Excraft

June 27

15 hours ago, temnix said:

Of course it is right and proper that those who contribute more get more. That was the reason for the prestige store in the original game.

That made sense when the game was a commercial, for profit venture. It is not for profit now and will never be for profit again.

Hard NO from me on this terrible idea.

June 25

Some set photos posted here. Can't say the new costume looks good at all.

June 19

7 hours ago, Triumphant said:

It was pretty much just about the white guys, and that was fine by us.

If you don't think that Leia or Padme were integral to the story in the original films, had very strong characterization and helped keep those "straight white guys" on task, I don't think you've seen the original films.

7 hours ago, Triumphant said:

But the problem is, now that we have a show that inverts that dynamic, all of us straight white guys are *blanking* our pants over it.

"Inverting dynamics" has nothing to do with it. It's the crap writing that's ruining these franchises, not the race or gender of the protagonists.

June 19

6 hours ago, Triumphant said:

women, queer people, and people of color would like to see other human beings like themselves represented in the fictional universe that they love.

This is the spin that studios have attempted to sell and it doesn't work. It's extremely transparent. Does anyone honestly believe there were no women, queer people or people of color who were and still are fans of the original Star Wars movies? Were there no women who could relate to Uhura, Leia, Sarah Conner, Ellen Ripley or the like? The whole "I don't have someone like me" line strains credibility.

Various studios have kept trying this same "inclusivity" formula for years now and they've produced nothing but flop after flop after flop after flop. The second huge mistake the studios made is blaming the fans for not liking the garbage they are producing. That's not endearing any fan to them, regardless of race or color or gender.

June 11

On 6/10/2024 at 2:55 PM, MsSmart said:

This post is to solicit suggestions, on how to curve the leaching.

If this is a concern for you, form your own teams and set expectations for everyone on the team on how you're going to run the team. Problem solved.

June 10

23 hours ago, Judasace said:

If you expect every new player to play missions from 1 - 50, 90% of them will quit between 35 and 50

If not before. There are a great many people here who for the life of them can't understand how may others consider the "right/correct" leveling process a boring, repetitive slog.

June 6

35 minutes ago, UltraAlt said:

And things were done by the DEVs to limit and/or remove this kind of behavior by adding timers on some missions and limiting the amount of enemies that a character can taunt.

Those DEV actions were done before the AE was released.

The DEVs said that they would ban accounts that posted farming missions in the AE.

Then they caved once it was clear how many accounts where being banned and the backlash for banning accounts - after they had warned players that it would happen.

The DEVs or GMs even actively when back and removed posts that delineated the abuse of the AE that would cause account bans after the DEVs caved on the abuse of the AE.

Even now, we see how the sidekick/mentor relationship has changed in order to stop power-leveling through that mechanism.

It isn't like the DEVs didn't understand that power-leveling was bad for the game.

I appreciate and respect your opinion on power leveling even though I fundamentally disagree with you on it, and you're missing a very important distinction. One thing I think important to remember is that these steps the LIVE Devs took were done for a LIVE game that was commercial product, where the objective was to keep customer playing and most importantly paying for as long as possible. HC is not a commercial venture and according to the repeated statements from HC will never ever be a commercial venture. Ever. Worrying about player retention isn't so relevant as it doesn't have the same meaning anymore.

Worrying about theoretical newcomers PLing to 50 and getting bored then quitting no longer has the same relevance here as it did on when the game was live. It isn't up to us players to keep the game going, it's up to all the individuals here and on other servers graciously volunteering their precious free time to keep it going. If all us regular players go away, HC can just trim things down to a single server and carry on just as they had for years before the secret society server went public. HC could also decide tomorrow that they have had enough and shut everything down whether we like it or not. The HC folk are volunteers who can shut everything here down at any time for any reason they like. They are under no obligation to keep things running for us. I'm not at all suggesting they would do this, so please don't misconstrue what I'm saying here. They can do it. I'm not saying they will do it.

As for people supposedly getting PLed to 50 and getting bored and quitting, let them. Chances are very good even if they had spent the extra day or two running through story content the "correct/righteous/approved" way and hit 50, chances are very good they'd still be bored at 50 and move on.

June 5

4 minutes ago, Bionic_Flea said:

Not to be that guy, but neither of those is a self-imposed cap of LESS than 8. 😝

They are examples of self imposed caps though. Running a team of 8 on content that's designed for a full league is a self-imposed cap.

June 5

Nice work on this! I can see it being very helpful to those interested in maxing out a build and analyzing their DPS.

With that said, I'd like to ask a couple of questions about this too. Please know I am not asking these with any sort of malice toward you, accusing you of anything or implying anything about you personally. My questions are in no way a condemnation of you personally or the work you have put into this.

