Omega-202
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Posts posted by Omega-202
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Feel free to download and tweak your own server to test nerfing IOs. Changes this extreme have no place on the largest active server. I would hope the team in charge have more sense than even entertaining such an idea.
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45 minutes ago, Freedom Frank said:
If you think NCSoft got anything they couldn't have gotten legally of their own volition, the only naive one here is you.
Good for them to find out player count to help calculate damages. Or get information regarding who is hosting the servers so they can pursue them for damages because they have deeper pockets than the HC team. Or to findout who their contractor was at Paragon who handed over the stolen IP.
There's a ton of info that they could gain under the pretense of a negotiation that's not readily available. And for the stuff that can "be gotten legally of their own volition", why bother when you can accept an offer to "chat" by the guilty parties and let them hand you said information. Do you think investigations of this kind are cheap and quick? Like you said, the servers were underground and unknown for 7 years. Better to fi d out from the horse's mouth what other secrets there might be, especially if the horse asked to speak with you.
In regards to "foaming at the mouth" to hand out a C&D: how fast do you think legal departments work? Especially if corporate is debating how to best handle the situation and they didn't have names, addresses or contacts to properly serve said C&D. Do you really think the legal department caught wind of this in late April and dropped everything to work on shutting down a pirate server for a 15 year old game? It's been 3 months. Their docket is probably 6-12 months deep with shit to do.
This may all shake out. Maybe you're right. But I'd put money on this going south. I'm done debating this, see you all on the other side.
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3 hours ago, PaxArcana said:
Option (D): NCSoft happily licenses CoX-1 for nonprofit operation by the HC team ... while quietly spinning up development on CoX2, knowing that a resurgent CoX 1 will work like free advertising.
If the HC team were to do that?
They could, individually, be tracked down in the real world, and served with various legal papers. Lawsuits, summons to appear in court, and .... yes, U.S. law allows for it, criminal charges.
Seriously, telling the legal owner of the franchise to "pound sand" like that would have been absolute suicide.A) Modern MMOs are on a 5 year development cycle. Do you really think the HC servers are going to be anything more than a blip in 5 years? I love this game, but you're kidding yorself if you think the servers will have 1/8th the population in 1 years time, let alone 5. I like your optimism, but you're being completely unrealistic.
B) They can (and still may) pursue the HC team. They've knowingly used NCSoft's intellectual property without permission and Leandro received STOLEN proprietary code and distributed said code. That has all already happened. Then to make it worse, they set up an LLC with the express intent of funneling donations to fund a server hosting said stolen data. Again, too late to fix that.
Coming to the table and asking to work something out with NCSoft is foolish. Keeping your head down puts the burden on NCSoft to track them down. Instead, they've come to the table and slapped their heads on the block and are trying to pretend this is a negotiation and that they have something to offer NCSoft. They don't. NCSoft can pretend to play nice until they get their ducks in line for the lawsuit while gathering information about the HC operation and the guilty parties.
They've already knowingly infringed on NCSoft's rights, arguably caused damages and possibly committed fraud in setting up an LLC to accept donations for an illegitimate venture. Instead of shutting up and saying nothing, NCSoft now has names, server info, and maybe even Leandro's source from Paragon for the code.
I don't really want to keep going on this because I generally like this community and respect you all as players but you are all being really unrealistic and naive.
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3 minutes ago, ShardWarrior said:
Not completely sold this is a given - NC would still have to maintain it and that is an expense for them. Who knows? They may see it as not worth the effort.
That's what the data is for. As I said earlier, they'll hand the data to the bean counters in accounting, take a look at how WoW classic is doing and decide from there. If its not profitable based on their projections, they'll ask for a nominal license fee from HC instead.
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1 minute ago, MadCow99 said:
NCSoft taking over the Homecoming servers and making them official, depending on how that works, may not be a negative outcome.
No way they'd take over HC. There's code written by outside parties in HC. We'd get a blank slate i24 server at best with the HC team completely cut out of the system.
Like I said earlier, they are going to take the data, start their own official server and shut down HC. You are right about the data being valuable, but I don't think they'll use it like you think.
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9 minutes ago, MadCow99 said:
See my post above.
I own a business, and I've been in sales, marketing, and politics a long, long time.
