KauaiJim

Oh yeah I agree we players tend to do that. I say "we" because I do this too, I have just learned over 21+ years of playing mmo's to shake it off, decide a course and move along. I think there have actually been many cases where the Dev's went too far in many mmo's so it isn't much of a surprise to me when it happens. What are you going to do? We're all human, even the folks running these game companies. If the nerfs ruined your build, change to another build or move on. If the nerfs ruined your class, change to another class or move on.. etc. While I also agree completely about balance, I will say in my experience playing these games... well, it gets complicated. Most of us know this. Balance for one thing affects other things. I'm really tired so I'm going to come up with a silly example: Ice Cream. If you are going to want to 'balance' ice cream correctly you are going to want to keep the containers similar packaged and priced and quality, but you want vanilla to still be vanilla, chocolate still chocolate and so on. Otherwise, you might as well just blend em all up together and sell just one vanilachocolatestrwberry flavor. You need to make sure your French vanilla isn't so much better quality or tasting or priced than regular vanilla or you won't sell any of those. And further and further on down the balance rabbit hole it goes. tl;dr - Balance is desirable but often complex to achieve without affecting the overall uniqueness ('flavor') or having an affect on a myriad of other things causing undesired consequences. Simplifying this down a bit more I'll use a couple of examples that have been around since the dawn off mmo time: Changes to PVE/PVP break PVP/PVE or changes to solo/teaming breaks teaming/solo. These games are literally woven together in ways that make them a minefield for the devs to attempt re-balancing. So yep, balancing is very desirable and needed, unfortunately it can get tricky so they often miss the mark a bit or even cause another group of players to be impacted. Sheesh, I need a tl;dr for my tl;dr !

I Google'd 'purple triangle of doom' and found this picture:

Yeah, kind of got weird when your companion(s) give you an inferiority complex, lol. For me in this game it was regen. Not because it didn't need a nerf or some type of adjustment. But rather because why use a scalpel to fix something when you can 'nuke it from orbit - it's the only way to be sure'? But that didn't 'kill the game' or anything like that. And yeah, the ET nerf was another one of those too IMO. But we all know this stuff happens. I just wish the guy would get his facts straight on his support examples. CoX is one of those mmo's that as someone earlier stated "always had legs" even when Jack Emmert was doing his John Smedley / Brad McQuaid immitation and right up through shutdown.

I understand this guy's frustration in general - almost every mmo I've played has 'discovered' shortly after launch that they need to nerf something to all heck. I think it's usually the result of the marketing folks/management staring intently at the numbers of their newly released cash cow and making quick course corrections to appease investors. I think what a lot of people find frustrating is that they are already 'invested' in it and then literally the game changes. It makes people feel a bit like they fell for a bait and switch. It is an unfortunate part of the nature of business. It's really all about the money. While I agree with him in the general sense that companies have a history of doing this, and many mmo's really have been radically changed for many players by nerfs - often being 'sold' to the players as some type of newly improved playing experience, yada yada. If he is that upset by it then I would suggest to him that online games may not be his thing because what he's complaining about is pretty standard stuff and pervasive throughout the mmo industry in my experience. However - I disagree entirely with his use of CoH as an example because THAT isn't what killed it. He obviously does not realize how popular CoH was right up until shutdown nor is he acknowledging the massive outcry from the community at the time and all of the efforts to save CoX. His bringing up SWG is sort of an example in my mind but SWToR (1) isn't dead and (2) is still fun and enjoyable for many with the glaring exception(s) that they took the cheap route when they added new content over the last few years and they went full retard with their casino cash shop. Champions Online pulled one of the biggest 'just after launch nerf the living bleep out of everything' stunts I've personally experienced and that game is still going and still fun to those who play. Granted, I have two lifetime accounts that I don't play because, well, CO just doesn't feel 'super hero' to me. It feels more, 'wannabe super hero' or 'Westworld style theme park'. So in my mind CO maybe could have been used as an example of 'right after launch over the top nerfs' (and I think Vanguard too if I recall correctly). Anyhow, I will say thank you sir for defending our beloved CoX 👍, unfortunately however he's just some poor guy having a bout of nerf rage. Been there myself.

