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Techbot Alpha

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  1. Techbot Alpha
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Premonitions View Post
    The effect the Ignore button has is interesting. In a direct way I don't have to read GG's posts and that's good. But people keep quoting her which just kills my attempts to quell my rage.
    You aren't the only one, that's for sure.
  2. Techbot Alpha
    As usual, Dante sums my own thoughts up better than I can.
  3. Techbot Alpha
    Ok, can we leave 'immersion' out of it, please? That's really off-topic to what the original OP was trying to address, re: still having a time-gate on the in-game method of alignment changing versus no time gate on the paid method.

    Arguably, if we are talking purely about an RP/Immersion sense, I would think it odd how a character can go from 'Good' to 'Evil' in four days, or vice versa, and be instantly excepted.

    That, however, is a meta-game issue, not an IC issue. And not what this thread is about.
    /re-seals bunker
  4. Techbot Alpha
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Bosstone View Post
    You keep repeating arbitrary as if it means something. Every single thing in the game is the result of an arbitrary decision. The devs have decided that they don't want it to take less than 4 days or an equivalent amount of money to shift alignments. That's it, end of story.

    The actual time it takes to do the missions means nothing. They could have gated it at 1 mission per day with 4 total missions needed or 125 enemies per day with 500 enemies needed or 15 million inf per day with 60 million inf needed.

    Further, missions are not completed at a consistent rate. Stealthers can blow through most tips in 5 minutes. Folks setting the difficulty to -1/x1 can do the same. Someone speed-tipping can run all 5 tips in the time it takes a group of 8 to plow through 1 or 2 tips. All of that is fine, play the game how you want to play it. But if the time-gating is removed, that means that the speed-tippers can invest a pretty trivial amount of effort in changing alignments, which the devs don't want. Making everyone wait 4 days by allowing only 25% progress per day, or again by charging a certain amount, is how they ensure that effort investment.
    I use 'arbitrary' in this case to mean pointless and seeming to lack any good reasoning to it.

    And your argument makes no sense. Whatever happens, you still spend more time on doing missions in game than you do by just slapping down however much they charge for the AC in store, if the whole 'Time is money' thing is even held true by the devs.
    Ultimately, why does it matter? It's hardly a game breaking thing to have players being able to change alignments fast, or they would never have put it in the store in the first place. What, other than money grabbing, JUSTIFIES the in-game time limit which is totally negated simply by spending cash?
  5. Techbot Alpha
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Bosstone View Post
    Time equals money. It always has. If the devs believe it should take a nontrivial amount of time to change alignments, then there is no hypocrisy or inconsistency in permitting an alignment change via a nontrivial amount of money as well.
    *Sigh*

    Let's go though this again, shall we?

    1) I have no problem with Alignment change being sold as is. That's not my problem, really.

    2) However, these alignment changes allow you to not only change from Hero to Vigilante (or Villain to Rogue) in one shot, something which usually takes two days because of an enforced and completely arbitrary limit, but it also lets you go from Hero to Villain, which in turn takes four days. Again, there is normally an abitrary limit on this.

    3) THEREFORE, I ask the Devs remove the arbitrary and pointless limit on tips and alignment missions, allowing people to play through both alignment changes in one day should they be so inclined to do all those missions in one shot.

    4) The end result: People can do the in-game missions that they need to get alignment changed in one day if they so choose (while also gating alignment merits to prevent any exploits that might cause) OR they can buy a change if they don't want to do the missions.


    There. Everyone wins. Is that so hard to understand?
  6. Techbot Alpha
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Golden Girl View Post
    So that's another one who can be filed under "I don't like the story, so it must be a bad story".
    I don't really like Star Trek - but I don't think it's a bad story - it's just not something that really appeals to me - I don't need to try and make up reasons why it might be a bad story to try and explain why I don't really like it - I just accept that there are loads of different styles and tastes, and that not everyone will like everything.
    I also don't feel the need to tell Star Trek fans why their story "sucks".
    Wow, ignorance much?

    There is a MASSIVE difference between "This isn't my cup of tea, thus I am in no place to judge" and "I have invested in this universe and this story, and this latest edition of the story has been below established standard."
    It's like a whole new writer coming onto a team and ignoring all that's past to 'Do his/her own thing' because it MUST be cooler. And all that does is annoy people.
  7. Techbot Alpha
    I chuckled Especially the last one
  8. Techbot Alpha
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Golden Girl View Post
    Well, as it's a major plotline, it won't ever finish - once the dimensional war part is over, we'll be helping and getting help from Praetoria against the Coming Storm.
    The ideal model should have been the Rikti. They came as a big hit, lots of nice content. They still crop up from time to time, so they don't get old.

    But the Praetorianshey guys! Praetorians! So cool! You know you want more! Let's introduce them here! And here too! Ooh, and hereandhereandDon't you LOVE Praetoria? Huh? HUH?!

