* Many, many missions that were giving "Internal Errors issuing this task" or no waypoints appearing have been fixed.
* Many instances of out-of-range Bosses appearing in missions and spawns have been fixed.

Exploits

* To deal with an XP sharing inconsistency for teams containing members with very wide level gap, we've made the following changes: XP splitting has now changed, giving a larger share to higher level people in your group. Characters groups with a level range of 6 or less should see no significant change as long as they fight mid-range encounters. This is to compensate for how much easier encounters are when the villains are well under the level of the Heroes in your group. Grossly under-level characters (not-sidekicked) in a group are ignored when determining the group's level in regards to rewards.
* Increased the XP reward for villains 3 or more levels above the Hero defeating them.

Physics

The jump code was slightly changed to better reflect reality, to be modified by powers better, and to provide overall better gameplay.
Networking

Added networking code that handles client stalls better and should reduce disconnects for users with poor network connections.
New Slash Commands

* /nojumprepeat - Disables jump auto-repeat
* /whereami - Tells the name of the shard/map you are on
* /costume_change, /cc - Changes current costume

Misc

Added character delete confirmation





So while there were a pile of bugfixes they also added new zones, new content, and new abilities.

The Issue went live on June 24'th 2004. The game went live at the end of April, wasn't it? Or was it May?

So in 2-3 months from launch that's what was added to the game.

-Rachel-

(Quick Reply)
However you (general You) can choose, within the confines of a contract, to give up freedom of speech on specific topics. In most cases breaking the contract results in serious litigation.

For example. Breaking a Non Disclosure Agreement can cost you (General You) thousands of dollars if the breech of contract damages a company's image, or their product's image.

Every person who utilizes the forums has agreed to the terms of such a contract. Wherein they limit their freedom of speech on specific subjects. Threads that discuss 'Bannings' or 'Character Deletion' are breaking that rule. The Devs have every right to 'Silence the truth!' when the truth should be discussed only in the appropriate channels which every End User has agreed to.

Spreading news or 'truth' of people being rolled back or having characters locked damages the image of the company and the product. This can result in a loss of profits.

So rather than overwork the Moderators in their attempt to enforce the rules TAKE UP YOUR (General You) ISSUES WITH CUSTOMER SERVICE.

This is -NOT- a Civil Rights Issue. This is NOT The Abolition. This is either an -error- in the game's coding which needs to be repaired or it's a duly notified punishment being meted out.

Subverting other threads to your (general you) purpose will not help the matter and will only exacerbate it as multiple threads unrelated to the 'Taboo' topic get locked or deleted based on your (again, general you) actions.

Please. Follow the rules and take it up with Customer Service rather than doing your (general You) best to defame a -good- game.

-Rachel-

.... A Much safer bet would be to clear out the enemies, pop 2 purple inspirations, then blow the labs.

Buffs don't make a To-Hit check. They just get applied. Debuffs have to hit you.

-Rachel-

Anniversary.

-Rachel-

It should be noted that the above link doesn't function (at least on Firefox) unless you change .net to .com

-Rachel-

(QR)

Everyone needs Stamina. It should be inherent into all builds and people should be ashamed for not using it.

Meanwhile I'll never use a vital AoE -tohit -dam power on any of my multiple dark/dark characters.

People have the option to take Stamina if they want to. They don't -need- stamina no matter what powers they take if they slot appropriately and play intelligently.

Noone is ever required to take any power ourside of their tier 1 secondary power.

-Rachel-

[ QUOTE ]
another game i play phantasy star universe which is $9.99/month. it came out in october 2006. and ppl complain about the fee there all the time. and sometimes i subscribe to wow. also xbox live $50/yr these fees add up. 9.99 for psu, 14.99 for wow, 14.99 for coh. thats 50+ a month on games. this adds up.

along with about 200 to 300 on groceries/alcohol/restaurants per month, 279 for rent each month. 40/mo to my brother for doing the dishes, and cleaning the apartment. 20 for adult entertainment. 50 for car insurance. 25 for renters insurance. 10 for life insurance. 30+ for gas. i'm gonna have to pay for dental insurance soon. also money for furniture, new bed, bedding stuff, electronics, soon a new $1200 computer. also other games i buy such as sf4, fightpad controller, defense grid, castle crashers, ssf2thdr and other games, video rentals. and medical expenses i just paid 735 for a hospitol bill, credit report 25. gambling, movie theateres, postal stamps, luckily no credit cards currently. and i get about $900/month from disability, and i live in north county san diego, ca. i'm not working right now. soon i'll go back to work after i have a cataract in my eye removed. then i go back to pizza delivery for round table while getting disability.

i'm surprised so many ppl were against this. you must be rich or are you brats that live off your parents. how easily do you give away your money. talk about trolls, and flaming. it seems like you should want to save money not give it away. what are you gonna do when champions comes out? pay another 14.99 or let your characters die? i'll probably subscribe to this on, and off like i do wow. and switch to champions maybe when it comes out. also i was only trying this game out to see wheter i like it or if it was worth it, not promising to be a lifetime subscriber.

[/ QUOTE ]

Allow me to solve all your monetary problems for City of Heroes -and- save you a bit of money!

You're on the Internet. You can get porn for free. So that $20 for adult entertainment can pay for City. =-3

No? How about doing the dishes yourself? That'd save you $25, wouldn't it?

Still No, huh? Maybe cut back on the restaurants and alcohol?

Oh! Oh! don't gamble!

Or give up Movie theatres? Make it a once in a while treat?

We want to continue paying our $14.99 a month because we realize this game is worth it, if not more. We realize that a $500,000 a month hit to NCSoft's wallet would quickly cut into the production team of the game we like.

Perhaps if you were to cut your spending and/or live within your means you might have better luck at paying your bills on time while still being able to afford a game you like playing.

-Rachel-

Y'wana know what's almost infinitely better than a 'Healer'?

A Controller. Specifically an Earth Controller with a tiny bit of cover.

Drop quicksand (no need for line of sight) then Earthquake(No need for Line of Sight) Then Volcanic Gasses (Anyone noticing a pattern here?)

The Controller has a 0.00% chance of getting hurt unless you're fighting Igneous, War Wolves, or Carnie Strongmen.

Meanwhile he's got the aggro and the enemy has a 20% to hit debuff when they -aren't- held or falling on their backsides. So pop around that corner for Stalagmites followed quicky by Stone Cages.

Congratulations. You've just lowered their defenses with Earthquake to ensure that your AoE Stun hits them all, making you almost impervious to retaliation. Then you dropped stone cages for added damage. Sure they're not falling on themselves anymore,but they're effectively held by the combination and by the AoE Pulsing Foe Hold.

In charges the group to finish the whole groups off in a bloody massacre.

No need for a Healer.
-Rachel-

[ QUOTE ]
Nominations for consideration

Aett_Thorn
Memphis_Bill
Catwhoorg
Zekiran_Immortal
Fleeting_Whisper
EnnVee
Ironblade
TonyV
Lemur_Lad
Zombie_Man
Luminara
Samuel_Tow
Dark_Respite
MunkiLord
Ad_Astra
Perfect_Pain
SwellGuy
Bad_Influence - Ya gotta include her cuz ya know she'll be accusing the group of being the Forum Cartel anyway.

[/ QUOTE ]

FORUM CARTEL! DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Dev Fanbois!
Devlovers!
Moar DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

....

Honestly I think it's a good idea.
-Rachel-