VIP for the last month?

[Jordan_Lee]

I'd like to say I feel horrible that CoH is ending (and very hopeful that they change their minds!). I've played the game off and on for 7 years, and mostly off the past year. I feel guilty about that. And even worse I just found out a week ago about the closure, I missed the announcement and everything else. But since then I've gotten the game patched up, signed all petitions I could find, and am reconnecting with my main character on the game.

My question is, is there any way I can unlock VIP content in the last month?

[Aggelakis]

Nope.

[Pearl Dragon]

Unfortunately not, you had to be VIP as of 8.31.12 in order to remain VIP.

[Victoria Victrix]

I strongly suggest downloading and playing in Beta.  You can still transfer characters to Beta, all your slots will be unlocked and you can see all the content that we might have had  if NCSoftcore didn't have an oversized adult toy up its fundament.

[Patribot]

Sorry to tangent, but VV gave me an idea! Can I transfer my locked characters (I'm a Free-to-Pay player) and then use the Sentinel+ Program to save the profiles? Or would that mess with the whole Validation Algorithm thingy?

I've always been and Alt-a-holic and was unlocking my 60+ characters as I could afford the PP, but I only got about 1/3 of the way done before they shut down the store after the announcement.

[Roderick]

Sorry to tangent, but VV gave me an idea! Can I transfer my locked characters (I'm a Free-to-Pay player) and then use the Sentinel+ Program to save the profiles? Or would that mess with the whole Validation Algorithm thingy?

I've always been and Alt-a-holic and was unlocking my 60+ characters as I could afford the PP, but I only got about 1/3 of the way done before they shut down the store after the announcement.

Yes, but not right now. According to Hit Streak on the main forums, the Beta Server is down, and isn't likely to be brought back up before Monday.
I don't play on the Beta Server, so if they got it up early, I wouldn't know. You'd have to check that one out yourself.

I'm not sure if the Sentinel+ tool stores your Server in the data file (I think it does), so if it does, the file wouldn't be useable to restore the character if the game should ever be brought back in a way that can copy characters from the Sentinel+ files (issues with all the free stuff on Beta, and the possibility of duping).
Sentinel+ will work just fine on Beta for making backups of locked characters, according to Titan staffs' earlier posts.

[eabrace]

Yes, but not right now. According to Hit Streak on the main forums, the Beta Server is down, and isn't likely to be brought back up before Monday.

It was down, but someone was apparently able to bring it back up again earlier today.

[Patribot]

I'm not sure if the Sentinel+ tool stores your Server in the data file (I think it does), so if it does, the file wouldn't be useable to restore the character if the game should ever be brought back in a way that can copy characters from the Sentinel+ files (issues with all the free stuff on Beta, and the possibility of duping).

So the answer is "Yes, but not as a work-around for locked characters, just for ones you use on the Beta Server." if I'm reading you correctly.

Well, that kinda stinks, but I understand why they have to do it that way. I now return you to your Original Topic. 

[Roderick]

So the answer is "Yes, but not as a work-around for locked characters, just for ones you use on the Beta Server." if I'm reading you correctly.

Well, that kinda stinks, but I understand why they have to do it that way. I now return you to your Original Topic. 

You CAN transfer a locked character to Beta and you CAN make a record of them via Sentinel+.

However, the secondary function of Sentinel+ was to make an encoded copy of your character. Should CoH be picked up by someone in the future, and they want to, Tony is willing to give those new developers the code to decode that info, so that our characters could be recreated without having to reroll. It's basically a safety net in case the databases are purged, or aren't passed on to any new owners.
It's possible that the intention is to use these data files for the "Plan Z" game, should that happen; I am unsure.
Characters saved on the Beta server (whether they're native or transferred) probably won't be able to be "restored" in either of the above scenarios; there's too many ways to "cheat" on Beta. Sentinel+ Backups done on the Beta Server are for personal records only.

[Heat Guard]

I know it's double work, but just for personal piece of mind for a 'just in case' thing, I am making two sets of Sentinel+ files, one folder with the live servers, one with the beta.  Just in case.

[Kaiser Tarantula]

Characters saved on the Beta server (whether they're native or transferred) probably won't be able to be "restored" in either of the above scenarios; there's too many ways to "cheat" on Beta. Sentinel+ Backups done on the Beta Server are for personal records only.

There's only 3 advantages that Beta players have that Live players don't; and those being the being the ability to purchase Astral and Empyrean merits for 1 inf from Christy/Michael in Ouro (since finding teams for incarnate trials can be hard with beta's low population), and level bumping from devs/GMs.

That's it.

Otherwise, a character from beta is absolutely identical to a character from live, save for access to i24 content and powersets.  In essence a character from Beta is no different, mechanically, than a character owned by a live VIP player with functionally-unlimited Paragon Points for purchasing superpacks, signature summons, warwolf whistles, and inspirations.

[Codewalker]

Don't forget about repeatedly copying a character from live to beta in order to duplicate their influence / recipes / enhancements and then consolidating those on a single character.

[Kaiser Tarantula]

Don't forget about repeatedly copying a character from live to beta in order to duplicate their influence / recipes / enhancements and then consolidating those on a single character.

You can do that, or you can simply use reward merits from superpacks to purchase vanilla lv50 damage IO recipes from merit vendors and then sell them to shops for inf (they're worth about 165k inf apiece, if memory serves).  It's honestly faster (you don't need to wait upwards of 30 minutes for a character copy to go through), and it's something that a player on live (with sufficient Paragon Points, or just a lot of time to grind merits from story arcs, task forces, or other sources) could also do.

