And the mask comes off.

[Power Arc X]

Was Positron announcement about a kick starter for a card game with several former Paragon Studios employees ?

[Power Gamer]

Was Positron announcement about a kick starter for a card game with several former Paragon Studios employees ?

I believe that was Arbiter, not Positron.

Cool game!

[Ankhammon]

I meant to reply to this the other day, but got distracted and forgot about it until we were talking about /Dark in the controller thread. The above statement is incorrect. Twilight Grasp is never autohit, and timing it like that would have zero impact on the actual hit chance.

The reason is simple: TG requires a live foe as a target. If you manage to activate the power, then the target is alive at the moment you activate it.

To-hit rolls happen at the start of power activation. This is most obvious with powers that have a long delayed hit like Propel -- you can see the hit roll in the combat log instantly, allowing you to "predict the future" and know if it was a hit or miss long before you see it happen onscreen.

The point is that if the target dies on the next combat tick, or even later in the same one, it doesn't matter -- the hit roll has already happened and it's already been determined if TG hit or missed.

Yes, absolutely you have to fire it off before the critter dies. If you fire it off before the critter is killed but the animation hits after it dies something weird happens. The timing is actually something closer to "you observe the bad guy is close to dead and you have a teammate on him, your teammate clicks his final power (a hit but damage isn't dealt yet), you click TG, damage from teammate is delivered to the critter, your animation hits and you get the heal".
I know, that it makes absolutely no logical sense that this affects tohit.

What I'd observed was not actually auto hit, but using that trick well over a 1000 times I swear I only missed maybe twice. Normally I would just dismiss such things as luck of the dice but the probability of this would have been too weird for me not to think there was some sort of strangeness in the code. 

I even went so far as to tell one of my SG mates about it to see if he saw the same results. After practicing it, he thought it was a large increase in chance of it hitting too.

It could have been a false observation, I grant that. However, the observation continued throughout me using Dark Miasma. This dates back to either late I1 or I2. Back when TG had its really wonderful looking but completely unreasonably long animation (like 4 seconds or something).

[Aggelakis]

Yes, absolutely you have to fire it off before the critter dies. If you fire it off before the critter is killed but the animation hits after it dies something weird happens. The timing is actually something closer to "you observe the bad guy is close to dead and you have a teammate on him, your teammate clicks his final power (a hit but damage isn't dealt yet), you click TG, damage from teammate is delivered to the critter, your animation hits and you get the heal".
I know, that it makes absolutely no logical sense that this affects tohit.

What I'd observed was not actually auto hit, but using that trick well over a 1000 times I swear I only missed maybe twice. Normally I would just dismiss such things as luck of the dice but the probability of this would have been too weird for me not to think there was some sort of strangeness in the code. 

I even went so far as to tell one of my SG mates about it to see if he saw the same results. After practicing it, he thought it was a large increase in chance of it hitting too.

It could have been a false observation, I grant that. However, the observation continued throughout me using Dark Miasma. This dates back to either late I1 or I2. Back when TG had its really wonderful looking but completely unreasonably long animation (like 4 seconds or something).

It's a false observation. There is no point in which Twilight Grasp would fail to do a tohit check and still heal. If it fails to do a tohit check, it doesn't get activated. IIRC Twilight Grasp had a higher than average chance to hit (or maybe that was Transfusion...), and you probably put accuracy enhancements in there. Possibly had some tohit buffs/bonuses. It's rarely going to miss under those circumstances.

[srmalloy]

I think it's really unlikely that there will be any new information until the deal either goes through or dies. There...just isn't anything to tell.

"In our negotiations with NCSoft, we have finally agreed on the type of tea that will be served at the meeting, and which variety of moon cake will be distributed to the participants."

 

[Pyromantic]

"In our negotiations with NCSoft, we have finally agreed on the type of tea that will be served at the meeting, and which variety of moon cake will be distributed to the participants."

 

Hey, that's progress.

[JanessaVR]

As long as it's still ongoing, we have hope.

In the meantime, it's giving me lots of time to work on optimizing builds to within an inch of their lives in Mids, updating and selecting costumes, preparing extensive zone/contact/mission spreadsheets, and re-familiarizing myself with the zones, even going on mock zone exploration badge tours (so that I can remember where they all are).

In short, I'm trying to use the wait time productively, gaming-wise.

[Fridgy Daiere]

AoE speed boost, such a wonderful thing, and still the complaints  I SAID DONT SPEEDBOOST ME!

Three words for them:  Null the Gull.

[Pyromantic]

Since the news became more official at the beginning of the month, I haven't been able to help myself from thinking about which old characters I want to remake, what new ones I would make, and what I would do first.  I know I should just direct my attention elsewhere and be grateful if news breaks of a reboot, but I can't find another gaming experience that's nearly as satisfying.