With that out of the way, my questions are; does this record and track other players on your team? If so, how can they opt out being recorded?

The reason I ask is, I've seen these kinds of things being used to discriminate against other players and shame them in other games, most recently in STO. I'd really hate to see a useful tool such as this be used for that purpose here.

Thanks.

June 5

17 hours ago, Herotu said:

NOBODY teams with a specifically self-imposed cap of less than 8. The point being that although we are FREE to do so, we don't.

Really? How do you explain posts like these?

Hamidon is content designed for a full league, which is more than 8, so this group self-imposed a limit themselves. There are other posts like these around with groups of 8 completing iTrials.

June 4

2 minutes ago, ZemX said:

ut with choices come consequences. If you're PLing to 50 after having already become an expert on the game, you know exactly what you're doing. If you drop in brand new and this is the first thing you do? Yeah, you're gonna end up 50 with no idea what to do next and maybe not enough resources to do it. That's not the community's fault. That's their fault.

I completely agree.

June 4

Dark Melee doesn't really have the "big hitters" like other sets have which take huge chunks of HP from NPCs with each hit. I always looked at it like this - sets like MA or SJ or EM are meant to kill stuff quickly. Dark Melee is meant to make them suffer while pommeling them to death.

June 4

Allowing people to make their own choices about what they want to do and how they'd like to play would be a great start in my opinion. Engaging with people to start a discussion with them about what it is they're after is a good idea too, not trying to force feed our way of thinking on them.

7 hours ago, GM Crumpet said:

I see accounts a month old with a dozen or more 50's. I automatically assume they power levelled up as there is no way they can get that many that quickly. Are they enjoying the game? I hope so. Fingers crossed they get bored sitting in a farm and start actually playing.

I agree, you're right in assuming that these are more than likely PL'ed characters, however you also seem to be assuming that these are brand new accounts made by brand new players unfamiliar with the game and aren't alt accounts of a Vet who has already played the game for 20 years.

4 hours ago, Ukase said:

The entire channel devolves into what's "optimal" or "most efficient". They no longer care about answering any questions. They just want to be right. And they want their right way to be the right way for everyone - when it will rarely be right for everyone.

To me, this is the biggest way where we fail our new players. Meanwhile, the new player is "what are these guys even talking about with all this alphabet soup acronyms?"
We're so busy thinking about how right we are, we've lost sight of the player actually looking for information, not e-peen size.

Well said.

June 3

I really don't see the need for this to be honest.

3 hours ago, Laucianna said:

It would allow those who wish to represent their SG when it comes to events or out in public, even if you have a mixture of SGs in an event it will signify an alliance between the SGs for the event which I think would be stellar ❤️

The reason I say like a portable workbench is so it can follow you across maps and doesn't restrict those who have a favourite vanity pet ❤️

Isn't this what having a specific SG costume with SG logo and SG name above your character is meant to do? Those seem to be more than sufficient to show pride in your group.

June 1

36 minutes ago, Oubliette_Red said:

This assumes that people will read it when it's front and center, the majority wont. There's a link to the CoC in your 2nd screenshot, it would be interesting to know what percentage of players have actually clicked on it, I'll bet on it being in the single digit range.

I think there's a big difference between a link buried in paragraphs of text and a tooltip/message front and center on the character creator.

May 31

7 hours ago, Player2 said:

Then you gave me what is clearly your opinion of the whole process of GM policing

It wasn't an opinion, rather what a GM posted in this very thread.

May 31

5 hours ago, Player2 said:

Oh, I get that. I was pointing out though that I was singled out for that preface when I presented a differing opinion. It wasn't necessary to tell me my opinions are just opinions and that I don't get to make any decisions... but it was stated to shut me down rather than really discuss the points I had made. I got the distinct impression from it that Zac wanted to talk at me rather than with me, as if his opinions were somehow more valid than my own.

No one is persecuting you. No one is trying to shut you down or tell you that you can't post your thoughts or that their opinion is more valid than yours. Just being honest, it seems very clear to me that you're the one trying to shout others down.

6 hours ago, Player2 said:

There is absolutely no reason this needs to be notes added to character creation or any other screen in the game, especially when such notes are going to be either short and not well defined, requiring people to go back and read the EULA anyway if they want to understand what constitutes infringements... and if you don't give a properly detailed explanation in your tooltip idea, then I submit that there will STILL be people who will claim ignorance because the note wasn't clear enough... like maybe they understood "Don't make Marvel characters" because they heard about Marvel's lawsuit in the past, but why not a fast food mascot like Ronald McDonald or mascot from their favorite breakfast cereal? And surely movies don't count unless they're superhero movies.