Interesting. I haven't been actually trying to earn or save or spend inf at all really. I've been going quite hog wild making dream character after dream character and having access to so much more than I ever did before in CoX. The inf and the enhancements and salvage and merits, etc. are all just byproducts of my mad frenzy of fun building my ultimate complete stable of characters.. and then starting to come out of my fugue a bit and realize "Holy Snap! How much have I spent?" lol I am getting to the point of 'settling down' a bit and yes, your playstyle is becoming more appealing. I have a friend who played WoW like that. He was a master at it. I was impressed. I just need to complete my army err, stable first <breaks into maniacal laughter while wringing hands>

I hadn't given it any thought... hmmm... ok, 1) I guess because I come from a time when a person's word meant something and lying (or exaggeration) wasn't quite as prevalent as it is today. I'll provide 'proof' of something when it's needed. Like when I get pulled over or I'm applying for a passport. Otherwise, I just expect folks to take me at my word. 😃 2) I'm usually too busy or too lazy to bother. I was only able to post an accurate reply because literally two weeks ago I had embarked on a task to gather up inf. Heck I'm almost too lazy to bother with this reply. 😁 3) Out of courtesy to you and your request, I nearly logged into one of my mains to screenshot his inf, then decided it feels like bragging. That's okay if that's your thing, it just isn't mine. In fact, I'm actually a bit embarrassed because I only posted a reply to this thread because the timing was coincidental with my own inf gathering quest. Sometimes it's exhausting being so humble. I'm probably the most humble person I know! 😇 And just in case y'all don't realize it my above post is being playful. Like the OP said "brag away" to those who are and those who are posting proof. DANG that's alot of merits! lol

Just under 2.5bn currently. It was spread all over the place across 106 characters but I moved the bulk of it over to two of my 'mains' recently so I am able to actually answer this accurately. I had recently made it a project for a day to log into every character and email what they had to a main. What surprised me is that I had several characters sitting on large amounts that I didn't even remember had it. Talk about finding five bucks in your pants pocket. What this thread makes me think about even more is... How many billions have I spent building characters? That number is MUCH MUCH higher. Also, how many I/O's do I have stored in the SG and what would that add up to? I wonder if in real life billionaires loose track of their money and find 200 mill here 450 mill there... must be nice.

Sadly I used to have a ton of CoX stuff. Special editions, binders, figures, comic books, etc. etc. I actually had two of everything. Then a couple years after shutdown, I moved and decided to get rid of everything I could no longer use. I am hoping that maybe I saved some of the comics and figures somewhere but I haven't gone through my storage to see. But just like JnEricsonx I'm so darn happy to have the actual game back that I really don't even miss all of that extra stuff. It would probably be fun to look it all over again but alas... if I kept all of my MMO paraphernalia from every game I would need another room for it all. Still it's really fun to see you guys post about some of it. Brings back memories. Thanks! 😀 (might have to go digging through storage now just to see if I did save the figures) Did anyone else have the Prima binders? I wish I had kept those too just to look through and see how much the game has changed since then...

I see your point. This thread does have some very good info and lots of great points. Like I said, I'm just literally surrounded all day long by people complaining about EVERYTHING (in real life) over and over. I think it's carrying over to when I come here to 'escape' from the real world. Somewhere in my closet I have a t-shirt that says "Grumpy Old Man Under Construction". I think I need to go find it and start wearing it. Now, all you young wippersnappers git offa my lawn!! (shakes scrawny fist) lol

Oh, now it all makes complete sense. Thanks! 😄 Yeah, honestly, I do get that. It just seems like it has already been DISCUSSED TO DEATH. But ok. Carry on.