It's how I obtained the inf to max out everything short of my Hybrid slot by converting incarnate threads, despite not being a VIP and being unable to play incarnate content, and being unable to use the mail system due to permission restrictions.  Took maybe twenty or so minutes per toon, which you could speed up a lot by finding a spot with a shop and a merit vendor close to one another (I used Cap Au Diable, which has a bit of a run or fly between the merit vendor and the nearest shop.)

[Ammon]

...which you could speed up a lot by finding a spot with a shop and a merit vendor close to one another...

In Dark Astoria the Merit vendor and store are about 15 feet apart...  In RWZ they are about 10 yards or so around a corner, and that has an invention table nearby too.

[KnightHawk Prime]

Keep in mind that bloody everything on the paragon store is free points as well on Beta (Except, interestingly enough, Prestige Boosters for SG Prestige. Hmmm. Annoying.)

There's a *lot* of good reasons to not allow a Beta character back on the live servers.

We could always attempt to actually set up a "Beta Server" for Plan Z as well, that would allow your CoH Beta characters to be transferred *somewhere* they could be played.

2cp. ;]

[Kaiser Tarantula]

Keep in mind that bloody everything on the paragon store is free points as well on Beta (Except, interestingly enough, Prestige Boosters for SG Prestige. Hmmm. Annoying.)

There's a *lot* of good reasons to not allow a Beta character back on the live servers.

So?  Most of those are things a live player could get as well, again, with sufficient Paragon Points, or are superseded by things you can't get for free.

The shop IO sets?  They can't be boosted, so while they're useful when levelling up (since they grow with you, but even then they have the same minimum level requirements as their crafted counterparts), once you hit Lv50 actual crafted Lv50 IOs are superior to them.  The costume parts?  Cosmetic.  Cosmetic pets?  Self-explanatory - there are no buff pets in the shop.  Powersets?  A VIP on live would have them all unlocked from the get-go.  Temporary travel powers, like the rocket board, magic carpet, coyote/panther shapeshifts?  Not only are they one-time purchases, but they don't allow combat while using them, and they don't outperform actual travel powers.  Costume slots?  Cosmetic.  Tailor Tokens, super tailor access?  Cosmetic.  Extra enchancement/salvage/storage/auction capacity?  Does not affect combat against or with other players in any way.

An argument might be made for Ninja Run or Beast Run, but they're basically a travel power.  They're slower than actual Super Speed and don't provide as much of a jump bonus as Super Leap.  You even slow down to normal speed and jump height if you attempt to fight while using them, just like Super Speed, and they don't provide Super Speed's stealth bonus.

Basically, everything that is an 'advantage' or 'for free' on beta is either cosmetic or a levelling aid.  There's no difference between a beta level 50 character, and a lv50 character that's been powerlevelled extensively via an AE farm or uses lots of Paragon Points for super packs, team dual inspirations, amplifiers, and Warwolf/Sig Summon powers (which, BTW, have limited charges if shop-bought).  From what I gather, Sentinel+ Beta Extractor doesn't even save your temporary powers and inspirations, so those would be moot.

Now, tell me, what have I not listed?

I would hasten to note that all of these things are available on live, also from the Paragon Market.  The only real difference between a beta and a live character is the quantity in which they can obtain them, and that only applies to things which are not one-time purchases.

If there's some other advantage of the zero-point Paragon Market for beta players that a live player cannot match, I fail to see it.

[Ammon]

If there's some other advantage of the zero-point Paragon Market for beta players that a live player cannot match, I fail to see it.

On Beta, you can buy Empyrian merits, or Astral merits for one inf each, without needing to earn them at all.  On Live they cannot be bought at all, not from vendors, nor from the market.  Since Astrals can be cheaply converted to any common IO set, and Empyrians can be converted to any PvP or Purple IO set, this means any PvP io at all costs less than 70 inf, purple recipes cost less than 55 inf, and a rare IO recipes like the LotG +recharge, or the Numina +regen/+recovery cost just 32 inf each.

What this all means is that people who have NEVER earned billions in inf can have builds that would cost many, many billions to buy.  This is a huge cheat, which there is no way to prevent if Beta characters are allowed to be transferred to a live server, ever.

[Kaiser Tarantula]

It just occurred to me.  Stop and think for a moment just what we're talking about here.

We are not talking about a direct enhancement-for-enhancement, power-for-power translation of our characters to a Live server for CoH.  CoH is dead - NCsoft has seen to that.  Unless, by some miracle someone in Korea has an epiphany and NCsoft suddenly sells or licenses' CoH's server operation and allows for reopening the game, CoH is effectively gone come November 30th.  And unless you're talking about a private server, which is against forum rules, there's nothing we could transfer a Beta or Live Sentinel+ file to.

That is, until Plan Z's finally released.  At that time, it should be very trivial to determine just what and how anything from the Sentinel+ records will be copied over.  Likely, all characters transferred will essentially be blank slates and will have to immediately respec to conform to Plan Z's systems.

If CoH stays open, by some miracle, then Beta will also likely stay open.  I will purchase a subscription, as I intendedto do before the shutdown notice, and re-create my toons, from scratch, on a Live server.  But as it stands, I don't see that happening.  All this time, I have been arguing for the transfer of beta toons to Plan Z, or whatever post-CoH plan Titan Network can come up with for the interim between December 1st and Plan Z's release date.

Even with the Astral/Empyrian merits, there's still nothing acquirable via them that can't be acquired on Live.  If these enhancements literally cost billions in inf, then you have the people gouging the game's own economy to the point of obscenity to blame.  The alternative is beta failing at its intended function of testing, because Incarnate Trials are seldom run due to Beta's low population.  It doesn't matter anyway, because a point-for-point, percentage-for-percentage, enhancement-for-enhancement, power-for-power, inspiration-for-inspiration conversion to whatever follows CoH is impossible anyway.

In that light, I don't see what's so wrong about allowing Beta characters to transfer over.