GoddessSand

The matrix costume is a generic costume. Even the movie studios couldn't copyright the outfit because of how generic it is. There was no special design team just a person who picked out the clothes. The difference would be like the batman costume that isn't a generic outfit that one could just walk into a store and pick out something. They could add capes to all the character outfits because a cape is a generic outfit that even people wear them. Though they could make a little red riding hood outfit because A) the story is so old that there isn't a holder of the copyright to the story. B) the outfit could just be designed from clothing of the time period that the story is based on and even altered for a more sexy look. What they can't do is take an image they see on the internet that somebody created of the little red riding hood and directly make it an in game outfit completely off that image. They have to create it of their own design. Even Disney really can't sue for copyright on outfits labeled as Snow White, Cinderella, Bell(from Beauty and the Beast), Rapunzel, and many many other characters that they claim as theirs because they don't own the rights to those stories, just their version of those stories and they own rights to their outfits that they designed. But if I wanted to look at the time period centered around those stories and create an outfit that is sexualized and call it snow white or whatever I am free to do so as long as I am not taking Disney's designs and using them for my own profit.

This is a good read.http://www.thelegalartist.com/blog/when-cosplay-makes-you-liable-for-copyright-infringement But Monoki is right about creating costumes based on characters. Even "inspired" from these characters could land in copyright infringement especially if they are making money off these costumes. The only way you could possibly get around this is to... A) the name of the costume shouldn't be anything close to the name of any character that you are trying to mimic. B) don't match color for color or stick with exact designs. For instances you want to mimic Alice in Wonderland dress? Don't use the same exact color and probably shorten the dress. So you could make it darker blue instead of the lighter shade and then alter the dress just slightly. C) Keep away from any symbols that also relate to specific characters or outfits. You want to create a cloak that looks like something from Harry Potter in the game, well make a scarf solid color or not stripped colors are anything close to Harry Potter and put a symbol on it that isn't related to anything not even a sports symbol. So, you could make the shape of the embroidery on it but in the design you could put the symbol of a Mech from the game in it and you should be completely fine. For Sailor Moon you want to keep away from any symbols used on their outfits. Mimic of any outfit based on real life outfits can land in copyright infringements. The reason the rapid fire bikes are in the game is because it is a generic style look and you can't just pick a single bike in a bike shop and say that bike looks like a bike made by Honda, Suzuki, etc.... The ME outfit for level 65 to me looks close to a Native American outfit that a tribe would wear for some ritual, but the design is so different that it is allowed, even if shapes or designs on the outfit are similar. Note similar and not exactly the same. But the second you introduce a cosplay costume from a specific character for profit, you better have a license from the company to do so. Fortnite has been sued and either lost or settled on law suits by people and companies just for a mimic dance move and/or outfit. They even got close to losing a law suit with PUBG for their Battle Royal match up with even the mode of dropping in to the match. Though I believe the law suit was dropped for some reason or another, but the essence that it still cost both companies money just to even enter the courts and lawyer up.

There isn't a lvl 60+ player that does dungeons in a team unless they are farming exp a lvl 60+ player is just farming. Though for pve purposes, I would stop at level 59 and just farm The Archeron as that's the only dg that would drop unique costumes, no other dungeon seems to have that in their drop list.

Yes, I have 5k

What you need to know about the 1pt skill. It's the animation really that slows down a character's use of that skill not the CD. Like Tygress said, players don't like using it as it can interrupt a players combo atk. I only use it because it can keep attacking when you are disabled(not stunned) and if you use a skill stone that skill alone could enable the skill stone's use. However, I'm more likely to be dead by the time that skill does any good in pvp. If you use it, it will attack while your SP is low and needs to regen or if you are in pvp battle attacking something and want to save your other skills for when players attack you. Take the BG soccer pitch, if you use it on the gold ball and jumbo balls while you are awaiting for enemies to respawn it allows you to take down the balls without having to rely on your more heavy hitting attacks since the balls die by the number of hits and not the amount of damage per hit. So, damage from that base atk isn't very effective in PvP. In PvE if you are relying on it for DPS, then what the hell are you doing with the other skills?

lol, you called it death valley. It's Dragon Valley, but if you are under geared then you are sure to find death at every turn.

