je_saist

You are correct. Using the scroll wheel to move the menu's has been enabled for several years now.

It just... doesn't always scroll at a noticeable speed.

Cryptic, NCSoft, and Paragon Studios have rarely given out straight numbers on the number of unique IP addresses representing unique individual players. When numbers have been given they are mostly in a rough estimate format. Alternatively the player numbers are extrapolated from NCSoft's published financial reports.

CoH is widely considered to have a "stable" population of around 80,000~120,000 players worldwide. Over the past couple of years the number of stable subscribers has likely been closer to 60,000~80,000.

One of the longer-term community problems with MMO's is the inevitable "player-churn" as various subscribers run out of money, get burnt on the game, or have other issues crop-up. While the overall population might remain relatively stable, the influx and egress of players can radically alter the make-up of that population.

Now, is the player base significantly less than it was in 2005?

I don't think so. I think in terms of total current subscribers versus retail sales in 2005, the actual player-population isn't that radically different.

Something else to keep in mind is how much the game has changed over the years. Back in 2005 nobody that I knew of used Global Channels for anything. All of the events, teams, and tf's that I participated in were arranged through Supergroups, Coalitions, and zone-broadcast spamming. Back then all of the groups I was involved with heavily relied on the friends and global-friends list.

These days nearly all events are scheduled or run through Global Channels. I don't really see the reliance on supergroups, coalitions, zone-broadcasts, or global-friends list to arrange and participate in teaming.

That shift in how players communicate to each other is more likely to influence perceptions that one server or another is not as "good" as it once was... far more than a couple thousand less players overall.

... I've got a good picture for this...



None of us here are whining. You are.

You want my quick-shot reaction of what you've posted in this thread?

If you really think that I'd want to be in a community with you? You. Are. Wrong.

You have not, under any conditions, shown me that you are capable of fostering a community or helping new players tot he game. I'll stay the hell off of Freedom precisely so I won't have to deal with players like you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qakRgC9JOdM

from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Adkgoa1Eeug

Just kind of point of contention here: http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/...-buys-skype-2/

Those familiar with Microsoft's history of buying software companies are pretty much aware that the purchase means that it's not a question of whether or not Skype will crash and burn, but a question of how long till the product crashes and burns. Granted the buyout itself has investors openly questioning Steve Ballmer's direction of the company.

There really are not a lot of solutions. It's pretty much split between Teamspeak, Ventrillo, Mumble, and Skype. The aformentioned Typefrag and DarkStar Communications, for example, are simply Ventrillo server solutions.

Ventrillo, while a popular solution, still lacks a Linux client: http://www.ventrilo.com/download.php

Skype, while the best casually known VOIP solution, uses a closed-source base and the protocol is proprietary. The purchase by Microsoft means this state isn't likely to change in the future, as well as the invetiable middle-finger to Apple OSX and Linux users.

Teamspeak and Mumble are truely multiplatform:
http://www.teamspeak.com/?page=downloads
http://www.mumble.com/mumble-download.php

From that point it really comes down to network latency, processing power consumption, and general audio quality. There are loads of comparisons pitting Teamspeak and Mumble against each other: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&b...mspeak&spell=1

For the most part Mumble wins on all fronts, supplying better audio quality with lower processing power consumption with less network traffic. This is why more and more hardcore gamers, the type who go to QuakeCon and ask when the Rage Linux Client is going to be released (answer, probably not 0-day, but soon-after), are using Mumble over Teamspeak.

Now, from my own experience, it's really 6 of 1 / half a dozen of the other.

Yes, Mumble does provide a better audio quality with less processing power and less network traffic than Teamspeak. I'm not convinced that difference is pronounced enough for an average user to be able to tell the difference. You really wouldn't want to be running your favorite game and your voice server on the same computer to begin with... and to be fair... both the Teamspeak and Mumble servers run fairly well on older hardware / software configurations, such as an AthlonXp 1800 with 512megs of ram running a Debian install.

That being said, if you have a capped upsteam bandwidth... say... something like 128k upstream, yes, Mumble will more than likely be able to better handle a few peopled connecting and chatting through your server.

Once you start to get around 256k upstream or better, most users won't likely see a network bit-width constraint difference between Mumble or Teamspeak. At that point the largest network constraint will be latency, or how long it actually takes for your own server connection to respond to somebody elses server connection.

Um... no you don't.

Mumble is a BSD licensed software project: http://mumble.sourceforge.net/ / http://sourceforge.net/projects/mumble/

You can't get much more free than that.

Many gamers are moving to Mumble for their voice chat needs: http://www.mumble.com/

Enemies have a morale rating: http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showp...96&postcount=7

Quite simply, Spines / Fire can shatter that morale rating.

When in doubt, check the Wiki: http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Spines

Spines has no native fear components.

Quills specifically only has a Slow Component.

... *note to self, Introduce Rian to SomethingPositive's Redneck Tree*

Dead after the 2007 FASA Studio developed Xbox 360 / Microsoft Windows Operating System game.

Currently the Microsoft Corporation still owns the FASA properties, but the rights to make electronic video games based on FASA properties are licensed to Jordan Weisman over at Smith & Tinker. Now, if you drop by Smith & Tinker you'll find that they are now a game developer for the Iphone.

