TF:HM update #2

[Segev]

They'll have to be pretty up-front about any "always on" monitoring tech, or they'll face so many privacy lawsuits that even Microsoft would be bankrupt. And if they really do monitor all the time, turning it off will still be as easy as unplugging it. I don't think you should HAVE to do so, mind. I'd likely not want to buy a product where the only way to ensure my privacy was to completely de-power it.

[Taceus Jiwede]

I don't think you should HAVE to do so, mind. I'd likely not want to buy a product where the only way to ensure my privacy was to completely de-power it.

  Ditto.  To everything you said.  But especially that part.

[Joshex]

I've heard this as well.  Which to be honest I don't mind people finding ad's I would be interested in (which is what they claim its for) but I don't like the idea of just inviting Microsoft into my house to listen to everything I say and do.  Hopefully there is a way to make it so that isn't active.  However, if the camera is always on and filming then that means I need to wear silly costumes or just no clothes at all for the new system.  If they wanna watch me all the time, then by god they will get a show!

Don't even start this subjective battle lol.  I am not a PC gamer, I am a gamer.  Plain and simple.  I love the consoles and I like computers too, I have been playing games my whole life on every and any system including computers.  And there is nothing wrong with console games they just don't suite your personality.  The idea that "console" gamers are a different breed or somehow ruin gaming its just not true especially when almost every game made these days isn't console specific it is just a game that can be played on many different systems.  Publisher's ruin games, not gamer's. One day though, Steam will change this all when they gap the bridge. 

Now of course I am not saying you should like consoles or that you are wrong for not liking consoles.  Either you like them, or you don't.  But to objectively say that console games/gamers just aren't at the same level of quality, or dare I say, purity of a computer game/gamer's I just very strongly disagree with that, it is a matter of personal taste.  I know you didn't say this, and you were just saying you don't want CoH to be influenced by console gamers.  But it does imply that a computer game, CoH, could only be made worse by console players.  I agree CoH would not be better off if made to suit a console, any MMO made for consoles have been generally pretty limited.  But it is not because of the players, it is because of the way the console works and with the exceptions of MMO's the are pretty much the same thing in terms of gaming, most are actually designed for both.

OP:  Hope to hear good news back from Google.  Thanks again for writing the pitch and setting this up VV and Team wildcard.

I am a general gamer too, don't get me wrong when I say console gamers, I don't mean all of them, but you must admitt theres alot of Unicorns who make the console games bad by supporting them regardless of quality. Fanboys.. no offense, the bad kinda fan boys the ones with terrible ideas.

do you want to know when and why videogames went down hill?

It was the middle of the N64 era, Nintendo went out to multiple random public venues and asked a bunch of little turds what they would like the future of videogames to be like. the options were as follows;

More Realistic OR More Adventure AND Better Play Value.

can you guess what the majority said? "realistic yay!!!"

nintendo and other developers took that as a sign that from that point on thier games could suck royally so long as they looked halfway realistic, then Game Cube era, Miyamoto tested LOZ the wind waker to see if what the kids meant as 'realistic' just meant smooth graphics not necessarily real people.

can you guess what kind of conclusions he would bring to the game developer's conference that year?

yeah, blame it all on the corporate |84574RD5 , you have to admit there are some pretty naive contributors to the fan base, so many in fact that they tend to overwhelm the polls that game companies usually hold about bettering games.

I can just see it now;

Microsoft forums/City_of_heroes/Suggestions/

Topic: MOAR srysly

Body: I wan lik MOAR LVs and lik I wanna PWN PVP, seriously blasters should one shot tanks and have lik full def and res and lik i wan a bunny mount.. an lik PVP should have like rewards based on a point system like each kill gets you 1 point and lik with 10,000 you can buy special mega rare items you can;t get anywhere else and you need them to level past 60 and stuff.

100k replies with such fine comments as "trudat" "lik LOL wat I love EET" "DUDE LIKE PERFECT" "buy gold at MMOGOLD DOT COM 100 M inf for $1" "TIS WIL LIK TOTLY PWNZRS"

- shudder -

please no.

I know not all consolers are like that, there are a good quantity who are really good minded people about issues, but they get drowned out by the UNICORN masses with 10 fake accounts each.

[Taceus Jiwede]

I know not all consolers are like that, there are a good quantity who are really good minded people about issues, but they get drowned out by the UNICORN masses with 10 fake accounts each.

Yes, fair enough Joshex:)  There are many cases of people who aren't big gamer's kind of ruining it for the bigger gamer's because these publisher's try to make them more "general public friendly" which lets face it.  Gamer's like you and me don't want 100 Call of duties.

