Macchiato

I agree and understand the spirit of that, completely, if not the energy nor the phrasing. I get like that too sometimes and can feel like the only adult in the room, and sometimes like the loudest child - just keep calm, guys. I know from experience how something like this can take the rug from under organizers' feet, and I'm sure our CRs appreciate the defense from a friend, but there's a better way to channel that frustration and help them make it through things like this, and that's by refraining from too many passionate or hot-headed remarks. Too much vinegar and tit-for-tat can ruin things. (I was finalizing this post around the time @Shadeknight posted his, so this isn't a response or addition to his or any subsequent ones, by the by.) In fact, some names across this thread I recognize and I know who's not all-too-friendly with whom, this is not the time and place to whip that out and try to get the last word if any of ya'll were thinking about doing so, because after a point that would be hazing our CRs. I, myself, apologize to @Dacy and @Easter Bunny for how I came in swinging after lunch the other day, I was definitely fumed and taken aback by things that someone else was claiming and likely added fuel to a fire that I had no idea would spread like it did, I was barely even cognizant that it was your first rodeo organizing this, but at the end of the day, this is not about most of us posting here. We might lend our voices to the poll as a community, but we do not make the final decisions nor are we actually directly affected by the final decisions; if our contribution isn't on that list of bases in the poll, our say does not matter in the event of a disagreement, that is between the organizers and the participants. This is not a senatorial vote, and I'm sure we have hope that future polls of this nature will be designed to be less stressful for all involved. What's important is that we in the peanut gallery coordinate ourselves and stop trying to climb over ourselves to shout and advocate for artists who may not want that advocacy to be like this. I don't know what's happening behind the scenes at all, but I hope that our CRs are able to take a break, breathe, and come back to discuss things with the affected parties and come to an agreement that can be shared with us. I actually think that Dusk's suggestion, being he's representing one of the ones affected, is a fair one that should be discussed away from here, between the builders and the organizers. Maybe I'm two steps behind and it's already happening. As for the rest of us? Go about your days, it's 7am EST canon-time. Check back, refrain from adding too much until we know for sure that disagreements have been ironed out and there are no hard feelings, get yourselves grounded. As a community we'll make it through this and like Aalya said, we won't remember this snag in a year or two, but we sure will remember the amazing artistry that came from this showcase, which actually has been the most active in memory to me.

Woah, slow down there, partner. Like All-Star says, the neck-and-neck spectacle was cool and fun, and I speak for myself in saying that seeing the last minute influx was wild, but still valid because it could have been and likely was just a bunch of people planning a vote at the last minute for the clutch, lmao. It's not a big secret that LUXE is part of the club scene and this is just a community popularity contest, nor is it a secret that LUXE is a fantastic space on various measures. I'm not super in agreement with the re-tabulation for the reasons some have cited, it's not really easy or equal to have to wrangle the bodies, even if it's not the builders themselves having to do the work (and in fact, especially because it's a lot of work for the CR team, I am very sorry to you, Dacy, and I do love the intent of ensuring people are seeing all the participants' work); I might be presumptuous in saying this, but I don't even think the people who voted for RAMPAGE can argue that it wasn't a well-deserved victory by the end, so congratulations to ya'll with LUXE for the victory, genuinely. I'm just incredibly sorry that some of us have shown no understanding of etiquette in this thread and thought it would be "funny" and okay to say parasocial and inflammatory things without thinking about how far they're putting their foot into their mouth. It's like I said at the start of the blow-out - what DawL said out-of-pocket was an insult to all the builders on that list but especially LUXE's, and at this point, RAMPAGE's for being so close and especially the people who set the contest up. Because regardless of if it was 'jokes' or 'not a big deal', the way things were phrased by people who had no business saying them was hurtful and snarky and was being said on ya'll's behalf and may not even have been accurate to the truth, and it put unnecessary shadiness that may not have been there before and isn't in the participants' ability to control, and the escalation that happened afterwards is a prime example of why people should say things tactfully or not at all. Like, so much of this could have been ameliorated if one (specific) person had just backed off and said "sorry, I said this but I didn't mean it and I get how this makes people upset" instead of aggressively defending what they did or did not do. And also if others hadn't jumped on the wagon to bicker about who did what and what was valid and invalid afterwards. For all we know, ya'll at LUXE were having a block party at the time the polls closed and dumped in unique votes for the victory lap, and that's valid in my book - the specifics don't even matter, it's community engagement and the amount of work that was put in is apparent with LUXE itself as a base, and as long as all entries were viewed, I think the voters had a good time. The rest wasn't supposed to be that serious, it's the Miss Congeniality of contests.

