[What's the rule on full fledged rip offs of other IPs? Im seeing a lot of it]

Also I hate the US system of copyright laws and how far it has run afield of what it was intended to be, a system that metered out when things would enter public domain for the enrichment of people and society as a whole. Instead it's this bloated corpse of thing that makes sure copyright holders, their children and estates, can profit long beyond their lifetimes and often stifles innovation in science and medical sciences, as well as overall in information flow (re: Zika virus and academic journals). 

 

Burn it down, I say in my off-time when I'm not working within it as I must.

 

And software patents too, right there with you!

 

Definitely. There's got to be a happy medium between society's best interest and intellectual property ownership. It ain't this.

[What's the rule on full fledged rip offs of other IPs? Im seeing a lot of it]

You work in politics. That's how. Or at a university as a Philosophy professor.

We've got some hard and fast rules here on dealing with tough interactions users, most of which are common from customer service.

Be nice, but firm.

Kill them with kindness.

Don't get drawn into arguments.

Never say they are flat wrong, ask them to check again (useful for lost items).

 

But none of them stand out as endemic to universities as this:

Never ever get drawn into arguments with phil professors. Drop your information, and then walk away and do not respond to email arguments. You may think you are on the side of the righteous, but I promise you that nobody is as prepared to rip your situation apart and present it back to you as Joe from the Humanities department. Just don't do it.

 

[City of Heroes Planner]

SuckerPunc here, the guy that used to do the Online Planner (mentioned above, but I think that link is dead now. I don't run that site anymore anyway).

 

I'm definitely interested in doing an Online/Mobile planner. Probably won't be numbery as mine never were, but it could scratch the itch to just play around with builds.

 

I've asked around on how to get access to the data, so we'll see what happens.

 

Dude. Thanks for the time you put into that. It was definitely an awesome tool during its day.

[What's the rule on full fledged rip offs of other IPs? Im seeing a lot of it]

Also I hate the US system of copyright laws and how far it has run afield of what it was intended to be, a system that metered out when things would enter public domain for the enrichment of people and society as a whole. Instead it's this bloated corpse of thing that makes sure copyright holders, their children and estates, can profit long beyond their lifetimes and often stifles innovation in science and medical sciences, as well as overall in information flow (re: Zika virus and academic journals). 

 

Burn it down, I say in my off-time when I'm not working within it as I must.

[What's the rule on full fledged rip offs of other IPs? Im seeing a lot of it]

Actually there is a fair use doctrine for copyright, and it does matter if the use is commercial or not.

Merely being non-commercial does not automatically make it fair use, it's only a fraction of one of several criteria.

That criterion also considers whether the work in question is transformative, educational or a parody - and this use does not meet any of the three.

Truth. Fair Use usually boiled down by well-meaning people into something that it actually isn't. What it is, truthfully, is more of a best practices in regard to copyright than a strict legality/litigation check. We deal with copyright constantly as a university librarian. While we often have exemptions for a lot of things under the non-profit educational angle, there are still times we choose to not do things covered under fair use. For instance, digitizing VHS/DVD video for a class, even though we can put it behind BB or Canvas and only accessible by the particular class. Why? Because citing "fair use" as a defense just doesn't stop arguments in court like many think it does. Never assume something is fair use and that's the end of it, that's how you eventually find yourself operating outside of it and in court.  Just my two cents.

[Would it be possible to remove/reverse ED?]

I'm against this change as well. I was also a very vocal critic of it, posted several rather butthurt threads on the original forums. But I came around on it, found some decent slottings that actually worked better, and with IO's I'm a firm believer in it. Sorry OP, I get why you'd want it but I think it would potentially unbalance the game now to neuter it.

[Something we can all agree on...]

I have a beast/thermal MM.

 

In the bio : "I wanted to be a hero, but a hero doesn't light dogs on fire and throw birds at people so I had to be a villain."

Are you sure? Are you really really sure? Because if so, I need to remind you of this guy, who ran with Section Eight in DC's Vertigo line.

 

https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Dogwelder_(New_Earth)

[Does anybody else miss Galaxy City?]

I do too. When I first logged in I thought something felt off about the starting zone for me (Atlas). It wasn't until I was putting in base teleporters that I remember Galaxy where I usually started.

[Best of the New-to-You, builds and powersets]

I've actually got a Staff/Rad Armor brute that I'd forgotten about already, stuck at 17 or so. I may have to bring him out tonight, I remember it being a ton of fun but I got sidetracked by another project character.

[Any Protector Server people?]

Yep, we started playing on protector shortly after launch and stayed there the entire game pretty much. Met a bunch of friends that I still hang and game with today.

 

Bunch of toons, but probably my most played were Darth Tater (Earth/Kin troller) and -Thunder (SS/Elec brute). My wife played a bunch too as Super Librarian, and Grazz't (who made it to the COV comic cover via contest).

[Multi boxing and lag ?]

