Greycat

Well...

After the name release? 😄 I'm more curious about how long it stays that way. As for the OP - yeah. I want to see CIT back for HC, basically.

... which again brings up the "How do we consider an SG "inactive?" which I don't think I need to go into detail about again. (And yes, I know, you mentioned "as a thought experiment.") Followed by "How would HC notify the players?" We've had *literal years* to learn about the character rename, and a month of warning that "Hey, this is going live." Logging in to the game, you could see flags on the "at risk" characters. Do we add *another* warning symbol to the login screen - for something which, currently, we can't see on (and I don't think data is passed to) the login screen? Obviously a warning when a character from the SG logs in would be useless... as the character would have logged in and the SG would then be "active" at the most basic (and not necessarily relevant) sort of flag.

... but it doesn't target pumpkins, which it seems the OP is asking about. 😄

So devs! How many new characters were created in the 24 hours after the name release went active? 😄 (I'm honestly just as curious about the first hour or two, too. On top of how many names were "available" just before, since that certainly wasn't 1.6 million with a month to "protect" them.)

Mine that have red triangles on them are *highly* unlikely to ever be taken, unless someone really wants to name their character after a base code for a base they don't own or have some really oddly specific designations/titles.

You want to play that way, you can. Not the first one to bring up something similar, or to do it.

Which, if you think about it, still doesn't really scream "there's a need for this!" I mean, if Everlasting - typically second most populated, and I'd hazard with a *lot* more "non active" bases like I described (RP sets, etc. with a single character) is around 40,000... well, the name release thing they were saying they expected *1.6 million* names to be affected. (Still curious to see how many actually were, plus new characters created in the first 24 hours.) 40,000? I'm *really* doubting a need.

Bases don't really lose usefulness if someone hasn't logged in, especially with passcodes. SO as a metric - this is pretty useless. How many transport hub bases, for instance, do you think have an "active SG member" in them? Barring something breaking or needing updating, once they're built, there's no real reason for the builder to log in, and they can be the only person in the "SG."

Strange that people can keep making SGs if "not a single SG name" is available on Everlasting. They're kind of required to make a SG. I wonder how they're naming them. And "I haven't seen" doesn't really mean anything. I've never seen YOU on Everlasting, and I primarily play there. Does that mean you're lying and you're not actually there? First, you do not have to be level 10 to make a SG. You can make them at level 1. Second, yes, there probably ARE hundreds of SGs with just one character who's generally inactive, especially on Everlasting. I doubt, for instance, any of the several transport hubs have dozens of characters in them - they don't need them, barring other zones being added to add beacons to. Everlasting also has many, many RP bases - pubs, chalets, housing and more. Guess what. Doesn't matter if the character that built those has been "inactive," the bases themselves would still be very active, seeing activity from other players. They get built, MAYBE updated when something gets added to base items that would be helpful or appropriate, but other than that, there's no reason necessarily that those would have "active" characters. For instance, I have an SG base with one character that's designed as a bookstore. It hasn't needed to be updated in at least two years. I highly doubt you want or need the name of it. I have another that was initially meant to try to give a day/night cycle free, neutral lighting space for things like costume contests, and has evolved into a sometimes-use small-RP-set base and travel hub (mostly travel hub.) I have another under (slow) construction that'll be a temple, of sorts. Friend of mine likes building bases, they've probably built 15-20 of them for friends and for themselves for housing, social areas, etc. that don't need updating once finished. Unlike characters or accounts that don't get logged into, the activity of these bases cannot be determined by "has the base builder been active in the last X days." So, no. They do not need to be punished because you're being uncreative with SG names. SG bases are much different than players, when it comes to "activity." The SG name issue is a you problem.

APril Fool's Day, I believe.

You are two levels away from a one year rename timer. Spend under five minutes to get two levels.

This is a player issue, not a powers issue. (Plus you don't necessarily know if it was "counterproductive" when the power was used. If a bunch of enemies are rushing the controller, melee is otherwise engaged and what they have is an AOE immob, they're using an AOE immob instead of hoping they survive until something else has aggro.) Yes, the "collect" mechanic is interesting. No, it doesn't need to be copied over to every set. Yes, theme is important. As is diversity in powers and playstyle.

... honestly, I think that was more an annoyed dev reacting to badgers at the time kind of being asses about it. Because people have put time and effort into their current badge collectors. Strange you should need that explained when you're also talking about "bragging rights for doing XYZ." (Disclaimer - I'm not a badger. Don't usually care, other than an occasional title or two, such as running a recently rolled /time character into RV at level 1 to get "Sick of time travel.")

... well, given that despite the announcements and having it on the launcher, there was still a lot of "wait, what? Name what?" in in-game chat...

... Here's one that it'd probably be impossible to check for, but I'd be curious about. I wonder how many people got a name that was freed up because someone ELSE had a second-choice name and finally got the name they wanted.

Entertainment for the moment: Watching people pop in to Outbreak. Seeing if you can guess who it is after a few names. I'm picking up definite themes for some folks 😄

Same place as the well vanity pet, statesman and recluse vanity pets, etc. Essentially fancy plushies or action figures for people to collect.

