Turgenev

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I asked Snow Globe if he thought this should have a thread, and he told me to go ahead and start it.

Basically, the accolade power the Crey CBX-9 Pistol (Stolen Immobilizer Ray for villains) is awful. It's basically Chilblain, a level 1 power for Blasters, Controllers, and Dominators, but slotted for damage. Unfortunately, it has the same 25-minute recharge as other accolade clicks, which is frankly ridiculous because it's nowhere near as potent as them.

Some people will tell you that it's just fine as it is. Why they do that is beyond me, since it's not fine, it's virtually useless as it is. It's not a powerful attack, doing less damage than the Veteran attacks (even the 54 month reward versions which don't give bonuses based on origin), and immobilize is not a very effective control. It's, in fact, the only immobilize power which isn't permanent on even-cons, even the AoE ones. It's a really disappointing accolade, and you're not going to get it by accident, you have to actively try to get it.

Basically, the recharge should be about 30 seconds at most, not 25 minutes.

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Yes.

(Maybe this is another "oh, look at that extra zero" thing. )

o.O

IGOR?

(searches) Oh, dang. Where have you been all my life, baby doll...

VP: Same here - I think taking a file that's borderline around 98%, then passing it around to players and seeing what they report, would be an interesting way to get a real sample of what's going on...

I can't wait to play with IGOR...

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Nothing to do with badges... but I think we're getting snowjobbed with the xpac. Praetorian earth is all the same maps we already have, so it's not looking like we're actually getting any new content at all... just the same recycled stuff witha new spin.

[/ QUOTE ]Out of curiosity, what makes you think Praetoria is anything like the main Earth's Paragon City? The small glimpse we got in the trailer looks unlike anything we have in the game at the moment.

Or are you basing it on the small amount of standard map types that are supposed to be on Praetorian Earth, that was released in Issue 1 (I think)?

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basing my assumption on only what they have already shown us over the past 5 years. if i am wrong, yay for new content, but if i'm right it''ll be the same paragon but blown up. hoping for wrong, but i doubt it.

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Well, with our LAST paid expansion, we got: Mercy Island, Cap Au Diable, St. Martial, Grandville (EDIT: GV was made available the following issue as part of the lvl 40-50 expansion), etc. If they keep the bar at LEAST that high (and I have no reason to doubt they would, esp. with MMO competition these days), I'm operating under the assumption (as you are) that we'll see a fistful of new zones for Praetoria, along with access to opposing ethos sides based on your having "fallen" or being "redeemed".

Let's see whose assumptions pan out. I'm throwin' down 10 INF.

It's the only correlation I'm finding, without knowing more, VP. I have a file that's a known, rigid quantity: It's exactly X bytes in length. Take that file into two COH installations on two separate computers, both running XP Pro. One says it's 98%, the other says it's 102%...

Besides "size on disk" being different between systems, I'm stymied. =/ What could cause a 4% increase between two systems when reading a file with exactly the same characteristics between the two locations?

KD: On both machines, running XP Pro 32-bit. Home HD is on a 400GB partition; work HD is a 100GB partition.

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Otherwise we run into issues with how each drive is formatted, sector sizes, all that jazz.

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See, that's my theory: That it's reading "size on disk" rather than the file's actual byte size. I'm just too tired right now with resume building to think about the math. XD

The issue: Two separate machines report an Architect .storyarc file with different filesizes while editing. RESULT: On one machine, Architect will show the file as 98.07%, leaving it open for publishing and testing. On another machine, Architect shows the file at 102.07%, locking it against publishing and testing.

Background: I tend to work on my arcs at both work and home. As such, I've taken to archiving my arcs on a USB flash drive, and copy/pasting the updates to each system before I open them. I copy the following folders:

costumes
Custom_Critter
CustomVillainGroup
Missions

The byte size for these files/folders on each location (thumb drive, work laptop, home PC) is identical.

When I edit the files on my work laptop, it reports it as 98.07% in size. I can edit the file, make changes, and it ups or downs the cost as expected.

I edit the same batch of files on my home PC, and Architect reports it as 102.07% in size. It allows me to edit, but I cannot publish or test from this workstation.

The net difference is around 4%. While that may not seem like a lot, there are two issues at stake here:

1. I talk a lot. I need every character I can make work. I'm ALREADY constrained by the built-in limits, and wish I had about 25-50% more than what's allotted to us. 4% is a considerable difference: It's roughly the size of a quality-written end-of-arc souvenir.

