Excraft
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@Captain Fabulous, your idea is a good one and I'd support it. I'm not sure the code here will allow the # sign to be used in names that way. I'm thinking it's probably a whole lot more coding than most would think. Still a good idea though!
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15 hours ago, Rudra said:
Edit: Besides, my own post you are quoting shows I admit it is a minor thing.
If it's so minor a thing and so minor it's not an issue, why even bring it up in the first place?
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1 hour ago, Rudra said:
Sure, but in STO your character is most likely going to have an actual name. And there are a lot of names across all nationalities and languages for players to pick from.
There's nothing stopping anyone from creating or using an "actual" name here either. You can also use words and/or phrases from other languages and nationalities to pick from here. I assure you, the game is in no danger whatsoever of running out of word combinations to create names with. Every single day I log on here, I'm seeing new names that are unique, clever, funny and creative.
1 hour ago, Rudra said:I like the idea of being able to use whatever name I want without fear of it being reserved by another player, but there is an issue with it. Admittedly minor, but still. If I see someone with a really impressive costume and they just zipped off before I could click them to message them, when I do a search for who that was to message? I would often find 2 or more globals to choose from for that character. This wasn't a multiples of that name on the team bit, but it was still a "I either have to message all of them and ask if they were the one with the impressive costume until I find the right one, randomly compliment them all without having seen the others, or just give up giving out compliments". (You get three guesses which one I chose each time.)
This is so far beyond trivial an issue that it's not even worth noting to be honest. If you liked the costume that much, take a screenshot.
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1 hour ago, ZacKing said:
How many individual players (not accounts) does that number represent in terms of builders?
And how many individual players is that in relation to the overall number of individual players.
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7 minutes ago, Rudra said:
I'll take that bet. I've already seen it happen several times when I was playing CO. Not constantly, not frequently, and not commonly, but relatively routinely.
That's a really large stretch given the extremely tiny number of players in CO, which is still probably more players than are here. Regardless, it proves that the code change to make names non-unique works and anyone can have a name they want.
I've seen it in STO myself, but again, that's people making clones of Kirk and Picard. It's rare to the point of being non-existent. I can't remember the last time I've even seen that, and that game has way more players than HC does.
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17 hours ago, Doc Hornet said:
Duplicated display names in COH leagues (something STO doesn't have) are the only concern I see and it's not much of one. How many times in a MSR are you going to have to differentiate between Black Wasp on team 1 and Black Wasp on team 6?
I'd wager you'd very, very rarely ever see this, if ever at all.
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16 hours ago, Dacy said:
"We don't need CRs", I keep hearing this (from others as well), and yet, "Please do continue being helpful and supportive" and "I've enjoyed visiting the tech showcase". I'm guessing by, "we don't need CRs", you mean, we don't need a titled person, because then going on to say that you want the continued support and you enjoy the showcase tells me that you like things a CR does, regardless of whether or not we have the title. Being helpful, supportive, and doing events is most of the definition of the CR position. So to say you don't need CRs and then immediately talk about how you like what a CR brings...to me, what we did as CRs defines the position, it IS the position. So I'm trying to frame what you say into what I think it is you actually mean, but just fyi, when I see "we don't need CRs" I hear "your work as a CR meant nothing and made no difference, and community relations and communication to the devs is unimportant." And I have to work to reframe that to what I hope it is you meant. But it doesn't feel good to hear, every time.
