Originally posted by Nikopol

All true. Once you present a beta spot as part of a package you're selling and advertise it as such, "the tester" suddenly becomes "the customer", and the whole thing crumbles.

In essence, you can't make a person pay money for something and ask them to do work for you on top of it. Well, actually you can, but it'll hardly work as it should. I guess companies are well aware of this, too, they're not daft. So the whole beta testing process becomes diluted. Perhaps this is why they are diversifying their beta pool with invitations going out in every direction, at the expense of deprioritizing the people who practically paid for it.

Because, let's face it, those people will have a certain sense of entitlement, and Entitlement is just a lousy starting point for a testing process. You want some Gratitude to go with that. :)

It's the companies' own fault when they do this and have either a poorly tested product or an angry fanbase... or worse, both.

 

Very good post. There are two kinds of beta testers. The ones with the "test this and help make it better by diligently reporting every problem" and the "wow, cool, a new game, lets play it first before anyone else". I would venture to say that someone who pays a huge fee with the idea of getting beta access would probably fall in the latter category, and thus really not be much of a 'tester' at all.

I am very leery of 'lifetime' subscriptions at any rate. Especially in the MMO industry, who can say what their version of "lifetime" is? The customer thinks of it in terms of *their* lifetime but in reality, that 'lifetime' of a game is entirely up to the company selling the subscription.

Originally posted by junzo316

I can see the company's side of things....Hey guys, look.  We have real girls in our game.  It's a great advertising move, if they can entice the girls to actually play.  On the hand, doesn't it take the RPG out of MMORPG.  Playing in a world as someone different from yourself.  I play online games to get away from reality, and create characters in an online word. (I love using the biography that some games offer)  It's a lot like creating a character in a book, except the world has already been made for you.  Just my take on things...Again, I can see the company's point of view, even if I disagree with it.

Your post contains some very objective points and it is always good to try to see things from the other side. However, for publicity sake, you don't really need to restrict females characters to being played by females in the game to actually show that hawt chix0rs play your games. Look at 'real pic' sites like the CoH faces site (http://faces.cohtitan.com/).This site supposedly shows pics of real life females that play City of Heroes. Though, truly? it would be SERIOUSLY easy to fake - use either your girlfriend's pictures, or, unscrupulous people might have done, steal someone's pictures off the internet.

I remember a person in another MMO game who did exactly that, stealing some 'sample' pictures (which of course were slightly...suggestive) from some girl who had a pay-to-view site. This person was rumored to have been an older woman of large size. She preyed on male players, befriending them and then sending the pictures to get them to pay attention to her to the point of even extracting gifts of money, etc. from them. Caveat gamer, so they say.  :P

A smart player who wanted to keep their female avatar could just have their girlfriend/sister/female friend, sit in for the webcam shot for them. Really, unless there is a live interrogation, (and even then, you could fake that) it would not be hard to fool.

That being said, I agree that this sounds insane by American standards, but their society probably has different morals and perhaps they feel pretending to be female equates to what we would consider cross dressing here.

As a writer, I 'create' male and female characters in my stories. Does that make me butch? Nope. I am all girl. Just because I have written a male into a story (or created some in an MMORPG) does not indicate nor affect my sexual orientation in any way. My gaming partner has a slew of female characters. He RPs them so well that my sister thought he was a real-life female for a long time before I let the cat out of the bag. But trust me, I can vouch that he's not transgendered or gay. Hehehe. I feel playing other characters is more a creative thing but then if you are RP'ing for *cough* other reasons, I suppose gender would really matter. How would you feel if you had some TRULY hot cyber only to find out that curvy little elf was really a burly, hairy, tattooed biker named Duke? *giggle*

Originally posted by veritas_X

Most players are positive "developers" are a monolithic entity that marches in lockstep, a juggernaut of nerf that heeds not our cries.

I lol'd.

Conversely, I'll wager that most developers are positive that players are a seething mass of exploiters, bound and determined to escape the box they're being shoved into by the design.

