PaxArcana

I really liked CO's costume designer, too. Asymmetric designs especially, but also being able to choose textures (the same piece in Metal looks different than in Leather or Cloth), be able to define whether certain parts had Glow FX or not, and so on.

Plus if they are actually rewriting all the code to handle a 64-bit approach - and "straightening the spaghetti" while they are at it - they might actually be able to make names unique per account rather than per server. Maybe, something like Champions Online did, where your Global Name is appended to any Character Name, in order to identify that exact character in the database. So, I could continue to play Kid_Shock@PaxArcana, right alongside (say) both Kid_Shock@Abraxas and Kid_Shock@Eva_Destruction.

Only level 5? After .... I think it's 10 days not logged in, if someone else tries to create a new character with the name your lowbie has ... they get the name, and you get a forced rename. As level climbs, the length of time you're "safe" grows. And all you have to do is log in to that character, then immediately log out, to reset the timer. 🙂

It's possible to simultaneously consolidate servers, and also make each zone shard smaller. A larger server population means easier time finding teams (especially redside), and as long as that crowd isn't physically visible in any single zone at one time, no-one should be put out by it. Everyone wins, nobody loses. 🙂

PURE SPECULATION: NCSoft's other games may get advertised by the launcher, or via in-game means (e.g., by replacing a few static billboards). That provides NCSoft with a tangible benefit in return for letting these servers continue to operate.

... that's not what Redraw means in this context. The OP is talking about the character draws ("readies") their staff before every attack.

Or, you know, just take Brawl off of their powers list entirely, and tweak all their other powers to recharge, oh ... maybe 5% or 10% faster. 🙂

Yes, and no. Mission Rewards are the same, grouped or solo. However, in a group, you will complete more missions in the same X span of time. Individual Enemies are the same total, but divided amongst the entire team. Essentially, you will get less XP and INF per enemy defeated. However, a team will defeat MANY more enemies in the same span of time - and there will be more enemies TO defeat in any given mission instance. ... What this means, in the balance of things, is: your XP and INF per enemy defeated will be lower on a team than solo; your XP and INF per mission will be about the same. But your XP and INF per hour of play will be higher, perhaps MUCH higher, on a team than it will be solo.

That depends on the deal reached. If the deal is more of an "open license", and those smaller servers conform to it's requirements, then .... they keep operating, mostly as they currently are. If the deal is specific only to HomeComing and the Titan Network, however, then those small servers would probably start receiving Cease-and-Desist letters, followed shortly by DMCA takedown notices sent to their hosting services. Obviously, we should all be hoping for an "open license" approach. 🙂

Also so that you couldn't 6-slot any defensive powers you had with just +Defense or +Resist, and become effectively unkillable. Also also, so you couldn't 6-slot Regeneration powers with just +Heals, and lso become effectively unkillable.

A new game. ... Seriously, that's not just snark, it's the truth. Cryptic did exactly that with Champions Online - your full character name was NAME@global ... so, I could have "TheInvincibleSqueem@PaxArcana", and you could have "TheInvincibleSqueem@krj12", and if we stood next to each other in game, everyone owuld just see TWO characters named "The Invincible Squeem". But CoX can't do it; the servers aren't set up to allow anything of the sort. You'd need a total ground-up rewrite of the character database, possibly the auth server code, and absolutely the chat server. Which between them constitute something like one-third to half of CoX in total.

You tried to compare "drinking underage" with a less-serious act, after all ...

Not at all. Again: NCSoft knows these servers exist. They know the names and addresses of key people involved with the existence of these servers. They know who the hosting service is. Shutting them down would take a very junior paralegal maybe twenty minutes of time with a word processor and a printer, and under $2 in postage. The fact that they not only haven't sent those C&D notices out, and at the same time are actively negotiating with the Homecoming team, creates an implied consent for the servers to exist and operate while those negotiations are being pursued. Thus, while it is not strictly legal ... it also is not strictly illegal. Hence, "quasilegal".