    That's how it feels. It gets old fast.
  9. Techbot Alpha
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Scarlet Shocker View Post
    This is something I wrote that deals with this issue. I hope you take it in the spirit of intent, rather than some sense of self-aggrandizement but this is about the only way I've managed to make the Well work for me.

    http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=281281
    Ok, that? THAT is how the well should have been written. If that was how it came across, that would make a hell of a lot more sense. It just...fits. It works. And it doesn't trample roughshod over anything. In fact, quite the opposite, and that is good.

    Major Kudos, SS. I liked it.
    In fact, I think I'm going to treat that as something to go off for my characters now
  10. Techbot Alpha
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ThePill View Post
    But... Internets?
    Damn, that's a hard argument to counter
  11. Techbot Alpha
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Redlynne View Post
    I'm halfway inclined to say put off "Me Tarzan, You Jane" type ripped up loincloth and one-shoulder top pieces for the day that the team gets around to revamping EDEN into being a much larger "Jungle Zone" ... now that we have the inspiration of the first Avatar movie (of Pandora fame) to draw on, thanks to James Cameron. Turning artists like Noble Savage loose on concepting and designing a Flourescent Flora At NIGHT zone that wouldn't be out of place having 3 meter tall blue skinned "people" and Devouring Earth running around in (while under attack from "company man" Crey Industries, to "reclaim" the area) would be spectacular.
    Oh lord, a revamped Eden would be WICKED. I can imagine that now. Forget the 'big green carpet' tree effect used in Perez and have individual trees in a giant canopy. Giant, mutated and glowing plat life, boulders unfolding into rock soldiers and the tree DE blending right in.

    Aduafjhsgdfhsbg....
  12. Techbot Alpha
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Nihilii View Post
    I always have issues with stories that raise the powerlevel to eleventy bazillion with semi-omniscient beings, because you have to have those characters still act like a person with relatively average or slightly over average intellect in order to keep some kind of connection with your readerbase.

    As far as I'm concerned, any thousand years old entity acting like some mildly educated thirty something *is* a plot hole.
    ^ Agreed
  13. Techbot Alpha
    Really, I was content when the 'Well of Furies' was just another name for the 'Cosmic Power' that enables the CoH-verse to have super powers, alt dimensions, aliens and gods and the like. That was fine. It was just a name for 'That which empowers' and was as much problem as breathing; without it, no CoH.

    BUT. And it's a big but; turning that enabling power into a semi-sentient and above all stupid thing? Now we have a problem. More so when it is made canon that, rather than simply it being an enabler, the switch that turns on super powers so to speak, ANYONE with powers is, in fact, drawing directly on the well. Or at least thus says canon and the canon Devs.

    So, no, you aren't someone who's one-ness with the self has transcended human limits and become an uber-natural fighter. You haven't broken some of the laws of science and created incredibly powerful technology or scientific effects. You have not become a master of magic and been able to tame at least a fraction of its raw power, or find even more power within your mutations.
    Nope, it is all in fact thanks to the Well. It has deemed you worthy to have the power, and ONLY through that are you 'allowed' to be more powerful.

    I find that such [Pancake]. Now, had the 'Well' been Primal Earth's link to the 'Enabler of Power', something that let you tap into what amounts to a universal power source, that would have been fine. That power you found/took would allow you to do even more incredible things with your powers. But apparently that's not on, you HAVE to be *empowered* by this semi-sentient puddle, and pumped up with 'Well juice'. It just...it's clunky, it's awkward, and it runs roughshod over player characters. Why, when so many of the recent arcs give players more freedom than ever before, is the core part of the story doing the complete opposite? It's like the head writers were schizophrenic or something.
  14. Techbot Alpha
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Scarlet Shocker View Post
    Good question. This is my own take on it - others will have their own contribution to make but I wanna be clear I'm not speaking for anyone else here.

    The big issue with the Incarnate system stems from the fact that the power we get is somehow given to us from the Well. We didn't make a better power suit, learn to punch harder or become physically stronger or anything like that - we just happened to get the attention of some hole in the ground and it deems us worthy.

    That, right there, emasculates our characters. It's not about us any more, it's about the Well and the hubris of the Dev writers who are telling their own story instead of allowing us to be the centre of our stories.

    There are other huge issues about the Incarnate story, but that's the root cause for me. We're no longer autonomous within the context of the game, we're puppets.
    ^ This pretty much sums it up for me.