Can we get an amen? 

I think the nature of the beast breeds a confrontational rather than a cooperative relationship between the two camps. It is human nature to want more of whatever you can get, and to get it as easily and quickly as you can. Trust me, if a game programmer could find a way to cut their work-time in half and still churn out the code they are required to do to keep their job, they would be all over it.

I have played City of Heroes for over four years. I personally think a lot of the damage is done to features in a game trying to stop power-leveling when really, I think it could be ignored. Who really gives a rat's patooie if my neighbor PL'ed twelve toons to 50 without ever seeing any of  the content? His loss. The old excuse was that they'd get to 50 and be whining because there was no content. The ability to 'flashback' and Mission Architect pretty much ate the face off that excuse.

Originally posted by LaoZhuZong

IMO, this is not about Window rules in gaming compare to Linux or OSX or whatever OS. People have choices. You like Window, you can find games. Likewise for others who like the rest of the OS.

 

The interesting point is, the main core feature of a MMO game is base on networking, which is the strong point on Linux. Why cant Linux deserve a fair share of the entertainment goodies? Also, it  doesnt make sense to own multiple OS in a same machine. Look at this scenario: Working in Linux and playing in Windows, it is sad if you think this is "OK".

 

Computers are suppose to make our life easy, not miserable.

Why do you believe it is "sad" to think it is "OK" to either dual boot or run two different OS's on two machines?

I own two computers at the moment, soon to be three. Why would I want to limit myself to only one flavor of OS? Dual booting is a way to experience more than one when a person only has one computer.

I look at it like this: different operating systems (or even software, period) do different jobs, in different ways. Just like differing recipes make the same foods taste different by altering it slightly. I don't pot roast every night for supper for the rest of my life. But that does not mean I dislike beef. In the same way, I like to learn and experience different types of software - be it an OS or just a new program.

There is no reason whatsoever to limit oneself by any means. If you can afford Windows, and Linux is free, why not have both? Knowledge is power and the more you can understand, the better off you are.

Originally posted by Mordacai

<----------Hardcore Command-line Nazi....I run 2 linux servers in the house, one for offline code development which also runs a ubuntu desktop, one for test bed development, both running some virtual software so I can test games interface and systems as a pc desktop...Run linux laptop (wiped away vista) with vmware running a xp session in a condensed windows box for testing remote connections and wireless resposiveness to the games as well as a 3rd cloud computing linux server up on one of those rackspace type hosters...

 

For my kids, I have them running on a windows pc (but got to maintain it constantly, virius scanner, security updates and mozilla no scripting etc)...my 11 yo daughter got her 1st linux netbook flash drive for xmas last year...i'm so proud... :D

 

 

Hehe... good for her. I wish my original exposure had been to Linux. I have been a bit too entrenched in the comfort of my 'windows' and the point, click, drag and drop laziness. 

My laptop must remain running Windows. It is my school machine and must be able to deal with their file types and software required for classes. My home PC may eventually taste Linux, of what flavor I am not yet sure. Any recommendations? What handles the gaming best, in your experience? Right now I only (barely in my meager excuse for free time) play City of Heroes. I plan on keeping up with my subscription, for the foreseeable future and would like to be able to play it on whatever OS I run. I also do 3D graphics renders (DAZ Studio and am learning Poser) and write (I alternate between MS Word and Open Office Writer). What would be a good type of Linux for a n00b with very little time to practice with a new O/S?

Originally posted by fmnch35

(....snippage....)

But, given how web-centric a lot of software it won't surprise anyone to know that Google are making an OS. Now I'm no die-hard liberal pony-tail wearing veggie linux user, but even he/she would be excited about that assuming that they aren't too stoned out.

(...snippage....)

I have to assume you meant "vegan", not "veggie", as most of the people I know who use Linux are considerably more intelligent than the average Twittering, YouTube surfing user that uses a computer as an glorified video phone. The absolute hard-core Linux geeks are the command-line Nazis. They are the ones I have found to be scary intelligent.

