FoulVileTerror

A thing called "roleplay," @Vanden.

"Person" might be a strong word. "Entity" is probably more apt. But, yes; roleplay purposes! I host events and campaigns in-game, so I have a variety of characters who are there to fill in supporting cast roles for other players' characters' stories. I sometimes temporarily rename some of my characters just to have them fit in to a given scene. I also just crunched some numbers: https://forums.homecomingservers.com/topic/22870-some-numbers-of-mine/

Total characters as-of current date: 167 Total roleplay/playable characters: 145 Total Natural Origin characters: 67 (89 including storage) Total Technology Origin characters: 33 Total Science Origin characters: 19 Total Magic Origin characters: 19 Total Mutant Origin characters: 7 Total Defenders: 21 Total Brutes: 16 Total Controllers: 13 Total Masterminds: 12 Total Soldiers of Arachnos: 11 (33 including storage) Total Tankers: 11 Total Sentinels: 11 Total Stalkers: 10 Total Scrappers: 9 Total Blasters: 9 Total Dominators: 9 Total Arachnos Widows: 8 Total Corruptors: 3 Total Peacebringers: 1 Total Warshades: 1 Conclusions that surprised me: I have way more Defenders than I thought I would, and to a milder degree; fewer Masterminds and Soldiers of Arachnos. Then again, there aren't that many Mastermind Primaries, so I guess that shouldn't really be such a shock to me. I'm also disappointed that I haven't had the time to really step things up to the next level and get some of my lofty goals achieved. . . . I need to win the lottery and retire . . . How about you?

It's a question that has come up a few times. This should help: https://forums.homecomingservers.com/topic/10583-vileterrors-roleplay-characters-as-of-2020-04-27/

I'd like to see an additional Enhancement added to all the Sets, so that we have a little more variety in determining how we want to reach those Set Bonuses, even the ones without a Unique to worry about. That, or remove the rule where you can't have more than one of a particular Set Slotted in to a specific Power. For example, all those Defense and Resistance Auto Powers, which have no use for Recharge or Endurance Cost; it would be nice to just Slot in the single-schedule pieces multiple times.

The beacon is relatively close to a large number of the Contacts for the zone, and is helpful when returning to them before having their Call button. Although, I do like the idea of having multiple beacon exits for every zone. That would be handy. Alternatively, a second Black Helicopter stationed in the eastern end of the Zone would be nifty. And while perhaps not terribly helpful, the Ouroboros Exit in St. Martial pops you out near the series of warehouses which seem to wind up having a lot of mission doors in them (at least from my personal experiences in the zone).

A few Vanguard Merits, maybe?

*coughs* https://forums.homecomingservers.com/topic/22521-dev-diary-piecemeals-workshop-of-horrors/ Maybe not exactly what you're asking / looking for, but I think when you get the chance to see what @Piecemeal has made, that may give you some answers to your question.

But to answer your request, @TheOtherTed . . . Is Makaria taken on the Shard you want to play on yet?

Jim:

Statements like "doesn't take a genius" aren't generally endearing due to their inherent antagonist quality. I'd hazard that their use is rather counter-productive to joining a community of otherwise typically friendly people.

No no! Sorry, that wasn't my intent. I just wanted to share with you a thread which sounded like it was in the same vein of interests that you had. I'm sorry.

Have you seen https://forums.homecomingservers.com/topic/17635-not-actually-an-insane-request-honestly/ @Krimson?

I do not intend to defend any actions which are blatantly harassment or misconduct, though I will say that I at least feel a certain level of sympathy when someone feels ostracised or isolated. The range of skills and innate abilities which we each may have when it comes to socialization are dramatically different and change over time. Learning social skills, particularly when you're at a disadvantage due to lived experiences or brain chemistry, can be an arduous and painful task. . . . which can be further complicated by interacting with people who do not understand your perspective and take their own social skills for granted. I don't think those socially adroit people -owe- it to anyone to educate or go out of their way to help those who aren't there yet. But I do think it's usually in their best interest to try . . . up to a point. And that point is usually when their efforts to welcome someone new/awkward become detrimental to the existing social health of either the individual or the group. Being on the other side of it, though . . . it sucks. Being on the outside and looking in; seeing what others have and wanting it for yourself, but being met with barrier after barrier . . . it's easily a deeply demoralizing experience. It's important to realize that it's not the responsibility of the group to change to allow you a space to enter. And yes; carving out your own space and trying to populate it is . . . challenging. Extremely challenging. It's also important to address gatekeeping, though. When a group -actively- destroys or undermines the attempts or spaces made by others who they do not want in or near their own social circles . . . that's not acceptable either, as far as I'm concerned. There's an unlimited amount of space for different appreciations and sub-communities within the greater whole. Even when two groups have diametrically opposed views (ie: "this is a comic book" vs "this isn't a comic book"), they don't need to attack one another for each of those groups to survive. They just need to reach out to those who agree . . . or those who just don't care to pick a side. . . . and please: Don't play games of tug-of-war with those people who don't pick sides. Just let those people interact with whichever "side" they want to interact with in a given moment. I also like the sounds of @Andreah's sentiment there. Kudos.