The HC team is offering to do ALL of the work to basically run a trial balloon and run a City of Heroes retro-server with all of the liability implied and all NCSoft has to do is grant them the exclusive license to a dead IP.
What does NCSoft get out of it? They require the HC team to send usage and player count reports monthly (or even realtime) to NCSoft so NCSoft can gauge the interest level in City of Heroes over a 6/9/12 month period. If the interest level is there compared to current Steam games, then NCSoft can decide, based on ACTUAL PLAYER COUNT plus projections of new users that would be enticed by a new CoX2 engine release, to re-monetize and update to create a sequel.In short, the Homecoming team is a free test marketing team for NCSoft AND by giving them the EXCLUSIVE license when they smack the cease and desist on others they have an even stronger argument in court that the IP and Code has NOT been abandoned but is in CURRENT MAINTAINED DEVELOPMENT by an OFFICIALLY LICENSED AND APPROVED team.
It's legal manna from heaven.
Or, the HC team have provided data on the past few months through these "negotiations" and NCSoft is crunching the numbers on whether to launch their own CoH 1 servers instead of spending money on a CoH 2.
Glass half full, glass half empty. I err on the side that they're looking to screw us.
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20 minutes ago, doc_miller said:
Just for the record, while widely believed, this is not true in either the US or Korea. While the idea had been dominant in management theory since the 80s, there are no legal requirements to maximize shareholder return, and thare are legal precedents specifically refuting this requirement.
Yes, I mispoke in that it is not specifically profit maximization but a good faith effort to work in the best interest of the shareholder.
But what other interests are at play here? It's not as if the health of the company is at stake. There's no larger public good at stake like the exceptions in the case law. This is a gaming company.
At the end of the day, while I over simplified it, the only interest at stake in this situation is profit. None of the exceptions are relevant here and are so rarely relevant elsewhere.
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1 minute ago, ShardWarrior said:
I was speaking in general terms, not about NCSoft specifically.
And the answer is the same for any publicly traded company. There is no such thing as good intentions if they have an obligation to shareholders.
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1 minute ago, Jimmy said:
The primary reason for setting up the LLC was actually tax protection. An LLC can spend money on server costs and write it off as an expense, essentially ending a financial period with zero income.
An individual cannot do this, they would be taxed on the income before being able to spend it on server costs.Fully understood. But server costs FOR what? Because the answer to that question, along with the legal status of the IP being hosted on said server is the issue. It could come down to proving intent.
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1 minute ago, The Philotic Knight said:
They also setup an LLC fairly early on, if I remember right - before they started publicly taking donations. Which, if I recall correctly, means that for them personally, there's now no more risk of loss to them. The worst that NCSoft could do is to tell them to shut down, and take all of the monies that HC has raised so far that haven't already been used. LLC protection (unless I'm mistaken) means that no member of the HC team is personally liable anymore, instead, it's the "Homecoming LLC company" that's liable, as if it was a person.
Which I think is BS, and a HUGE reason why so many things are going wrong in our society, but that's a whole different discussion.
LLC's cannot be set up with express intent of covering for illegal activity. There's definitely some issues here as the LLC could be considered to be set up with the intent to skirt IP issues.
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Just now, Jimmy said:
We have a very good lawyer.
That changes the story. I wish you guys the best and hope you're making sure to protect yourselves.
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7 minutes ago, ShardWarrior said:
So... corporate interests can't be derived from good intentions?
Generally, no. NCSoft and its representatives have a fiduciary duty to maximize profits for the company. Can garnering good will be an effective strategy to help increase profits later? Absolutely, in certain circumstances. But that's not "good intentions", that's still maximizing profits.
You have to ask yourself, how would a gesture of good will in this scenario increase profits for them in some other way? Are we all likely to go out and buy an NCSoft game tomorrow if negotiations go well? How many of us? Would that be more profitable than starting a legit COH server of their own and shutting down the pirate ones?
That's all that matters. They have an obligation as a publicly traded company to focus on the bottom line.
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4 minutes ago, Abraxus said:
So, let's keep a little perspective, and assume good intentions here. Can we? Perhaps?
No, because that's not how these things go when corporate legal teams are involved. There are no good intentions, there's only the corporate interest.
Could corporate interest align with the community's interest? Sure.