No - because you have to be level 47 to be able to slot a level 50 enhancement. You could do that with a level twenty-five (25) IO, however, and it'd work just fine. Eventually you might want to pull it back out, and put in something higher level .... but you can leave it be while slotting stuff elsewhere, until all of those things are taken care of first, and not suffer for it.

That doesn't make it right. No, I have not. Nor any of the other things - except when I was 8 or 9, I did shoplift a candy bar a couple of times. But that doesn't matter - I recognize what you're trying to do. It's a fallacy called "poisoning the well" - if you can show I've ever done anything illegal, then supposedly POOF, I can't ever suggest anyone else NOT do illegal things. Real life doesn't work that way, thankfully. More accurately, "don't be a thief or else I will express my disapprobation of your behavior". Oooooooo, how horrible of me .... to suggest I might hold a negative opinion of something you might do! ::GASP:: ... the horror! The sheer injustice of it! Quasilegal. NCSoft knows about the existence, and is actively in negotiation with the HC team. By not issuing a cease-and-desist, they have given tacit (if perhaps very temporary) permission for it to exist. They can of course withdraw that permission at any time. But for the moment, these servers are not strictly illegal. Yet.

Person A's hurt feelings, are less important than the risk that Person B's income might be threatened. Which, obviously, isn't going to happen here ... but it's the same kind of theft, and so, I still care about it. For god's sake, we're most of us here to play ad being HEROES ... we should ALL be pro law-and-order, by our very nature.

Fun fact about copyright: You don't have to SELL anything, to violate someone's copyrights. You only have to make an unauthorised copy. If you were to write, draw, etc an actual comic that gained a loyal fanbase of thousands .... and I came along, made some cheap color scans of every issue, then handed them out for completely free on a street corner? I would have infringed on your copyright ... and, in fact, each separate copy is in turn a separate act of infringement. Copyright literally means "the right to control the making of copies". If I make those cheap color scans, I have taken that control from you. That is what infringement means.

Not because I "don't like it". Because it is actually illegal. And because that general kind of behavior could hurt people I know - turning an impersonal "victimless" crime into something entirely different, and less excusable. For one, as I said, it is an actual illegal thing. A minor one all around, but ... ... I have also known people, on a first-name basis, who rely on the protections of copyright to put a roof over their heads, and food on their table. So, copyright infringement hits a little close to home. (No, not people in comics or films, but, still people who relied on copyrights to be able to leverage their creativity into a living.) Thus ... I disapprove of what amounts to theft. Minor, even petty theft, but still theft. Because, as I say, I have known some of the people being stolen from, on a fairly close basis. Which never seems to be true of those who are in favor of infringing others' copyrights ...

In all the years I spent on the Live servers, I noticed one key trend in this debate: the most strident and vociferous defenders of copyclone characters, tended to be the very people making those copyclones in job lots. Just, something to make everyone go "hmmmmmmm" as this debate inevitably grinds ever onward.

+1

You mean, like how in the WoW forums you can put an item name/number in, and people reading your post get a little mouse-over showing the actual item stats? But for Powers, and maybe Enhancements, here? +1 to that idea! If we can make it work - even just auto-parsing a link to the correct Wiki page - it'd be great help, especially when offering advice to newer players.

Apparently. It's no longer Alpha/Beta/Omega. Frosty claims to bee a "delta", and I've seen references to "sigma" males as well. All of it is pure nonsense of course. Human social interactions are much too complex to be so easily and neatly pigeonholed like that.

Oooooh, I'm sorry ... are we at the "vague threats" stage already? Sorry, sorry, I must have missed the cue for that.

[Citation Needed] 'cause I checked, and I don't see it anywhere in the Code of Conduct or User Agreement.

No, no you didn't. You slung an insult. As I said later, insults are engaging - because insults invite response, by their very nature and intent. All you had to do, was either walk away, or civilly say that you did not wish to have the discussion. Instead, you got so upset that you just had to be insulting. And only went downhill from there.