New efforts!

[Arcana]

So, I wonder - can the "theory" Arcana raised in regards to iD4 also be considered racist?

Because "Aliens"??

Discuss...

Anything can be considered anything by at least one person, but in this specific case two things make that difficult to justify.  First, I'm commenting on entities that don't actually exist.  I don't think you can be racist against a race for which there exist no possible injury even in the hypothetical (noting that particular discussion wasn't about "aliens" in general, but the very specific ones depicted in the movie).  Second, racism typically has to have an element of projected inferiority or detrimental stereotyping.  Discussing whether a specific race of aliens may have a different foundation of science and technology doesn't seem to have that element.  It would be equally valid for me to discuss the same thing about actual human societies: whether the ancient Egyptians had the same fundamental mathematics and technological foundation that the ancient Chinese did, say, and whether they were similar enough to be theoretically compatible.  I don't see how that would be racist.

Not really even worth discussing specifically, except to highlight the fact that not all discussions about race are inherently racist.  However, this particular topic can be incredible tricky to navigate.  Sometimes inherently non-racist discussion can nevertheless have a racist purpose.  Sometimes racist discussion has a necessary non-racist objective.  The important thing is not to try to discover where the line is but rather to decide not to go anywhere near the line when it is not necessary, and it is almost never necessary.  That is worth discussing specifically.

[Paragon Avenger]

It's time once again for ...
Side-Show Bob and his talking kangaroo,

We interupt our regularly scheduled program for this breaking news report ....

Hello Ms. Liberty fans, there has been a huge breakthrough in the talks to get City of Heroes back!  Unfortunitly for you, the THeM has not deemed you worthy of this great knowledge.  So go back to talking about racism, biogtry and prejustice.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled program already in progress.

And that's our show for this week boys and girls, and remember to never ask a villian for a ride.

[Goddangit]

It's time once again for ...
Side-Show Bob and his talking kangaroo,

Darnski.  I was hoping for Skippy the Bush Kangaroo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_agtNKbgSfI

And that's our show for this week boys and girls, and remember to never ask a villian for a ride.

Why not?  Villains have the best candy.  And no one can see you beating the crap out of them in the back of their windowless cargo vans.  Hey, look!  Full sized Three Musketeers!   ;D

[Arcana]

Bit late on a response but I suppose you are right.  The background and lore of the aliens is somewhat irrelevant, while it may add a small amount of interest to the story it would remove that aspect of "It doesn't matter why they are, all that matters is they are attacking us."  Its the attitude of "It doesn't matter why they started it we just know we are going to finish it" kind of writing which I can also appreciate I guess when looking at it from that point of view

There's a middle ground I think you're overlooking where sometimes things are relevant to a story but not necessarily a good idea to include directly into the story.  Sometimes there's a deliberate intent for the reader or viewer to reach conclusions on their own, because the very act of doing so delivers a different story experience than if that context information is directly given.

A really good story has a tendency to make you believe that there's more to the story than is being directly expressed to you, just slightly out of view, but it would be there if you actually looked for it.  We aren't actually told what Luke Skywalker was doing before R2D2 and C3PO crashed on Tatooine, but we can infer from the story.  And each one of us probably infers something slightly different based on our own life experiences.  But while we all fill in different details, we tend to each fill in *the right* details that make the story make sense to us personally.  In that way, letting us infer the backstory can actually make the story more compelling, because while each of us infers different things, ironically we each experience a stronger story than if it was told to us directly.  What we fill in is more appropriate to ourselves than what the film maker could universally achieve.

I'm someone that tends to believe there is one objective reality, even in backstories in general, but I do acknowledge that letting me infer how the aliens in ID4 get to that point in the story and letting other people infer different things, or even nothing if it isn't necessary for their narrative, can be a good way to tell that story.  We then fill in exactly what's necessary to make the drama of the story work.  It is precisely when this mechanism goes horrible awry that movies (and stories in general) tend to fall totally flat.  No story teller can tell us everything, and if we don't buy in and fill in the rest in a consistent way, Inception-style, no story really makes sense.

[Tubbius]

We aren't actually told what Luke Skywalker was doing before R2D2 and C3PO crashed on Tatooine, but we can infer from the story.  And each one of us probably infers something slightly different based on our own life experiences.