However, I don't think any of them are naive enough to see anything good in a Google OS. 

Don't you ever wonder why Google is so generous? First Gmail, now Google Voice, their own browser, and now an OS? Why are they spending all this money to give you things for free? Because your personalized 'profile' is worth something to them. They data-mine. Data-mining and archiving profiles so that marketers can engage in more targeted (and thus more profitable) marketing is big business. I won't use their Gmail for anything that resembles real life communcation. I won't let them transcribe my phone calls to text so they can dig through them to see what car I drive, what pizza I ordered last week, or who I am getting nasty with during those late night weekend phone calls.  :P  There is no way I would ever run an operating system that they had anything to do with. They will keep their hands out of my cookie jar.

Most of my Linux-user friends are highly intelligent, and although I don't probe them about their political opinions, most seem to tolerate my conservative Libertarian philosophies well. This gives me the impression they are not liberals. As for pony tails... of all the people that have been in my Linux LUG, I think only one of the males has a pony tail. The rest are either sys admins, network engineers, and one is an engineer for the local television station. I consider all of them to be far more intelligent than myself, and though I am not an Einstein, I am no ditzy blonde either.

The only reason I use Windows because it was the first OS I was exposed to. When I have the free time to sit down and immerse myself in something new (which I don't at the moment) I will get more familiar with Linux. I may keep a machine for gaming and let it run Windows. Kind of like having a gaming console.

But then that is just my opinion. I am not trying to portray all Windows users as stupid. But the whole premise of "Windows" is to make computing accessible to those who could not (or refused to try to) grasp old-style computing. It continues to become more controlling under the guise of being "user-friendly". Great for those who do not understand how to properly run a computer. Bad for those of us that want our machines to do what WE want, not what someone else has programmed them to do for us.

From a list in the article -

"Virual machine – www.vmware.com"

Virual... sounds so close to viral...... which is kind what it is like infesting a Linux box with something resembling Windows.  :P

Gave me a little giggle. That being said ... I have tried several flavors of Linux. I have yet to try to game on them. If I get to the point where I can run the game I play on Linux, Micro$haft and the evil empire will have seen my last Windoze purchase.

My laptop came forcibly infested with Vista because M$ has Asus (like many other manufacturers) by the proverbial short hairs. Besides having to fight for my Administrator rights at every turn, I tried to uninstall a 'trial' copy of Office 2K7, that would NOT uninstall. Like a bad penny, it kept coming back. Vista then died a horrible screaming, formatted and repartitioned death in favor of a brand new copy of XP. Windows is all about catering to the lowest common denominator as far as users go. Making the computer able to take over and 'protect' the poor stupid users who don't know what they are doing! *rolls eyes* I am sorry. I do not need the computer to protect me from myself. Now... if it followed me around in real life and picked my dates for me? That might have actually been beneficial... but I digress...

Unfortunately, my latest courses require Office 2K7, which makes me want to beat my head against the desk. Ugh.

At some point after graduation, when I actually have just only a job and get to have free time once again.... *wistful sigh* I plan on trying out a Linux box again. Hopefully articles like this one will still be floating around to help me in my hour on Linux n00bness. But I, for one, am all for gaming and Linux. I just need the time to be able to tackle getting used to it. Very interesting and encouraging article!

Originally posted by nekollx

City of Heroes has dosen some regular live events as well, also use simupresense. But they also mix in some dev interaction. People still talk about Positron (Matt Miller)'s comment at the Freedom Phalanx seige of the end of CoV beta where he complained in character "they all grey to me" (redicusly low level)

Anyone that has fought Positron knows he hax. :P  Hehe.

