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Toshimo
Aug 23, 2012

He's outta line...

But he's right!

guppy posted:

I've seen a few people complain about the people running it but I think they were great and deserve the reward. People cluttering up the channel with nonsense did need to shut the gently caress up so it could actually be used.

Pushing your personal Twitter, doling out false and misleading info, shouting down dissent, and engaging in massive circlejerks gets you rewarded. Check. Excellent work, Funcom.

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Variable Haircut
Jan 25, 2012
I am digging all this back and forth about game lore. Right, wrong, who cares it is entertaining and nice to examine just how deep this rabbit hole goes.

But it makes me wonder if we should open another thread so the spoiler tags can be pulled out and the new goons dont get drown out. Not in the MMO HMO, but maybe lets play. Even though the spoiler tags do give the thread that classified redacted feel. Just a thought, any opinions yay or nay? I don't care either way.

guppy
Sep 21, 2004

sting like a byob
It is pretty neat that Funcom decided to make an unannounced reward for the people doing the helping, totally independent of what you thought of them.

Merope
Apr 19, 2010

Smurf it up

thegodofchuck posted:


And I'm thoroughly jealous.

I'm hoping that there will be a similar model from the cash shop coming up and this is just a special unique one they're getting, but I'm not holding out a lot of hope.

I hope it will happen at some point. It looks so good. :(

Len
Jan 21, 2008

Pouches, bandages, shoulderpad, cyber-eye...

Bitchin'!


guppy posted:

It is pretty neat that Funcom decided to make an unannounced reward for the people doing the helping, totally independent of what you thought of them.

I called out a few golems during the event. But I probably won't have anything to show from it.

Rookersh
Aug 19, 2010
To add to the spoiler walls, on the Illuminati elders. ( mind you, I still haven't hit Egypt. )

The implication Geary gives is not that nobody has seen them, it's that they don't want to be seen. And it doesn't take a long look to figure out why. Look at the Illuminati motto, they will do ANYTHING it takes to win the Secret War, morality be damned.

There are more then a few references to the Illuminati having allied with a few beings of hell, and they seem entirely uncaring about Beaumont's immortality. It's not hard to imagine a few of them have sacrificed their souls for immortality, and have lived past caring about day to day activities. And you guys are mentioning multiple filth strains, for all we know, one has allied with the Illuminati already.

As for the depths of the Labyrinth, Geary mentions checking the deep vaults/deep layers for info on Beaumont, so they do check them, and people are down there. It's not filth infested yet.

Zephonith
Jun 25, 2008

Maybe if I actually played Mafia, I'd get a better gift from my Mafia Secret Santa. :(
The Morninglight are basically the modern day equivalent of the Aten cultists. Even if they're not overtly like the exploding cultists you fight in Egypt, they're either hiding it better or not quite all the way there yet.

Archonex posted:

The problem is that the Morninglight never actually are shown supporting the Filth.
The quest Revenge Served Hot in the Besieged Farmlands reveals the French tourists were transporting an important Filth artefact for the Morninglight. The cave at the end of that quest also contains a piece of the Filth lore, so it's pretty significant.

The fact that 3 different periods of human history (18th Dynasty Egypt, Roman Empire, Modern - at least 1000 years between each one) have all given rise to human sacrificing Filth spreading sun cults would indicate they're controlled by something bigger i.e the Dreamers

Zephonith fucked around with this message at 14:22 on Jul 15, 2013

orcane
Jun 13, 2012

Fun Shoe

Len posted:

I called out a few golems during the event. But I probably won't have anything to show from it.
Of course not. You didn't circle-jerk enough (nor did I, despite of calling out golems, correcting spawn info/coordinates and helping people with instance info)

I like that they're sometimes doing these "helper" awards but so far everytime they've done it in an rear end-backwards way (see also the "medic" rewards of the last ARG, although I'm not sure they ever sent them out). I'd actually rather they didn't reward anyone than randomly rewarding people who shouted the loudest and judged by GMs who have proven to be useless in every other aspect before.