@shadow what are you using by way of Drop rate increases? Things that increase drop rate are 1) Pet chip drop rate 2) Luck buff in nemesis 3) Premium medalion 4) xxxmas buff 5) peppermint candy 6) halloween buff If I missed one, then that too. Though people say they only work on rare items, it couldn't hurt to try right?

The reason to deny the other side loot is to win in BGs. Crates and guards give points, crates more points than what should be allowed I think. If you keep the other side from killing the crates then you keep them from earning points that could offset the points in their favor.

@Jade isn't Bash supposed to be working on the FC NPC to make it work without GM constantly making players FC manually?

@Jade it is a solution and a good one, but the GMs with the help of the GSs keep tabs on it to make the change more often than every 6+ months as that's why it's not working and the FC without ak balance doesn't work because they haven't been done together. There are people who would switch back and forth if the game needs it. I switch between my FK and RG toon as needed and as long as there isn't a zerg force I'd be happy to do so. It's when zergs are allowed to exist that screws up the pvp. That is why I suggest lowering the BG AK and NB entery and raise it as needed when both sides are maxing it out. Players can wait a week or two for AK to increase to allow more in or decrease to stop zergs. If players can't play without a zerg then they need to get good. If they can't get in because their faction has too many people then they should A) create an alt on the other faction or B) FC and allow FC to exist. I know Bash is supposed to be working on making FC easier without them, so then all that would need is balance AK and NB with entry allowance. As far as I can tell players aren't entering TP, Janus, or 2nd ark with the same number that goes into AK and NB, so why make AK and NB special for zerging?

Here's how and why lowering AK could help. First why 35 to 18 is not pvp, that is double the force needed to kill players and not fair pvp. So, how is AK supposed to be a BG if it is really just a zerg pve zone? So, how it will work. First reduce the amount allowed to enter on both sides but still theoretically have slots open on the other side. 1) I can't enter AK, I am going to switch to the other side to get in. Oh, wait I can't get in that side either. Raise a bit. 2) I can't enter AK, can I FC so I can get in AK? 3) I can't enter AK, better use my alt to get in. If we managed FC with AK then we can have a better balance. If at any time AK is maxing out on both sides then increase how many are allowed in. If AK is maxed out on one side, open FC and let them move over to max out AK on the other side. Once AK maxes out on both sides again raise how many are allowed in. If AK then becomes too far unbalanced on one side, lower the amount allowed in and/or open FC. This method we have to understand will need to be repeated over and over and over till it stops needing to be repeated or at least repeated as much. If AK maintains equal numbers and players want to FC, I would then say allow FC only if another player is willing to switch with them for a 1 to 1 change. When ak is unbalanced FC could be open to allow players to balance out AK at the same time lower how many allowed in for a time to get AK balanced again. This can be how to work through to balance the game as the game is fluid with people coming and going. Some coming to one side and going from another.

@Jade dual logging can be easy to spot if we know everybody's alts as normal gamers. I know that the second I bring in 2 characters into AK there shouldn't be a single player who can't say oh hell no GoddessSand has 2 toons in the match one of both sides. But GM's and GS's isn't there a log of IP addresses with map location? I'm just throwing this thought out there. But dual logs are bannable and all accounts get banned for it, just ask RedPower about that. It's afking players that is hard and sure first hand is better than second hand, but get one person recording it and it sure makes it harder to refute it. But that's also why I recommend banning the account of that the character was afk with. I know most who have a second account are more likely to send a character in AK to afk. Though who would risk being banned if that's their only account? I don't like banning people or having people banned myself, but people don't stop doing breaking rules if rules aren't enforced.

The player who doesn't want to get banned for afking would be responsible for leaving the BG before they afk. Though maybe 3 min is too short, but 15 or 20min of afking is definitly too long to allow a player to be afk in AK. You know, I did also make a post about a month or so ago suggesting to create a BG where Vendetta has more control over the mechanics. One was creating a portal that only spawns at certain times, players enter a map that is already part of the game(Caregate) they have so much time to complete the objectives before getting kicked and portal goes bye bye. If you can't control the portal spawning, what about controlling the when and how long something spawns in the map? Like what would happen if you changed titan to spawn and players have 15min to kill it before it spawns again in an hour or have it spawn for 30min and then it disappears for 3 hours? What if the game had a map like that? But also limited how many are allowed in that map like we are talking about in AK so that it can be made so if you are on the side with too many people you join the side with less people? It would be cool if the game mechanics allowed for automatic adjustment to how many are allowed in a map. Like if the map initially allowed 10 people in it, if 10 people are in on both sides, the game increases it to 15 on both sides. if map reaches 15 on both sides then game increases the map automatically to 20 and so on and so on. Till both sides are no longer maxing out the map. But that's just wishful thinking and probably need source code. But what we are just stating is making the amount allowed in temporary to get a more balance BG. If people didn't get in then it wouldn't have been any different than not getting in on any other BG, but with AK and NB people can still switch to the other side if there's slots(which if there isn't slots on either side then an small increases is needed). I personally prefer to play FK in NB and AK so seeing me on the RG side during those matches would only happen if I couldn't get in on FK side.