[LaughingAlex]

Yes, fair enough Joshex:)  There are many cases of people who aren't big gamer's kind of ruining it for the bigger gamer's because these publisher's try to make them more "general public friendly" which lets face it.  Gamer's like you and me don't want 100 Call of duties.

I'm the same way, I wouldn't want city of heroes to become like every other mmo by losing the depth it had, like support being about much more than just healing, or how every archtype had secondary debuff effects in the attacks for example.  Honestly my biggest fear is those two things being lost in general; I honestly as it is hate seeing how support is litterally nothing more than healing in CO.

[JaguarX]

I'm the same way, I wouldn't want city of heroes to become like every other mmo by losing the depth it had, like support being about much more than just healing, or how every archtype had secondary debuff effects in the attacks for example.  Honestly my biggest fear is those two things being lost in general; I honestly as it is hate seeing how support is litterally nothing more than healing in CO.

well there is actually a lot of support powers and buffs, there is bubble buffs, like force field, debuff removal power (dont think COX even had one of those.), then there is a confuse power (I think only seen one person use it ever), then there is enemy damage debuff powers, and yeah majority of supposrt seems to be healing but not all. Yet, most people in support seem to take heal only and call themselves support. Only time I mostly see the other support toons are ones that usually run solo and use it for their own survival.

CO is abotu as much away from the holy three as just about any game but yet many still play with the mindset of the holy three, of support means heal, damage means only dps tank only mean defense. When in CO you can be all or none of those in one toon.

The powers are out there but it's up to the player to choose them or not. Most just choose the heals and ignore the debuffs/buffs.  That is some thing no game mechanic can change unless ya go back to the holy three or pure AT structure, which I think is a little old fashioned and very limiting in toon customization.

[LaughingAlex]

well there is actually a lot of support powers and buffs, there is bubble buffs, like force field, debuff removal power (dont think COX even had one of those.), then there is a confuse power (I think only seen one person use it ever), then there is enemy damage debuff powers, and yeah majority of supposrt seems to be healing but not all. Yet, most people in support seem to take heal only and call themselves support. Only time I mostly see the other support toons are ones that usually run solo and use it for their own survival.

CO is abotu as much away from the holy three as just about any game but yet many still play with the mindset of the holy three, of support means heal, damage means only dps tank only mean defense. When in CO you can be all or none of those in one toon.

The powers are out there but it's up to the player to choose them or not. Most just choose the heals and ignore the debuffs/buffs.  That is some thing no game mechanic can change unless ya go back to the holy three or pure AT structure, which I think is a little old fashioned and very limiting in toon customization.

Well when I refer to "holy trinity" in CO I'm referng to the archtypes, they are all forced into only one of those three, only some hybrids break that, and even then they are rarely good at anything.    Freeforms certainly break from it but even so, when it comes to support POWERS in that game crowd control is just useless; the mobs you CAN use it on are just to fragile for it to matter.  If CoX was revived to be honest I highly doubt the buffs would get nerfed unless say, we got some scrubs(yes, using that word) who cry that buffs/debuffs are cheap because they are making their "pure healer" useless and somehow the devs who took over listened to that(in that case it was they would have to be out of touch with what paragon studios did for us.).  I just can't stand it how "support" in other mmo's had become to mean healing and nothing else.

[JaguarX]

I just can't stand it how "support" in other mmo's had become to mean healing and nothing else.

As long as people defining it that way and only choosing healing as the only support it will remain. As I said, in CO, there are plenty of choices. Some might just require going beyond playing for free and or buy a freeform slot to get more support choices, but the choice is there.

Cant play for free and expect everything that is available to those that paid be available to those that choose not to pay. So yes, it's only natural that freebies be pigeoned holed into limited choices. But if they pay a measly $15 a month or get the freeform slot, they have more variety and not "forced" into the holy three.

I think crowd control works on everything but super villains and up. And many of them are actually useful and last a decent time. The difference between what many are probably used to is that you can hold a mob to death, which imo is a cheap way to fight for the enemy mob and players. Thus since holds and control are not the usual auto win, many say they are useless when in fact they can be very useful. I do find it odd that for super villains up they are totally useless and dont think you can even stack them in CO.