Len
Jan 21, 2008

Pouches, bandages, shoulderpad, cyber-eye...

Bitchin'!


orcane posted:

Of course not. You didn't circle-jerk enough (nor did I, despite of calling out golems, correcting spawn info/coordinates and helping people with instance info)

I like that they're sometimes doing these "helper" awards but so far everytime they've done it in an rear end-backwards way (see also the "medic" rewards of the last ARG, although I'm not sure they ever sent them out). I'd actually rather they didn't reward anyone than randomly rewarding people who shouted the loudest and judged by GMs who have proven to be useless in every other aspect before.

And if they went off Wrong-way I was on her ignore list the first day because I said "Pulling out a pet"

Archonex
May 2, 2012

MY OPINION IS SEERS OF THE THRONE PROPAGANDA IGNORE MY GNOSIS-IMPAIRED RAMBLINGS

Rookersh posted:

To add to the spoiler walls, on the Illuminati elders. ( mind you, I still haven't hit Egypt. )

The implication Geary gives is not that nobody has seen them, it's that they don't want to be seen. And it doesn't take a long look to figure out why. Look at the Illuminati motto, they will do ANYTHING it takes to win the Secret War, morality be damned.

There are more then a few references to the Illuminati having allied with a few beings of hell, and they seem entirely uncaring about Beaumont's immortality. It's not hard to imagine a few of them have sacrificed their souls for immortality, and have lived past caring about day to day activities. And you guys are mentioning multiple filth strains, for all we know, one has allied with the Illuminati already.

As for the depths of the Labyrinth, Geary mentions checking the deep vaults/deep layers for info on Beaumont, so they do check them, and people are down there. It's not filth infested yet.


What he said, basically.

Some of the posts in this thread remind me of the official forums. Like the guy saying Funcom did jack poo poo. This stuff was pretty deliberately done. Funcom has stated that the story was one of the selling points of the game in the past, and it shows.

A lot of the lore is tailored to gently caress with people and create alternate viewpoints. Hell, just doing one the three faction storylines deliberately leaves out huge details about each of the factions and paints each of them in a far different light than if you do them all. Which should tell you that stuff like The Illuminati Elders possibly dabbling in the Filth shouldn't be that surprising. Just look at the Pyramidon as an example of how weird some of their higher ranking agents can get.

The game's filled with little hidden stuff that isn't explicitly said in the lore too. The game's a treat for someone who likes to explore. Like the references to the Rothschild conspiracy nuts on the intercom in the Illuminati HQ, or story time in London. Hell, they even snuck a jokey TARDIS reference into one of the last updates, that you wouldn't even notice unless you were paying attention to the words the living version of Säid was saying. Which I still need to translate that to figure out what the gently caress he was saying, because it sounded hilarious.


quote:

But it makes me wonder if we should open another thread so the spoiler tags can be pulled out and the new goons dont get drown out. Not in the MMO HMO, but maybe lets play. Even though the spoiler tags do give the thread that classified redacted feel. Just a thought, any opinions yay or nay? I don't care either way.

I don't know if a new thread is needed. The game's been out for so long that it seems like the only time the lore chat really gets heavy is when a new update comes out.

Archonex fucked around with this message at 16:01 on Jul 15, 2013

Shoehead
Sep 28, 2005

Wassup, Choom?
Ya need sumthin'?
I was thinking of picking this up in the sale, but I wanna check it out first if anyone is willing to shoot me a trial code.

UrbanLabyrinth
Jan 28, 2009

When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence


College Slice

Shoehead posted:

I was thinking of picking this up in the sale, but I wanna check it out first if anyone is willing to shoot me a trial code.

N3XQ639258JQN9YQFZFB

Shoehead
Sep 28, 2005

Wassup, Choom?
Ya need sumthin'?

UrbanLabyrinth posted:

N3XQ639258JQN9YQFZFB

Great! Thanks a lot!

thegodofchuck
May 13, 2006

You'll be godlike

Zephonith posted:

I'd laugh if it turns out they got the list of recipients from Wrong-Way's sign-off post.

