Turgenev

I'll check in a minute, NP.

(Might wanna fix your subject, Luna. Unless our new name is the FreedomE Horde?)

Text:

"For 63 months in the City of Heroes you have earned access to the Reveal power that removes "fog of war" from any map!"

You have to "claim" the item under Vet badges. The power's data:

Activation: 1.5s
Recharge: 5m0s
Accuracy: 1.00x (It'd be funny if a map could have a DEF against this)

Off to the Storm Palace to give this a whirl.

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Picture from last night! Posi TF

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Apparently, I'm mooning the camera.

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And THAT's what Skie looks like with her aura off...

(buys the screenshotter a new video card)

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Now everytime Flu plays that toon I'm going to want to call him (Daniel-san).

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Fixed for moar betterly correctitude.

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Lol, I actually changed my original post while you were posting this.

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O RLY, WHITEFOX-SAN?

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Bad linky....

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Bah, they protect vs hotlinking. Okay, here's the actual piccie in its native environment.

http://www.creepygif.com/image.php?i=242

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So my question is, does Freedom have a high level of activity around 4-9 pm PST on weekdays? We are looking to be able to jump on and be able to team up easily on red side.

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That's on the tail end of primetime, but yeah, you shouldn't have an issue teaming, blue or red. Just remember, if you can't get a team, form one - there are a billion LFTers, but all it takes is one /inviter to start things up.

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Now everytime Flu plays that toon I'm going to want to call him (Daniel-san).

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Fixed for moar betterly correctitude.

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Lol, I actually changed my original post while you were posting this.

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O RLY, WHITEFOX-SAN?

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Now everytime Flu plays that toon I'm going to want to call him (Daniel-san).

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Fixed for moar betterly correctitude.

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PS: One of the most interesting parts of the night: While getting the teams out the door, I had someone who was just standing around there send me a tell asking me "What the hell I was doing?". I guess people aren't allowed to setup multiple teams for Posi

Edit: PS #2: My husband was calling me "Killer of Servers". He directly blames me for the lag we were all experiencing at the beginning for setting up so many teams.

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My favorite part of the evening setup, when someone asked "WTH is going on??" My response: "LF AE"

On the lag: That was a HUGE problem in the first mish; I'm wondering if we really did cause a server spike with all of us doing that mish with full/nearly full teams and all the spawnage... It lessened out on the 2nd mish onward somewhat, but that mighta just been us being numb to it with all the blood.

Hey, did anyone get a group pic in Steel of us?

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Actually Turg, you were the only one at 15 during that mission - everyone else started the night at levels 10 to 12. Now of course, I think everyone is at level 15 - I know Lieran leveled just before I logged off & she was 10 when we started.

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Yeah, didn't think about that 'til halfway thru the first map, when everyone was dinging around me like crazy. Then on Rollister... yeah, that was painful. Those spawns were just simply insane...

It's kinda the reason why I nearly always do TF's when I've outleveled it; keeps me at top level for optimum balance. Mix/matching levels can be a hairy experience, as we noticed...

Seeya Friday at 1130pm Eastern to finish it.

Mr. E's team (7 players) Left off on the last 3 mishes due to it being too late to continue. Stopped playing around 1am. Concluding Friday at 1130pm.

Rollister is where we broke our backs multiple times. You just can't rush that map effectively at lvl 15...

The team consisted of the following:

[Team] Maximar: @Captain Power
[Team] Cerulean Skie: @Turgenev
[Team] Glasses: @Lucky666
[Team] Roxona MD: @roxona
[Team] Hobo Knife: @Jokerohki
[Team] Transfusione: @Lieran
[Team] Beauty in a Bubble: @Mr E-Man

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If you've played for 63 months and you don't know these maps well enough that you have to use a power to clear fog of war... I dunno what to say.

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I dunno. For the Shard and Sewers alone, I'd say this was well worth it.

Yo, iltat:

HBD, son.

Love, T.

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To remove the disincentive that unachievable rewards can be to newcomers.

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I talked to all of them. They all said they're okay with how it is. I can ask again if you like?

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And hopefully you'll know by now that if you're not there by my listed start time, then I'm not chasing you down

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Except for one time where I took too long to poop by E's estimation, this is exactly what I'd expect. No harm, no foul, hon.

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What I'm asking for is for either the goal posts to stop moving, or for a mechanism to compensate for the head start if they won't.

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Why? That's what we're not getting here. How does this benefit the playerbase as a whole?

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Hows about yes. that zone SUCKS. Its BORING. Its GRAY. It SUCKS THE FUN OUT of the game.

SO YES, Lets SPICE it up.

I didn't say make it so you can't do any of the stuff you listed...

I said let the heavens RAIN BIG ROCKS down on it.

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I'm all for evolving zones to reflect storylines, sure.

But saying that the zone "SUCKS"? No. It feels perfect to me in execution: It captures the industrial-quarter city feel superbly, and gives a much-needed texture to the game.