On a serious note, an alternative to "live" would be to have interactive AI, such as contacts. It would not be hard. There are already a few 'choice' menus - i.e. "Defeat xx of xxxxx to help xxxxx." or "Some either story arc or not door mission". I would like to see (espeically for my villains) actual CHOICES that AFFECT the rest of the arc. For example, my ice/thermal is not really a villain at all. She is a young child who has been a victim of circumstances (yeah, I know, that's what they alllllll say but this one is truly a good girl at heart). I would have loved to have had the option of, instead of betraying a patron, to refuse to work for Arbiter Daos and perhaps having the patron somehow find a way to redirect the Arbiter's attention and wrath elsewhere or having a positive outcome so that you still end up on the path of Project: DESTINY but without the betrayal (a betrayal that Xandra would never do). I spent the entire arc thinking "This is sooooo out of character." 

I would also like to make a choice TO betray that slimeball Westin Phipps, the kind of person who could make a hardened criminal go "Man, that is just WRONG."  I think it would be interesting to have differing outcomes resulting from dialog choices. Yeah, it is not "live" per se, but it would go a long way towards individualizing content without the expense of paying in game acting talent.

I wonder if they will make more 'gray' content once Going Rogue is live.....

Originally posted by Kithca

I love this argument.  Colour, armour, flavour, and a few others.  I was born and grew up in the US, yet this was exactly how I learned to spell these words when I was a child.  Where I got it from, I do not know.  It took me a long while to break out of it, but even now I will find myself spelling those words with a U.

Likewise, I grew up calling carbonated beverages, "Soda pop."  I always and still do, get an odd look for it.  Just another sign of dialects colliding.

Oddly enough, I do the same. I prefer the -our endings, I suppose. It just sounds more... elegant.

Where I come from, it is 'soda', or 'soda pop', or just 'a pop' also. I made a trip down south and found they lump it all as 'a coke'.... unless it is a Sun Drop. (Ewww). And then there is their idea of iced tea. Down south it is "sweet tea" pronounced "sweetee". It took me a while to figure out that they were asking my drink preference, not using a term of endearment towards me (sweety).

Funny how even in our own country, the language and dialects can be so different.

Originally posted by HeliosXII
....(snippage)....

My only concern with Champions Online is the fact that it's headed by Jack Emmert...that doesn't instill very much faith in me, truth be told.

I agree. If I had to name one reason I would not try CO even if I left CoH, that'd be it.

As for the mess that Mission Architect has turned into - I was really pumped on MA. Being a writer, it seemed like the perfect system. But there are just too many flaws. And they add more every time they nerf it. For what? Really, who CARES if people are exploiting it to power-level? I firmly believe power-leveling is not the demon they would have us to believe it is. The main whimper I have heard to justify the nerf-shotgun approach to anything that even remotely smacks of a tool to power-level is that the PL'ers get to 50 and whine about lack of end game content. Hello? Did MA not just give a chance for nearly UNLIMITED end game content? Don't like the game's canned content? Write your own!  I still do not understand the need to constantly jack anything that someone might "exploit"... I mean... big deal. If they are so worried about it then make MA missions not give XP or give reduced XP. Or limit the XP per mission to one instance of one mission per day. If you run a mission again, then you get nothing. There are so many more ways to handle problems than beating it over the head with a giant nerf ax and punishing the creative and talented along with the exploiters.

I also agree with you on their reaction to how the system was exploited. It is a bit hard to feel sympathy for them when they knew what was coming in advance, then have the nerve to act all indignant about it.

That being said, I still enjoy the game. I own four accounts, have two active at the moment, and plan on sticking around. It is fun to create characters and develop them as they progress through the game. I could care less who power-levels their charcters or exploits the system. It does not affect my ability to have fun in the least. As for coloring the powers? Not so much a thrill for me (except my stone tank is going to get rid of those sissy pink glowing fists....). I would be more interested in being able to actually adapt the powerSETS somewhat. That is one thing I think Champions got right - not limiting the powers to a certain set, written in stone, forever and ever, amen. It would be interesting to pick and choose different powers according to a characters story. Of course, I see lots of number crunching and FoTM builds on the horizon there. Good luck, Cryptic.

Originally posted by Skooma2

Although I played CoH/CoX for a while, and enjoyed the game for three or four months, their servers are going to be ghost towns once CO goes live.   Out with the old, in with the new?