You mean Luke wasn't trying to find a way to grow dope out of the Tatooine dirt?  :O

[LadyVamp]

Hello Ms. Liberty fans, there has been a huge breakthrough in the talks to get City of Heroes back!  Unfortunitly for you, the THeM has not deemed you worthy of this great knowledge.  So go back to talking about racism, biogtry and prejustice.

I heard from the mice who are good friends with the squirrels who had it on good knowledge from the Rat Syndicate that the voles heard it was a huge breakthrough.  But then the voles can't remember what it was.  Only that is was really huge.

And that's our show for this week boys and girls, and remember to never ask a villian for a ride.

But! But! But!  Villains drive the hottest cars.  I spotted a rat from the syndicate driving a Bugatti Veyron today.

[Sinistar]

So.....did super group bases become redundant in the final years of the game?

DOn't get me wrong, I loved my base with its twin fusion generators and twin AES for control, but as the game went on they eventually linked the trains to all the zones, plus there were portals to Praetoria, bases couldn't have multi alignment teleporters, ie: blue bases can't have red or praetorian tp units, plus we had the Ouroborus portal for a quick escape and jump to a zone that had a market place in it.

Yes, they gave us "hacked" TP Units that could have more then 2 beacons which was fine, but seriously did the bases need teleporters in the final years of the game? 

Base raids were long since broken and declared as "non-fixable"  (shame too, my base was well armed)

so aside from trophy rooms, salvage storage rooms, invention tables and of course decorating the base as you pleased,  were bases becoming redundant?

[MM3squints]

So.....did super group bases become redundant in the final years of the game?

DOn't get me wrong, I loved my base with its twin fusion generators and twin AES for control, but as the game went on they eventually linked the trains to all the zones, plus there were portals to Praetoria, bases couldn't have multi alignment teleporters, ie: blue bases can't have red or praetorian tp units, plus we had the Ouroborus portal for a quick escape and jump to a zone that had a market place in it.

Yes, they gave us "hacked" TP Units that could have more then 2 beacons which was fine, but seriously did the bases need teleporters in the final years of the game? 

Base raids were long since broken and declared as "non-fixable"  (shame too, my base was well armed)

so aside from trophy rooms, salvage storage rooms, invention tables and of course decorating the base as you pleased,  were bases becoming redundant?

Nope they were not redundant. They turned into Minecraft before Minecraft with the added bonus of you not having to punch stuff. Best example I can find is this base tour

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9U_R-LGRtIY

[Arcana]

So.....did super group bases become redundant in the final years of the game?

DOn't get me wrong, I loved my base with its twin fusion generators and twin AES for control, but as the game went on they eventually linked the trains to all the zones, plus there were portals to Praetoria, bases couldn't have multi alignment teleporters, ie: blue bases can't have red or praetorian tp units, plus we had the Ouroborus portal for a quick escape and jump to a zone that had a market place in it.

Yes, they gave us "hacked" TP Units that could have more then 2 beacons which was fine, but seriously did the bases need teleporters in the final years of the game? 

Base raids were long since broken and declared as "non-fixable"  (shame too, my base was well armed)

so aside from trophy rooms, salvage storage rooms, invention tables and of course decorating the base as you pleased,  were bases becoming redundant?

Well, that question seems a little odd in that you list two base features that became less valuable (base raids and teleporters) and four features that were still in play at shutdown, so technically speaking bases couldn't be becoming redundant at the time of the shutdown.

But more specifically, base raids were hard for people to miss since so few players ever actually saw one.  While transport was continuing to proliferate I still found base teleport useful in general right up to shutdown (for example, the staging area for incarnate queues on Triumph was in DA not far from the base portal).  And you mention salvage storage but just for completeness I had my personal base(s) stocked with salvage storage, inspiration storage, and enhancement storage.  I used to keep hundreds of large and unusual inspirations stored for rainy days, or to give away (particularly useful to give to new players running harder than normal content or fighting bosses at the end of task forces).

Give a man a fish and he eats for a day.  Give him sixteen large purples and he eats Ghost Widow for breakfast.

[Paragon Avenger]

Darnski.  I was hoping for Skippy the Bush Kangaroo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_agtNKbgSfI

Why not?  Villains have the best candy.  And no one can see you beating the crap out of them in the back of their windowless cargo vans.  Hey, look!  Full sized Three Musketeers!   ;D

never ASK a villian for a ride.  Not never ride with a villian.
;)

[Vee]

I used to keep hundreds of large and unusual inspirations stored for rainy days, or to give away (particularly useful to give to new players running harder than normal content or fighting bosses at the end of task forces).

