White Hot Flash

Alright, let's cut down to the nut here:


Let's say there's a EU account global handle called @name. Is there really a difference between that and @EUname? Do you think people will suddenly be confused by the EU in front and not know it's you, or start calling you something different when referring to you?

They're not making you change your individual character names, since they're not killing servers. Global names get changed automatically in your chat lists, so everyone will still know it's you. What's the real issue here? No one is losing their identity. People will still refer to you as name.

If we're gonna argue and get riled up over something, let's at least argue over what this whole thing is really about, rather than taking up some mystery cause and making up hypotheticals that probably won't ever happen.
People with multiple accounts on both sides all with the same name are a separate problem, and should be dealt with in their own way.

NCSoft made their decision because they considered all the angles. Avatea confirmed upthread that they talked about everything that's been brought up by players. They weighed the outcomes and chose, like they get paid to do. You're getting access to NA servers, EU, which is exactly what you've been wanting. The vast, vast majority of you won't be affected by name clashing at all. The few that are have just been told months in advance what will happen. I'd say that's about as good an outcome as it could be.

Look at it this way:

Euro servers are the ones moving onto the NA list. It's totally fair to expect the EU accounts to have to change names if necessary.

If it were the other way around, it would be totally fair for the NA accounts to have to change.

Avatea's logic about the least number of people being affected is correct, as Arcana pointed out. The "If I can't have it, nobody can" way, or the "First come, first served" way involves twice as many people. In both instances, both parties in conflict would have to do something to either keep their name or change it. In the way NCSoft chose, only one side does. It makes sense for logistical purposes if anything.

If you really want something to hang your hats on, EU folk, you guys get 11 more servers worth of slots, while us NA folk only get 4 :P

I don't see how a game can avoid creating content that doesn't push some people into uncomfortable choices. There is no content that 100% of the players are satisfied with, and no content that is 100% satisfactory to any one person, so the game evolves to try to get closer to that ideal. This game is an MMO, by definition an unfinished product, and therefore also has to evolve or die.

There are so many different groups/types of players in our "universe" that any nudge in focus in a particular direction will result in other groups getting their toes stepped on slightly, or more than slightly, depending on where they fall. The ideal situation would be for the Devs to be able to nudge content in all directions by some degree every time they put out major updates, but resources force choices on them: only so much time, only so many people, and the much bigger constraint of trying to keep everything germane to the over-arching story they're trying to tell.

I expect the game to evolve and change as I play it. The things I grew comfortable doing 5 years ago aren't the same as they are now, and that's alright. I'm not sure that the attitude of "give me a toy that I like and leave me alone, I'll play with this same toy forever" jives with the nature of an MMO, especially one where the leadership and majority of developers has changed over its lifetime.

Priority list that every development company follows (from highest to lowest):

1. New content

2. Fixing things that are broken and unplayable

3. Fixing things that are broken, but playable

4. Fixing things that aren't broken, but need some more fleshing out; updating legacy content to mesh better with newer content

5. Wish list content (i.e. "Wouldn't it be nice if...)


In this game, new content is gonna focus on Praetoria and Incarnates for the most part because those are the newest items. They will spend the majority of their resources on this, until they're finished. Since we're getting it piecemeal over several Issues, it's gonna take a while. Then they'll try to get to the other things on the priority list. Sometimes they have time and a plan to fix some things, or give us QoL features, sometimes they don't. If you're not getting the content you want, chances are your wishes are further down the priority list, and they'll get to them as they can, if there's nothing new that takes up their time. That's the way all games are made.

As others have pointed out, focusing on one area for an Issue or two has happened in the past. Villains got several Issues of attention when they came out, which is no different than Praetoria. Inventions, the AE system, and Ouroborus were all Issues that focused on game systems more than the content that utilizes them. In these examples, there were a few bones thrown out to satiate those that didn't care for the content being focused on, just as there will be things in the coming Issues that get thrown in that don't have much to do with the Issue's theme. Don't see anything you like? Wait an Issue and keep playing the same way you've been up to now or stop your sub and renew it when you see things you do like. Complain about it, as long as you have something more constructive to add to the discussion than "This sux!" or "Devs are ignoring (insert group)."

If you're really that bored with the content up to now, and you don't see anything in the horizon to make you change your outlook, why are you still giving NCSoft your money? I'd rather play with less people if the ones that stay are generally happy** with the game they're paying for, than play with those people plus a group that has nothing but negative to say about anything that's coming down the road, and have been repeating their displeasure for months and sometimes years.

**note: "Generally Happy" doesn't mean they don't have problems with the game. It also doesn't mean they don't voice their displeasure. What it does mean is that those people know how to explain their point with examples, and with better ideas if they're slamming the ones the Devs have come up with. Positron, et al will listen to people that have ideas, not just vitriol. If you don't give them something better, why would they change?

Nothing says "Epic" like some Strauss:

Also Sprach Zarathustra a.k.a. Theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey

If it's a matter of a day or two that you missed, you might be able to petition Customer Service and get it. I don't see why you shouldn't get it if you're active now, and the only day you missed was on the front end. They've made exceptions for others when their subs got messed up for various reasons. The worst they can do is just say no.

For the record, it's not broken. It's WAI.

It's unique, but not broken.

Sometimes rewards are granted upon log-in. If you don't get it the next time you log into the character, then bug it.

Play your alts the way you used to, and don't worry about "grinding." Just let the stuff drop as it comes, and whenever you get around to getting enough stuff to create boosts, do it then. If you don't want to feel pressured to do something, don't put the pressure on yourself.

One of the good things about the Incarnate system as it is, is that you don't have to run the WSTs, you won't have to run the Ramiel arc to unlock the Alpha once I20 drops, and you don't even have to do any of the TFs that have Incarnate components as rewards. Shards drop in any lvl 50 content now, and soon they'll drop for everything once you unlock the Alpha. If "having it right now" isn't your bag, you don't have to play that way, and there's plenty of other folks that fall in that category.

Besides, once the crowd that grinds gets the highest level gear on them, they'll have nothing else to do but play as they used to anyway, and they'll be available to play at your speed again.

Lobo....come on, folks. THE MAIN MAN!

Every time I've done the Bomb Trigger tip, Maelstrom's been invisible until you defeat the mob he spawns with, then he goes visible and you can talk to him, then he turns on you, and he ports when you beat him. Several times I've cleared the entire map before finding the Oberst, and had to backtrack to go find where he spawned, other times the Oberst is in the front of the map and Maelstrom was easier to find.

I have also noticed that he doesn't have the Maelstrom device on this version of him, which I find odd. When I ran into him in Praetoria he had it, but that was a while ago so I don't know if he still does.

Magic is merely a scientific trick that hasn't been explained yet. Once you know how the magician pulls a rabbit out of his hat, it's not magic anymore and you'll never look at that trick the same way again.