Fair, at least there's that, but you said it multiple times and then still said the rest and that's still really sour and not entirely in the spirit of the poll in my opinion. Like, yeah, we can't know how many of those are alts, but it's in poor taste to joke like that and then follow it up with what you actually said. Do you see how that could be construed how it was? Let alone the fact that, honestly, having your friends check your photos and vote without actually visiting the bases is less in the spirit of it than actually dumping alt accounts into the vote, imo. At least the alt accounts had enough passion and investment to check the bases, lmao. Probably. In fact, we live in the video game streaming era, you could have literally said "I streamed it for my friends who couldn't get ingame" and it would have gotten a genuinely supportive response. It's relatable, I literally have people who get in touch with me to stream their building or their creations when I can't or don't feel like getting online.

Saying as I check in after lunch: Do you have, like, literally any idea that what you just said and supposedly did is not only an insult to every builder on that list, but very specifically to Luxe's builder, who you blatantly announced rigging the vote for? Especially since Easter Bunny's ineligible for rewards! The viewing of the base, the community getting together, and the kudos from the people who saw it are the only reward there - and coming out to say something to the effect of "not everybody cares about bases, but I made sure my friends voted for the one I liked :)" pretty much just invalidates all of it and makes the situation exceptionally weird and contentious when it otherwise shouldn't have to be - the neck-and-neck nature of the poll this time was super entertaining but not serious, even when the lead inflated in the last minute. To some extent, given this is the internet, poll rigging, using alt accounts, and withholding votes until the last second is expected behavior, but I imagine some of us - like me, I love checking in on the base contests - were content in knowing that despite that, people were at least voting after having seen the bases for themselves, especially after EXPLICIT instruction was given to go and see them for ourselves and vote then. Nevermind the fact that giving only descriptions and screenshots to your friends based solely on your 'good taste' is fundamentally biased, we literally can not prove you did anything you just said, nor how you said it, nor how you took the screenshots, nor how your friends perceived any of it, nor how many of you voted on alt accounts, etc. In ANY OTHER INSTANCE, because come on, it's a community vote and not Miss Universe, you could end up getting an official disqualification slapped on the poor builder by announcing what you just did, and I doubt anybody wants to be the winner by technicality after that. But even without a disqualification, just spiritually it feels really bad for everyone, dude. I was happy to see Luxe win, but knowing the shadiness of it robs some of the sparkle and makes me, personally, not want to bother with observing future base contests, and it's basically one of the only things keeping me interested in sticking around the server. Just - the immense tomfoolery of what you posted, not once, but three times, boggles my mind and actually upsets me.

(Though I get why, don't take this as smarm) it's a pretty big oversight, given that to my understanding none of the jackets for any gender have spectrum for gloves - either on asym or non-asym. I probably would have caught it in testing if I were more thorough, I just didn't notice the gloves being missing. (I was too excited for spectrum chest.)

I wouldn't mind a graffito asset of the Atlas Statue, I would actually love one, but I also don't think the current one as it shows up on the Beta is bad, unintuitive or in immediate need of change. It's a great opportunity for players to get creative and all, but as it stands, it fits the spread of graffiti on the Blueside elevators. (Seriously, it's all graffiti.) And beyond that, given that Atlas Park is the first zone you'd come to the Pocket D from Blueside (and there are still bouncers that indicate exactly which zone it is), I don't exactly think it needs to be groundshakingly recognizable from the get-go. It'd just be a neat visual tie-in, and I wholly support taking the opportunity to personalize and get community interaction. I'd also like to note that I personally like the subtle touch of making the zones progress outward from the back walls on both Blueside and Redside.

Unfortunately.