On occasion, the request to open Prestige up again comes up. I'm going to be honest, I hate prestige as it was. It was a frankly useless system, other than needing it to build SG bases on live. It led to abuses of SG members in some SGs, and "ooh bigger number" didn't mean anything - it said *nothing* about the players or the SG. Frankly, it left a *very* bad taste in my mouth, and I'm happy to see it gone, other than a legacy listing in the SG registrar. So, while I'm not particularly big on having it come back, I started wondering how to make it actually useful - have it actually represent (loosely) a SG's "prestige." How active they are, what they do, etc. On top of it, having the prestige also be "sticky" for the people who earned it would probably be a good idea. So, what if activities and actions are what awarded prestige? OK, right at the offset, some of it's going to be hard to track. I don't know how to award prestige to the base builder who's spent hours to weeks on a base, for instance, or who sets up RP events, or creates AE missions for the group (without some sort of additional overhaul to AE, and a link between the systems.) This shouldn't be a system that would end up with millions of prestige in a month, and there'd likely be some sort of timers in place to dampen gaming the system. But, some of the possible examples: - Found a SG - 1 prestige. Anyone can do this. Every SG will basically have 1. - Create a functional base - 1 prestige, one time grant. "Functional" being the key. Small room, at least one working teleporter with linked destinations, workbench, med 'porter, one storage item, one helper NPC (trainer/tailor/etc.) - Invite other accounts - 5 prestige once you hit 10. (Numbers can be tweaked on all of these.) One time grant. It should indicate *some* degree of social interaction possibilities inside the group. - Lead a team (at least 4 people, at least 10 minutes - given how fast some things can go) - 1 prestige Also adds a point of personal prestige, which follows you instead of the SG. Personal prestige doesn't stick with the SG. - Lead a league (at least 3 teams of 4 people each) - at least 15 minutes (?) - 3 Prestige, 3 personal. Since it's a bit harder to organize. - Lead a SG team (You're the lead, you have at least 3 other SG members in the team, 10 min) - 2 prestige/1 personal. Trying to indicate more "SG Activity" here with the SG prestige boost. The numbers and actions are pretty much examples - but should not be high. A SG that leads 3 raids a day, every day, each week would - at the end of the year - end up with 1092 Prestige from that, for instance. An SG has a weekly TF they run? 52ish prestige a year. And the actions should be based on - let's call it "involvement." Personal activity, SG activity, actually doing "stuff." On the plus side, you don't have to be in SG mode or anything - it's just earned for doing what you do (or don't) do. So what would you do with this prestige, and/or what would it earn you? Not a darn thing. I want absolutely zero incentive to farm this. No badges, no "it unlocks...," no anything. No reason to, bluntly, be an ass to anyone over it, no inviting lowbies to grind then kick at some level, no INF penalties for having it on. If you want a bigger number, do more stuff. Yes, it would end up awarding prestige to people farming in AE if they're also PLing folks, but at kind of a slow rate - it's not perfect, but at least it'd also reward people creating AE arcs for their SG, and wouldn't necessarily incentivize "grinding it out." And it'd mean looking at Prestige would have some degree of meaning as far as how active the SG is. Potentially a breakdown of how the prestige was earned (basic SG setup, arcs, team/league leadership, how many people are earning what, etc.) might be useful to see, as well. (And yes. There's a whole host of other SG things I'd like to see done to make that SG lookup window useful. But this just touches on one thing people do ask for. Plus, hey, it's the perfect suggestion, to me. I don't actually care if it comes back, so if it did this way, great, my suggestion ws heard, if it never comes back, I'm still happy! 😄 )

... I feel I should point out that, while it's not *popular* and it is rather segregated, they were talking about having PVP well before release. (Even at that point it was in arenas, though.)

*nods* The main issue being the "it didn't make the cut," though it does give a different meaning to "failed" implementation (IE, they didn't get a super soldier, they got a beast.) And it starts the whole "So why does the 5th still have access to them if the Nictus split off into the Council?" rabbit hole. Though, granted, they likely weren't planning a split into council/column (or a rename even, for that matter) at the time it was written, and everything lore-wise it would potentially affect. (Some folks have a... let's say outsized reaction to even mentioning anything in that document, as well. Don't ask.) ... also, personally, at the time that would have happened, Rudolfo et al would be working for Il Duce. I really kind of wish they'd used an Italian name for them. Though I guess people would have more of a reaction to "Nacht Wolves" than "Lupi Notturni." (Even the German's off a bit, but ... umlauts.)

I'd lump this back in with "Stuff for the character select screen that would be searchable," personally, rather than a command.

I really kind of hope they do, and release the number. Not least because I'm curious how much that "1.6 million" number has dropped since the announcement.

*Misreads request, implements /czechname, which provides the Czech equivalent of the requested name.*

Honestly... city of villains just never could do anything but kind of railroad you along a path. Early on, it felt like your choices were "dupe" or "psycho." It did try branching out a little, even without the morality system. But yes, as you mentioned, it just can't let you be any of a host of other sorts of villains. Where's the master schemer, rule the world type? Yes, you can run a villain group - but the game doesn't care that you're actually the leader of this group of minions. It doesn't really empower you to create plans and try to carry them out - AE's "sort of" this, but also not - and again, the rest of the game doesn't care. COV doesn't react to you, past very generic dialog. Not even with VEATs - which I still think is a missed opportunity. Khelds get custom enemies. VEATs should be getting more recognition, at least from Arachnos troops - both positive and negative. Get some followers. Get some people who want to make a name taking you down. Yes, it (kind of) happens a little in a VEAT arc or two, but it's barely done - and it's not seen in the world at large. Being a villain of any depth really requires a sit down, who brought the nachos, bring your dice RPG to do properly. Doesn't mean I don't want to improve the choices redside, though.