Often times there are even three or more sides to a story. Ambiguity sucks, since "dropping hints" isn't terribly helpful in a wide swath of contexts. Still, one can be both general and specific enough to speak their mind on an experience they've had without naming anybody who was involved. ie: "I'd like to encourage people to consider the possibility that (in situations like the one described earlier today in this thread) whatever moderation actions took place were entirely justified." For the record: I (VileTerror) don't know what the details were in these event(s). The above quote is not necessarily my personal opinion. Just offering what I believe might be a more acceptable means of communicating a sentiment which appears to have been pruned specifically due to the use of a player's screen name. Also, yeah: The use of /chatsave and /chatload is SUPER useful! I even have a little text string I keep handy whenever I roll a new character: /showbind lctrl+lshift$$chatloadfile chat$$bindloadfile bind$$optionloadfile opt$$wdwloadfile wdw$$macro ! beginchat /bind lctrl+lshift e

So . . . putting this out there for everyone to consider, and potentially discuss (although I do wish to encourage everyone to be gentle with their replies, as it's easily delicate subject matter): What is our duty of care in situations where a player is having serious difficulty fitting in with the community or any of the sub-communities which exist within this game's playerbase? What lines do we draw, and why? Obviously, no one is legally obligated to do anything, except (in some jurisdictions) avoid bullying another player. Within the Code of Conduct, we definitely have clear lines we're not supposed to cross, and some lines which are less clear, but GMs act as the mediators in those more ambiguous situations. But outside of those limits, as a community, what is the extent that we feel we need to help other members have an enjoyable experience? Is it simply a matter of playing the game the way we enjoy it, and if we stumble across like-minded players, that's it? Or should we attempt to step outside our personal comfort zones from time to time in an effort to let different players know they're welcome too?

That's great! I was thinking a major heist, but a massive prison break is even better! Really, there are all kinds of things they could do. They could potentially make a different asynchronous PvP event for each standard Zone, and/or Trial/Hazard Zones.

Eight? No no no. You think too small. I said "Trial." Isn't the cap on Trials 48?

So, I just went in-game and mucked about with some enemies hitting me with Control Powers while watching the Status Effect Protection Combat Attributes. Damn. Okay. Seems that the level of granularity needed for my latest suggestion doesn't really exist in the mechanics right now. I wonder . . . is there a way to code the game to allow for applying a Control Magnitude equal to 1/2 of the Target's current total Protection Magnitude? If we could pull that off, that could be an effective way to add something meaningful without being potentially overpowered.

The suggestion has popped up a number of times. I've been told that smaller servers have the capacity to import bases from demorecords, but that the process is a manual one which can only be done while the server is down for maintenance mode. Given the size of Homecoming, that wouldn't be practical for the team here. I imagine an integrated base save/load feature is on their radar, but I'm not sure any of the volunteer coding Devs are necessarily interested in prioritizing a feature like this. They generally don't discuss their plans much. For whatever it's worth, though, I'll "plus one" having a feature of this nature implemented in to Homecoming! Given the AMAZING bases we have from some extremely talented players, having the ability to share their work even further would be absolutely delightful.

I'm unsure if there's any kind of delay. I've always found Inspirations to be instantaneous during my play experience. Could you provide us with some more details on your usual playstyle? Teaming? Solo? Lots of enemies on the map? Anything which might account for lag or other delays? When and where Inspirations are being laggy for you?

It's also an opportunity for new types of content, potentially. Say, perhaps, that if the Redside Bar gets filled, then it unlocks a Mayhem Trial for a little while. And if the Mayhem Trial gets completed, that in turn unlocks a Safeguard Trial populated with NPC-Dopples of all the Villains who participated in the Mayhem Trial. Not real PvP, but a way for player Heroes and player Villains to interact with one another in an environment which respects PvE rules and consistency.

Overcharged for simple repairs and made-up problems, while ultimately not doing a complete repair job on the problem that the vehicle was specifically brought to the garage to address? Seems like the reason most people want to attack mechanics.

"People play the games they do because they're looking for certain types of experiences. Sometimes they mistake nostalgia for quality, sometimes a game actually has shifted to serve a different audience." Well said, @Keovar. That's a very quotable line.

Much and many gooding of the lucks be upon you in this matter, @ToxinFox!