Although some of the 'try every new game' types will flock to CO, I believe you underestimate the amount of dedicated fans who will not. Many of these gamehoppers will be the ones who have little time in the game. After spending five years in a game and working my way up to several well developed level 50s, I am definitely not going to drop the time I have invested for the next shiny flash-in-the-pan. Especially when it is pumped out by the studio that throttled the true potential of the Cities of games for so long. It was not until NC Soft took over that they began to listen and respond to players' input and requests on a massive scale.

There is lots of 'new' out there. So far, none of it has impressed me enough to get me to stray.

My "other hobby" (when I have time) is creating 3D art using DAZ Studio (http://www.daz3d.com/). My current project is recreating all my City of characters as 3D models so I can use them to illustrate my fan fiction stories. There are many times I do things in DAZ with a model and think "Oh how I wish I could do this to my characters in CoH!". That wish just got granted, albeit in only one area, but hey! Another wish is the ability to 'make' and save individual clothing items, or at least tweak the ones they have. An example of such a tweak would be the ability to make the wedding TOP and other accessories two-tone color customizable (to match the skirt!) because having the lace colored on the skirt is so perfect but the whole DRESS should match, along with the gloves and trim on the stockings, etc. Maybe I need to hit the suggestion thread in their forums.

The character creator is the one reason I have never played any other game as they all have limited or not as attractive character options. As a writer, each of my characters becomes an individual to me. I don't care about numbers or stats - I just play to have fun and relax and the biggest asset to me is the ability to customize each character. That is what has kept me playing CoH for years. This is icing on the cake. Yay for icing!

Great article. I have to say the entry on Jack Emmert's statement regarding micro-transactions seems more of a case of foot in mouth than an actual 'blunder' such as printing false advertising on a package.

Quoted from the article - "..."Micro-transactions are the biggest bunch of nonsense," Emmert said. According to a rather detailed rundown of the event presented by the folks at Massively, Emmert explained how he liked to pay a single fee and not worry about it. He even pointed out that Pardo’s World of Warcraft, the most successful game in this genre, didn’t have them..." From this quote, I am getting the impression that Jack is merely expressing his own personal distaste for the particular strategy of utilizing micro-transactions either in addition to, or in place of utilizing purely subscription based models.

I think the fact that he has, shall we say, obviously seen the light - despite his personal feelings -and repented of his statement, shows me that he may have learned something from handing over the tightly held reins of the Cities of franchise to NC Soft/Paragon Studios. Regardless of what a developer might feel, sometimes trying to make a world tightly molded in their own personal vision can prove alienating to the player base. Since NC Soft took over, they have given us many things that we only dreamed about before. Players begged for years for new costume options, emotes to enhance the 'change' of costumes, fun new emotes, and many other 'fun' features - and now they are available for sale. I personally have purchased several (Wedding, Mac Items Pack (Valkyrie), Magic, Good vs Evil), and most on more than one account.

I think the direction of giving the players what they want (within reason) that the Cities have taken since the change in owndership has been nothing but positive and giving the players things that DO NOT affect game play and are just for 'fun' cannot hurt those who want to spend the extra entertainment funds this way. Any game can benefit from micro-transactions as long as they are handled properly and do not allow those with money to spare to buy superiority at the expense of those who cannot afford to constantly buy per-transaction upgrades.

As I stated in the comments... I was truly disappointed in these commercials. If this were a commercial for a popular and established feature, it might be amusing, in the same way loudly breaking wind in quiet office is amusing to some people. But the whole idea of a commercial is to promote the new feature in a positive light, is it not?

These commercials, while perhaps funny in an offbeat way, make light of a 'user' who is wanting 'easy' missions and 'free' rewards. This also makes it look like the sell point of I14 is free and easy loot and easy missions.

I was very disappointed to see so little of the Architect even show up in the commercial, as it seemed more intent on making fun of an ego-tripping 'super' hero who wanted loot for no effort. Is this perhaps what NC Soft thinks of its player base?