Is it just as or more likely that they came to the negotiating table to get more information (total accounts, active player count, copies of the current HC code, server location, legal name and address of the individuals who are running said servers)? That information will then go to an internal team who can crunch the numbers on whether it is in the company's bottom line interest to work with the HC team or just relaunch their own legit server i24 server and use the info they gained during "negotiations" to best quash the pirate servers.
The best hope is that they crunch the numbers and find its not profitable to fight the status quo.
I really think it's naive to think there's any "good" intentions here. I also think its very naive if the HC and TN teams are going into all of this without the backing of one or more lawyers of their own. You don't ask your gardner to fix your car and you don't ask volunteer programmers to handle a dicey legal situation against a sizable corporation.
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7 hours ago, TonyV said:
Option D) None of the above...
Seriously, all I ask is to give us a little more time and wait until we can give some more details before deciding that it's all doom and gloom. I promise that if I didn't think this was going to be a good thing, I wouldn't be involved in it like I am. I'm not oblivious to the fact that at this point, my own reputation is inextricably tied to the outcome of what we're working on, and I'm not eager to come out of this with everyone thinking, "Man, Tony's an idiot." (Although I also recognize that a 5%-10% "hate rate" ain't so bad, so an occasional "Tony's an idiot" post doesn't get to me...)
Anyway, my point is that what we're working on isn't a "best deal we can get" situation. It is, in my opinion, a genuinely good deal. I'm trying my best to not get everyone overly worked up because nothing is inked yet and until it is I'll have a healthy dose of low-level paranoia. But I also think that as things are going, when we can talk more, a lot of skeptical people will come away pleasantly surprised.
I just hope you all understand the situation you're in and who you are dealing with. You're hobbyists negotiating with a multinational corporation with multiple layers of legal counsel. I don't want to be doom and gloom but for all of your sakes, I hope you've looked into legal representation of your own.
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8 minutes ago, Ironblade said:
What was Vader's quote? "I find your lack of faith disturbing."
Your depressing options are not the only possible outcomes.
We're talking about NCsoft here. They hold all of the cards and are under no obligation to play nice here. I work in IP law, I know how these kinds of negotiations go.
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I see nothing positive that can come from this.
Option A) NCsoft issues a license to the HC team, for a fee. Donations need to go up to compensate. Other servers out there probably won't be able to afford a license and there's no way NCsoft will be willing to deal with places like /coxg/. Eventually donations will peter out and the license will no longer be affordable.
Option B) NCsoft brings back a legit I24 server. Goodbye all of our progress here. Goodbye all of the I25 updates. Goodbye streamlined progression. Probably welcome back the MTXs.
Option C) Negotiations go belly up and the whole shebang gets shutdown.
I feel like the best scenario was to just tell them to pound sand. It would be more hassle and expense for them to play whack-a-mole on servers and they'd quit really quickly.
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There's also Echo Galaxy City for Duelist. You can get there from Oroboros.
No idea what happened to the Talos arena. seems odd that its gone.
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2 hours ago, blayzemaster said:
I've feared mobs, hit them with a damage attack and they've made no move to retaliate though. How does that work with modes?
A few different things could have happened. Their only available attack may have been on cool-down, or their AI was using the window to make them move instead of attack. This second one is part of why fearsome stare works so well with tar patch/ice storm/rain of fire etc. Their AI prioritizes getting out of the AoE over attacking back when they do have a chance to react, meaning they waste their reaction window.
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Just now, Some Random User said:
The only mistake I see at this point is dignifying an ad hominem with a response. I'm going to focus on responding to posts that focus more meaningfully.
That's not an ad hominem. That's trying to help you with your total lack of social awareness.
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2 minutes ago, Some Random User said:
The staff seem to have made a good faith attempt to converse here. There were many posts in this thread that I was awarding +1 Inf. to because I felt many participants, not just the staff, were making a lot of progress with reasonable discussion. I feel like for some reason, maybe talking about economics as a concept, made the rabble come out with pitchforks. Of conspicuous concern are some of the interjections that are unhelpful, dismissive, or personal attacks. If someone doesn't understand what is being said, the posts that are being quoted and responded to should be enough to contextualize. If that fails, asking for clarification is a good idea. If someone disagrees they don't have to continue to be a part of the conversation. Almost seems like they have set out to just derail a productive conversation. I felt that the staff were doing an excellent job, though. I'd rather not have to move this conversation to private messaging to avoid having the thread derailed, but I can do that if the staff send me a message.