2. Assuming all else is equal, why should COH show a different bytesize between two otherwise identical files and folders?

I'm curious: Can anyone verify this behavior? That taking your storyarc files (and associated folders, for comparison) to a different machine shows different filesizes in use?

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And stuffing it on a 164 page thread noone will ever read is wrong as well.

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So, reading 4000 one-page threads is better.

In Bellum Tempus Lamenta

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Aww. Why no more chicken tug?



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The long animation lock was causing some people to abuse it and get 'risk free' rewards.

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Huh. I hope they fix it and put it back in. I haven't had the time to actually map that emote to anything and play against it, just saw it in the small animation window and just WTH'd it away for later reference. Oh well.

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I know this doesn't make sense, but 99% is probably too high. Trying shaving a few percent off and try again.

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This is basically how I resolved it. I shaved it to 98.5%, then suddenly the system was able to take it. It seems like there's 1.5% that prevents a mish from publishing or testing, but doesn't trigger the "file too large" msg.

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PS has anyone found any maps that actually work as they claim to, in regard to placement points? A list of reliable maps would be great.

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City of Heroes > Warehouse > Ruined > 01 > "The broom closet"

*Sorry, sarcasm there. No, I'm also frustrated with the placement points being treated as a "vague suggestion" rather than as an actual hard rule.*

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Yep...AE is headed toward the ghost-town status that the Arena currently enjoys.

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Only in the same sense that when I walk across 5th Avenue in Manhattan I'm headed toward Los Angeles. There are many people who use the AE for other things than maxing reward rates.

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I think that's the kneejerk reaction that's happening here, definitely. It's not like there were no missions before AE. If you want reward rates, I could point to a dozen TF crews that run 'em nightly, even with AE in full bloom.

If you want fresh storylines, and the opportunity to make your own? Architect, baby. Sure, you can make a farm. But can you make a story people will enjoy? Which one is more rewarding to you as a whole?

(Cue the naysayer of "dont tell meh whut meh rewurds shuld b"...)

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Content?

*offers the OP a doggie biscuit* Down, boy.

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Please don't condescend to fellow posters; it adds nothing to the discussion and makes you look like a jerk.

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Wasn't condescending at all. Dude was freaking out. I reached out to bring him back to earth with a dash of humor. I offered a biscuit and told him to chill out.

And if you're taking the time to nanny filter this thread, so do you. Chill. Here, take a biscuit. Lightly used.

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Well they've gone and done it now. Today's patch put a limit on the number of tickets you can get as per which map your are playing. That's right, we now have a ticket limit per mish. A small [censored] ticket limit. So all your challenging mish's are worthless and rewards dismal!! NO SALVAGE DROPS, NO RECIPE DROPS, NO KILLS COUNTING FOR BADGES and now TINY TICKET Rewards. Why even do AE mish's now???

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Content?

*offers the OP a doggie biscuit* Down, boy.

Okay, before this turns into a PVP debate: I hear you; not trying to force you to do anything; just discussing awesome perceived opportunity. Having said that, I'm gonna take the thread back on track.

OP: Dunno about badges. I guess we'll find out.

(See? I steered us back on track.)

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Well, after four years and 10 or more free expansions since the last one, I'm not going to begrudge them the price of another boxed set.

Not sure how long CoX is going to hang on as my MMO of choice, but I have to give them credit, they're working their butts off to keep improving the game, and that counts for a lot.

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That's my take on it. I don't mind paying for something I'd want or like. And they've been going up and up (with a slight hiccup with Issue 13) the almost two years now, AND, they've managed to keep me interested. For over half a decade now.

*empties his pockets to give Positron his lint* "The lint's an IOU for the next expansion. I'll bring the bucks if you bring the box."

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Just a minor question...

Are the villain missions going to be a bit more villainy? I'm not asked for the whole "MWAH-HA-HA Watch me boil puppies and skin orphans!!!" thing, but as a villain, I seem to spend the majority of my time fighting other villains more than those costumed buffoons of Paragon City.

I'm tentatively possibly excited about this, but please tell me that we're going to be a bit more villainy.

Oh, and does this push back I-15 even further?

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No - it's been in the works for a bit already (GR) and Box expansions get their own staff.

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Huh. Wonder if they'll bring in Zeb Cook again.

Aww. Why no more chicken tug?

*looks up at the previous poster* I guess it's to avoid situations involving that guy and an innocent fowl?

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Not to be a killjoy but, I loath any aspect of the game that will require me to click the "no I do not want to fight your twinked out pvp toon" button 50+ times a day, much less listen to the "but wai?" and 13 year old trash talk tells when I do click that button.