Sorry guys, I give both these a thumbs down.

Hehe. I only play on Liberty (as does my partner). The character (Syn eater) had long white and hair and was dressed in a white outfit with a white trench coat. He was a level 26 tank.

My Syn is probably one of my two favorite villains. The other is Xandra, my ice/thermal corruptor (also an ice/thermal controller when she sneaks off to Paragon City). But I really enjoy playing Syn (Dark/Dark/? -haven't picked her patron yet... still trying to decide which would fit into her story the best).

I just noticed the nickname and it reminded me of that character in the screenshot he sent me, and I had to giggle.

SynEater - are you the owner of the character by the same name on Liberty?

If so, you gave my partner a good laugh. He happened to see the character in Talos, so he sent me a screenshot saying "Note the hero's name? Friend of yours? :D" The reason this is funny? I have a villainess who is a female succubus named "Dark as Syn", human form name Syndi Johansson, who generally goes by "Syn".... hehe.

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Originally posted by Slackerboy
I don't know about the rest of the people here, but I could care less who implimented this idea first.
I am sure many game developers have thought about putting tools in their users hands to allow them to create content. Heck FPS games have been doing it for years.
Maybe we should give credit for this idea to ID for the level editor in Doom. After all that allowed players to make content and publish it.
Who cares? Me I just am glad to see it added to CoX.

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Amen, again.

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Originally posted by Slackerboy
The one thing that seems to be missing and what CoX really needs is the ability to make mission maps. The thing that made me drop CoX was that every mission feels the same.
Sure the maps are random. But there are a limited number of room types and they have strict rules for how rooms connect (I.E. a Hall segment tends to connect 2 big rooms, never to another hall segment). And inside the rooms mobs are always placed the same way. No matter who you are fighting.
 
I had really hoped this would allow us to construct the maps and place the mobs. I can see how that could be abused but it also would make much better missions. IMHO.

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Seconded. I have yet to get a look at it, but as an avid writer I am drooling with anticipation. I have already scheduled the summer off classes. :P

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Originally posted by Jeromai
Thanks for defining your version of 'raid.' I was reading it as being used in the fashion of typical dikuMUD-inspired MMOs. In other words, a tough difficult mob requiring special strategies and preferably well-picked teams of specific classes to defeat. I had no idea it was being used in a more layman variant. Guess it was the wrong assumption, even though this website is called MMORPG.com.

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I would not call this a "layman variant" - layman carries a derogatory implication that (and perhaps this is your intention) a person is not an "expert" in a particular subject or field. I believe you are dancing on the fine line of semantics here. To the vast majority of CoX players, a raid is any endeavor that typically takes the coordination of more than ONE EIGHT MAN TEAM. Thus requiring a "raid leader" who directs not just in team chat but in a venue heard by all participants. (Example - Hamidon "raid", or Rikti Mothership "raid"). The same principle can be applied to some Giant Monsters, especially Lusca, who is, in effect, a GROUP of Giant Monsters. Normally, with most Giant Monsters, the strategy is fairly simple, although - again - there are always those who lack strategy and make up for it by playing the part of team meat shield. *shrug* They are all points on the glorious path to Empath for me... no matter. What this entire discussion, and your attitude that your opinion of what should be defined as a "raid" has to do with either other MMOs, or this website being called "MMORPG.com" is completely beyond me. We are discussing City of Heroes, here. Not WoW, not EQ. Their raids are not our raids (thankfully). Many of us are dedicated CoX players and really don't care what defines a "raid" in some other game, however we are intimately familiar with any and all types of CoX raids. Insulting someone over your particular semantics is combative, and quite frankly, rather rude, especially when you effectively call the writer of the guide a noob in a very thinly veiled way.

