Ruin Mage

Oh huh, neat information.

I mean, they're cautious and observant with access to data we don't have. I don't know if they could afford to lean back on the cautiousness. Maybe they could try for a page! By nerfing Fire Blast.

I'm starting to get the entitlement itch, but I hope that's just a bad rash. That's a question to ask the developers. It's likely that Faultline would have the answer. Given how that's how its worked? Yeah, probably committed to it at three? four? years of HC being up. They cannot push patches without Faultline, and giving the power to push changes/patches to anyone else is likely a non-starter due to what that could cascade into. Also, there is the whole Testing Phase where they're most definitely still ironing out everything. Open Beta is where the final shapes are being made. The final touches with a chance for Going Back to the Drawing Board. Which has happened with a proposed Dark Consumption change, Eagle's Claw change, and the AE Changes sort of. A manpower issue only by the hand that they are not going to suddenly fill the team with ten+ people per part of the game. It takes time to ensure someone can be trusted, that they are learning the tools, and that they are following (this is a hypothesis THIS IS A HYPOTHESIS COMING UP) some sort of pipeline that the Devs may have in their own corner. It's not an easily solvable issue by bringing out more people. Pages are also becoming less massive. They're becoming feature-locked and thus avoid the prior SUPER lengthy waits between them. I point back to how big of a gap there used to be. Five and Six have come out much faster than prior pages, but also had deadlines and feature-lock due to reasons that include IRL. Sort of. Maybe. One can contribute costume pieces/patterns. However, anything beyond that is a whole other can of worms. See, there's this thing called people are petty bitches. On the drop of a hat, HC could have a very annoying situation where someone contributes. Only that person then tries to use their contribution to have some sort of say in development. HC disagrees with what that person wants. So that person loses their mind and starts a stink about how HC stole from them. While this becomes more of an issue for GMs, its still a headache that can and should be avoided. How? Careful vetting and choosing how to approach contributions. Now anyone can post their credentials or whatever in the Future Volunteer threads. The devs can, in time, check those out and maybe pick up one or two people every so often. Every blue moon. It still takes time to see the fruition of that being done. I'm like 99% certain it took several weeks for the new arc creators to figure out what stuff does what. Costume Edits are vastly different than Sound Modding, but sure this isn't a half-bad idea. A very small reminder that COH is notoriously spaghetti coded that they'd need to have elaborate sections explaining errors or jank-ness. Which takes time to make images for, write out, and then put into a neat format. Maybe. Fun Fact: No one is being barred from joining! One. Piecemeal. Who was a content developer. We then gained Caretaker in due time. I believe we've even gained a Dev with a Z name I can't remember. We also gained two devs for story - whose arcs were just released. Neat-o. We're just not gaining any new Power devs quickly, but I imagine powers is a whole other can of worms. You have sets that are so beloved that people will self-sabotage it in feedback (I look at Assault Rifle) despite being made better. You have sets that if you so much as tweak? you'll get an eighty page feedback thread (Hasn't happened yet, but boy we gamers are passionate!) -- though I'm getting a little off track. Joining the Development Team is not a snap of the finger movement. Put yourself forward and be patient. No one is getting paid for this last I checked. Also don't be like me and go to bat for them every time someone says something bad about them. Sure, it could be said to be flawed. However, the solutions I've seen are not the greatest. The community doesn't need to be polled, enlightened, or brought up to speed - though we'll disagree here. The fact we have what communication we do get (especially after certain pages) is a blessing. Now, if I had any say in the matter and thank god I don't, I'd see more value in a loose roadmap of 'here is what we have in mind, but no time frame or promises'. A sort of 'whats currently on our minds or whats coming' without time commitments. A sort of way to tell the community that x, y, and z are heard but certain things come first. Could split it based on area. Content, Power, QOL/General Stuff. This, I recognize, is a form of being brought up to speed - but it's one that does work a whole ton better than polls. I don't believe polls in any shape or form to be the best method. They're manipulable and a horrible way of showing anything valid. Plus not everyone goes to the forums. Nor does everyone go to the Discord. There's no real easy solution here as I type this out. But that's just an idea that is also probably not anything great. It's an idea that's far better than 'The power devs should poll the community because a vocal minority want more of a say'. Which is what this reads like over a power set, but again there's bias in play so maybe I'm wrong.