Yes, referring to other people trying to help as "the rabble" with their pitchforks. Great tactic for calling out perceived ad hominems from other people.
You are objectively wrong as to the facts of the situation. The "staff" have told you there's no inflationary trend, but you persist. In 5 pages, they, and everyone else in this thread is unclear as to what you are trying to communicate. At some point, does it not dawn on you that maybe you are off base somehow?
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34 minutes ago, Some Random User said:
Because when I go there and ask for build help I'm told to ask in the Archetype subforums.
And did you make a post there specifying that you are looking for a build with X budget?
"Hey all, I've got a level 24 Rad/Rad corruptor thats a bit short on cash and I was looking for some tips on how to gear up on my run to 50. Let me know if you have any pointers."
A post like that would get you 50 replies in 3 days with suggestions of what to slot, with what and people crunching some math for you. If you still can't afford what they're suggesting, turn off XP for a bit and stock up.
EDIT: Just checked some of your comment history and I don't see any threads where you tried to ask for budget building help. I am really getting a feeling this is more of a "not helping yourself" issue than a market issue.
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1 minute ago, Some Random User said:
We're discussing how much money someone should have. I'm trying to show there's a budget the player is working with, and they should be able to achieve something reasonable with that budget. I'm sorry if that wasn't clearer.
*Screeeeeeeee*
That's the sound of the goalpoast being moved.
Can we drop the facade and can you admit that you just want to DM the AH economy like some pet project?
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9 minutes ago, Some Random User said:
You're getting to the party late, so I'll spare you some time by summarizing what was discussed later. You're making an argument for labeling the Archetype subforums as something to be avoided by the newer players, and that would leave them with nowhere realistic to go. (No, asking in /help in the game is not the solution.) A new player needs to be able to see a guide that just explains things like, "here are things you should skip, here are things you should add, here are your math-y goals, these Sets and these slots are your priorities."
Why can't people just play the game and ask for help in game like a lot of us did in the old days? Why are you just waving off /help? Or they can make their own threads to ask for budget builds. Or anyone who is playing a pirated game 16 years past launch can be reasonably expected to be more savvy than the lowest common denominator gamer and we can have faith that they don't need their hand held. You can't just keep dismissing every "fix" to the problem just so you can keep arguing that there's a problem that in fact doesn't exist.
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1 hour ago, Veelectric Boogaloo said:
In general it just seems like the OP is requesting unnecessary changes be made to the economy such that it conforms to a personal standard yet to be made entirely clear for reasons yet to be made entirely clear. I wonder if this isn't all more about the p.v.p. pen and paper stuff OP mentioned than any actual issues with HC - i.e. in a previous situation OP successfully adjusted a bad economy so now looks to adjust other economies in a similar manner whether they're broken or not? Hammers, nails, the whole bit?
I have to agree here. I am not sure that the OP is intentionally arguing in bad faith, but the inflation problem doesn't exist. We even have a GM post saying that they looked at the price trends and OPs entire premise is false. For all of his anecdotes about LotG manipulation, anybody who tracks the market knows that was a blip that solved itself real quick.
I don't want to speculate, but the way OP is discussing their "resume" so much, this seems more like delusional ego stroking than a true suggestion thread.
Any feedback for my Fortunata?
in Arachnos Soldier & Widow
Posted
I'm not an expert on Forts, but generally:
A) You seem to be missing KB protection. I'd swap out Freebird in Mystic Flight for a Blessing of the Zephyr -KB. Then slot a Celerity Stealth in Sprint to get your half stealth. Hover shortens knockback, but a Zephyr will negate 90% of all kb in the game.
B) Combat Training Offensive is pretty bad. Especially with full IOs, TT:Leadership (fully slotted) and a Kismet. In most situatuons you're going to have more than enough accuracy. You can grab Aim instead and drop a Gaussians BU in there to beef up you nuke.
C) Look into Expedient Reinforcement set for the pet. It has a recharge bonus at 4 slots, a range defense bonus at 6 and an aura to give your pet 10% res to all. Also, gives you maxed recharge to help up time on the pet because its nowhere near permanent out of the box.
D) I'd swap combat jumping for maneuvers from the leadership pool. You should have the endurance to run it, the defense bonus is the same, but the extra 5ish% can also help the team and your widow pet/lore pets.