In COX that is just about how any nerf/buff gets started. From the MoG change to the regen nerf to the blaster "improvements" and etc. And somewhere someone thinks the ones calling for any change is scrubs or worse. If that is the case than 99% of the COX population that ever suggested, asked for whined, or wanted a change to something and said so is a scrub. The term scrub is in the eye of the beholder and usually spoken by where the change may affect a person in a negative way or in a way that is different from what they are used to and like. But at the same time if people took the term scrub to heart or decided to not ask for change do to fear of being called a scrub by someone somewhere, then COX would still be in issue 1 if that with no updates.


Or maybe this your time to shine. Create a support toon that is not pure healer and show them how it can be done. Although dozens of people beat ya to it already in CO. Seek them out and team with them and see how they make controls buffs and debuffs work and you'll see they are not so useless and only heals are support.

[Illusionss]

I've heard this as well.  Which to be honest I don't mind people finding ad's I would be interested in (which is what they claim its for) but I don't like the idea of just inviting Microsoft into my house to listen to everything I say and do.  Hopefully there is a way to make it so that isn't active.  However, if the camera is always on and filming then that means I need to wear silly costumes or just no clothes at all for the new system.  If they wanna watch me all the time, then by god they will get a show!

*snerk*

...but seriously, this is why I am a PC gamer and will always be one: my PC might lack the cool factor, but it also lacks a camera.... and it lacks facial recognition technology. WIN!

I'm sort of paranoid, and I cant shake the feeling that these companies - including Facebook - want to get us used to the idea of continuous monitoring. Then it will expand, and it really will be an Orwellian nightmare.

[LaughingAlex]

As long as people defining it that way and only choosing healing as the only support it will remain. As I said, in CO, there are plenty of choices. Some might just require going beyond playing for free and or buy a freeform slot to get more support choices, but the choice is there.

Cant play for free and expect everything that is available to those that paid be available to those that choose not to pay. So yes, it's only natural that freebies be pigeoned holed into limited choices. But if they pay a measly $15 a month or get the freeform slot, they have more variety and not "forced" into the holy three.

I think crowd control works on everything but super villains and up. And many of them are actually useful and last a decent time. The difference between what many are probably used to is that you can hold a mob to death, which imo is a cheap way to fight for the enemy mob and players. Thus since holds and control are not the usual auto win, many say they are useless when in fact they can be very useful. I do find it odd that for super villains up they are totally useless and dont think you can even stack them in CO.


In COX that is just about how any nerf/buff gets started. From the MoG change to the regen nerf to the blaster "improvements" and etc. And somewhere someone thinks the ones calling for any change is scrubs or worse. If that is the case than 99% of the COX population that ever suggested, asked for whined, or wanted a change to something and said so is a scrub. The term scrub is in the eye of the beholder and usually spoken by where the change may affect a person in a negative way or in a way that is different from what they are used to and like. But at the same time if people took the term scrub to heart or decided to not ask for change do to fear of being called a scrub by someone somewhere, then COX would still be in issue 1 if that with no updates.


Or maybe this your time to shine. Create a support toon that is not pure healer and show them how it can be done. Although dozens of people beat ya to it already in CO. Seek them out and team with them and see how they make controls buffs and debuffs work and you'll see they are not so useless and only heals are support.

Crowd control in CO is just, non existent and they don't have any damage-mitigating buffs other than aura of protection sadly, generally nothing that goes along the line of the theme of my characters.  I do know a few nasty tricks to quickly tear down mobs using debuff effects of some attacks and specializations.  But debuffs only seem to be effective at the single-target level cause henchmen/villains/master villains all tend to be(except for master villains) weaker then CoX's minions to me .  Btw: I say crowd control is non-existent in CO cause henchmen/villains die so fast and do so little damage that there isn't even a reason to do so.

As for CoX some criticism is good, but I think it was the efforts of those who went out of there way to make non-healing support that set the standard for CoX.  When I usually speak of a "scrub" usually i'm refering to someone who just says "X is overpowered because it's more efficient then my Y, so nerf X because my Y is balanced" rather then looking at why his stuff may be underpowered, or even worst he doesn't even learn how to use his own powerset(alot of empaths made that mistake sadly, at least they thought they were better at it than they really were I guess).  Heck, I even pondered if some sets like empathy needed a buff in the face of some sets like time manipulation, but I would hate to see any powerset nerfed.

[Joshex]

*snerk*

...but seriously, this is why I am a PC gamer and will always be one: my PC might lack the cool factor, but it also lacks a camera.... and it lacks facial recognition technology. WIN!