Absolutely, and I was the first to mention that I'm normally pretty level-headed when it comes to offering feedback, but there's always a problem when changes are pushed out that are... Well, honestly, lacking in any clear rationale. Add to that the fact that, as previously discussed, some people can't access the beta without going out of their way to download the Homecoming launcher. For whatever reason. (In my case, I'd have to do a reorganization I'm putting off of my downloads and folders and such.) And... Yeah, it's mostly a case of just blindly guessing the why so that we can offer solutions that would seem more amenable and be less arbitrary in execution. I did point out reasons why I thought this was a pretty bad move, just on paper.

Eesh, I imagine you use Tequila? Yeah, that got me too. Homecoming's launcher updates fine but there's some issues they're aware of and working out for the rest.

This is as close to the idea I was trying to come up with. The starter zone accessibility (a non-issue at best) can be answered by not touching Pocket D at all and instead having the access come from TUNNEL - most of the things on that list are clearly level-marked anyway.

When it comes to Founders, it's also the case that it has access to TUNNEL, Paragon University (for Cimerora access), and the RWZ. But that is a thing distinct to Founders, and clearly if it's considered an "unpopular exit" (somehow? Compared to Talos?) people weren't that aware of the multiple access points. But again, I ask; why is it necessary to remove entrances at all - let alone to mid-level zones. Hell, as it is, I'd rather have no door to Atlas and Mercy versus getting rid of doors to Founders and St. Martial. (Which - by the way, the latter can be a pain in the ass at relevant levels to navigate given the ferry position in the zone is tucked in the corner away from basically all contacts and content, whereas the Pocket D entrance is in a reasonably accessible place.) Also, fair point - it's part of why I'm not terribly too-too angry about it, but there is still a relevant impact to the above.

Ah, thanks. Still using legacy launchers over here, good to know. Also, even with Echo Plaza in mind, that's still very not worth the design issue here. Adding paths from Atlas, Mercy, and Nova - that's fantastic! But there's still absolutely no reason why they'd have to replace mid-level entry points, even if they plan on doing something IN THE FUTURE with said zones. Which is me pulling something out of my ass entirely and still admitting there's no real reason to institute a reductive change like this. Bingo, it's very out of touch with the problems that City of Heroes just barely skirts out of the way of - point of fact, CoH was not built with the idea of endgame content until the end of its life, and as it is, a lot of people like the mid-level junction of stuff and zones. And like you said, the push to 50 has made ghost towns of plenty of places, there is no real reason to make them even more annoying to access on top of that.

I'd like to think I'm usually a pretty level-headed person when it comes to giving feedback, I like to take into account edge cases and possible uses for changes that come up. But this is one time where I legitimately have absolutely nothing to work with. This is probably one of the most arbitrary decisions to come up in recent memory, and I am literally reaching and failing to find what benefit this serves. And this is a big reason why it makes no sense; we have a lower level entrance, even if it's not perfectly convenient, and even if you were to replace one entrance with the other... Why not the lower level entrances? But it goes even further when you consider - Echo Plaza exists, that is a brand new zone; you're telling me that it's somehow absolutely necessary to remove QoL and entry/exit points to the Pocket D, because what? There's no space? Add another manhole, there should be literally no reason why that is impossible. Also - I would peek into the beta build, but as it stands, it seems that there's a constant mismatch in the manifest. We can't access the beta build, we're stuck on the May 7th build as far as I've asked a handful of people and tried for myself.

This sums up my thoughts. It doesn't behave quite like Invisibility, it occupies the same position as Stealth, and I'm not in the habit of changing things on such a minor level 'just because', you know? Especially now that it's hit live release - if this discussion was brought up during beta, I'd be a bit less caring. But it's still a bit silly to me anyway, since the words 'Stealth' and 'Invisibility' are not mutually distinct from one another. One is just a more specific term for the other. Overall, I get the impression that the reason people would want the power name to change to Invisibility would be to completely lock in Concealment as an archetypal invisibility power pool. Which, again - I think it's so minor as to not need a change at this point, I don't think it needs the validation when it's already inherently implied, right? This might be a disingenuous example, but it'd be like trying to rename the 'Aid Other' Medicine power to Healing Spray so that we know for a matter of fact that it's a healing spray, even though the weird scanning animation is slightly just loose enough to interpret it differently.

That definitely sounds like a bug. I just checked and it is indeed missing its casting circle pattern, but not the large glyph. Maybe it was an oversight, or maybe it has to do with the change to it being a toggle power? No idea. The second one's unlikely, but who knows.