Did you spend the better part of a day organizing them by color and size too or was that just me?

[ukaserex]

So.....did super group bases become redundant in the final years of the game?

DOn't get me wrong, I loved my base with its twin fusion generators and twin AES for control, but as the game went on they eventually linked the trains to all the zones, plus there were portals to Praetoria, bases couldn't have multi alignment teleporters, ie: blue bases can't have red or praetorian tp units, plus we had the Ouroborus portal for a quick escape and jump to a zone that had a market place in it.

Yes, they gave us "hacked" TP Units that could have more then 2 beacons which was fine, but seriously did the bases need teleporters in the final years of the game? 

Base raids were long since broken and declared as "non-fixable"  (shame too, my base was well armed)

so aside from trophy rooms, salvage storage rooms, invention tables and of course decorating the base as you pleased,  were bases becoming redundant?

As memory serves, there was at least one trial/tf type deal where you got a nice badge and a temp power for 3 days or so and you had to do this through the team leader's SG portal. It was a fun fight - but kind of confusing if you'd never done it before.

[Ulysses Dare]

Did you spend the better part of a day organizing them by color and size too or was that just me?

It wasn't just you. :)

[Biz]

Did you spend the better part of a day organizing them by color and size too or was that just me?

Did you also give them names and backstories?!

[Vee]

Did you also give them names and backstories?!

Nah, but were I a D.D.R.P.'er I might've.

[Arcana]

Did you spend the better part of a day organizing them by color and size too or was that just me?

Mostly by color since I didn't keep mediums.  Also I used to keep christmas presents for I have no idea what for but there they were.

[kaaduu1280]

Here's a theory for the stalling on NCS' part that I've been thinking about for awhile: What if they're waiting to see how CoT turns out before they decide on any course of action, good or bad? CoT could honestly become an expansion or revamp of CoH if the rights were given back.

[Sinistar]

Did you spend the better part of a day organizing them by color and size too or was that just me?

NO, I did it too.   I even had some spare bins dedicated to one of each different type of xmas present.

If you dumped them in one bin they would be separated by type but you still didn't know what type they were, so after dumping them in one bin, I would then remove all of one of the type, use one to see what they were and then dump them into another bin, along with a standard inspiration of the correct color to know what they were:  attack, def, etc.

I also had one bin dedicated to EoE storage for the occasional LGTF or Hami Raid.

[LaughingAlex]

Here's a theory for the stalling on NCS' part that I've been thinking about for awhile: What if they're waiting to see how CoT turns out before they decide on any course of action, good or bad? CoT could honestly become an expansion or revamp of CoH if the rights were given back.

CoT wouldn't be an expansion, firstly, even if the people developing it were the ones who get CoX back.  City of Titans is Unreal Engine 4, which is a different animal to the early cryptic engine that CoX used.

Secondly, it'd be bad for both games IMO, if they were, because it'd be killing interest in CoT as people give up over time on the prospect of CoX ever returning, losing patience for CoT ect.  Many players are for mmorpg players to impatient.  The other issue being that mmorpgs are getting an ever increasing bad reputation as grindfests which copy WoW, people forgetting about CoX combined with that would lead the unitiated to think CoT is another WoW clone without ever giving it a chance.

[Angel Phoenix77]

CoT wouldn't be an expansion, firstly, even if the people developing it were the ones who get CoX back.  City of Titans is Unreal Engine 4, which is a different animal to the early cryptic engine that CoX used.

Secondly, it'd be bad for both games IMO, if they were, because it'd be killing interest in CoT as people give up over time on the prospect of CoX ever returning, losing patience for CoT ect.  Many players are for mmorpg players to impatient.  The other issue being that mmorpgs are getting an ever increasing bad reputation as grindfests which copy WoW, people forgetting about CoX combined with that would lead the unitiated to think CoT is another WoW clone without ever giving it a chance.

I agree, in point with you. However, the team that is trying to get City of. if I remember was getting it for another dev. house; that is if I remember correctly. I will wait until City of. comes back if not his time, then the next attempt. If we look at the two attempts they have gotten farther than the first attempt, which means if there is another attempt then it will go farther.
I do have to say, I am not very patient, when it comes to waiting for things, however, ever since I learned of this attempt I have learned patience, an old adage I remember is "good things happen in time, if you wait long enough" or atleast something like that. ::)