What makes it more poignant for me is that I missed the last year and a half or so of the game due to a particularly nasty arm injury.  So, I missed a lot of the incarnate content, there were many powersets I never got to see, and I couldn't be part of the final days.  Now being in a better condition to play and presented with the possibility of returning to a game and community that I really enjoyed, it's hard not to get excited about it.

[Power Gamer]

Three words for them:  Null the Gull.

His witty repartee will forever be missed.

[Arcana]

Yes, absolutely you have to fire it off before the critter dies. If you fire it off before the critter is killed but the animation hits after it dies something weird happens. The timing is actually something closer to "you observe the bad guy is close to dead and you have a teammate on him, your teammate clicks his final power (a hit but damage isn't dealt yet), you click TG, damage from teammate is delivered to the critter, your animation hits and you get the heal".
I know, that it makes absolutely no logical sense that this affects tohit.

What I'd observed was not actually auto hit, but using that trick well over a 1000 times I swear I only missed maybe twice. Normally I would just dismiss such things as luck of the dice but the probability of this would have been too weird for me not to think there was some sort of strangeness in the code. 

I even went so far as to tell one of my SG mates about it to see if he saw the same results. After practicing it, he thought it was a large increase in chance of it hitting too.

It could have been a false observation, I grant that. However, the observation continued throughout me using Dark Miasma. This dates back to either late I1 or I2. Back when TG had its really wonderful looking but completely unreasonably long animation (like 4 seconds or something).

Unfortunately, I have to assert the most likely explanation is observer bias.  The game engine simply couldn't malfunction in the way you're describing, for the simple reason that the moment you activate TG it rolls its to hit roll and decides whether to hit or miss immediately.  Anything that happens after that can't change that outcome.  What you're saying you are observing, in game engine terms, is that TG is activated, the game engine decides whether the power hits or misses, but if it has already rolled a miss and the target dies, the game engine decides to change its mind and call it a hit.

Its possible for a power that hits to subsequently fail to apply its effect if something later interferes with the process, like the issue with pseudo-pets, or the game engine could malfunction and not apply those effects because of a bug.  But its not possible for a power that misses to subsequently apply its effects anyway (technically, anything is possible with a software bug but this is vastly more unlikely than the reverse for the simple reason hit decisions can't be "appealed later" in the game engine).

[LaughingAlex]

I meant to reply to this the other day, but got distracted and forgot about it until we were talking about /Dark in the controller thread. The above statement is incorrect. Twilight Grasp is never autohit, and timing it like that would have zero impact on the actual hit chance.

The reason is simple: TG requires a live foe as a target. If you manage to activate the power, then the target is alive at the moment you activate it.

To-hit rolls happen at the start of power activation. This is most obvious with powers that have a long delayed hit like Propel -- you can see the hit roll in the combat log instantly, allowing you to "predict the future" and know if it was a hit or miss long before you see it happen onscreen.

The point is that if the target dies on the next combat tick, or even later in the same one, it doesn't matter -- the hit roll has already happened and it's already been determined if TG hit or missed.

I will say though that whenever i 'deleyed' an attack in an attack chain that had previously missed, I was always able to get a hit as long as my accuracy was 80+.  In fact you could if you fought for a long time notice patterns in the to hit roles in that they seemed to be timer based.

I can understand the point your making here though.  Just it was a trick I learned in the game after talking to a math instructor during statistics one day, in that he mentioned "well, it might be a clock-based random number generator rather than a true random number generator".  I started testing it out and was sometimes able to start counting the rng hits.  Mostly if I missed in an attack, and my general to hit wasn't super high i'd deley by half a second more than I normally would when I got to an attack.  Hit every time where-as before I'd miss that one attack in the chain every, single, time.

[Codewalker]

I will say though that whenever i 'deleyed' an attack in an attack chain that had previously missed, I was always able to get a hit as long as my accuracy was 80+.  In fact you could if you fought for a long time notice patterns in the to hit roles in that they seemed to be timer based.

That sounds like the streakbreaker kicking in. It resets when you have a lower to-hit threshold, but it was literally impossible to miss two 95% chance attacks in a row. If you watched the combat log, it would have said something like this:

Missed! Your Pie Throw power had a 95% chance to hit, you rolled 0.97.
Hit! Your Pie Throw power was forced to hit by the streakbreaker.

[LaughingAlex]

That sounds like the streakbreaker kicking in. It resets when you have a lower to-hit threshold, but it was literally impossible to miss to 95% chance attacks in a row. If you watched the combat log, it would have said something like this:

Missed! Your Pie Throw power had a 95% chance to hit, you rolled 0.97.
Hit! Your Pie Throw power was forced to hit by the streakbreaker.