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All I did was express my opinion that the information provided in the guide would not help anyone used to other MMO raids with CoX specific nuances. And that certain phrases used would lead people into assuming a 'holy trinity' approach would be sufficient to defeat giant monsters in CoX.
One of my biggest pet peeves in-game is someone obviously quite new, yelling at everyone like a drill sergeant with macros for healing and rezzing and tp'ing, telling other people what to do and where to stand. Often providing the wrong information, based on their prior experiences with other MMOs. And I feared that this 'raid' guide would contribute to more newbies who would do exactly that very thing.

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I sense an issue with either someone else being in control, or with following directions here. The drill sergeant mentality was actually quite common at Hamidon Raids (and heaven knows there were times when their inner 'control freak' really outed itself in some of them), but you make it sound as if having binds or macros that enable efficient coordination and cooperation is somehow an unpardonable sin. Often times the easiest efforts (a successful Mothership raid, for example) are punctuated by helpful binds that keep the group together and focused or perhaps within heal/rez range (yay for Howling Twilight!). The last Mothership Raid I attended went beautifully except for the first huge wave of Magus, and bit of stunning, and a small group who briefly tasted the hull of the ship before one of the characters I was playing (dark/dark corruptor) fired off HT. Other than that small glitch, the leader encouraged everyone to group up, my empath spammed the squishies with Clear Mind, and we proceeded to spank the Rikti like they were our red-headed stepchildren.

Our "Raid Leader" was not obnoxious in any way. I never got the vision of a tattooed, burly drill sergeant sitting behind his monitor. He was efficient, and polite. There is nothing wrong with a leader who is actually leading. Simply using binds and macros does NOT a dictator make. I am sorry, but I would MUCH rather follow someone who has organizational skills and a STRATEGY, than just run in blindly praying the -regen drops whatever I am fighting before I hit the debt cap.

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All you really need to ensure is that enough stacked -regen/buff/debuff/heal is present and everything else will fall into place quite naturally in CoX.
If you'd just called it "Giant Monster Guide: Taking Down Lusca" and avoided terms like 'raid' and 'healers', I would have much less issue with it. I did say that I understood the author may be newly into CoX, and may not have been sensitive to any differences in terminology between CoX and a standard MMO.

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Maybe you have not played the City of franchise long enough to understand that it is really not like most other MMOs. While I remain a faithful player, I have occasionally dabbled in other games and have come away unimpressed. As for your 'tactic' suggestion here, explain to me how you "ensure" that you have enough -regen/buff/debuff/heal? What about those times when only one controller shows up to the party? Do you throw the noobs to the squid (okay, okay, OCTOPUS) and say, "Sorry I cannot help, you do not have sufficient debuff potential to insure an easy win"?

This guide is straight up good strategy. It is ALWAYS common sense to let the TANK GO IN FIRST AND GET AGGRO. You mention this as well, just phrased in a different way. But you disrespect the person who took out of their time to write the guide as having a "holy trinity" mentality. You also mention having sufficient debuffs/buffs and heals. Just exactly where do you think those are going to come from? Oh, yeah, LIVE empaths. You know, the ones who take the guides advice and TARGET THROUGH THE TANK and STAY OUT OF MELEE. Again, it appears that you do not so much disagree with the information, as you have yourself reiterated a good chunk of it, but rather are interested in harping on the use of the words "raid" and "healer". Here is a clue: the word "heal", you know as in "...enough stacked -regen/buff/debuff/heal" is the root of the word "healer". So it is acceptable to promote having enough heals but not to mention healers who bring them?

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Then I followed up with personal advice on what I've found to be most crucial in defeating AVs or giant monsters. -Regen. Do I like it that this system is so reliant on this single factor? No. But the fact stands that this is key. Masking it up would be a disservice to people who do not understand why is it they worked so hard at the mob, with it not dying.
I have personally been on teams, sometimes as a lowbie, pounding at these giant monster mobs with very little effect on their health bar. Then all it takes is one level 50 rad to walk by, or get summoned by a friend... and suddenly POW, its health suddenly drops with no other change to the team makeup. That is my experience. That is my advice I would like to share, since it was not mentioned in the guide.
How much more polite do you want me to be?

