Display and save the password; no aggroing greys for tankers; stealth missions should not require killing

[temnix]

New features and adjustments to old ones are one thing, but there are some details in this game that are like cobwebs in the corners, no, more like in your face. They have been around since the beginning, annoying to no end, and I don't know why no one has taken a mop and swept all these cobwebs out. I will mention three obvious irritants:

 

1. Having to type in the freaking password blindly every time at login. The experience of being rebuffed a couple of times while typing it before getting into the warm and cozy world of CoH puts a remarkable chill on my desire for escapism. It is like having to pass a physical examination by a girl's parents before being allowed to her room.

 

2. Wherever he goes, my tanker automatically taunts everybody, including microbes, and I have to fight them off while trying to read an NPC's text with my other eye.

 

3. Missions that are by nature about infiltration, to obtain some item, often still require slaying everyone in the zone. You may think yourself very smart when you sneak past the patrols to the coveted crate and click on it, but only until you realize you have to appear and kill them all anyway, including oranges and reds that may be beyond your ability. Mirabile dictu, some people may not be interested in beating down endless goons in this game. Missions about rescuing an NPC and taking him to the exit really should be impossible while invisible; currently the NPC still sees the character within a few steps and it is possible to run, stop, run, stop and lead him to the exit inch by inch past his captors who stand and don't look at all surprised that their victim is escaping. The NPC ought to freeze and not move until enemies in sight are cleared away. Still, even here, if the character can manage to get to the NPC quietly and lead him out by an unguarded route, he ought to be able to complete the mission. And there should be ways for all characters to create distractions and send villains away. 

 

To these I can add the annoyance of all melee weapons making the same two-three ripping sounds on hit. After the first 10 000 times you hear them this starts to grate. The game is nearly mute already, and players should at least be able to choose from a few voice sets for the grunts that their characters make when jumping or blown back, and the same basic selection ought to be decided on for villains, but this doesn't file the nerves nearly as much as that ripping. It's suitable for claws, feral swipes and spines, given a few new noises for variety, but broadswords, katanas and dual blade attacks should make slicing sounds, maces and staves some satisfying, meaty thwacks, and axes probably get their own set. Hand-to-hand attacks ditto. This is a mental health issue.

 

 

Edited March 13, 2024 by temnix

[TheZag]

For #2,  turn off your taunt and damage auras.  It works 100% of the time for me to not agro all the gray enemies in the vicinity.

 

Also,  if you turn off your taunt and damage auras,  you wont automatically taunt everybody including microbes.

 

[biostem]

2 minutes ago, temnix said:

1. Having to type in the freaking password blindly every time at login. The experience of being rebuffed a couple of times while typing it before getting into the warm and cozy world of CoH puts a remarkable chill on my desire for escapism. It is like having to pass a physical examination by a girl's parents before being allowed to her room.

I envision that this would take more work than you think, since how the game handles the little placeholders when you type in may not contain the actual characters of your password.

 

3 minutes ago, temnix said:

2. Wherever he goes, my tanker automatically taunts everybody, including microbes, and I have to fight them off while trying to read an NPC's text with my other eye.

Turn off your taunt aura, then.  If you are actively using powers with any range against such enemies, then that's on you.

 

4 minutes ago, temnix said:

3. Missions that are by nature about infiltration, to obtain some item, often still require slaying everyone in the zone. You may think yourself very smart when you sneak past the patrols to the coveted crate and click on it, but only until you realize you have to appear and kill them all anyway, including oranges and reds that may be beyond your ability. Mirabile dictu, some people may not be interested in beating down endless goons in this game. Missions about rescuing an NPC and taking him to the exit really should be impossible while invisible; currently the NPC still sees the character within a few steps and it is possible to run, stop, run, stop and lead him to the exit inch by inch past his captors who stand and don't look at all surprised that their victim is escaping. The NPC ought to freeze and not move until enemies in sight are cleared away. Still, even here, if the character can manage to get to the NPC quietly and lead him out by an unguarded route, he ought to be able to complete the mission. And there should be ways for all characters to create distractions and send villains away. 

Not all missions that are presented as "stealthable" are so.  If it's meant to be an intentional twist, I say leave it be.  If it's just a holdover from when the OG devs wanted to prolong the grind, then it can probably be done-away with.

[Rudra]

19 minutes ago, temnix said:

3. Missions that are by nature about infiltration, to obtain some item, often still require slaying everyone in the zone. You may think yourself very smart when you sneak past the patrols to the coveted crate and click on it, but only until you realize you have to appear and kill them all anyway, including oranges and reds that may be beyond your ability.