They already had them, so I'm imagining they didn't, unless QA asked him to write a list of who should get one and then he wrote that or something.

Zephonith
Jun 25, 2008

Maybe if I actually played Mafia, I'd get a better gift from my Mafia Secret Santa. :(
I meant that wall of text he linked into #anniversity every time he had to sleep.

guppy
Sep 21, 2004

sting like a byob

Len posted:

I called out a few golems during the event. But I probably won't have anything to show from it.

I did too but I did nowhere near as much work as the main organizers. I have no complaints.

Toshimo
Aug 23, 2012

He's outta line...

But he's right!

guppy posted:

I have no complaints.

Don't worry. I brought enough for everyone.

Len
Jan 21, 2008

Pouches, bandages, shoulderpad, cyber-eye...

Bitchin'!


Toshimo posted:

Don't worry. I brought enough for everyone.

Between the two of us there's gonna be leftover complaints.

Protagorean
May 19, 2013

by Azathoth

Archonex posted:

What he said, basically.

Some of the posts in this thread remind me of the official forums. Like the guy saying Funcom did jack poo poo. This stuff was pretty deliberately done. Funcom has stated that the story was one of the selling points of the game in the past, and it shows.

A lot of the lore is tailored to gently caress with people and create alternate viewpoints. Hell, just doing one the three faction storylines deliberately leaves out huge details about each of the factions and paints each of them in a far different light than if you do them all. Which should tell you that stuff like The Illuminati Elders possibly dabbling in the Filth shouldn't be that surprising. Just look at the Pyramidon as an example of how weird some of their higher ranking agents can get.

The game's filled with little hidden stuff that isn't explicitly said in the lore too. The game's a treat for someone who likes to explore. Like the references to the Rothschild conspiracy nuts on the intercom in the Illuminati HQ, or story time in London. Hell, they even snuck a jokey TARDIS reference into one of the last updates, that you wouldn't even notice unless you were paying attention to the words the living version of Säid was saying. Which I still need to translate that to figure out what the gently caress he was saying, because it sounded hilarious.


I don't know if a new thread is needed. The game's been out for so long that it seems like the only time the lore chat really gets heavy is when a new update comes out.

Again, reading comprehension seems to be your Achilles' heel. I meant that Funcom did jack poo poo in regards to your claims of retcons or a sudden shift in the story paradigm regarding the latest update. The story may be in-depth, and I have no idea how many red herrings there are, but it's real strength lies in its flavor (i.e. conspiracy theory stacked on cosmic horror). The stuff you're talking about? No, that's not Funcom being clever necessarily; you're just an idiot.

Rookersh
Aug 19, 2010

Archonex posted:

What he said, basically.

Err.

Your point was that the Illuminati have been corrupted by the filth, and that's why they can't/don't showcase their leadership.

Mine was that the Illuminati are playing to win here, and the reason we don't see their leadership is because they are likely a mix of demons/fallen angels/liches/dreamer traitors, not because they are filth infested. And that Geary does make mention several times about pulling info/items from the deep layers of the labyrinth, so if it is filth infested, only small sections currently are, as the Illuminati do use that stuff from time to time, in extreme circumstances ( like the events of the game. ).

UberN00ber
Oct 18, 2004

It's a sponge puck.
I am interested in trying this game, I hear it's worth the money even if you only play through the main story once. I would like to see how it runs on my computer first if anyone is willing to PM me a buddy key.

Len
Jan 21, 2008

Pouches, bandages, shoulderpad, cyber-eye...

Bitchin'!


UberN00ber posted:

I am interested in trying this game, I hear it's worth the money even if you only play through the main story once. I would like to see how it runs on my computer first if anyone is willing to PM me a buddy key.

U94RQLYBT4JRXQUT8C7R

UberN00ber
Oct 18, 2004

It's a sponge puck.

Len posted:

U94RQLYBT4JRXQUT8C7R

Thank you sir

Rookersh
Aug 19, 2010
So, looking for a little advice.