Balance changes are tied to Pages/Issues. Pages are not cranked out like crazy and take their time. You would have to essentially try to take over Homecoming to change that. Thankfully, it does seem that Pages are coming a smidge faster given they're getting feature-locked/focused! As for how you can join? The Future Volunteer threads in the Developer's Corner. They, however, do not pick people willy-nilly. Devs, as far as I've noticed, are carefully picked. So the fact there are 3 devs for powers means they aren't just stockpiling people for it. It's not a manpower issue and if it had been, you'd see them lean more into adding to their team. Given that they've only made Electrical Affinity, Seismic Blast, Symphony Control, and now Storm Blast? I'd say all of them. Used means even a few people play them, but perhaps we differ in definitions. Subjectivity is fun like that! Of those, I think the least played by my experience is Seismic but your experience differs from that. Back in 2013 by entirely different developers. We do not have the exact same developers as SCORE/The Secret Server. Apples to Oranges. Anyone saying that those testing in the 'alpha' environment knows better is letting their presence in the tester discord get to their head. Which is a hilarious thought given it's no super secret cabal type of thing.

Do a poll a day or a poll a week for Community Choice, or something - don't just snub really well done bases, tbh. That's a top of the head idea and would need more thought, but at least it seems like the idea that a Judge's Base cannot be entered (if I read that right) will stop the major issue with this Contest.

Now, I'm going to preface this with: I have Closed Tested a couple of things and am part of the open-invite Tester Discord (I've posted it several times and I'll post it again if asked) - so I have a very very clear bias. I am also speaking from a general standpoint of what I've seen / what I know from being in the tester Discord. I can't really speak onto why the devs didn't "listen" to certain voices regarding Storm Blast. You'd have to get an answer directly from them. Page 5 and Page 6 both fall under a new pattern of feature-locking deadlined releases. This is in part because we only have one person who can push these patches out. Now, they could change that but I imagine that's not the quickest or easiest solution. Faultline has had a very shit show of his life when traveling abroad, and isn't always going to be there. So 5 & 6 were given deadlines and feature locks. They did not want, to my understanding, massive pages that kept getting more features. This is why it may feel sub-par, but its hardly that in my opinion. No. Not a chance in hell after prior pages should this be done. People do not have the ability to think critically or reign themselves in - within a broad sense of 'people' and this is not our server in the developmental sense. Now, we have had feedback change things in both the Closed Beta (where we're under a loose trust situation to NOT share what we're testing) AND in Open Beta. However, polling does not in any circumstance work. It has never worked in my experience with it and game development, and trying it out after prior pages and the insane amount of Patch Note Reactors? No. By all that is holy no. Paragon Studios vs a bunch of volunteers is not a good comparison to make. Savage Melee was not a HC creation. The standards of a paid company do not need to be upheld by 3 (so far as I know) volunteers doing the Power Development.

I wouldn't try to gas yourself into thinking they'll do anything that quick. There might be a bugfix patch but its likely progress will "soon" begin on Page 7.

Oh boy, a Troo thread. This surely will be a productive thread started with good intentions.

<placeholder + bump. Will be editing in with screenshots from tonight!>

Discord Screenshot because easier, but this event is tonight!

The only powers that have worked on death are targeted (Someone using you/targeting you) or self-only. Creating a set of powers tied to Incarnates that do this would not really fly well I feel. Secondly and only partially related, it's highly unlikely we'll see the Omega slot. Not impossible, but unlikely. Filling in the new slots means creating new powers and until we have more content where Incarnate Powers are truly needed? Yeah, no.

Personally, I agree with this. Dr Q is a relic of its time back when MMOs were all about time investment and grueling tasks that put the players to sleep. Dr. Q could even get an overhaul where it follows a similar pattern to Sara Moore and Faathim. Y'know - a big boss fight at the end. The fact it ends on a kill all is hilariously horrible. Making it flow better mission wise would be a good place to start. A tweak to the narrative, a new final mission, less kill alls all over the game world, and boom you have a TF that can be on the fun level of Faathim or Moore. Post-WWD Shadow Shard would be very interesting to see. What with Rularuu having briefly been brought into the world and the Rula-Shin interactions. How that'd look? Who knows. Doing this and getting rid of the geysers would be A+ Overall, I'm a big fan of the Rularuu stuff and I know stuff can be done with it. Who knows? Maybe the Devs have plans for Shadow Shard but its more of a 'later' thing. Kallisti Wharf, to my knowledge, is the next big thing. So perhaps after that it'll be the Shadow Shard! I do think that Justin Augustine also needs a re-do. That mess of a TF can eat my shorts.