When the game was first launched, stealthy characters could sneak to the end of the mission and grab the glowie or just defeat the target boss, and the mission would complete. (Though you had to then make your way back to the exit.) When City of Villains was launched, that was changed to require clearing the last room for most of the missions. (Some you can still just grab the glowies and the mission ends.) It was changed because now there was an AT built around stealth, and that stealth was really good. So no more just dropping the target boss while the rest of his spawn is looking the wrong way and then sneaking back out, or just grabbing the glowie(s) and sneaking back out (for most missions), because Stalkers would be able to just keep doing what my Scrappers were doing before City of Villains to pretty much everything.

 

Edited March 13, 2024 by Rudra
Edited to remove unneeded parts of quote.

[Pleonast]

 

1 hour ago, temnix said:

type in the freaking password blindly every time at login

 

I simply copy-paste from my password manager. 
 

1 hour ago, temnix said:

my tanker automatically taunts everybody, including microbes, and I have to fight

Actually, no need to fight them. It’s not like they can hurt you. 
 

1 hour ago, TheZag said:

turn off your taunt and damage auras

I know all the words, but I can’t make any sense of them. 

[lemming]

1) That was the original behaviour, but it's a security flaw. So out it went.

2) second bio's answer.  (Or put Perfect Zinger in your taunt field and the tiny mobs faint in horror)

3) second rudra's

[megaericzero]

6 hours ago, temnix said:

but broadswords, katanas and dual blade attacks should make slicing sounds

The Cimeroran sword sounds would work well as a customization option for these sets.

[Starrflare]

On 3/12/2024 at 11:13 PM, Pleonast said:

 

 

I simply copy-paste from my password manager. 
 

I get a strange behavior wherein paste is blocked ( I use a password manager and complex passwords)…. It this a setting I can change?

[Rudra]

1 hour ago, Starrflare said:

I get a strange behavior wherein paste is blocked ( I use a password manager and complex passwords)…. It this a setting I can change?

Click in the password field if you aren't already. It normally shows the cursor already in the password field when you go to log in, but I've found that it only really is there if I click it. If you are already clicking in the password field, then I have no clue, sorry.

[Oklahoman]

On 3/12/2024 at 11:38 PM, lemming said:

1) That was the original behaviour, but it's a security flaw. So out it went.

 

If I recall correctly, it was a security flaw in the sense that the username and password was stored in a clear text file. If there was some way to accomplish this without a flat text file, maybe that wouldn't be an issue.

 

I don't mind typing the password, but the error message that pops up when I get it wrong is not dismissed by the enter key. For me, that's way more frustrating.

[Pleonast]

1 hour ago, Rudra said:

Click in the password field if you aren't already. It normally shows the cursor already in the password field when you go to log in, but I've found that it only really is there if I click it. If you are already clicking in the password field, then I have no clue, sorry.

Yep. 
 

My exact sequence: 

1. Open and unlock password manager. 
2. Copy game password (which is long, complex, and completely different than my forum password). 
3. Open Homecoming game manager, and start regular or beta client. 
4. Click password field in the game client. The cursor never starts there. 
5. Ctrl-V to paste password into field. 
6. Click to go login in. 
7. Go back to password manager and copy something else, to overwrite password in the copy-paste buffer. 
8. Play the hero! 

[PoptartsNinja]

And if that doesn't work, copy/paste might be copying a hidden character like a page break or a table component. It might be worth pasting into notepad and re-copying from notepad to make sure it didn't pick up anything weird.

[temnix]

Why is a text file a security issue? Any browser will offer saving passwords. They are even saved at e-stores and e-banks, although there one usually has to add some extra identification (at least here in Russia; I don't know about the United States, but here all and sundry want to know your phone number to send you confirmation codes, and when you start giving that, expect to begin getting spam calls). I don't believe that a hacker's program could not access these stored passwords. Also this game is free to play, completely at the moment. That has the advantage of making everything in an account impossible to steal, because it has no value. Nobody can buy in-game items with my password, at most someone might vandalize the character roster and waste my respecs. As evil as that would be, access becomes a non-issue if the "Save password" checkbox is accompanied by a disclaimer somewhere. It is a theoretical risk which is mine to take, like all risks.

