Messages

1

The Chamber of Tears / Admin Shenanigans

« on: November 23, 2013, 07:50:27 pm »

I posted some thoughts about the 3.1.0 patch's effect on polearms in general discussion earlier today. I played a round or two on NA1 and alt-tabbed to see if anyone responded but could not find my thread. Mystified, I searched my forum profile's past posts and found my thread in the "game balance" section of the forums.

I only post now because of how disconcerting it can be to have some anonymous stranger manipulate your work, without asking for permission, giving a reason, or even leaving notice. There wasn't even a "topic moved" thread like other moved topics: http://forum.melee.org/general-discussion/moved-reimplement-the-keep-looted-weapons-next-round-feature/

Frankly, I do not understand the admin team one bit. Completely inane threads about "how to become a men" stay put and other topics are brutally censored. Small things like this erode the trust of the players and remind me of the deceit associated with the botched launch forums on "The War Z."

(click to show/hide)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infestation:_Survivor_Stories#Controversies

When questioned about the complaints received, Titov responded by saying that the customers complaining were a minority and "As of right now over 93% of our customers like the game, with over 40% saying it's perfect and around 50% saying it's good, but they'd like to see more polishing and features."[34]

On December 19, 2012, a Valve employee stated that they would be investigating concerns raised by users about censorship and moderation on Steam's forum.[35] The concerns were directed towards a developer of the game who was accused of banning Steam forum users unfairly for criticizing The War Z.[35] On the same day The War Z was temporarily removed from sale on Steam's store, with Valve issuing a statement saying "We apologize for this and have temporary [sic] removed the sale offering of the title until we have time to work with the developer and have confidence in a new build." A user also proved that ban appeals were not looked over; instead, copy and paste responses were issued stating "We have evidence that you have used multiple hacks. Your ban appeal has been denied." The developers have also been accused of bullying and bribing people who complain about the game.[36] Valve allowed users to submit a ticket for a refund if they weren't satisfied with the game.[36]

Is some moderator going rogue a huge deal? Not really, you've only lose the insight of one guy who just assumes the worst and doesn't even post that often. But it's the first step on the road to giving all your future customers refunds.

2

Game Balance Discussion / Most Polearms Are Obsolete

« on: November 23, 2013, 05:56:14 pm »

edit: some joke admin hid this post in the game balance forum. I was looking for a general discussion on the power of polearms post 3.1.0, not offering advice to the balance team.

meanwhile this is "general discussion" and not "suggestions" http://forum.melee.org/general-discussion/reimplement-the-keep-looted-weapons-next-round-feature/

or this: http://forum.melee.org/general-discussion/buff-0-melee-weapons-and-reduce-stats-on-looms/

3

NA (Official) / Ban Arcadeus and Sup_Homie

« on: November 17, 2013, 11:11:13 am »

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BAN REQUEST FORM:
1. Name of your character involved

redacted

2. Name of offending character(s)

redacted

3. Time and server, as accurately as possible

redacted

4. Written description of what happened, the whole story. Also what happened before and after.

redacted

5. Why you think the offender did what he did.

Phantasmal or one of the many other admins with a healthy disregard for fair play can speculate as to their motivation better than I.

6. Multiple Screenshots

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7. Names of players that can witness what happened.

redacted

edit: way to lock my other thread without doing anything. editing this post so it doesn't comply with your gestapo rules too.

4

Game Balance Discussion / Re: 2h Bastard Sword Type Weapons

« on: November 16, 2013, 12:15:22 pm »

Create an entirely new WPF category by splitting axes, long maces, bec, etc., the"bladed" style polearms, from spears and the other 2d poles. Right now all the bladed polearms suffer a huge balancing malus because their users have the potential to pick up pike/halberd/hoplite gear in strategus.

Hafted Blade:
Polearms get some sort of weight bonus for blocking attacks
Better reach on left swings (~1 weapon length)
Better reach on right swings (~10 weapon length)
Pole nudge
Guandao cav swings

HBS:
Better speed
Better turn speed (Most noticeable with thrusts)
Better reach on overheads (~3 weapon length)
Better reach on thrusts (~34 weapon length)
Better thrust damage
2H nudge
1H cav swings

Spot-on analysis. Could do it for every "bladed" polearm and the 2H would come out on top.

5

NA (Official) / Re: USA_IS_BETTER_THAN_THE_WORLD

« on: November 15, 2013, 05:41:56 am »

Thanks for the help Phantasmal. I admit I did not notice the rules of this subforum have changed. Will you please direct me to the forum where I can locate admin-generated reports of this nature so I have some idea of what to write?

