Let's try not to flood the community with DXP reports. Please post your report in the comments of SpaceNut's original post:

http://community.livejournal.com/city_of_heroes/2853887.html

Thanks!

Well, I'm generally against any sort of goodbye message in forums/communities, but as a former mod, I feel as though I have to make one.

As you might have guessed by now, I am no longer playing CoX, and will more than likely not play it anymore in the future. As such, I am relinquishing my position as moderator of the community and also leaving any communities affiliated with CoX. I will still be around on LJ though, so I'll see most of you around anyway.

With that being said, let me introduce bigangry as the one who is going to be taking over my position. I hope you will give him the same respect that you have given me.

See you all on the flip-side. And for one last time, the greatest user icon ever.

jell044 has stepped aside as a community moderator, and bigangry has been added as a new mod.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled shenanigans.

I was running through Galaxy City, and I saw this:


Hmmmmmm.... wait, isn't that, THIS?!?

Yeah, I thought so...  now even our fantasy world escapes are venues for real world advertising! 

*sigh* 

Edit: And no, I don't spend time on the dev boards and don't read every announcement... this is a game for me, not a lifestyle, so this is just me being "not in the know". I'll go shut it off in my options. Thanks to the early responders whom made me aware of this.

Current Mood: annoyed

I was just wondering if we ever finalized a 'feedback' system for community members that may act inappropriately? I remember one discussed a while back and I thought that the decision had been:

1st offense - warning
2nd offense - temp ban
3rd offense - perm ban

But I honestly don't remember and didn't see anything on the user info page about it. Just curious, not asking in relation to any specific post or user, but some chatter in game had me wondering and when I can't find stuff I ask openly. Thanks in advance mods for answering when you get a chance.

Part I: Ouroboros is Bugged! Don't use it.

Today I had the misfortune of going to Ouroboros for the first time. I was actually looking forward to it. I hadn't played COH at all since November (real life took over) so this was the first time myself and my gaming partner got a chance to check it out.

First mission was ok... but the second missions was TERRIBLE. It dropped us down to lvl 1 and you 1- have only your starting powers (had to use temp powers) 2- you get no XP 3- you have no travel power 4- you have to search a HUGE map looking to rescue someone.

We got off the main path and headed straight to the marker on the mission map because we wanted to get this over with as fast as possible. When the marker piece was done we had missed -1- person to rescue. Now let me repeat. No travel power - huge map - no XP == no fun.

We were talking over skype while trapped in this horrible mission about how this mission was more like a punishment. No travel power - huge map to search and no XP == no fun.

My gaming partner got so annoyed with this mission that he quit to go walk the dog and gave up on gaming for the day. The mission was really that terrible.

So then I alone finally found the final person to rescue and finished the mission.

Fine I thought - no more of these horrible Ouroboros missions - I'll go back to doing regular missions that I enjoy.

But I talk to my contact and they give me another Ouroboros mission. Crap - fine - I'll just drop it from the contact which marks it as complete and then I can be done with Ouroboros.

Well then it said return to contact, and as soon as I talked to the contact it gave me ANOTHER OUROBOROS mission.

There was nothing I could do to make it stop giving me Ouroboros missions. It's not a Task Force. With a Task Force you an just QUIT team to quit the Task Force. This was a story arc. And you can say other story arcs are like that - but that's not true. With normal story arc you have the option to say "No thanks", or if you get stuck in one like this, at least you have the option of out leveling it, and dropping it, and the contact will tell you you have out leveled it and its done. So in effect you can opt to not finish the story arc.

Here you don't have that option because you aren't going to even out level them since they are all exemplared missions. Once you start the first intro arc - you are stuck with it taking up a mission slot and no matter how much you want to get rid of them, you are stuck with it.

Bugged.

Part II: Rude and well ... not bright GM's

So I petitioned to ask how do I get rid of Ouroboros missions from my mission tab. I don't want any more Ouroboros missions. They are terrible.

-2 hours later-, I'm team captain of a team running a fun challenging story arc, and I finally get a message from a GM. I tell him what happened and that I currently am on a full team playing the healer and we were in the middle of combat and the GM immediately started being rude with me.

He said, "Why can't you understand what I'm telling you?" He kept trying to tell me that I was on a Task Force. And I kept telling him... no I was not on a Task Force, because Task Forces you have the option of quitting at any time.

Then he said to me, "You must be new to the game." and that I had "never done a Task Force before." That's when I knew he was a complete idiot. I was playing my PEACE BRINGER at the time. So I informed him that "Yes I am new to the game. I've only played since the BETA and I'm currently playing my Peace Bringer which I could only have if I had a lvl 50 character already so I must be new to the game."

What a dumbass.

That's generally been my interaction with GM's in the game. By the time they finally get back to you after petitioning them, it's been SO LONG since the problem that you've given up and moved on to something else. And if the problem still persist not only are they no help, but they seem to be highly clueless.

Just my experience.