I'm QL5, with 5 into Elemental Damage, and 5 into AR Combat Medic. I was originally playing with another person, and he somewhat dropped out on me, which is why I went CM in the first place.

I really enjoy Elementalism. Stuff like Molten Earth, Flicker, and Cold Wave seem to help out in tight situations, and the damage seems to be pretty high overall. I also like Assault Rifles in theory, and want to stick with them.

My problem is, I'm just not handling encounters very well. I've got Suppressing Fire, Shock, Combust, Three Round Burst, Shot of Anima, Coldwave, and Molten Earth as my actives right now, and Volatile Current, Death Density, Rapid Combustion, Elemental Precision, Military Code, Eagle Eye, and Elemental Force, as my passives. With most group fights, I spam SF, then throw out Combusts/SoA as need be, with a Coldwave if things look bad. For single target stuff, I usually Molten Earth, then unload on them.

My current gear is 5 + damage things, 2 + health/magical defense things. Sitting at 2412 health in Savage Coast.

I'm mainly wondering what stuff I should be focusing on if I want to have some strong selfleech abilities. I don't really want to heal other people yet, but I figure a strong selfleech, mixed with the strong damage of Elementalism should be a strong combo for laughing my way through the majority of content in the game. I'm currently working towards Highly Strung in Elementalism, and Hugh brought up Kill Streak and Do or Die, but I know nothing of Leech Healing, and what I should be thinking about in those trees. Someone brought up Leeching Frenzy/Suppressing Fire in the chat, but looking at that right now, it's only a 2.8% leech.

Outside of that, what are some good passives to grab? Hugh brought up Iron Maiden/something else last night, but Pen Chance doesn't seem to be high on the list of my problems right now.

Archonex
May 2, 2012

MY OPINION IS SEERS OF THE THRONE PROPAGANDA IGNORE MY GNOSIS-IMPAIRED RAMBLINGS

Rookersh posted:

Err.

Your point was that the Illuminati have been corrupted by the filth, and that's why they can't/don't showcase their leadership.

Mine was that the Illuminati are playing to win here, and the reason we don't see their leadership is because they are likely a mix of demons/fallen angels/liches/dreamer traitors, not because they are filth infested. And that Geary does make mention several times about pulling info/items from the deep layers of the labyrinth, so if it is filth infested, only small sections currently are, as the Illuminati do use that stuff from time to time, in extreme circumstances ( like the events of the game. ).

I didn't say they absolutely had been corrupted. I just pointed out that they're down deep in the labyrinth in some undisclosed location. Which is not a good place to be if the place is corrupted either now or some time in the future.

It's kind of implied that the reason the elders don't interact with the outside world is partly what you said, and partly because of the nature of the organization. When you think about how the Illuminati work, they're just as reliant on middle management as any other company executives are. Only in this case, if the middle management got together and decided to mount some heads so they could get a shiny new office space in the lower labyrinth, they'd pretty much be hosed without all the security they're implied to have.

Heck, given how they mention how the organization has retooled itself a few times in the past, that's probably how they went about the big structural changes at least once or twice.


They've pretty firmly established though that dealing with the Filth at all inevitably leads to wholesale corruption and batshit insanity if you don't have a bee inside of you. There is no such thing as betraying the Dreamers after going over to them like that. I can't think of anyone who has gone that far over to their side that's done a 180 and actively decided to work against them, in fact. So if they even exist I doubt there's any people in the higher ranks that betrayed the Dreamer, since it likes to ensure most of its adherents are unstable as hell.

In fact, if Klein and Halina are any indication, any sort of exposure to it (even if you're dosing to try and develop an immunity) will inevitably turn you homicidally crazy towards everyone around you. And Klein was specifically going for a developed immunity, too.


Geary also doesn't say how deep she went. Or where she went, which is important since we have nearly no idea of the layout of the Labyrinth past the first few floors. So that means pretty much nothing there other than that they've left themselves a loophole to ignore that plot thread in the future if they want to focus on different content instead. And they do that a lot if you read into the lore and take note of all the red herrings, false claims, and layered content the lore has.

