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September 29, 2007
RUAGIRL?
Given that I have quite a number of female alts in CoX (it runs about 50%, interestingly enough), it's a good thing I don't play in China:
Shanda (Nasdaq: SNDA) subsidiary Aurora Technology has frozen game accounts of male players who chose to play female in-game characters in its in-house developed MMORPG King of the World, reports 17173. Aurora stipulates that only female gamers can play female characters in the game, and it requires gamers who chose female characters to prove their biological sex with a webcam, according to the report.
Yikes.
(via BoingBoing)
Posted by Dave at 11:30 PM
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Filed under: Character Design
September 21, 2007
Targeting priorities
Doyce points out this fine Penny Arcade comic, and suggests it pretty much applies to any game.
I'll agree as a broad principle, to wit, "Don't just target the biggest, most menacing thing in the room." In actuality -- in CoX terms, at least -- I'll further qualify that some.
My General Targeting Priorities (when I get a chance to actually select targets):
- Anything manageable that's liable to one- or two-shot a team member (e.g., Quantums if you have Squids, Embalmed Vahz). (By manageable, I mean that take no longer to take down than any other target, vs. a Boss who is a big threat to everyone but takes a while to deal with.)
- Anything that's going to stop (mez) me from defeating the enemy (e.g., Malta Sappers, Avalanche Mages, Tesla Clocks). (This is the main reason to take down Aberrant Lost first -- not because they are big and nasty, but because at the levels they appear they can mez most of the group.)
- Anything that's going to buff/heal the enemy (as PA notes) (e.g., Rikti Guardians, Mortificators, Tsoo Sorcerers, Crey Geneticists/Radiologists, anything that turns on Leaderhip pool attributes).
- The enemy, biggest to smallest (self-explanatory).
I suspect the principle can, indeed, be applied to any game.
Posted by Dave at 10:28 AM
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Filed under: Gameplay
September 19, 2007
Character Transfer and Renaming is Up ... kinda
Evidently it's hitting the servers (or the billing servers that handle it, or something) harder than expected, but the (pay) service to (a) transfer a toon to another server, or (b) rename your toon is now officially up. Woot.
Once upon a time, I would have seriously done a lot of capering about regarding this, but it's been several months at least since I've been highly server-centric, or had a group of friends that I Really Truly had to hook up with regularly on a given server. Instead, I have various duos scattered about that Margie and I play, as well as a ton of alts across all the servers as the mood seizes me.
That said, I could see possibly gathering some folks together in one place to do a particular activity -- the $9.95 isn't meaningless, but it would cost more than that to meet some friends for dinner. Or I could see wanting to pull some alts together to create yet more Margie/Dave duos. We'll see.
As for renaming -- I can think of only one toon I might consider (changing Psi-clone back to the original Psiclone I had in mind) -- but only if the name was free. Other than that, no sawbuck-worthy regrets over character names, at least for now.
What amazes me is the folks who sound utterly frantic to transfer their toon Right Now. Come on, guys -- wait until tomorrow, or Friday, when the lines die down. Really.
Now, what is kind of interesting is the speculation about whether certain servers will see a major drop or rise in population, based on reputations as PvP or RP or whatever servers -- or, alternately, if those reputations will become self-fulfilling prophecies. It will be interesting to see if any stats come out of this.
Posted by Dave at 3:06 PM
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Filed under: Character Design
, Resources & Rules
September 18, 2007
Costume treats
Margie was running in the Halloween Test this afternoon -- in addition to the normal trick-or-treat doors and inspirations and costume bits (toward an extra costume slot), etc., this year you can pick up ...
Real costumes. Toggleable temp "powers" that give you the appearance of several of the groups running around Paragon and the Rogue Isles. Lost, Freaks, Council, PPD, Paragon Protectors, etc. Fun stuff. The costume, when turned on, simply substitutes for your form (though you can still use all your powers -- watching a Freak Boss run around with a broadsword and fly through the air was ... disturbing).
The costumes don't work in PvP zones (to avoid griefing -- though, to be honest, I think that's a perfectly legit use of such a power), and they have a 17 day timer, real-time, so they should all be gone by Thanksgiving. Fun stuff.