^^ What he said. I don't think it works that way, beyond the generic more people can impact responsiveness.

[TF with fewer than minimum toons]

Excellent. I may have to try one after work just to see how it goes. The respec trial I think would be fine loaded for 4, no AV the last couple of times I ran it.

[TF with fewer than minimum toons]

They still have minimums. From what I can tell it seems to be 4 players, though there could be some with more or fewer. There's really not a way to start it with 1 or 2.

 

This is just not true. No minimum to start. I soloed the freakspec last night and have been doing tfs so or duo almost daily. You can even solo Dr. Q if you're a masochist.

 

Bonus tip. - since you can start TFS and trials so you can also use the LFG queue as a free teleporter.

Well hell, this is one instance in which I'm glad to be wrong. I was still under the assumption that it worked the way of the olden days.

 

Does it set the spawns relative to number still?

[Slotting and IO bonuses]

I'd forgotten about the stealth IOs, I may have to snag one to couple with the stealth from the first concealment power. While they can't be slotted on swift/hurdle, they can be slotted on sprint/CJ right?

[TF with fewer than minimum toons]

They still have minimums. From what I can tell it seems to be 4 players, though there could be some with more or fewer. There's really not a way to start it with 1 or 2.

 

However, you could find people willing to fill and quit, just to start with 4 then have the other couple quit out. You'll be facing mobs at a party level for 4 though, which may or may not be too rough for you.  If there's an AV and you don't have no-AV turned on, you'll be in for a hell of a challenge, but it can be done with good builds. Soloing AV's was a thing back in the day.

[Best of the New-to-You, builds and powersets]

Once you hit 50 stick a Coercive Persuasion set in there, because the Contagious Confusion proc will go off at least once every time which will result in bosses getting confused as well, even without the Overpower effect.

 

Agreed with everything, but man thank you so much for this. The bad thing about recreating versions of old characters is that sometimes you forget some components that made them work as well as they did. And for me, that Contagious Confusion proc was one of them. I appreciate the reminder.

[Important question I desperately need an answer to]

I don't know the contact offhand. But if I had to guess a song popular with teen girls from 2010, Baby by Justin Bieber seems likely.

[Looking for a high damage build using illusion/???]

If you do make a Dom at some point, Plant/fire.

I can't complain with that, Plant doms have amazing damage and control. But give /MA a shot, it's got some pretty amazing AOEs and longer lasting build-up.

[Have dominators been nerfed?]

Not nerfed in the least. I've been running once for a couple weeks now, and they are still very powerful and underrated both.

[What's the rule on full fledged rip offs of other IPs? Im seeing a lot of it]

Let's have a little legal lesson regarding trademark law and why Marvel HAD to sue City of Heroes...

 

Just want to give some props for a very informative post. Copyright and Trademark Law are about as clear as mud at times, and people's fears often give them more power than they have in actuality. So it's very nice to see someone break those down, I'm very familiar with copyright but not so much with trademark infringement.

 

Keep up the good work, guy or gal.

[Best of the New-to-You, builds and powersets]

I started remaking one of my favorite older toons, a Plant/Stone dom. I decided to try Plant/Savage, Plant/Martial, and a couple of other builds. Plant/Martial ended up being where it's at, and it's easily one of my best and favorite characters, running a lot of +rechg and some +def. I'm really not sure why Doms get as little love as they do, and I don't see as many Plant builds as you'd think (people love Fire tho).

 

Also made a Water/Cold Corr, which is only mid-twenties but is a pretty synergistic set and very fun on teams.

 

Staff/RadArmor Brute that I like, but just feels very slow compared to the Plant/MA dom.

 

I've got a few more ideas running around that I need to try out too.

[Highest damage output combo.]

I'm going to say Dominator oddly, and even then not the typical Fire/ or /Fire dom. I've run a lot of Plant Doms, recently Plant/Martial, and I've yet to see anything that can compete with the AOE damage output of it. Good group control and lockdown via Seeds/Vines, amazing damage via Carrion Creepers and the Martial AOES, and even better when stacking a lot of +recharge and a little +def. Try it for yourself but I think you'll love it.

 

 

[Excelsior - The Family Server?]

As long as it's just a name, without any expectations of behavior or anything, I'm down for this.  I don't want an expectation of being kid-friendly, although we pretty much are by default.

[Mini contentious rant (empaths)]

Heals are pretty important in the later incarnate trials...

 

I barely recall those honestly, but I don't doubt you in the least.

[Mini contentious rant (empaths)]

I am not going to knock heals either. Many times things have gone south and I've had my butt saved by a heal or rez. But they've never really been as important as most think, even back in the day, and especially with all the newer sets. Buffs/Debuffs can really obviate the need for heals in a lot of cases. So the idea of *only* healing is just a double whammy to me, you need that backup for when you're steamrolling content and no heals are needed.

 

Please don't hate me healers, I will never turn you down for a team.