I disagree. I think @PeregrineFalcon brought up a very strong argument for this idea in that it's a very clear sign that HC takes copyrights and trademarks seriously in the event of any potential lawsuits. That in addition to helping to take at least some of the work from trademark violation tickets off the GMs plates makes this worthwhile. Also, a brief sentence or two in the character creator doesn't need to be detailed and descriptive and provide exact, detailed instructions and examples of what is or isn't allowed. Simply stating that copying trademarked characters is not permitted and it is up to HC to determine is sufficient. The text could even include a link to the CoC if possible.

16 minutes ago, biostem said:

So you genuinely believe that if you asked people, (at least those who fall outside of the "don't care" category), why they created an exact copy of [character X], they'd honestly answer that since they were able to play [character X] on some other Marvel or DC game, that it's ok in 3rd party titles?

I've had people say they didn't know about the no trademarks rule here as well. I don't know about you, but there are tons of games out there with skins for Marvel, DC, Disney, Image, Star Trek, Star Wars etc. freely available. Heck, even in STO there was a Ferengi in Q's Winter Wonderland that looked spot on for Yoda - including speech pattern - handing out lightsaber-like weapons.

May 31

14 hours ago, Player2 said:

I agree with you. I'm saying, it's a determination that can only be made in court by a judge after lawyers for both sides have made their case. It's far better for HC to set rules to prevent it from having to go to court.

HC has set the rules for access to their servers. What the existing laws say or don't say doesn't matter here. It's a private server with their own set of rules and terms that you must agree to abide by in order to access the service. Trademark issues here are never going to go to court because HC has final say on what is or isn't allowed. If you really want to be that guy who decides to take a trademark case for your character to court and incur all those legal fees and expenses for HC, good luck to you.

May 30

42 minutes ago, Player2 said:

Correct. It is a matter for a judge to decide.

If you're willing to personally fork over the retainer fees for a legal team to handle whether or not a costume/name/bio combo here is or isn't a trademark violation, go for it. HC is more than capable of making that determination based on their judgement and what they will or will not allow on their servers.

May 30

47 minutes ago, Player2 said:

Again, I have to say why stop at the character creator? Because despite the obvious awareness across the internet that people aren't supposed to harass and insult, it does still happen. General chat in particular can become a real cesspool. So no, unless we're going to address ALL of the problematic behaviors of breaking rules in the EULA, then I don't think we need or should have such a warning in the character creator. I agree that some people don't read the EULA... so maybe we need an additional pop up after logging in stating that you should read it and be aware of all the rules within because ignorance of the rules does not permit disregarding them.

Adding load screen tool tips reminding people to be kind to their fellow players isn't a bad idea either. Taking the "all or nothing" approach certainly isn't helping your case.

May 30

1 hour ago, shortguy on indom said:

Agree insofar as HC is in control of what they allow to happen on the site, but determination the copyright/trademark violation is prolly a matter for a judge to decide.

Here on the HC servers it is up to HC to decide what is or is not acceptable with regard to trademark or copyright violations.

May 30

1 hour ago, shortguy on indom said:

Snitches can also be reviled by the innocent.

When it comes to what is or isn't a trademark or copyright violation here, HC has the final say, so deeming someone innocent or not is up to them.

May 30

Folks, bickering and quibbling over what is or isn't a trademark violation or what is or isn't allowed isn't the point of the thread. It's none of our choice to make.

The discussion is focused on whether or not adding a tooltip or note of some kind into the costume editor about not copying existing trademarked/copyrighted works would help alleviate these violations and help clear some tickets off the plates of our volunteer GMs.

2 hours ago, Triumphant said:

Here's the bottom line, though. This is a private server, and you are a guest here. If the people running the server are not comfortable with the character you're playing and are worried about running afoul of copywrite violations, and those same people tell you to change the appearance or name of the character for those reasons, you really need to respect their hospitality by complying, or else go find some other place to play.

Spot on.

May 30

I have a genuine question here. If you're having bad PUG experiences, then maybe try something different like teaming with people you already know? Or quitting the TF and forming one of your own? Joining random teams is a mixed bag and everyone has a different way of enjoying the game. If you're finding yourself on teams that aren't to your liking, then move on and create teams yourself. You can control what you do, you can't control what others do.

May 29

On 5/27/2024 at 12:21 PM, Lunar Ronin said:

It's a fun game, and it actually felt like Star Trek, unlike anything on Paramount+.

The bar is so low now with "official" Star Trek content that there's nowhere to go but up. I might give this game a try. I still play STO regularly, although admittedly not as much as I used to. Not sure I'd enjoy playing someone else other than a character of my own creation though.

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