Crossposted (technically speaking) to the forums.

I think I might be a set bonus addict:

http://pics.livejournal.com/jackal/pic/003gybd1

Hey guys, quick reminder about tags. When tagging an entry, please try to stick to the existing tags. If you feel that none of the existing tags are appropriate for your post, it's ok to make a new one, but let's try to keep them concise and relevant. A heads up that you made a new tag would be great, too, in case we miss it.

Joe did a lot of work while he was mod to consolidate the tag list and tag old entries so that everything is consistent and easily referenced, and I want to try to keep it that way.

I realize that this isn't listed in the rules on the community info page, so it probably got forgotten by (or was never known to) a lot of people. I'm going to go on and add a word about it, so that it's there for the record.

I'm probably going to go back through the tags list sometime in the near future and see if there aren't a few that can be removed or folded into others.

Thanks!

I am posting this in the interest of freedom of information, and rumor control. I'm open to discussion about moderation practices, and please say something if you think actions that were taken are inappropriate or that other actions should be taken that weren't. However, if you post in this thread (or anywhere else on the community, for that matter), keep it civil. Moderation is always a touchy subject and people can get carried away, so if you want to discuss this, think about what you want to say and make sure your post says what you mean without being incendiary.

jackal has earned a temporary ban from posting in this community. The reason for this is not the content of his posts. He was asked repeatedly not to delete comments or posts, yet continued to do so. He was then was issued an Official Warning, and continued to delete comments (including the one with the warning in it).

The time frame of the ban is 30 days. After 30 days, jackal will be unbanned and allowed to post in the community again, but further violations of the community rules will result in a permanent ban.

( Drama behind the cut )

So again, there's only one person here who has received any kind of mod action, and that's jackal. We don't plan on taking any action against anyone else (assuming things don't degenerate further). But again, I implore you - if you see something you feel is inappropriate for the community, be it deleted posts or offensive content, please refrain from commenting on it, and notify the moderators at coh.moderator@gmail.com and let us deal with it.

Thanks guys. And remember, if you want to discuss this, that's cool... just keep it on topic and civil.

Yay! Issue 10 is out and you -still- can't:

1- Put Attack Rate Increases on Mesmerize

2- Can't buff my teammate while personal force field is on (even though in the beta you could)

3- Can't Attach while using Invisible from the Stealth Power pool even though there are like 3 other invisibility powers (Hide, Cloaking Device, Superior Invisibility, Group Invisibility) that DO let you attack while invisible.



Weeeee!

I still can't figure out why you can't increase the attack rate of Mesmerize....

Also, in BOTH the beta and in the card game, you can attack while PFF is on. In both cases your tohit is greatly decreased. That's how it was in the beta. That's how it _IS_ in the card game. But in the current game you can't do anything while PFF is on.

( my rant on why PFF is the silent team killer )

Recently there have been a few posts and comments deleted, in particular comments being deleted by someone other than the person who posted them. Jello has already posted a reminder in one of the threads in question, but since I know we've got a lot of new folks, or old folks returning for Issues 9 and 10, I thought it might be a good idea to post another official rules reminder.

The following rule is clearly posted in the Community Info page, and I urge you all to take another look at that page and refresh your memories on the rules.

"Please do not delete comment threads or posts due to conflict. If there is a conflict, please notify the moderators at coh.moderator@gmail.com and let us take care of it. Deleting comments or posts makes it impossible for us to see what happened and to take appropriate action, if necessary. If you must take action in addition to notifying the moderators, then we prefer you screen the comments rather than deleting them."

So far I haven't seen anything really bad, but we have the rules for a reason and I really don't want to have to start handing out warnings over dinky stuff like this. Since Jello and I took over, you guys have been awesome and we really haven't had to do much in the way of modding (btw, we're gonna get on those Featured Hero submissions soon, we finally got the instructions - keep your eyes open for that). So keep our job easy, have fun and, in the words of the Wyld Stallyns, Be Excellent to Each Other.

Now quit reading this and get back to fighting off those pesky aliens!

Just got done checking out the new Sonic Resonance graphics on the Test Server with a little help from Shrieking Cat (@JeremyM), and I thought I'd post some screenshots of the new FX.

Overall, I like the new graphics. They're a bit *too* orange, maybe, but they're completely visible now, so that the Sonics of the world can actually see their own buffs. And they don't flicker anymore, so hopefully we won't have people quitting teams and/or deleting characters because of migraine issues as often. There's a fairly serious issue with the graphics if you have a lesser video card that can't run some of the fancier shader settings, hopefully this will be fixed before the new graphics go live.

( Cut for Images )

We just wanted to remind folks to please not delete your posts or comments due to conflicts. If you feel a post you've made has gotten out of hand or off topic, or is heading in that direction, we ask that you please screen all comments and then email us at coh.moderator@gmail.com and let us know what's happening. If you delete posts, then we have no way of knowing who said what and knowing what, if any, action should be taken.