First I agree that is some impressive testing and thank you! However - For some reason when this thread popped back up the song "Beat It" keeps playing in my head (along with a visual of a horse skeleton)... No offense meant to those of you who are passionate about this - I just do not quite understand spending so much time and effort on it as though it will make something happen under the current circumstances. (free, unpaid dev and support staff, unsanctioned, server code readily available for anyone, multiple community servers running giving players options, etc.) That isn't to say the data and discussion isn't good it's just not really serving any real purpose in my mind at this point other than giving a wrong impression to any new players who come along. The game is VERY enjoyable and playable right now as is. I understand everyone's personal wish lists, I have my own, I just think coming to the HC forum and rehashing the same old thing starts to feel tired even if all we're doing is providing numbers (for what the HC devs likely actually already know). Maybe they're already looking at this. Has anyone asked? Maybe I'm just grumpy. I apologize. Just seems like the whole darn world is in constant gripe and whine mode. If you can find what makes you happy, great! If not, well, "first-world problems"... sigh Go play the game while you can (is my advice)... I'm going to go get my flame proof suit on now...

I've done a lot of respecs and have never received a message that it failed. What I did have one time here on HC a few months back was a respec that completed but I had placed several (expensive) I/O's into the enhancement tray instead of slotting them (as they no longer fit into the new build). When I closed the respec window and checked my enhancement tray there was nothing! I thought they had been deleted as though they were left in the ready to respec window even though they weren't. I created a ticket and was informed very quickly that I had triggered a display issue by respec'ing while having a pending level-up (super kudos to HC support!). I was informed a log-out/log-in would correct it and sure enough, relogging fixed it. They were there all along, just invisible I guess. Having been a QA for a few years I remember as part of my job having to try to think of ways the customer might use the software that the devs might not have thought about. This hiccup reminded me of exactly one of those scenarios. Made me chuckle to realize I'm the customer this time. 😁 So, I don't know what causes a fail, however I do know one glitch that can be triggered that can give you a scare but the fix is a simple relog.

Oh, I just remembered one way to make teams more interesting - invite drunk people. Trust me, it will get interesting. At least it was for me every time it happened. Especially when it's a relative or friend and you have to try to explain to everyone else what's going on... 🤪

I still have a lifetime license for MWB and I am still reluctant to put it back on either comp. It has been an excellent product for years for me however I am almost certain it caused me to have to reinstall Windows 10 on both (and leave it off). It probably isn't fair to entirely pin it on them as both comps have Windows 10 (that means Win Defender) and Kaspersky Total Security and Hitman Pro Alert. This issue began on both comps after some type of MWB update but it really could be that the slightly over-the-top combo of Win Def + Kaspersky + Hitman Pro + MWB may have been the perfect storm to cause an issue. Not really sure. I like them and their product and don't want to deter you from using it, just maybe keep my experience in the back of your mind if you ever see something similar. John? Lol, no the Belize fiasco was a while back. Now Spain has him and might lock him up for 30 years for tax evasion or some such and then the US wants to extradite him next for... does it really matter anymore? lol... The "Legal issues" section of his Wikipedia is rather entertaining. In fact, the whole page is. The man has lived an interesting life, that much is certain. It's all I can think about when I hear the word McAfee anymore. Not the lukewarm software (in my past experience), but the unusual man who started it up. Can't call the guy boring!

That is what I always thought it was only I thought she had her arms crossed like you did something wrong and were in trouble...

Yeah McAfee never really impressed me even back in its prime. It works I guess but I remember it having a lot of false positives and then completely missing when an obvious virus was going around. I've used several of them and honestly none of them is awesomesauce (imo). For the last few years I've been successful running Kaspersky Total Security with Malwarebytes and Hitman Pro Alert and they all played nicely and kept me safe. Last year Malwarebytes did an update that started crashing my pc and laptop. I eventually ended up reloading Windows on both and leaving Malwarebytes off. I still see threads out there about MWB crashing pc's. Don't know if it's still a problem or would be one for you. I love the MWB product and it has worked well over the years but in its current form it doesn't like my setups. Your mileage may vary.