If you want to spice something up with real evolution, then next step should be Dark Astoria. Let the heroes finally start to recapture that zone, only to have the Dark rebel and double its shadow. That zone's laid quiet for half a decade; with all the heroes around, isn't it about time MAGI made a concerted effort to liberate all those trapped souls?

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The people that give me the biggest problems are the ones I'm not global friends with, or who are not in the chat channel.

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Or those who live in /ghide. Sorry. It's how I roll.

*scribbles furiously on a bunch of post-it notes*

"I will not run around corners while on pain meds."
"I will not run around corners while on pain meds."
"I will not run around corners while on pain meds."
"I will not run around corners while on pain meds."
...

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Looks like tonight will be interesting Need a pic before we start the mish.

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Heh. How about all of us packing into the Tech Store next to Positron? (Thinking "30 cheerleaders in one phone booth" sorta mentality)

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Well, at great great pain I Respec'd my WS today. I have TP & Shadow Cloak. Couldn't get SS & SC both by 15. I should still be able to TP through & (Assemble Team).

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Did you actually respec your primary build, or use your secondary build?

(I ask this because I keep forgetting we get secondary builds. )

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If your problem is "impatient players", how about they just stop adding new Veteran's Reward after the 72-month mark (or some other, near-future cap)? Then newcomers and returning players can eventually earn all the rewards, after staying subscribed for a period of time. That alternative appeals to me as well.

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Okay. Why is this a benefit to all players?

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The entire system already benefits the veteran player. Does the fact that some other players might, in three years, enjoy the same benefits you enjoy right now, while you continue to get three more years of benefits, really bother you that much?

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Yes, because it breaks the concept of the system as being a "veteran reward" structure.

I don't mind making wiggle room to benefit players (see my proposed method, for instance, and let me know what you think), but destroying a concept just to shower benefits on impatient players who think the rewards are the POINT of the system is NOT something I can support or even entertain logically.

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TL;DR section -

A suggestion: morph the Veteran's Rewards so that they reward both newcomers and veteran players. Continue adding new rewards every three months so that the long-standing players continue to reap benefits for their continued subscription. But instead of leaving the system as it is, thus ensuring that newcomers will have benefits and options forever denied them, implement some kind of dedication reward for those that joined later and stuck with the game.

After a year's subscription, or with a year's subscription, or some similar mechanism that demonstrates a newcomer's dedication to the game, offer double Veteran's Reward credit; thus if you pay for a year's subscription, over that year you will accumulate two years of Veteran's Rewards. Of course, this will cap out once you've "caught up" with the existing veterans. This will allow dedicated newcomers to eventually earn the same benefits as long-standing players, while allowing the incentives to continue accruing for the existing veterans.

Surely the number of veterans who find this scheme wholly unfair and untenable will be small enough to be absorbed by the newcomers and returning customers it will attract.

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But, but, but...this suggestion is logical and makes sense! BAN IT, BAN IT NOW!

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Your enthusiasm aside, the proposed system faults on the following points:

1. The proposal offers a weighted bias on "newcomer" players vs veteran players, insamuch that it negates the concept of "veteran" player and replaces it with "economically-well-endowed" player.
2. The proposal also has no effective way of determining who's a newcomer, and who's an oldbie who unsubscribed for a period of time and is rejoining. That's a lot of account work for the Devs to do to figure out who should get what benefit.
3. There's no real explanation as to why offering "accelerated" benefits to lesser-subscribed players is an actual benefit to the gaming populace.

In short: It's decidedly one-sided in approach, because it focuses on benefiting the "new" player while disregarding the veteran player, which is exactly what "veteran rewards" is designed to reward, impartially and wide-field, in the first place.




Still reading? Not ragehating me quite yet? Good.

Having said that, I have a different proposal that keeps in the spirit of veteran rewards without breaking the system as flagrantly as previous proposals have done.

Currently, rewards are tabulated on a month by month basis, where X MONTH = Y REWARD. For some players, the rewards for the "interim" months aren't nearly as useful, or as desired, as the "milestone" months (the bi-annual rewards, basically, which tend to have more swag attached to them).

My proposal:

For each 3-month period, a user can choose one valid reward for up to one year in that timespan. Once the 12-month period has been reached, they are then eligible for rewards, per milestone, for up to one year following, and so forth.

For example: A new player, who starts today, can choose one reward from the 3, 6 or 9 month reward milestone pool, up to but not including the 12 month mark. So, at the 3 month mark, New Player can choose the "Trustworthy", "Faithful", or "Dependable" reward pool. Once chosen, the remaining two are available until the next milestone; and so forth. At the 12-month mark, they will have the 12, 15, 18 and 21 months rewards available for their annual pool, and so on.

Benefits: Flexibility in choosing what rewards matter more for you in a given year. It maintains a sense of controlled progression while accommodating specific needs for the player.

Disadvantages: It would require a rebuild of how the rewards are disbursed on a player. Asking the Devs to reinvent an otherwise-functioning wheel would make this a low priority option. But since we're assuming the Devs can "just write this" to appease our needs, this is my calm and controlled submission to accommodate all players, both old and young, without completely gutting the design concept.