Correct. I don't think we need people with titles to organize or run events. The titles don't mean anything, the actions do. Nor do I think people need blue titles to help the community. @ZacKing included a small fraction of examples earlier in the thread. There are a whole lot more player run events going on every single day. I see them every day on Torchbearer, Excel and Everlasting. I too enjoy participating in the weekly SNS over on Torchbearer. I've managed a few Kronos Titans for it myself. There's daily Hami raids on Excel in the evenings. MSRs are regular events too on Excel. I've seen players specifically running patron arcs daily just to help others unlock the patron pools. There's one player who specifically offers zone tours to help new players unlock the LRT and get access to every zone. To my knowledge, none of these things being run by other players are to promote specific SGs. None of the players out there who have been organizing and running these events day after day, week after week, year after year have ever had a blue title. Having a blue title has never been nor will it ever be a requirement to be a helpful, friendly member of the community to organize events that others can join in on. It just takes a desire to do it, which granted most people don't have. Those that do however, the absolute majority of them aren't CRs and never will be CRs and never have a special title which ultimately is meaningless in relation to the ability to organize events. If you enjoy helping others and organizing events, by all means please continue to do so. I don't see how having a blue title is a requirement for you. From what I gather, your video tutorials and such were all done prior to there ever being any kind of CR position, so if you didn't need a title before to be helpful and organize events, it doesn't matter that you don't have one now. @Kalikamata is a great example of this. It takes a lot of coordination, effort, time and communication to organize and manage several leagues running the SNS concurrently each week. That's all being done without a blue title. As for the base crawl idea, I don't see how having a blue title had anything to do with it. That's something you all could manage without the title and from what I understand, there's more categories to come for it outside of the tech bases. Are those not happening now because you don't have the title? If the base crawls will continue, it just proves the point that titles aren't needed for it.
I also want to add, and I can't believe I'm going to say it, but I agree with the HC thought of not having too many events too often that have big prizes like gold titles and merits and such.16 hours ago, Dacy said:So if you think there is a "lack of interest" in bases, quite the opposite. Building, because prestige is gone now, has exploded. We have well over 33,000 bases that have been created on Everlasting alone. And how many players, do you think? Yeah. Clearly no interest in bases there. Excelsior has fewer, but still over 30,000.
To clarify, I was not suggesting there was a lack of interest in building in general. I was more thinking of reasons why there may be a lack of interest in participating in a base contest. Sure, I totally agree there are a lot of bases out there now, primarily because of the removal of the prestige system. Absolutely there are players making "homes" for their characters. There are also many more players like myself who are making one room storage hubs across multiple characters and accounts. I probably have a dozen or more storage bases across various accounts myself, so while that seems like a big number of bases, it doesn't mean they're all "contest ready" or built for contests. I'd wager most are just for personal storage and quick transport hubs, but I have no problem deferring to your knowledge of what's out there as you'll have a much better idea than I do. I can only go by what I've seen.
I do enjoy the work all the builders put into their bases and thank you to all of you out there who use your free time to do things for others. I appreciate your efforts and hope you'll continue to keep doing what you're doing.
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6 minutes ago, Doc Hornet said:
The ONLY solution to the contentions name issue is transitioning to what Cryptic did with tis COH 1.5 game engine used for CO and Star Trek Online: non-unique display names tied to global handles.
^ This. I understand it's an enormous investment of time on a volunteer group to take on and not suggesting that's what they should do. Just agreeing this is the way to solve the naming problem permanently where everyone can have a name they want.
7 minutes ago, Doc Hornet said:The only time you see the global portion of a toon's name is in the chat box. It's a pretty non-intrusive system.
You'll see global handles ONLY IF you enable that in your chat settings. Otherwise, you won't see the global and you can still click on the character names in chat to invite to teams or send tells. In the 14 years I've been playing STO, I can count on one hand the number of times I've seen two different people with the same name, and that's people making clones of Picard or Kirk.
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I have a question here that I'm reluctant to ask because I'm sure some will take it the wrong way and ascribe some underlying negativity and insult to it that isn't there and isn't at all intended. I don't at all mean this to be insulting or disparaging of anyone or anything, so please don't take it as such.
From reading the thread here, it sounds like it was a real chore to find people to participate in base contests. Could that be that it's just such a small minority of players interested in and involved with the base building community and there isn't much interest in bases and base building among the larger population of players? Even with rewards like merits and gold titles, it sounds like it was still a huge chore to find people to participate. Again, I don't mean that as an insult in any way, so please don't take it as such. Maybe the players on servers like Indom and Reunion just aren't all that interested in base building? Just like you'll find more RPers on Everlasting than you do on Torchbearer. Everlasting is where the players interested in RP tend to congregate. Also, building a base is a lot more work than pulling together a league to run some TFs or iTrials together. It's not an insignificant time requirement for the builder.
From everything I've seen with bases, videos I've watched, posts I've read and people I've talked to, it can be quite a heavy investment of time and effort in building above the plot. Maybe that's something most people just aren't interested in? Don't get me wrong, I very much enjoy paying a visit to check out some of these amazing creations. Beyond that, I don't use bases for anything other than storage, crafting and the occasional quick teleport. Most people I run with are the same. I understand that I'm not the target audience for the base contests.