If you are downloading the client from Homecoming you should be fine. You may have to tell McAfee to play nice. 🙂

That's my ex-wife. Her name is Karen...

I thought it was an armored metallic earthworm bursting from the ground like a sandworm from Dune...

What about something along the lines of a player rating system that help folks kind of know at a glance what kind of team they are on? It could be a system that automatically determines a rating value based on IO sets equipped and incarnate powers activated, etc. or it could be more of a player set flag stating what their playstyle or teaming goals are. Just bouncing around some ideas... Semi sidetrack - I agree with the general sentiment in MTeague's post (with the exception that the OMG doesn't wear off for me and I'm having a blast) that there was fun in those challenges but I'm no longer there. He mentioned the original vanilla Everquest... LOL - Yep. I had a blast too back then. I spent nearly THREE MONTHS camping Stormfeather for the Eyepatch of Plunder and with constant in game support from my son, my brother, nephews, work friends, other friends and my guild I was finally able to get it! I left my computer running for weeks at a time logging in every few minutes to every few hours to check... other times just sitting there for entire days online waiting (and talking in chat). I remember dying in places where ther was absolutely no way to get my corpse back without help from some uber friends. Every. Part. Of. That. Game. Was. A. Painful. Slog... and I loved it. Even EQ2 was painfully difficult without teaming. I can definitely say that I am no longer there. Now almost every part of my real life is a painful ordeal err, challenge rather, and I have discovered the sheer joy that is being stupid powerful in the best super hero MMO ever created! My brother recently convinced me to try EQ Project 1999. I was intrigued. I spent a day setting it up and another day trying to get back into it, but it was clear to me at that point that it was much better as a memory. No longer 'my cup of tea'. Back on point - When players come to Homecoming to play CoX again they are just super excited and happy to be able to play their game again. It seems that often new players choose Homecoming for a variety of reasons (others they know play on HC, population, regular QoL and some nice updates and changes and even some cool new stuff on a regular basis plus nice forums, support, account management, etc.). However, in everyone's rush to get back into CoX folks are having expectations (whether they realize it at the time or not) that HC will be run like a Live MMO. If you aren't sure what I mean by that, then you have just made my point. Homecoming is wonderful. It is a miracle. It is a gift. It is a good thing. A blessing. Homecomings' very existence by all rights should not have occurred. The almost INSANE chain of precarious events that lead to HC and all of these servers is quite literally almost unbelievable. And it's still a precarious situation. This server is not sanctioned or approved. They are working on that but to date it is still in limbo. The team doing all of this for us is volunteer. There is absolutely nothing wrong with anyone having expectations, including that this game was a wee bit broken *before* shutdown and that now that it's up and running again someone should maybe attempt to 'fix' the power creep/lack of team challenge. However, you may find that the HC team has different expectations than you. Or perhaps they feel the same but know that a project to add new content is a massive undertaking and they just don't have the time/resources/desire to do it justice. Crappy 'new content' can take a game in a wrong direction. SWTOR did a fine job (/sarcasm) of trying to roll out a whole new tier cheaply. The resulting Fallen Empire/Eternal Throne mess killed my desire to keep going in that one. So we need to be sure what we ask for doesn't break it for others - because they WILL leave. And that DOES matter. So in closing I would sum it up by saying I agree with those of you who are experiencing this and want SOME kind 'fix' and these thread popping up do bring up valid issues. However the -reality- of the circumstances that led to HC and the current situation surrounding HC and those running it may not be conducive to these things being done quickly if at all. You may want to consider taking a peek at some of the other CoX servers out there. Also, there is always the option for a group of like-minded folks to put together their own server and maybe pull in a couple of devs to help. Maybe since HC is sort of a community thing they could fire up another shard for hardcore and let a smaller group manage the direction of that one instance only (sounds like a nightmare to me, lol). But I digress... PS - You could always fire up EQ Project 1999 if you're really feeling nostalgic and pining for the 'old days'. That should scratch that itch pretty well for ya... Not saying for you to go elsewhere - that's never right when I see that! I want folks to stay here on HC. Just sayin' it was an eye opener for me. LOL