AR is the only OG set without Aim. Which isn't a good thing, but it's already been decided.

April 22nd is the date and the time is 5PM Central / 6PM Eastern. What does this mean exactly? At around 5:30 to 5:45PM Eastern, I'd expect groups to start showing to get a spot settled. I ask that groups don't wander *IF* you're looking to recruit. You'll want to space yourself fairly and maybe adjust your chat range (command to be edited in later) so that you're not getting bombarded by the natural range. This command will be repeated regularly throughout the night to ensure everyone can adjust their local range as they need to. Now, while I will be splitting this up LOOSELY by alignment, I do want it said that I will make adjustments on the fly based on turn out. I will be asking that the Plaza/Island be used for heroic or vigilante groups. Those more nefarious or shady groups will be asked to be around the Black Market area in the Wharf. This will ensure groups aren't interacting that might realistically clash. No "Neener neener you can't hit me." disruptions etc. Another thing to be said is that this event, by proxy of our zone choice, is not restricted. What I mean is that clubs, bars, etc can show up. *Any* Roleplay Supergroup can show up and recruit. I only ask that your group be somewhere *fitting* for them. If you're unsure? Run the concept by me and I'll give you a good guesstimate based on what I read. Images of the map will be edited in to this post later on maybe? Oh yeah and April 22nd is CoR's 4 Year Anniversary. So we'll be celebrating that during the weekend potentially too? Anyway, I want to close this out by saying thank you to everyone over the years. I've run this three times before and this will be the fourth. Everyone's interest and help (during the years that I took donations) played the most tremendous part in making the event go on. I do these things for the community and I'll continue to host the fair until my life situation prevents it. Have a good Easter, everyone.

Me just spitballing is all. I'm no developer.

Only if HC did its own spin on it rather than just doing what another server did.

Nothing new has been said about it. It's either something that requires more work or was not on the table for Page 6. New costume pieces require modellers, something the dev team lacks outside of 1 person who also handles a whole host of other things for the server (i.e base items) Whenever the dev team designs it. Which could be never! Porting Super Strength to Scrappers probably is something heard but not done yet for any number of reasons. Melee got plenty of love in past pages and probably got some still coming. They release what's ready and not much else.

Mmmmay? I think.

It's never a guarantee that they'll finish or do a set that Paragon made. As I recall, Wind Control is very very unfinished in the files. Anyway, neat.

Correct, unless something bricked (I use this loosely) between Closed Beta and Open Beta.

Marvel didn't have the rights to Fantastic Four for the longest time. Fun fact: They don't have the rights to Namor, so they can't do a solo Namor movie. (Not that they would, but still a fun fact)

Well, they can't keep (feasibly/realistically) doing "A/B List" characters for movies. That'd get boring. Phase 4/5 are getting rocky cause of fatigue and other factors (directors, stories, etc) - though, who knows, maybe they'll slam it out of the park in Phase 6 xd

That's the plan.

Hey what's going on in h- Oh okay. You're one of those types. Don't worry, white male straight characters still exist in DC and Marvel as popular characters. We crackers aren't being erased or less focused on. There's a multitude of factors. Fatigue, comics not being the big booming industry it once was, and more. Though if we're going solely off movies? Well that has more factors than just "straight white man." - such as the movies just not being great. I mean DC Cinematic Universe has had it rough as hell. Marvel's' Phase 4 & 5 is off to a rocky start not because of a lack of us white bois, but because some stories just haven't been that great. The TV shows are doing alright (in my opinion), but the movies have been...hit or miss. Also hey, newsflash, most of the comic heroes we love today have had messages/themes tied to them before the 2000s. Even the whitey-white heroes have had themes that you probably despise because it's not just a Straight White Man Being Epic and Cool. Also hey, guess what? There's more than Straight White People in the world. Something which you seem to see as an issue.

We had some added. The Aeon gloves, Gold Bricker stuff (aside from their jetpacks) But we won't get stuff like Scirocco's sword as a weapon option. If its entirely unique and cannot be mass-replicated (within reason) onto other NPCs? It won't be done.