This is just a general reminder prompted by a deleted post from late last night. No one's in trouble for anything, and nothing in that thread that we saw was worthy of action, but we figured this was a good time to remind you that post deletion is a no no.

Thanks!

We now return you to your regularly scheduled shenanigans.

I had my first-ever really-negative experience in-game yesterday, courtesy of some jerk of a brute who decided to repeatedly beat me up while working on collecting Warburg nukes for a later run at the Statesman TF. I told the guy that he was being a jerk, which he was, and he proceeded to repeatedly kill me. I don't care about the debt, being 50, but I felt like I was being powergamed and cheated on because I repeatedly got killed and every time I tried to fight back everything I hit him with just slid off (which doesn't make sense as everyone is level 25 in there). [edit: I'm not at home and can't check, but apparently level 25 is BB and Warburg is higher. Sorry!]

It reminded me very much of the one time I tried Command & Conquer online -- the guy I was playing against somehow filled every square inch of the water parts of the map with battleships (I wish I were exaggerating) within ten minutes. (I never played C&C online again after that).

Every time my teammates would arrive and start fighting back to save me or whoever he was abusing, he'd run like a coward, then come back and do it all over again. I wasn't the only one to be upset by this guy, either, and inform him that he was being a jerk, especially since we weren't bothering anyone.

I suppose it's a good thing that it took me this long to really run into something like this.

The sad thing is, the same jerk and his friends did the same thing to the group I was with gathering Shivans last Tuesday ...

Sigh.

"There's one in every family, Sire. Two in mine, actually. And they always manage to ruin special occasions." (Zazu, The Lion King)

The great time I had on the States TF earlier Saturday was far, far more typical of my experiences with this community. Thanks, everyone!

jell044 and quasadu! When you guys get a chance, send a mail to coh.moderator@gmail.com and we'll get you fully set up with access to the email.

I'll still be in the background for a while, but the two new guys will be running the show from now on. Congratulations to our new mods, and I hope you find it as entertaining as I have.

Current Mood: good

It's been almost a year now since I took over as the mod for the community, and we've had a lot of changes since then: better defined community rules, a moderation system, cleanups on the tags and links, and an updated and improved Featured Hero system. Now, however, it's time for me to step back and let someone else take over the role as primary moderator for the community.

I haven't played the game in months, and, other than a possible brief return to play with inventions when I9 goes live, I don't see myself coming back to it for any kind of long term run. This waning interest in the game has meant that I've been more lax than I should have been about keeping an eye on the community. I've had a stack of Featured Heroes ready to go up for about a month now and just let them sit there, for example. The community deserves better from its caretaker.

So this is an open call for a new moderator. Volunteer, with a brief summary of why you think you're the person for the job, in comments to this post. I'll pick from the best available candidate and we'll move on from there. I fully intend to keep my mod-ship, at least for now, so any volunteers don't have to worry about me throwing them to the wolves.

I can't say that it's always been a pleasure to be the moderator, but it's always been an honor. It has been a pleasure to get to know you all, both in game and out, and your support of me in this role is something I truly appreciate. Thank you.

Current Mood: melancholy

Since tanyad just threatened my girlfriend with physical violence, I will be bowing out of this gathering and its planning. There were several other people I hoped to work with on this project, and I'm sure they're more than capable of getting this arranged safely for everybody interested.

Again, I apologize for the drama. It was not my intent to start any. Good luck to all and please have a good time.

Current Mood: sleepy

First, I'd like to apologize to everybody. The meetup idea was mine and I should have taken full responsibility for it. Drama ensued, and now I'm going to try to rein it in.

( Meetup Info )

As a general rule, I think that we should avoid comments-locked posts in the community, except when cross-posting is involved. The main other reasons to use them are to apologize for behaviors (which they have been used for in the past) and to stifle further in-community communication about things. To be fair, in both of those cases, it is done, generally, with the best of intentions; that is, to avoid any more drama on the subject. However, it is also rarely workable for that purpose, in that it prevents, in the first case, all-around apologies from everyone involved, and, in the second case, foments hostility between the parties involved.

In other words, no more comments locked posts, except when making cross-posts to multiple communities, as outlined in the community info.

Now, as far as the meetup goes, a couple things. To be clear, it's not an "official" event, in that the mods have no control over its location, timing, etc. Emailing me about these or, really, any other things about the planning, etc. of the event is not going to be useful to you or to me.

And now I take off the mod hat for a moment.

In my opinion, as a community member, not as a mod, it truly should be community run, i.e., it should be discussed in-comm, things should be decided on there, etc. It should not, imho, be run through emails, because that seems to defeat the purpose of having a community event. I appreciate the work that is already going into the event, and the work ahead, and I appreciate the input of the community members so far into it, and I would like to see both of these things continue. While I will, personally, be unable to attend, I'd like to see it be a rousing success, and I can't see it being that way if it is not truly owned by the community.

Current Mood: tired