ZacKing

The shadow clones can be quite a challenge on Posi. I always try to keep lots of summonable pets like Amy or P2W pets to help. They can make a big difference.

Can't wait for the inevitable of NCSoft charging big big bucks for the license fee. 😁

Ok so if I'm understanding this right, the HC team doesn't have any control over what is or isn't on the Wiki, but why can't people from HC contribute to the Wiki? That way information can be kept up to date and sorted/organized how you all would like. If it's "official info", just set permissions on the page(s) so that only someone from the HC team can edit or approve edits. That way, people aren't deleting info. As far as the Wiki not being searchable, not sure that makes sense since Wikis have search functionality already built in. Anyway, just wanted to ask since this new list separate from the existing Wiki seems redundant to me. I guess I'm not the target audience for it though, so good luck with it.

Question about the base listing... is another one really needed? We already have extensive lists of bases with passcodes on the Wiki. Torchbearer Bases Excelsior Bases Everlasting Bases Indomitable Bases Reunion Bases Each of the server subforums has a link to those Wiki pages too. Wouldn't it be easier to just link to these and/or sticky the threads in the server subforums?

No one has suggested this wasn't HC policy, nor do I see anyone suggesting that HC was abandoning it? No idea where you're getting any of that from other than to try and deflect from you having you being incorrect about some stuff. It's not really an irrelevant comparison. It didn't produce much on live and I would bet inf it's not really going to produce much of a result here. Sure, number wise it's going to free up more names here since people can create more characters on HC than they could on live. That's great, assuming that the names getting freed up aren't just gibberish to begin with. It's also completely meaningless to anyone hoping a name is in that list, but isn't.

You're still not getting it and it certainly isn't my math that's off. If there's a list of 1,000,000 names on the inactive list, what are the odds the name you're after is even in there to begin with and that it would get freed up so you get that name? And get it before someone else does? Certainly not "1 in 3".... Sorry but no, the name release thing was from the live days and run on the live servers, so it isn't some new bit of code the HC folk wrote entirely on their own. There have been Dev posts discussing the naming issue before. If you've never seen them, then I suggest you do your research so you can speak intelligently about the subject. In previous threads on the topic, there was a discussion around why there had to be the need to log into every character to keep the name active instead of basing it on account activity and not character activity. That way, the devs would know if an account was active and the player could contact the name owner to negotiate releasing it. The devs explained how the account database is different/separate from the character database and it wouldn't be possible to base it off of account activity as the code stands now. To be fair, I'm not sure I'm summarizing it exactly, but I believe that's the gist of it. In similar threads the devs explained that changing the code to make names a combo of account and character name (character@account) like Cryptic had in their second gen engine would be a huge project. Not impossible, but big enough that it was easier for them to re-use the old name release code from live. The technical reasons have been discussed here before by the devs.

This isn't true either. The whole "name release" routine was created back when the game was live. As I remember it, and I could be wrong, it was run once and didn't provide anywhere near the intended result. If my memory is correct here, this was being enabled here because there were a few people complaining on the HC Discord about names being already taken. So yeah, there were and still are people arguing for this for selfish reasons.

If I may, I fully support you all in any back end code improvements you make that would improve overall performance and fix long-standing issues with the game engine. To be honest, I'd happily give up new costume pieces and missions and power sets while these more important tasks get done for the overall, long term health and growth of the game. As always, thank you all for your efforts here.

Hey, I can't help it if you didn't read the posts before jumping on your high horse to try and white knight.... again.

People complain about grinding all kinds of stuff in MMOs. They still grind despite the complaining, so "hoarders" are still going to hold onto their names.

Yeah, this is bollocks. You're being disingenuous here. No personal offense meant, but trying to say there's no people here who are chomping at the bit right now to release all those names in the hope that the one they really want will get freed up is just being willfully ignorant. It's a false hope in that there's already a 1 in 700,000+ chance the name someone wants is going to get freed up. That means the chances are overwhelming going to be that person hoping for that name is going to be very disappointed and probably come here to the forums to rant about it. Saying otherwise is ridiculous. As far as what's "selfish" goes, the "selfish" ones here are the folks who simply cannot live without their new costume piece, new powerset, new mission, new badge or whatever new shiny they're wanting in favor of giving the dev team here time to work on something like fixing this name thing once and for all for everyone so everyone can have the exact name they want. The HC peeps know what the problem is and what it would take to fix. Yeah, it's a big job. Yeah, it won't be an easy fix to make, but I have the utmost confidence in them. They've got the knowledge, talent and skills to do it.

The policy as it exists now isn't going to stop anyone who wants to hoard names from hoarding names. They can still log in every one of their sub-50 characters and keep whatever names they want.

That's arrogantly presumptuous and yeah, it's looking down your nose at people who don't live up to your expectations of creativity or imagination. Please dismount your high horse. No one here is suggesting anyone should be able to make clones and charge money and show up at some kids birthday party here or any of that other nonsense you're on about. If you'd read through the posts I've made in this thread where I've said on numerous occasions, if you see something, say something and report it. We all know it's a violation of the rules. The reasons why people make clones here, whether that be out of passion or ignorance or malice is completely and totally irrelevant. It's against the rules, period. End of discussion. My point was that if I see someone making a Superman clone, I'm not immediately jumping to the conclusion that they're doing it to be a jerk. I'll just report them and let the GMs do their thing.