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Advice is great. It is always nice to share things you know with others. However...rushing in with belittling comments such as"I'm shocked that this guide promotes a holy trinity mindset (tanks in first! protect the healers!) that isn't really necessary in CoX" and "I appreciate that the writer may be new at CoX and all excited at taking down Lusca." Really the only point that you have made (repeatedly) that is not covered in the guide is the importance of debuffs. You denigrate the guide as leading to a drill sergeant mentality for noobs, however you harp on what the dark defenders and kins should be doing. You yourself preach on the role of tanks in aggro management. Just in a different syntax (and perhaps a more insulting way) than the guide's author.

The bottom line is, we all have our own play styles. Some individuals are great at battling AVs and Giant Monsters. Some are not. A good raid leader can take a group of both and make things go smoothly with the right gentle guidance. Whether it is three teams of eight battling Lusca or masses assaulting the Mothership, the bottom line is we all want to have FUN. Is that not why we play? If you don't like a leader that actually leads? My advice is to find a few like minded friends and stick to teaming with them, and leave helping and leading the noobs to those with patience to deal with badly balanced teams and unskilled teammates.

How polite? Well, tact is a skill that is difficult to learn but a wise and very intelligent man once told me, you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. If you want others to come around to your point of view, rushing in and insulting them won't gain you much ground. Had you merely mentioned "all it takes is one level 50 rad to walk by, or get summoned by a friend... and suddenly POW, its health suddenly drops with no other change to the team makeup" rather than being belitting and insulting, then I think your input would have been viewed more as being constructive rather than combative and warmly welcomed by all.

You make some good points, but truly... following the advice in the guide will insure a much smoother battle. Lusca is like fighting several GMs. If you don't have the right strategy, then yes, you are doing it wrong. But not everyone is always experienced enough to be on the same page.

And of course, there will be rezzing. it is the noobs that need the badge, right? You can't expect everyone that fights Lusca to be an experienced player, and you can't expect there always to be the right kind of debuffs.

Much of what you say is bascially a rewording of the original advice. The whole problem is getting a PuG of noobs to understand it. On the bright side, a rez counts to the healing badges...

This was a guide... intended as advice on how to successfully 'raid' Lusca. I do not think the OP is new to City of Heroes. I certainly am not. I have four accounts, three currently active (and playing all three at the moment - YAY Winter Break!) and the 42 month badge on my main account, which is includes time not subbed during the school year.

Your mileage may vary depending on your AT, slotting, and play style. I think this guide was very accurate and very well written, and great advice for those who might not understand how Lusca works. There are always 'better' ways. The ill/emp & ill/rad duo'd him with no deaths at all. Buffs, PA tanking, and rad's beautiful -to hit and -regen debuffs FTW! But not all adventures can go so smoothly. And they won't if you don't follow the 'tanks tank' strategy. Lusca is no lightweight. She hits really hard. If someone (especially a squishy defender) does not understand the the tanks have to grab aggro, they will die. It is that simple. And if you have a team of noobs, you will see lots of death and rezzing. It is part of the learning curve. We were all new once.

Not all teams have dark or rad or kin. Sometimes you have to work with what you get. Nor did I not see anyone in this thread yelling at anyone else - though I seriously came close during my next to the last Lusca encounter with one stupid noob who kept attacking the head from the opposite side then running back and aggroing other tentacles. He kept spamming "We need to just kill the head"... even though many veteran players kept telling him we HAD to kill the tentacles first. *sigh* That ended up being a multiple hour long debt-cap fiasco before I got so frustrated I simply said "Gotta go, got RL things that need done" and loggged off. I am all for helping people get badges but like anything else in life, they have to be willing to help themselves!

I think it was very nice of Pretty to post the guide as a good reference point to show the new players if they are having trouble getting their Lusca raid mojo going. As for the new Hami? From someone who spent many many nights participating in raids on the OLD Hami, even after they nerfed the crap out of the enhancements,  *rolls eyes* well, I have better ways to waste my time than the 'new' raid. Like watching my nails dry.  To each their own, though.