6

NA (Official) / USA_IS_BETTER_THAN_THE_WORLD

« on: November 15, 2013, 05:06:50 am »

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Headshotted by an arbalest 20 seconds into the round, sat around for 6 minutes watching USA_IS_BETTER_THAN_THE_WORLD waste everyone's time.

7

Sell/Trade / Re: S/T KAS and Great Long Bardiche. WTB Bamboo Spear + Bec

« on: November 12, 2013, 09:02:28 am »

Wouldn't take the iron mace if it were free and I already could just use the supremely-broken marketplace to trade KAS+25k for a Side Sword. I'm trying to play with some new weapons so I must decline.

8

Sell/Trade / S/T KAS and Great Long Bardiche. WTB Bamboo Spear + Bec

« on: November 12, 2013, 03:12:50 am »

Looking to sell or trade my +3 Knightly Arming Sword and +3 Great Long Bardiche. Preferably for a +3 Bamboo Spear and a +3 Bec de Corbin.

9

General Discussion / Re: WPP Sum and Cost Formula Rework(Includes WM)

« on: November 10, 2013, 11:37:18 pm »

Tydeus explains why hybridization is too easy:

(click to show/hide)

Compare these two:

Level 30 (4 420 577 xp)
    Strength: 18
    Agility: 21
    Skills to attributes: 8
    Ironflesh: 3
    Power Strike: 6
    Athletics: 7
    Weapon Master: 7
    Polearm: 165

Level 30 (4 420 577 xp)
    Strength: 18
    Agility: 24
    Skills to attributes: 14
    Power Strike: 6
    Athletics: 8
    Weapon Master: 3
    Polearm: 133

The 32 wpf advantage that the lower conversion build has actually amounts to 7% damage with polearms in this scenario. It's not simply a matter of skill placement either, you could max WM instead of athletics, but you would arguably be sacrificing even more. Whenever you convert more than two skill points, you sacrifice a fair bit of utility/effectiveness, but a high point conversion build is in essence, the most extreme case of specialization. This is essentially why I am hesitant in saying that specialization is being properly rewarded.

With the previous statement in mind, I find it even more difficult to argue that hybridization has any reasonable sort of difficulty to it, compared to the sacrifices you have to make. Even in the case of Archery, you merely sacrifice 10-20 wpf in your main weapon for 80-100 wpf in an alternate weapon type. As most people say PS is a requirement as well, the only sacrifice an archer makes to get PS, is that of either 1 PD or 1 athletics and 1 WM(remember how skill point conversions work). Is this really difficult? Is this really that much of a sacrifice? The only place where I find an argument worth considering, is the case of archery and even then, it's only due to the recent weight increases.

Every time I see Tydeus on NA1 he is using a different weapon. He probably understand items' relative power better than any other player, most of whom do 19 generations with their +3 Longsword and are suddenly experts in everything cRPG. You may not agree with Tydeus but his well-reasoned conclusions deserve your respect. Imagine if other community leaders exhibited this kind of initiative and effort: a fun map rotation, better game modes/not-broken-siege, Canary's wild west admins removed from office, a marketplace that makes sense; the possibilities are endless.

So stop posting whiny responses about how you are quitting or asking Tydeus to interpret the graph the rest of us learned to read in kindergarten. I proclaim this the year of Tydeus.

10

General Discussion / Re: WPP Sum and Cost Formula Rework(Includes WM)

« on: November 09, 2013, 08:37:10 pm »

These changes all look great but it is aspirin for the gunshot wound that is the cRPG battle. You will never fix balance problems until you implement game modes that prevent full-retard players rolling 39/3 Greatsword, 7/30 horse xbows, or X/X Troll-the-Server-by-Delaying. People have been suggesting "conquest" style modes for years.

Here's one I found after looking for about 15 seconds in the suggestions thread: 76% player support in a forum dominated by fanboy trolls.

http://forum.melee.org/suggestions-corner/change-battle-to-'conquest'-mode-by-spawning-motf-early-in-rounds/msg821494/#msg821494

11

Faction Halls / Re: [Raven] - Ravens of Valhalla (NA)

« on: November 01, 2013, 09:09:10 am »

Hey Raven guys,

I don't really play much cRPG any more so I've dropped tags. See you in Valhalla!