Something people may want to consider is that since prestige isn't a thing anymore, SGs and bases don't have the same meaning they had on live to many people. SG leaders who wanted to build to the nines and wanted to do raiding needed large, active SGs with lots of active members to earn enough prestige to build and afford to pay for upkeep. That level of memberships is no longer required here. I'm not saying whether that's a good or bad thing, just that it could be a reason for a lack of interest.
Bases are like PvP in that they look to be a very small, niche community among the overall player base. There's nothing wrong with that, just saying that it's a small enough group of players to explain why there's an apparent lack of interest.
As to the topic at hand, I agree with those who've said that we don't need CRs. Thanks for the time and effort you spent while in the position though. Please do continue being helpful and supportive. I've enjoyed paying a visit to the bases in the tech showcase.
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I like my characters to both feel and be effective. Some ATs/builds are more than others, but overall I try to shoot for both.
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On 4/28/2024 at 2:25 AM, wjrasmussen said:
I didn't get the badge for kronos, but I will be return to play again. Lots of fun. Even more lag
I think the lag would be helped if people didn't go nuts and fire off every AoE they have, Incarnates, Lores etc. all at once. Barring that, use the /noparticles command. It does help.
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21 minutes ago, Mr. Apocalypse said:
In my case I tried the email the global rout, never received a reply, and I think I have sent close to 25 messages in the last couple of years. I suspect in my case, the name it was grabbed up, without any intention of being used, and now the account is defunct.
What if the person just doesn't want to reply or is blocking emails from anyone not on their friends list? Lack of response doesn't necessarily mean the account is inactive, although it could be.
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On 4/28/2024 at 12:33 PM, Mr. Apocalypse said:
I would like to try to sort it out directly with the individual sitting on the name
That's how it should be done if that account is still active. No one should be forced to give up a name if they're still actively logging in and playing. If they're active, they're reachable in game and can be negotiated with to release a desired name. If they don't want to release it, they shouldn't have to. I don't think we need an automated system of emails for any of that. Just use the slash command, get the global of the person who has a name you're looking for and PM/email them in game.
With that said, this name release thing should be run on inactive accounts only that haven't logged into the game in literal years. If you haven't logged in for more than 3 years, you've abandoned the account and the names on it are up for grabs.
Alternatively, changing the way names works to make it the combo of charactername@global like Cryptic did in their Version 2.0 engine would solve any name issues and everyone could have any character name they want with no worries about whether its taken or not.
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46 minutes ago, Greycat said:
*waves from being a renamed memphis_bill.* 😉
Never heard of memphis_bill, but you @Greycat I've heard of/seen here on the forums. You must be super famous then! 🤣
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4 hours ago, lemming said:
I think it really depended on which server you played on or interacted with on the forums.
I'd say you're right.
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4 hours ago, PeregrineFalcon said:
You're not being insulting, you're just not thinking. Just because you don't know who someone is doesn't mean they're not famous. Do you know who Shah Rukh Khan is? No? Well all 1.4 BILLION people in India know who he is. Therefore he's famous.
No, I've never heard of whoever that is either. And yes, that doesn't make him "famous" to me personally at all, sorry.
4 hours ago, PeregrineFalcon said:Of course you've never heard of them, you didn't spend much, if any, time on the retail forums. Just because you haven't heard of people that were part of a community that you were never involved in doesn't mean they weren't famous in that community. If you ask anyone who spent a lot of time on the retail forums they'll remember at least some of these people as these people were famous in the City of Heroes community.
I'm curious, how do you know exactly how much or how little time I spent on the game forums when the game was in retail? The answer is you don't know. You've no idea. And yes, I have asked a couple of people I know who I roll with from back in the day and they've never heard any of these names either. I'm sorry, we've never heard of anyone in your little clique of internet buddies. They may be "famous" to you, that doesn't make them "famous" to everyone. And we all were back then and are still now part of the City of Heroes community. The community encompasses everyone, not just you and your clique.
4 hours ago, PeregrineFalcon said:"Oh, I've never heard of Elvis, therefore he's not famous." Brilliant!!!