Regardless, until they decide whether to do more about it, it's just a potential plot thread they have an opening to act on/pad out content with in the future. They've got a fair amount of leeway to go one way or another on a bunch of different story arcs, and it's no exception. It's not something worth getting upset over.


Edit:

Protagorean posted:

Again, reading comprehension seems to be your Achilles' heel. I meant that Funcom did jack poo poo in regards to your claims of retcons or a sudden shift in the story paradigm regarding the latest update. The story may be in-depth, and I have no idea how many red herrings there are, but it's real strength lies in its flavor (i.e. conspiracy theory stacked on cosmic horror). The stuff you're talking about? No, that's not Funcom being clever necessarily; you're just an idiot.

So you have no idea (and seemingly don't care) about the red herrings they put in that left multiple possibilities as to who the Morninglight were aligned with, and are instead going to bitch at me for "misreading" the lore instead? That makes perfect sense. :v:

If it was firmly established who they were working for, there obviously wouldn't have been people pulling a :stonk: face at the later entries and wondering who the gently caress they were working for prior to this update. That's been one of the big mysteries of the game up until recently, since they left a few outs on that front and had a few different possibilities available.

I bet you'd love the official forums. Given how condescending you are, they seem right up your alley.

Archonex fucked around with this message at 07:50 on Jul 16, 2013

Variable Haircut
Jan 25, 2012

Rookersh posted:

So, looking for a little advice.

...stuff...

Leeching frenzy solo builds really require at the very least QL 10 blue attack pieces and healing pieces. However, early QL anima shot with the proper passives can provide enough leech healing to out heal incoming damage.

My most recent leveling alt was using Anima Shot + Anima Boost, Experience and Eagle Eye as the base for the build. That did enough healing to keep me alive through all the content. Adding things like Knuckledown, Twist the Knife, Lethality, Over Penetration and other damage increasing passives all further increase your ability to kill and survive harder fights.

Variable Haircut fucked around with this message at 02:31 on Jul 16, 2013

Cleretic
Feb 3, 2010
Probation
Can't post for 44 hours!
I just don't think we have enough information about the Morninglight to determine exactly their 'alliences' or nature. They're basically just a modern bent on the other Filth-worshipping cults we've seen thus far, along with basically being Scientology as well.

What we don't know is if the Filth is actually 'accepting' of their alliance. For all the combined references to Morninglight and the Filth, we've never once seen them 'in the same room together', so to speak. They've never actually touched the stuff, instead getting their hands dirty with zombies, ghouls and vampires.

Cleretic fucked around with this message at 02:45 on Jul 16, 2013

thwoompa
Nov 9, 2004

My fanfiction makes baby Jesus cry

HughGRect posted:

Leeching frenzy solo builds really require at the very least QL 10 blue attack pieces and healing pieces.

Disagree with you there Hugh, I leveled 2 characters with leeching frenzy solo builds and they completely dominated solo content and did not need q10 blues at all. I had no issues with any content and was generally undergeared especially on last character, I consider these two builds to be 2 best solo builds I've found. The ranged build is only build I or anyone else I know can use to solo the lairs with and they are pretty much the toughest solo content in the game.

Builds I used were:

Melee: (Sword/Hammer)
Blade torrent, Clearing the path, Razor shards, Stones Throw, Trial by swords, Beatdown, Eruption.
Shoot em up, Leeching frenzy, Lethality, Breakdown, Sharp blades, Twist the knife, From the abyss.

Ranged: (Assault Rifle/Shotgun)
Suppressing fire, Tear Gas, Fire at will, Lock stock n barrel, Lock n load, Breaching shot, Do or die.
Shoot em up, Leeching frenzy, Lethality, Eagle eye, Hit n run, Arterial pulse, From the abyss.