In fact, Smith & Tinker contracted with Piranha Games/ for the production of MechWarrior... a game originally scheduled to launch in August 2009. That was two years ago and it's still not done. And for those waiting for the joke, why yes, Piranha Games was also involved in the production of Duke Nukem Forever.

As of right now, I'd say it's a safe bet that games based on FASA Corp properties can all be considered dead.

none here.

Would that be my cue to rant about how using platform neutral tech would remove the need to use emulation techniques? Actually, going back to something I wrote about earlier in the thread, City of Heroes was originally built in an era when there was no point to platform neutral development as for the most part platform neutral development tools and API's simply didn't exist.

As I understand it, one of the reasons Transgaming forked the 2002 MIT licensed W.I.N.E. base was so they could make changes to the underlying code that would enable that code-base to better handle tasks outside the scope of the W.I.N.E. project itself. In some cases that meant addressing some of the long-term application problems such as memory leaks. However, the tech was getting long-in-the-tooth.

Where this gets turned on it's head is late 2009 after Transgaming started work on the at-the-time Cedega 8 engines. The code-named Maudite engines were a significant re-write of the underlying engines. Much of the remaining WINEX code from 2002 was junked and replaced with new components.

Given the behavior described with the OSX-release behavior it really sounds like the OSX release is still using the (admitted by Transgaming) near-obsolete 7.x Cedega engines.

What would be nice to know at this point is if Transgaming / Paragon Studios are fixing the problems on the 7.x Cedega derived Cider engines, or if the Paragon Market crash issue is being fixed on the 8.x G.T.L. derived Cider engine.

If Transgaming / Paragon Studios are still trying to work with the 7.x Cedega base, many of the other underlying problems likely won't be resolved.

hey, at least your keeping us informed.

Just do me a favor and have the programmers lean on Transgaming to make sure the changes to the Cider Base get merged to the G.T.L. base in a time-frame that doesn't need to be measured on a geological time-scale.

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showp...82&postcount=2

I'd have to direct you to Arcanaville or Manga for an explanation on how exactly Pet-Follow works. Basically, Phantasm can get away with it for several reasons.

First, the Phantasm was made during an era of development when the developers would "special case" everything, with unique scripts, settings, and configurations. Case in point being the "Crushing" special damage type. Over the years the developers have moved away from "special case" coding in order to improve maintenance of the code base, and improve documentation, as well as streamline the code.

Second: the Phantasm, and it's decoy, are only 2 possible computational combat system components. A Mastermind can field 6 computational combat system components by default, never minding Lore pets or Dark Miasma. We already know from I21 statements that MM's are much more processor / network intensive than other archetypes, one of the reasons they are placed behind a pay / veteran wall.

Third: if you ever actually pay attention to the Pet-Follow system... pet's typically line up behind the player and follow. With Masterminds you can sit and watch Pet's jostle for "position" as they run up and try to settle into place. For the most part, single Pet's don't have to do this settling, and only Phantasm's have to do the settling in three dimensional air-space.

Basically, just because a single pet can achieve a similar function, doesn't mean that function exists in a state that can be used by other pets... or should be used by other pets.

They fly to the target, get within range, then start firing.

Again, it's a script, not an AI.

Just out of wondering, how do you know that the Seed of Hamidon doesn't have a targeting system using a Bipedal Skeleton?

And I believe that Gravity is a pretty finite limit. I also believe that Black is not White. Kind of interesting how "beliefs" go. You are free to believe that anything is possible and that there are no limits. That does not mean that anything is possible and there are no limits. The reality is this: not anything is possible and there are limits..

In the future there could also be no game.

Please read what I copied above from Tunnel Rat. Just because Player's have wings does not mean those animations / riggings will translate to NPC's or behave properly on NPC models.

Actually you'll find that most critters in the game have an animation for being in Group Fly. It's something the animation team does in the name of game immersion.

Just because an animation exists for a power effect does not automagically mean that the object affected by that power is able to control or use that power.

Just because Robots, Demons, Ninja's, Undead, Lore Pets, and everything else have animations for being in flying modes... does not mean those NPC's using those animations and modes are fully functional in the same fully functional aspect of players using those animations and modes.

We aren't saying it cannot be done.

We are saying that it is a large amount of time and investment for what is, to be very clear, a very small payoff.

Let me be clear for myself here: My personal feelings on the presence of dragons as Mastermind pets is immaterial. What matters right now is the technology behind the game that would drive the behavior of a "dragon" pet.

Now, if you want to know my personal opinion on Dragons in CoH... I would just point out that one of the greatest SuperHero Manga's of all time... centered around hunting for little orange balls that summoned BFD's.

Big. Freaking. Dragons.

Speaking for myself, I don't want to see Dragon's Marginalized as mere "pets" subject to the whims of a player. If Dragon's were to appear in CoH, I want them to be massive Zone Events.

Wouldn't really have to be CoH2...

Some of the technical limitations, such as the lack of Z-Depth reticule control and the animation of wings in non-fly modes, can / will probably be addressed in the normal course of game QoL development.

The biggest hurdle is the lack of contextual relation / Artificial Intelligence on the part of the MM pets. It might be possible to work around this particular hurdle with a "pre-formation" system allowing players to set the positions they want their pets to take in relation to a targeted enemy / group of enemies.

It's still a lot of work though... and for all I know... may ultimately be "functionally" impossible.

Given the originally proposed C.o.T. redesign... I think our hopes for less silly looking content were already dashed upon the rocks of Korean Popularity.