Like I said, I'm sorry I never heard of your little circle of internet pals. That doesn't make them "famous" to me. You'll note I never said that doesn't mean others don't know who they are because it's more than clear some people do. Those people whomever they are were important to you and some others, but not to everyone. Your post seemed to make the assumption everyone knows who these people were and they are "famous". All I said was I never heard of them and maybe that means they aren't as "famous" as you thought. Feel free to disagree.
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On 4/25/2024 at 6:27 AM, Ghost said:
BillZBubba used to post regularly on the forums - think he loved to play brutes
I'm sure you're correct. I still don't know who that is.
20 hours ago, Oubliette_Red said:Along with Memphis_Bill, Samuraiko aka Dark_Respite, 8baller, ChristopherRobin, Hyperstrike, and Thor's Assassin. To name a few.
Never heard of any one of them either. I don't mean this to be insulting at all, but I'm not sure these folks are as "famous" as you all think they are.
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On 4/23/2024 at 2:25 PM, PeregrineFalcon said:
By "famous player" we actually meant people who were famous in the City of Heroes community overall, not just in their social group or on their server. Names like BillzBubba and Arcanaville.
Never heard of either one of them and I played on live for years.
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2 hours ago, Oubliette_Red said:
Eh, I can see their point when it's their "signature" name that they've used for decades across multiple games. It's just "that one name" that they define themselves with as a player. I managed to get my namesake on all the servers, never gotten an email from anyone on the servers I don't generally play on and I may just delete three of them since unlike Legacy, I don't really play on multiple servers anymore.
Oh I understand that bit just fine. I do find it interesting and entertaining that those vehemently lambasting others over their supposed lack of creativity can't focus their own vast pools of creativity on finding another name they like. I don't think a day has gone by since this whole discussion about purging names began that I haven't come across another player with a name that I personally thought was cool and clever. There's still plenty of great names to be had. The few with boundless creativity need to to use that creativity themselves and find something else.
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On 4/11/2024 at 5:31 PM, Niizzy said:
Since when Homecoming have these shenanigans? I have characters inspired by Sabretooth, Psylocke and a lot of others well know characters, even their names is the same and nothing ever happened, now I made a complete Gambit replica and was proud as hell, having a lot of fun but when I logged into the game I saw the character was completely reset and received an email to not replicate the costume again because its copywritten???
Is this the consequences of the NcSoft thing already?
Someone from the costume police brigade reported you. These are the rules and there's no changing them, so best to work within them and enjoy.
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It's mildly entertaining that several of the people in this thread complaining about "their name" being taken are the same people who vehemently lambast others for "not being original" enough with character creation. What happened to being "creative" and coming up with a different name? I guess these kinds of things only work one way.
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5 minutes ago, Dacy said:
However, the hot keys are such a huge improvement over what it used to be, those of us who remember, I think, are going to proclaim how great they are, because they are. But they don’t make this an effortless editor that takes little time to do complex things.
Thank you for this honesty.
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8 hours ago, Dacy said:
Insulting and condescending.
Honestly, I think you're reading way too much into what I'm posting. I'm sorry that you feel like that was a personal insult as it wasn't, but there's not much I can do there to convince you otherwise. It certainly wasn't meant as one. I don't know where that's coming from and I could be wrong here, but it seems like your ascribing something to me and my posts that isn't there.
8 hours ago, Dacy said:So one might think that you now understand that "easy" is subjective, and I've explained that I'm trying to be encouraging and let people know that there's light at the end of the tunnel, that it will get better, but, no, you still keep insisting that we're being disingenuous with people, that somehow the videos I make make it look like it's easy and quick, and I'm doing people a disservice and lying to people.
I never said you personally were lying or called you a liar. I'd love for you to direct quote me where I used the words "lying" or "you're a liar" here. As I said, I think it's better to let people know up front what's involved and how much time is required to build something complicated and extensive. That's not a personal insult or attack on you, nor is it me saying you're lying.
8 hours ago, Dacy said:Of course, then I remembered, you left HC because you were all hot and bothered about supposedly seeing people being shut down if they expressed negative opinions.
8 hours ago, Dacy said:you play a victim card as you have before
I don't know that we've ever had any sort of communication before, at least to my recollection. I've seen your posts and watched your video tutorials and base tours, but as far as I know we have never interacted before. I'm not sure how you would know anything about me personally. You're free to make whatever incorrect assumptions you like though. I certainly can't stop you.