This is in an attack chain in which, I had say 3-4 attacks.  I'd launch attacks 1-2 and they'd hit,t hen the third would miss in that chain every time.  In fact often I'd see this happen in that, say i'm using MA, I launch crane kick and there were moments where it'd miss every time.  OR any heavy attack.  Thing is streak breaker didn't apply to individual attack powers but to previous hit roles in that, say I launched storm kick before crane kick and it hit, there would never be a reason to apply it suddenly to crane kick.  And I'd miss with it easily enough.  I then look at the hit roles, often i'd get the same numbers in that attack that was missing UNTIL I deleyed and then I'd get something different, finally.  The combat dialogue would NOT say a streak breaker happened it'd give a normal role.

It wasn't streak breaker, I didn't bother deleying when I had 95% to hit most the time but as I said I really strongly suspect the random number generator for combat is time based.

[brothermutant]

Yeah the streakbreaker was...nice, I guess. It meant you hit once for every ten swings IIRC (so 9 misses in a row, the next to hit check was guaranteed to hit. The reverse was hilarious though; you could hit I think 9 times in a row and were guaranteed to MISS on the next (10th) attack. REALLY annoying if that was your NUKE or a HUGE hitting attack.

[Relitner]

Hi,

Was it this weekend positron had something to reveal?

Maybe this was it? http://www.arcgames.com/en/games/star-trek-online/news/detail/7006643-queue-revamp

[Cailyn Alaynn]

"In our negotiations with NCSoft, we have finally agreed on the type of tea that will be served at the meeting, and which variety of moon cake will be distributed to the participants."
 

You're joking, but sometimes that's not far off from the truth. -facepalms-
Not to say that's how it's going in this case, since I don't know personally.
Gah, I wish I could be a fly on the wall at those meetings. lol

[brothermutant]

You're joking, but sometimes that's not far off from the truth. -facepalms-
Not to say that's how it's going in this case, since I don't know personally.
Gah, I wish I could be a fly on the wall at those meetings. lol

I just wish we KNEW there were meetings still taking place. I am sure they are, but would be nice to know.

[AlienOne]

Maybe this was it? http://www.arcgames.com/en/games/star-trek-online/news/detail/7006643-queue-revamp

I think you're on to something...

[Ankhammon]

Unfortunately, I have to assert the most likely explanation is observer bias.  The game engine simply couldn't malfunction in the way you're describing, for the simple reason that the moment you activate TG it rolls its to hit roll and decides whether to hit or miss immediately.  Anything that happens after that can't change that outcome.  What you're saying you are observing, in game engine terms, is that TG is activated, the game engine decides whether the power hits or misses, but if it has already rolled a miss and the target dies, the game engine decides to change its mind and call it a hit.

Its possible for a power that hits to subsequently fail to apply its effect if something later interferes with the process, like the issue with pseudo-pets, or the game engine could malfunction and not apply those effects because of a bug.  But its not possible for a power that misses to subsequently apply its effects anyway (technically, anything is possible with a software bug but this is vastly more unlikely than the reverse for the simple reason hit decisions can't be "appealed later" in the game engine).

I certainly understand your thought that it was observer bias and I'm willing to state that it might very well be that. That was what I thought for a fairly long time too. After all, Achmeds Raison would dictate it (it's not spellt that way?).

Like I said earlier, I first noticed this back in the bad ol' Dark Miasma days. I was in Perez Park doing street sweep with some friends bemoaning my healz lack of hitting ability and activation time. I would hit TG and it would tell me miss/hit and a teammate would spot my target, have tea, saunter up to him, engage in battle, defeat the bad guy and have a celebration in the time it would take for my TG to finish its animation (me exaggerate?).

My thought would have been is there such a thing as an instantaneous queue surrounding to hit rolls considering many times the damage comes after the fact? How would that affect to hit chances if any (probably not but a place to consider).

The other thought (which I considered more likely at the time) was that it was a mea culpa to the dark miasma defender for his crappy animation time. Sort of
If TG
then Look at state on mob
     If state = yes                       //the baddie has been hit but damage not delivered
     and damage > Health
     then TG hit = yes                 //mea culpa you so so broken dark maismist.
Else
continue.

At the time (and mostly today) I had no real idea how coding was done for this or any other game around. I even had a thematic rationale for it. That the dark maismist was ripping the soul of the recently departed (never saw that in the power description though ).

LaughingAlex brought up a good thought too. It is possible that it was a unintended consequence of steakbreaker and I was just "feeling" the right time for advantage.