I'm not sure what counts as appreciable but this is what I have now: The top and bottom gray Safari bars will retract but the dark blue forum menu bar never goes away. No setting removes it (that I can find), including setting Safari to request full websites instead of mobile. Not a big deal - I only use mobile when I'm at work or out and about. What TemporalVileTerror said makes sense and did not occur to me at the time of my prior post. I'll just live with it. I do think whomever is doing coding for the Invision Community should try to keep in mind that not everyone has a tablet-sized mobile phone -and- that menu is both unnecessary and much larger than it needs to be even if it were necessary (imo). 😁

Is there any way to turn off the silly large pop up menu at the bottom of the screen on mobile (iPhone)? The one that shows ("Forums, Unread, Notifications, Messages, More"). The slider button Outrider_01 refers too brings up a 'customize layout' menu with only a save option already check marked and green - nothing to choose. I'm finding this pop-up menu at the bottom taking up 1/5 of my screen is a bit much. It makes reading actual forum content feel like I'm trying to read from a teleprompter. Screen space on mobile is already very limited by the encroachment of Safari menus at the top and bottom. This additional space taker is like having a perma-advertisement on the screen. Thanks. (Guess I should have gotten the bigger phone after all...)

Two of my original favorite characters from Live were a Claws/Regen Scrapper and a Katana/Regen Scrapper. Then they took a flamethrower to it. I no longer had any desire to play either and I parked them. Here on Homecoming I remade both characters for old times sake, but I do not play them. Instead I remade playable (IMO) versions as Claws/Willpower and Katana/SR. The reason I say playable is whenever any MMO nerfs one of my characters into the dust it ruins the character for me. Nothing I ever do with it will ever be anything near what it used to be able to do. It leaves a bad taste and the over-gimping sticks out because it no longer plays like it used to. Had I never experienced the over-powered version, then the underpowered version might not feel quite as underpowered. I might be able to play and enjoy it just for what it is. I would really love it if they could maybe put regen about halfway back to where it was, or even a third way back (heck I'd take a quarter way back). Something. Anything. The nerf was too brutal IMO. If Regen was an undercooked steak, the waiter came back with very well done instead of medium. Yeah, it's edible, but it would sure taste a lot better to more folks if it weren't charred quite as crispy. I do not have any specific idea on how exactly to do it, but I really think Regen could use some love. Out of 105 characters I currently have on Homecoming only the two I mention above are Regen and this thread sure hasn't changed my mind to go roll any more. As others have stated, Regen is still playable but why when there are so many other better options? TL;DR: Yes Regen is still 'okay' and can even be 'pretty good' when played well. The problem with that for me is I already have enough to 'monitor' and plenty of clicking to do without throwing Regen on top of that plus I get more from Willpower, Invulnerability, Super Reflexes, Shield Defense, the Armor sets, a T-shirt, sunblock.... I mean come on, if they're not going to fix Regen then they should at least finish the job and put it out of it's misery. NERF REGEN!!!!!!!!! IT'S STILL PLAYABLE!!!!!!!!

Maybe the whole floor goes up and down? 🤪

I've been surprised by so many it would be a very long list. A few examples: Bite Mark Niblet Deminder Audios Amigo Spraytime Knightro Shock n Roll Pompom Power Strikezone Quill Zone Tough Break Full Impact Whom Afterglo Dejavoo Leaf Blower Freeze Out Think Again Drainstorm Gamechanger Quill Zone Doom n Gloom Jade Katana Loco Motion Reflexion Lillypad Quick Thought Full Blast Wysper Shredator Ionicon Isotope Micromax Boogieboy Chillride and on and on...