Posted by Dave at 10:50 PM
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Filed under: Resources & Rules
September 17, 2007
Gameplay update
Actually did a fair amount over the weekend.
Miss Crackle: Got her up into 13 doing various PUGs of various success. A lot of stupid people out there, and nobody I felt like keeping track of for the long run.
Cammie Kandachi: This was an electrical brute I'd built about the same time as Miss Crackle (they even look a fair amount alike). I played a bit with her on Friday afternoon, then Margie joined me later with the brute she'd built to pair with her back in the day. We got up to 16 or so, I think, over the weekend (starting around 12), and I learned why I'd not played her, as much as I like the look. (1) electrical is a hellaciously endurance-intensive set., (2) brutes are not as damage-intensive as scrappers, and don't seem as sturdy as them either (probably because of the lack of a self-heal). We spent a lot of time resting and/or working off debt. Still, fun.
Rita the Cat: So we swapped over Sunday afternoon to our scrapper duo, who dinged 37 during play. Obviously higher level helps game abilities, but they've always felt kick-ass as a duo, where as Cammie and Annie always feel struggling.
Saturday was a Rikti invasion night. Ended up fighting several battles with different folks (Miss Crackle, Cammie, Kheldiel), and learned a bit more about how the process works.
Good stuff.
Posted by Dave at 11:53 AM
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Filed under: Character Design
, Gameplay
September 12, 2007
City of Spammers
I guess it must earn enough customers to be worth it, because I, too, have noticed the upsurge in spam -- personal tells pointing you to a website for PLing, farmed influence, etc.
While I've usually /petitioned their asses, the devs have put in a new command (per the patch last night):
This version includes a new chat command.
/ignore_spammer
By using this command, a user will let our customer support know that they consider the person they added to their ignore list as one that is “spamming.” For example, if a player receives an in-game tell advertising for a real money trade web site, they can use the /ignore_spammer command, followed by the name of the character they received this advertisement tell from to put them on ignore.
Ideally, the user can then follow up with a /petition to also let us know of the disruptive behavior via that method.
I'm not sure how useful this is, if it's still suggested that folks /petition with more details (evidently Customer Service can't easily pull up the chat logs to see what the kerfuffle is about). And I actually only rarely /ignore the spammers because I've only rarely gotten any follow-up tells from them.
Still, if it makes it a bit easier to point the annoying gits out, I'm willing to take the extra step.
Posted by Dave at 6:58 AM
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Filed under: Resources & Rules
September 11, 2007
More Armored / Tech Heroes Coming to Paragon City!
Once, that is, folks get a gander at the new Iron Man movie -- tastes whetted by this trailer.
Now if only Fly worked like that ... and you could make a Tank that was also a Blaster.
Posted by Dave at 7:46 AM
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Filed under: Character Design
, Media
September 6, 2007
I am, actually, still playing
Post have been light because ... well, because there's (a) not been a lot of news from the Dev front, and (b) my playing has been on the light side.
There has been some, though.
Kitsune-chan is a new alt on [lost track of which server]. She's mean to be a fox spirit, and so is an Illusion/Rad Controller, complete with fox ears, feral fore-arms, t-shirt, jeans, and cowboy boots. She's actually a lot of fun, and I'm remembering why I enjoyed running Psi-clone so much. She's teamed up with Margie's Ex-Terra, a Spines Scrapper.
I've also been playing a lot with Old Saucy Jack, my Ripper-based BS/Regen Scrapper, complete with long trench coat, bow tie, top had, and mutton chops. He's fun to play, and he's actually been invited into a rather enjoyable SG -- "Mid-Life Crisis," touted as a group of 30s-40s (I still qualify) players. I was impressed (before I actually joined) by the relative maturity of play (one of the few FrostFires I've been on where there wasn't someone running ahead drawing multi-group aggro), and it's been rather pleasant having that conversational fun. Plus, as a solo alt, it's a low-stress play time (vs. when I play with Margie which, while enjoyable because she is an excellent player, has me actually worried about how things are going with her much more than when I'm in a PUG).
So, anyway, I am playing a bit. Just not a lot startling to say outside of comments on recent posts.
Posted by Dave at 11:40 PM
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Filed under: Gameplay