12

General Discussion / Re: RE: Admin Transparency

« on: July 18, 2013, 11:57:25 pm »

edit: Wrote reply to Canary then saw I have received a warning for "spam and flaming" without any context or explanation. Don't think I could have done a better job of convincing the few players who still care.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/19/world/europe/russian-court-convicts-opposition-leader-aleksei-navalny.html?hp

13

General Discussion / [NA] Philosophy Essay Competition

« on: July 18, 2013, 06:49:11 pm »

Bored in between rounds? Want to earn a quick 1,000 cRPG gold? Head on over to the ban request forum: http://forum.meleegaming.com/na-(official)/

Write a 250+ word essay on any incident. You must have been on NA1 when the complained-of incident happened. You do not need to have witnessed the incident in any capacity as long as you have some opinion about the nature of the ban request. Essays should focus solely on the nature of the ban request. Post here to receive your 1,000 gold. The player capable of writing the most essays before July 25, 2013 at midnight will win an additional prize of 10,000 cRPG gold!

Non-exhaustive list of suggested topics: what does it mean for christian society when we honor server rules not listed in Leviticus? What would Kant have to say about intentional teamwounding? Would Freud agree with the statement that ban requesters were not loved as children? What are the ontological ramifications for our cRPG avatars when their human players request admin action? Is there life after ban?

Remember the focus is on the nature of the request, not the request itself!

(click to show/hide)

[Why these seemingly irrelevant essays are in fact OK!] he was there when it happened, which can be credible even in spite of not directly seeing the exact issue the ban request was made for, and had some relevant things to say about the nature of ban requests.

14

General Discussion / Re: Request for Admin Transparency

« on: July 18, 2013, 04:56:19 pm »

I have nothing to do with, nor any knowledge of this situation, or how the NA admins operate in general. . .  You also seems to expect a lot of profesionalism from a bunch of unpaid admins in a mod.

Probably not, because most admins don't consider it ban worthy.

Yesterday you had no knowledge of how the NA admins operate. Today you know what most admins think. Did you take a straw poll in the secret admin enclave sometime in the last few hours?

Being an admin is a service to the community, not a privilege. The minor benefits are far outweighted by the major inconviences.

I'm sure the conspiracy theorists out there would love to hear more about these benefits.

15

General Discussion / Re: RE: Admin Transparency

« on: July 18, 2013, 01:32:04 pm »

If an admin makes a contentious decision we have an entire forum board devoted to the NA admins for us to discuss such things as past decisions, rules clarifications, and players whose behavior we should be wary of. In part it's a sort of system of peer review. Consistent improper administrative action can be dealt with by removal of admin power. Such cases are rare.

What is the purpose of this forum: http://forum.meleegaming.com/game-admin-feedback/

I had understood that forum to be the place for "peer review" of admins yet it now seems that despite not knowing whether a significant portion of admins have even read the rules you trust them to review each other's comprehension of those rules in secret?

• Borderline again: choosing to stay out of a fight against someone on the enemy team, such as the last player alive, when he's fighting some of your teammates. (unless you're the last person alive on your team, and possibly if there's only one or two others on your team)
• Light rule breach (merits warning at least): coming into contact with a friend on the opposite team, acknowledging but refusing to attack him to allow him access to fight your team unhindered. *this is the example as per the ban request, I think
• Breach of rules: blocking your teammates from being able to attack a player on the opposite team (also includes griefing rule).
• Breach of rules: attacking teammates for trying to attack a player on the opposite team (also includes intentional teamwounding rule).

Even you admit that the only examples of banworthy bro-coding necessarily involve breaking a second, clearer rule. Obviously attacking a teammate is against the rules whether or not that teammate is your friend. Have you ever banned a player for one of the "yellow" offenses? Has any admin? I check the ban request forum from time to time in between rounds and I have never seen an admin issue a ban for one of your listed offenses. As far as I can tell, the last time someone tried to get admins to take action against obvious bro-coding, that ban request was simply moved to general discussion.

We try to keep in sync with one another and remain consistent, but because so many of the concepts in the rules are open to interpretation and there are no guidelines for issuing punishments beyond our personal judgment, there tend to be intermittent discrepancies.

Except you do not know if the admin team tries to keep in sync with one another and remain consistent. You just said that you simply direct new admins to the rules and old admins may not have even read them.

It seems the only way to lose admin powers is to consistently misapply rules. Obviously the safest route for admins is to not apply the rules at all. "I didn't see it" is far safer than "I classify this particular instance of bro-coding as ban-worthy." Not only do admins risk losing their power from a poor decision but they risk being ostracized by the community. Make all admins re-apply for the privilege every month. Rotate the head admin title through senior admins frequently. Remove inactive admins.