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Easy. Have a zone PVP flag toggle. If your toggle's up, your PVP accessible, and you hear enemy chat. If it's not up, you see them, you can watch the fights as you go kill your 10 Outcast, and it's just extra eye candy to make a zone more lively.

I wouldn't force PVP on anyone. I WOULD like to make it more accessible and part of everyday occurrence however, even if it's just from the sidelines, thinking, "Wow, that looks cool."

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But it would be nice to switch sides, and heroes can enter villain zones and villaihs can enter hero zones. And add a new alignment called Rogue, that allows you to enter both hero and villain sides. And not only can a hero become a villain, allow heroes and Villains to become the new alignment as well. Basically opening up the entire game to all characters on both sides.

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This is what I'm hoping it leads to. The whole "Praetoria" chunk sounds like it could lead to "way" to change ethics in-game (say, you get tagged to help Tyrant to cement his rule over his world, and in doing so, your hero "falls", and vice versa), and once done, you'd be able to enter the opposing faction's zones. I love Beef's "Rogue" idea; even if I didn't get any badges, I'd just love it for opening the zones up, finally.

In my mind, I'm already seeing PVP combat in the streets of Steel Canyon. I can dream, right?

This has a lot of creative potential. Jonesing for concrete info, but what I've read thus far is pretty damn promising.

(And here I was, thinking I would have to write an Architect arc about Doc Turg's eventual fall to evil - he was built to fall from day one waaay back in 2004 - and now I don't have to. )

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You know, I was talkinng with my SG about this a while ago, saying how cool it would be to simulate Villains entering Paragon City like the Rikti invasion, for example, they enter Steel Canyon and their goal is to defeat Positron in Blyde Square, and its the Heroes Job to defend him. And have Positron animate and become a NPC. You could technically do this to all the Zones with NPC characters.

Now this would be cool!

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That's exactly what I'm alluding to. Enough of "they're all grey to me, no xp". Villains should have the opportunity to be villainous in the streets of KR or Steel. Heroes should be able to help the citizens of Mercy Island and break the Arachnos grip. All of this could be done with PVE, duel-format PVP, and zone-toggled PVP for raid events. It would bring the PVP aspect of the game TO the PVE side without being overly intrusive, and really liven up zone action.

I mean, how awesome would it be to be a new lvl 10, walking through Steel, and looking up to the sky to see a lvl 50 tank get knocked back halfway down the block by a team of supervillains who've busted through?

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Can you let us know if there will be significant hardware requirement increases with the new expansion?

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That's a good question. I wonder if there will be any graphical updates to regular CoH/ CoV, like there were for CoH when CoV arrived.

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I kinda wonder about this too. Posi's mentioned that he's got a team "looking at a graphical update" for the game. For a drastic upscale in the FX, that could be wrapped into a purchasable expansion.

BAM! I've been waiting for my main to fall since the day I rolled him back in May 2004. This is looking to be VERY interesting.

(...seventh after a redname!)

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How many people are going to send out spam now, just to see their name on the list? lol

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I'm very tempted to send this out to all my vendor contacts.

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But it would be nice to switch sides, and heroes can enter villain zones and villaihs can enter hero zones. And add a new alignment called Rogue, that allows you to enter both hero and villain sides. And not only can a hero become a villain, allow heroes and Villains to become the new alignment as well. Basically opening up the entire game to all characters on both sides.

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This is what I'm hoping it leads to. The whole "Praetoria" chunk sounds like it could lead to "way" to change ethics in-game (say, you get tagged to help Tyrant to cement his rule over his world, and in doing so, your hero "falls", and vice versa), and once done, you'd be able to enter the opposing faction's zones. I love Beef's "Rogue" idea; even if I didn't get any badges, I'd just love it for opening the zones up, finally.

In my mind, I'm already seeing PVP combat in the streets of Steel Canyon. I can dream, right?

This has a lot of creative potential. Jonesing for concrete info, but what I've read thus far is pretty damn promising.

(And here I was, thinking I would have to write an Architect arc about Doc Turg's eventual fall to evil - he was built to fall from day one waaay back in 2004 - and now I don't have to. )

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When they say expansion they mean this one is actually gonna cost money, right?

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Yes, this will be the next paid expansion for the CoX genre. The first (and so far only) paid expansion was "City of Villains", which was then absorbed into the general cost of the game and made available to all players.

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Nice of them to send an email with a bunch of links that don't work.

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Try again.