    Alpha, for example, has nothing to do with some damp puddle. He's a technological genius with the patience of a brick and a penchant for getting his mitts on the stuff he needs. Ergo, it's perfectly reasonable, imo, for him to steadily get stronger and stronger to the point of rivalling the likes of States and Recluse without the puddle of mild annoyance getting in the way.
  15. Techbot Alpha
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Noble Savage View Post
    You guys are talking about a lot of different sets here. When I hear "Golden/Silver Age Comics," I think of super-heroes (jungle girls, for example, would be an entirely different genre--but a fun one!). If we're talking strictly about super-hero costumes, as I see it there are 3 possible ways to expand on the category:

    A) revamped old school/spandex tights similar to the ones we already have (adding a few details like seams but still mostly plain)

    B) modern tights (w/ ribbing, surface texture(s), subdivided surfaces) a la Ultimates 1 or Marvel movies

    C) pieces we just haven't made before (e.g. domino mask)

    What are you guys most interested in?
    I think a large selection of proper spandex and suchnot, rather than 'painted on colours' (which look horrible in white, as you no doubt know) would really help. Stuff like proper masks, too.

    And, please please PLEASE can we get the old hair styles done in HD? I like some of the styles there, but they are so low poly at the moment that it's painful and, thus, I barely use them. A lot of the Issue 0-1 hairs has decent styles, but terribad texturing.
  16. Techbot Alpha
    Wow. I could kill about a hundred strawmen in this thread with one fireball...

    Some people need to stop blowing stuff way, WAY out of context like the freaking Spanish Inquisition are after them.
  17. Techbot Alpha
    Ok, been away all day so I kinda missed this foutaining XD

    It seems to have been taken that the point of the OP was 'omg they are selling this wutbbq!!'
    It's not. What DOES annoy me is that we still have the stupid, arbitrary limit on tips that means you cannot side-swap from Hero->Villain in one go in one day (or vice versa)

    I don't care about A-Merits. Gate them to one a day/every two days as it stands now if that would be 'broken'. But saying its ok to side swap all the way when paying but NOT using the in-game methods? Sorry, but that's wrong. And the 'not wanting it to be a switch' argument is no longer applicable, thanks to the buyable tokens.
  18. Techbot Alpha
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by DMystic View Post
    Time vs Money

    do it through time and you have 4 days for a full switch

    Pay PS extra money and you can do it now.

    Same thing with respecs really.

    Spend time to complete the Trials or buy it now.
    Respec trials don't have an arbitrary four day limit.

    Not to mention it's STILL total hypocrisy going by Posi's original statement. I'm FINE with that, but I'm not cool with only the paid option being instant. That's just lame.
  19. Techbot Alpha
    Unless you pay for an Alignment Change token, of course.


    ...
    Wut.

    So, seriously now; why is there still an arbitrary time limit on alignment switching by doing tips and such in game?
    When you can just BUY the alignment you want (which, coincidentally, completely eradicates Posi's whole "We don't want alignment to be a switch you flick on and off" ramble from when it was first introduced...) it seems somewhat hypocritical to still limit the in-game method so unfairly. Bit of a bum move there.
  20. Techbot Alpha
    Dude, one loading screen isn't going to change much. The Devs have SAID that *someone* will be removed from the game, and that it will take some time.

    Sure, it might NOT be Statesman. But...eh, whatever. *shrug*
  21. Techbot Alpha
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Slaunyeh View Post
    I've heard that they are going to remove the 5th Column from the game so it can be sold in Europe as well. Actually a myth!
    Fixed that for you.

    And...offensive? Really? It's not like you're playing one. EVERYONE, Heroes and Villains alike, pounds and wails on them. That says 'these guys are bad enough for everyone to hate them. Go punch some more'.
  22. Techbot Alpha
    It's happened in the past. And hey, it's free marketing because it spreads viral so fast.

    I honestly don't see the problem.
  23. Techbot Alpha
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Zwillinger View Post
    To repeat what I said in another thread: Beast Mastery is still early in development and should be taken as such. In other words, not yet ready for primetime.

    The set is expected to launch within the Issue 22 timeframe, not neccessarily with the launch of Issue 22.

    Also, no we won't add ferrets, so stop typing it now...Yes you, I'm looking at you.
    Which leads to the question I asked on Beta, before the servers rudely kicked me out (Jumped up little punks. Got a few gig worth of programming and think they're Skynet or something. Amateurs...)

    Why Lions? Or, rather, why Summon Wolves, then Lions, then....another Wolf? Why not, I dunno, a Bear? That seems the logical choice. Or even making it a choice, i.e. making wolves, lions and other clawed, bitey quadrupeds the tier 1, then something else as choices for the tier 2 and then tier 3?

    Obviously it's still early days. But more variety might work better. And, bear in mind (no, no, shut up, shup UP!) , this is coming from someone who loves wolves.
  24. Techbot Alpha
    Yup, big ol' beta download here too.

    Please, PLEASE for the love of [Pancake], tell me the character transfer tool is actually working this time around? I WILL feed someone to that [Pancake] Carnifex...I mean, uh, DA beasty if it's not...
  25. Techbot Alpha
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by 80sBaby View Post
    Fixed that for you.