I'm sort of paranoid, and I cant shake the feeling that these companies - including Facebook - want to get us used to the idea of continuous monitoring. Then it will expand, and it really will be an Orwellian nightmare.

yeah, the government and companies in general have been monitoring us for a long long time, you may not be aware of this but cable TV goes both ways as does sattellite, you recieve and send messages at high speed, and get this, your TV screen can be used to recieve light from outside and send that data back down the line (like a camera), oh and not sure if you ever tried this but try plugging your headphones into your microphone jack and speak into them, it's the same technology so headphones and speakers can be used to capture sound and transmit that back down the line.

Facebook, Facebook is run by a CIA agent, well he was a CIA agent when he first started it, now he's retired but Facebook is used to directly monitor who you are and who you are affiliated with and what you and your friends think and are talking about.

thats why I use ficticious information when I sign up for sites like facebook.

My name is Joshex Dirad
I'm 300 years old or as old as it allows me to choose
I live in caves, castle 5 on planet/asteroid SR388 from the metroid series
and my favorite hobbies are mad science and world domination, oh and abductions of farm folk those are always fun.
race? Other; I has tentacles.

I also use Tor as a web browser for such things and also might view them through a webproxy.

I will not be buying a microsoft console if they have face recognition ETC. heck I don't even have a TV any more (just one for video games no signal for actual TV. why?

you may find this hard to believe but when I was a teenager we had analog TV and the unbelievable part was that I would sometimes talk about my ideas outloud (as mad scientists do) to myself, while watching the saturday morning cartoons. I would talk them out in great detail during the commercials to help myself gain a better understanding of the topics I was pondering. (it helps to speak it out loud so you can hear it, it makes it more memorable) anyways guess what, not a week later some corporation had then filed a patent on said ideas and was now making advertisements for thier services in commercials.

kid yourself not, big business can move at light speed if they want to steal an idea. "hey patent agent heres $3000 I want you to draw out this patent and get it notarized, oh and my company will be rushing the project I just hired 20,000 programmers yesterday as temporary one week workers, and have them working on it, we'll publish it tomorrow as patent pending." goes to film commercials in 4 days.

the part I don;t uderstand is how they heard what I said through a wireless analog connection.... unless they were monitoring the backflow from the powerline and it contained some sort of residual information....?

anyways since then I no longer speak out my ideas infront of TVs that are plugged in. and the outcome is no one has been able to steal my ideas ever again.

One thing I will do infront of a TV screen now is criticise the news reports and videogames that I think are garbage. I don't watch other TV shows. thats only in the rare case I go somewhere where someone actually is watching TV.

[kalynnda13]

Final Google video is at http://youtu.be/jB7kETvmQkI. I will be sending it out Tuesday to Mr. Patel.

I really hope that this video, plus all the letters and postcards we are sending, will let Google know what a dedicated community we have.

[Tubbius]

Kalynnda, that's beautiful.  I hope this works as well as it certainly has the potential to do.

[OzonePrime]

Love it! Great job!

[Rae]

I've been avoiding CoH videos, because they make me homesick, but I made an exception.

Beautiful work :-)

[Thunder Glove]

Final Google video is at http://youtu.be/jB7kETvmQkI. I will be sending it out Tuesday to Mr. Patel.

Like Rae, I've been avoiding CoH videos, but that was fantastic.

Still made me horribly sad, but with just enough hope to soften the blow.

[DJMoose]

Final Google video is at http://youtu.be/jB7kETvmQkI. I will be sending it out Tuesday to Mr. Patel.

I really hope that this video, plus all the letters and postcards we are sending, will let Google know what a dedicated community we have.

I cried.  That means it's working!

[johnrobey]

Final Google video is at http://youtu.be/jB7kETvmQkI. I will be sending it out Tuesday to Mr. Patel.

I really hope that this video, plus all the letters and postcards we are sending, will let Google know what a dedicated community we have.

Beautiful video!!!!  That was just AWESOME!!!!   

[MindBlender]

I wish I had a fraction of the talent some of you folks have!!!  I have that glimmer of hope, yet again, which I did not think was possible.  Many thanks to everyone trying their best to get our home back.  Several family members have asked me to extend love to you all.

[Taceus Jiwede]

Final Google video is at http://youtu.be/jB7kETvmQkI. I will be sending it out Tuesday to Mr. Patel.

I really hope that this video, plus all the letters and postcards we are sending, will let Google know what a dedicated community we have.

Nice job!  I just began a job in film editing(Had never done it before a month ago or so but shhhhhhhh) so I appreciate all the time this must of taken.  I know how tedious editing can be and how FREAKING long rendering can be!  Thanks for spending your free time doing this.