Variable Haircut
Jan 25, 2012
Looks pretty solid Thwoomps, would you still use Tear Gas after they gave it a cooldown? Why use shoot em up when there is nothing in the build that requires afflicting, wouldn't overpenetration or the recently buffed sudden return be a better choice? Genuinely curious.

thwoompa
Nov 9, 2004

My fanfiction makes baby Jesus cry

HughGRect posted:

Looks pretty solid Thwoomps, would you still use Tear Gas after they gave it a cooldown? Why use shoot em up when there is nothing in the build that requires afflicting, wouldn't overpenetration or the recently buffed sudden return be a better choice? Genuinely curious.

Bit outdated info, I would use overpen, Twist the knife or sudden return now. Tear gas is still worth using, just do a similar rotation to single target ar/shot. 5 builders, lock stock n barrel, breaching shot, do or die, tear gas, fire at will, 1 builder, lock n load, fire at will, tear gas. All it means is it takes one more builder and a bit of concentration to get the job done but you also get a fire at will(4) instead of a fire at will(3).

thwoompa fucked around with this message at 12:10 on Jul 16, 2013

Hipster Occultist
Aug 16, 2008

He's an ancient, obscure god. You probably haven't heard of him.


The Illuminati is a dog-eat-dog society guys, the Illuminati elders keeping hidden is as much good'ol fashioned paranoia as it is a dark secret. Not giving your underlings a chance to cut your throat and take your throne is just common sense.

Also Issue 7 sounds pretty cool, I should get on and play it sometime.

Tortolia
Dec 29, 2005

Hindustan Electronics Employee of the Month, July 2008
Grimey Drawer
Since the Extra Bullet nerf, what are people using for their AR builders?

killingtime
May 21, 2004
Passionate kiss like spider web, lead to undoing of fly.

Tortolia posted:

Since the Extra Bullet nerf, what are people using for their AR builders?

Safety off is still the best builder for AR, given multiple hits, ferocity burst bonus and a great range. It's just not as juicy as it was with the extra hit. I don't think anyone would really belittle alternatives, but the alternatives are pretty unexciting too.

UrbanLabyrinth
Jan 28, 2009

When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence


College Slice
If you have higher ping then Hip Fire is a better alternative (with the passive that doubles range), since you'll build resources about 50% faster than with Safety Off. Or you could just use another weapon.

Aphrodite
Jun 27, 2006

UrbanLabyrinth posted:

Or you could just use another weapon.

Burn the heretic.

UrbanLabyrinth
Jan 28, 2009

When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence


College Slice
Don't get me wrong, I run AR with hip fire. But in theory, there might be some minuscule part of the player base who would prefer pistols or something.

Toshimo
Aug 23, 2012

He's outta line...

But he's right!
For Hip Fire + Passive to exceed the value of Safety Off your ping would have to be so terrible that you'd just die to every AoE going off before you could see it, rendering your point moot.

Variable Haircut
Jan 25, 2012
Looks like our August monthly item is a Venetian mask, and something about a werewolf pup pet.

New cash shop items on live as well, the ladies get a couple dresses and the fella's get bare chests. One step closer to the mankini.

Variable Haircut fucked around with this message at 17:25 on Jul 16, 2013

Reverend Dr
Feb 9, 2005

Thanks Reverend

Toshimo posted:

For Hip Fire + Passive to exceed the value of Safety Off your ping would have to be so terrible that you'd just die to every AoE going off before you could see it, rendering your point moot.

So basically every Australian?

AR kind of has the unfortunate issue that Safety Off is one of the best builders, but it is practically the only AR builder worth using (well anima shot is good, but that's leech only).

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UrbanLabyrinth
Jan 28, 2009

When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence


College Slice

Toshimo posted:

For Hip Fire + Passive to exceed the value of Safety Off your ping would have to be so terrible that you'd just die to every AoE going off before you could see it, rendering your point moot.

It's not just about the direct builder damage, it's about the improved mobility and the faster resource-building. I ran parses before the burst nerf patch and they came up about equal, but I should probably do so again now I'm in full 10.4/.4.

  • Locked thread