[Rudra]

16 minutes ago, temnix said:

Why is a text file a security issue? Any browser will offer saving passwords. They are even saved at e-stores and e-banks, although there one usually has to add some extra identification (at least here in Russia; I don't know about the United States, but here all and sundry want to know your phone number to send you confirmation codes, and when you start giving that, expect to begin getting spam calls). I don't believe that a hacker's program could not access these stored passwords. Also this game is free to play, completely at the moment. That has the advantage of making everything in an account impossible to steal, because it has no value. Nobody can buy in-game items with my password, at most someone might vandalize the character roster and waste my respecs. As evil as that would be, access becomes a non-issue if the "Save password" checkbox is accompanied by a disclaimer somewhere. It is a theoretical risk which is mine to take, like all risks.

If someone were to gain access to someone else's account with ill intent, you are correct in that they wouldn't get any real world benefit such as financial information. However, they could go through the other person's character roster, respec to unslot all their enhancements, and then e-mail the enhancements to themselves to use or sell, send themselves the other person's salvage, and the other person's inf'. Completely in game bankrupting all the hacked player's characters for their own benefit. So even in a free to play game with no real world monetary transactions, there is a risk to players should their account be compromised. And if all the robbed characters were also deleted after being robbed, then there may not even be an e-mail trail to follow.

[lemming]

1 hour ago, temnix said:

Why is a text file a security issue? Any browser will offer saving passwords. They are even saved at e-stores and e-banks, although there one usually has to add some extra identification (at least here in Russia; I don't know about the United States, but here all and sundry want to know your phone number to send you confirmation codes, and when you start giving that, expect to begin getting spam calls). I don't believe that a hacker's program could not access these stored passwords. Also this game is free to play, completely at the moment. That has the advantage of making everything in an account impossible to steal, because it has no value. Nobody can buy in-game items with my password, at most someone might vandalize the character roster and waste my respecs. As evil as that would be, access becomes a non-issue if the "Save password" checkbox is accompanied by a disclaimer somewhere. It is a theoretical risk which is mine to take, like all risks.

Wow.   That is like the worst take on security I have seen in a long time and I used to do computer security.

[biostem]

2 hours ago, Rudra said:

If someone were to gain access to someone else's account with ill intent, you are correct in that they wouldn't get any real world benefit such as financial information. However, they could go through the other person's character roster, respec to unslot all their enhancements, and then e-mail the enhancements to themselves to use or sell, send themselves the other person's salvage, and the other person's inf'. Completely in game bankrupting all the hacked player's characters for their own benefit. So even in a free to play game with no real world monetary transactions, there is a risk to players should their account be compromised. And if all the robbed characters were also deleted after being robbed, then there may not even be an e-mail trail to follow.

Wouldn't there be a paper trail for them transferring items, though?  I suppose they could use a go-between or a 2nd account, then delete it afterward, but I have to imagine, if there was the will to do so, that the devs or a mod/GM could see who your stuff was traded to, then ban the other account(s)... 

[Rudra]

7 minutes ago, biostem said:

Wouldn't there be a paper trail for them transferring items, though?  I suppose they could use a go-between or a 2nd account, then delete it afterward, but I have to imagine, if there was the will to do so, that the devs or a mod/GM could see who your stuff was traded to, then ban the other account(s)... 

Not sure. However, they could simply delete your entire game account after looting it to be sure.

[Greycat]

2 hours ago, Rudra said:

If someone were to gain access to someone else's account with ill intent, you are correct in that they wouldn't get any real world benefit such as financial information. However, they could go through the other person's character roster, respec to unslot all their enhancements, and then e-mail the enhancements to themselves to use or sell, send themselves the other person's salvage, and the other person's inf'. Completely in game bankrupting all the hacked player's characters for their own benefit. So even in a free to play game with no real world monetary transactions, there is a risk to players should their account be compromised. And if all the robbed characters were also deleted after being robbed, then there may not even be an e-mail trail to follow.

 

OK. Show of hands, how many people are using an "easy to remember" password...

 

That is likely used, or has something similar used, elsewhere?

 

Or, perhaps, logs on to the forum with it - which means someone with that ID/PW can easily post a link to a malicious site, so that other people get compromised with more *important* things... like bank information?

 

That's actually more the security risk. Yeah, your character gets deleted, sad for you. But if they've gotten to *that* text file, what other access has been gotten on the system? While you're worrying about a deleted character, the *rest* of your identity, money, etc. could be getting taken.

 

And before anyone chimes in with "but I use a password manager," well, I support a hospital network, and "Why can't I just use the same password" and "I just change the number at the end usually" are things I hear *way* too often.

Edited April 27, 2024 by Greycat
A little clarification.