8 hours ago, Dacy said:And I think YOU are underestimating people and their ability to understand how much work went into what they see.
I very well could be. Isn't it better to let people have all the information up front to let them be the judge for themselves? That's all I was suggesting.
8 hours ago, Dacy said:And I am done with this circular 'discussion' with you
I'm glad. It certainly seems like that's for the best. I wish you a good day.
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5 hours ago, Dacy said:
And yet, later in the post, you pounce on the fact that I "admitted the editor was poorly written". In the same post as this quote, where there is an "unspoken rule" to not be critical of anything. Uh oh, looks like that logic's blown, bc there I am, being critical!!
Well no, it's actually proving my point perfectly. I don't see anyone at all jumping all over you for saying anything remotely critical about the editor tool. Others who have offered essentially the exact same criticisms of the editor and/or shared a different opinion on its "ease of use" are told that we're "being negative" and "discouraging others" and the like. There is zero of that focused on you for saying the exact same thing. Why aren't you or anyone else leveling the same animus toward yourself as you are me and anyone else who doesn't find editing a breeze? Aren't you "being negative" and "discouraging others" by saying the editor has issues? If you're unable to objectively see that, I can't help you.
5 hours ago, Dacy said:It works as it is programmed to work, and when you understand how it's working, as these very experienced base builders testify, it IS easy for us to use. That is a perspective. That is subjective.
Correct. Your perspective and subjective opinion on what is or isn't "easy" is no more or no less valid than mine that the editor is cumbersome and tedious to use. I'll reiterate yet again, I understand it's ancient code that is doing things well beyond what it was originally intended for. I get it. You have to work within the parameters of what it's designed to do. I just don't find those parameters enjoyable or fun, nor are they intuitive. That's no fault of anyone here at HC and it's not a personal attack or criticism of their work. They're doing the best they can do with what they have and there's nothing wrong with that.
I'd also like to add, I know a few people whom I would classify as expert builders that have built some amazing bases who all say the editor isn't easy to use. So no, not every very experienced base builder agrees on how "easy" the tool is.
I'm not sure why you're hyper focused on the idea that my opinions and criticisms of the editing tool are discouraging people from even trying. I've made it a point to say that's not the case nor is it my intent a number of times. I do think its important for people to know the true level of effort and time that will be required for a complex build. I think it's a mistake to be making posts and videos about how "easy it is" to do without letting people know that it took potentially hundreds of hours, if not more to build a base. Not being upfront about that is not a good thing either, especially if someone dives in thinking it's a simple 1-2-3 five minute thing to build an above the plot cityscape with all the trimmings.
Some of the bases I've visited are upwards of 12,000 objects and higher. Even if you very conservatively estimate it takes 30 seconds to manipulate each object, you're still looking at a full time job level of hours. For me personally, I already have a full time job and a family, so I don't have the time nor desire to devote to building a complex base. Others do and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. More power to them.
5 hours ago, Dacy said:I will say also that it becomes easier until it is actually easy to use, and this just takes time and patience, with a bit of determination thrown in. Will everyone want to do that? No, but everyone CAN if they WANT to, and THAT is my point.
I don't disagree with you at all on this and have said so repeatedly.
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Suggestions to help with the Name Release Deilemma
in Suggestions & Feedback
Posted
I understand that the # is just a place holder. Sorry if that wasn't clear. I'm not sure all symbols are usable in names, but the idea does have merit. I think it's a lot more difficult than some might think to implement this idea though.
As far as whether HC can do it, I've no doubt they can. They've got a great group of very smart, very talented people working on the code. From posts I've seen them make over the years in threads around this topic, it's pretty clear at least to me that they know what they're doing. I've no doubt they could re-code the entire engine to get it to work the way Cryptic did with their next generation engine they used for CO and STO. It looked to me like it's less about what they can do versus what made sense to do with the limited time they have. Re-enabling the old name release policy was the low-hanging fruit version of a fix.
I don't have any doubt that if they really wanted to fix the name issue once and for all through code, they could do it. Again, they're very smart people and they know what they're doing. It's just a matter of time and effort. I'm not sure most people would be too happy if the HC people spent the next year or two re-coding the entire game just to fix names and didn't release any new content at all.