Yeah no, superheroes are absolutely not a distinctly North American thing. Superhero movies and merchandise rakes in billions all over the world. Not sure where you're from, but we do have Halloween here in Europe and I see kids dressed up as famous Marvel and DC superheroes all time. There's superhero merch in stores all over the place, so definitely not just a North American thing. And no, cosplayers at a convention isn't a strawman. Ever been to a comic con or anime con or any kind of con in general? Many of the people who cosplay there are incredibly amazingly talented and creative people in replicating the costumes and such of their favorite character. They're not doing it out of a lack of imagination or creativity, they're doing it because they're passionate about those characters. Any one of them could most certainly come up with an original character, they just choose not to in favor of cosplaying and supporting their favorite character to share their love for it. That's not a "lack of creativity", it's passion, which is what I personally think some people are doing when they make a clone here. Looking down your nose at people for "not being creative" and "lacking imagination" is just being ignorant in my opinion.

Internet win!

I think it's more they went for the cash grab to churn out as much as they possibly could to strike while the irons hot. They definitely focused on volume instead of writing decent, cohesive stories and focusing on character development. Part of that was their desire to compete in the streaming service wars and cranked out as much crap as fast as they possibly could to have as much content on Disney+ as possible. Coupe that with hiring writers who didn't know the first thing about the comics or the characters they were writing for was a huge, huge, HUGE mistake in my opinion.

Setting aside that making exact clones here is against the rules for a minute .... So as a kid when you were reading comics, you didn't want to pretend to be Superman or Batman or Iron Man or Spider-Man or whatever character you were reading at the time? You were happy playing as generic super strong dude? On Halloween all those kids who want to dress up as their favorite superhero are all unimaginative dolts? People who are cosplaying their favorite characters at comic cons are stupid and lack any creativity? You're really no one to judge what is or isn't "creative enough" for other people. By all means, report them if you see it in game, but don't belittle anyone for their "lack of imagination."

See, this is another example of people spreading misinformation in order to create a sense of panic and FUD. Disney didn't sue that family for using Spider-Man on a balloon at a kids birthday. They denied the family's request to use an image of Spider-Man on their sons headstone. Enormous difference. There was another similar case where a family wanted to have Mickey Mouse on the child's headstone too. It was an express wish of Walt Disney himself that his characters not be used for anything sad like the death of a child. And the one kid did receive a personalized signed copy of a frame from the actual Spider-Man movie as a compromise. Disney didn't sue the family into oblivion. I have to agree, enough with the FUD and spreading misinformation already. It's getting really old. The GMs have spoken here. If you see something you feel isn't right, report it to them and move on. It's their call, so let them do their job. That's what they're here for.

I don't necessarily disagree, but the GMs can't be everywhere every minute of every day. They have to rely on player reports. We as players can PM others from now until the cows come home and gently remind them of the TOS , but it's not going to force anyone to change a name or costume. Only GMs can do that.

Ultimately it's not your decision to make. It's up to HC GMs to decide what is or isn't breaking a copyright rule. Better to let them make the call. You're never going to get consensus from the community at large as to what's acceptable and what isn't. One person's homage is another person's copyright violation. If you want to PM people, go right ahead. All I'm suggesting is that it's better to have a GM make the call and contact the player if necessary. As to someone "spamming" them with reports, so long as they're legit, I don't see the problem.

Enough that it's a problem that comes up often here and is clearly a big issue for many. Here's just one recent example. There's already a handful of open threads about it in General Discussion right now, not to mention various server subforums for name releases and such. Personally, I'm fine with using a thesaurus or doing without a name, but clearly some people just aren't. Like I said, I'm perfectly fine going without a costume piece or new powerset if it means people like those expressing their frustration over names can get that problem resolved permanently.

No. If you think someone is breaking the rules, report them and let the HC GMs make the determination. No need to start arguments with and pestering other players about it. Better if that message comes from a GM.

I've said this in another thread, I think the whole name thing should be resolved through code so that names don't have to be unique and are a combo of charactername@accountname like Cryptic did in their updated engine. HC could run their name release code right now and there's still going to be a ton of disappointed people who think that a name they want is going to get freed up but didn't. There's no guesswork if this gets fixed permanently instead of a band aid fix. Yes it's a big project and yes the devs here absolutely can handle it if they wanted to do it. Posts they've made on the topic over the years have shown they've got a good understanding of the problem and what it would take to truly fix it. Hopefully they can bring on more devs to help with a project like that as I personally think its a worthwhile endeavor for the long term health of the game and would make a lot of people happy.

Badges may be a low hanging fruit thing to do, but why even bother tying them to prestige if prestige has no real meaning? Enabling it just to enable it so that a badge can be earned without the added sacrifices of XP or inf the way the old system worked seems like a wasted effort.

I remember the dev posts talking about this where they said it would be a big project and require a lot of work, but not impossible to do. If taking that on helps eliminate the pain point and frustration a lot of people have with character names, maybe its a pita worth enduring. Like I said above, I personally can live without a new costume piece or two or new mission for a while while this gets worked on.