You know why it didn't work? because they lowered it so low that players on both sides had people in the waiting. Then when they raised it, they just put it right back to where zergs can enter and win instead of raising it just a little till there was only but a few slots open on one side. Having a GS in AK or not, never stopped players from AFKing, but if people reported the dual loggers and AFKing players then the GS can kick them and ban them for a week. You GS's aren't in game police 24/7 where people only get into trouble if the GS sees it. If players report the issue the issue can then be solved. Sure it screws up that AK match, but the more people become intolerant to players who screw up their gaming experience through rule breaking and report it then it reduces it from continuing. It's like the law in Utah that was just passed that decriminalized sex before marriage, it's not like they were enforcing the law in the first place, if they were actually enforcing the law less people would have attempted to have sex before marriage. So, if you want to fix AK lower the max value ban players who AFK or dual log, and then slowly raise it, lowering it isn't being talked about as a permanent, but as the numbers allowed in increases over time where balance is still close together then there can be balance within AK. That is what we are asking for, that is what we want. We want to keep it so that people can't just switch in the middle to join the zerg and we want to limit the zerg. If players find that they are never allowed in because they are on the zerg side, then that's what FC is for or use your alt on the lower side. Look solving problems. Like we are saying this isn't a permanent solution, but we are looking at long term goals with short term methods.

I've got multiple pc's already and was multilogging before they changed the launcher. However, it is that people will more likely switch factions via log out of 1 characters and log in on a different character to be on the side that will get win and loot. The way people have been trying to combat the ak and nb balance have been to use FC which doesn't really fix nb or ak because people still have a rg toon or fk toon they just moved one of the many to the otherside and still have a toon that they could use in the side they came from. So, reducing ak numbers would limit people who can just switch in the middle. As for Jade's complaint of GS not being able to enter ak I find invalid because where were the GS's when fk had 10 people in nb or ak while rg had 30? Oh right rg side for looting too. See even GSs will care about being on the winning side and at least monoki is trying to push players over to the otherside. When I was in a clan playing halo on the pc and we had controls over the match on our server we forced people to the side with less people and kicked people who switched causing an imbalance and we even moved ourselves to the losing when they were out numbered. But it's all about the loot in this game. I also laugh about losing players because they can't enter ak or nb, the one battle they show up for. These people who only play end cap ak and nb do so for loot to earn gold to feed their lower characters and if all they play is for ak and nb, then why don't they show up on the losing side? Oh right because they want loot that isn't important to them for the rest of the day or week. Just lower the numbers, if a GS can't enter on the winning side they can switch to the other just like all the others who couldn't join the zerg side. If it's all about the loot put everything into tp, janus, and 2nd ark fixing that bg so people have to sign up to get it and you are forced into a balanced match given that people don't dc.

Also, what if Vivi fixed the portal out of AK so players can port out if they have to afk for let's say for more than 3min that way they can be responsible to not AFK in AK and people can see who is actually afking for reward or blocking players from entering that want to pvp and not AFK? Could AK time be reduced changing urka spawn times and/or remove the buff that the LS has so that players could choose to take out the LS before Urka spawns or while the other faction is killing Urka?

@Jade Well, if Vivi can do it I say lower it and wait 2 weeks. Personally I think if there are 18FK and 35RG having 25/25 is a good place to start to see how players handle it for 2 weeks and players will address the issue of AFK players in AK and if they would watch and record this then they could put in a ticket in and have that account banned(I say just that account only because that's the account the player is using manipulate the system) while they use their other account for playing. I say first ban on that is a full week ban so that account can't enter the next 2 AKs, if they do it again you could make it a month or perm ban that account only. If a player keeps making alt accounts to keep doing this ban all accounts related to that player. It should be that people are only allowed 1 account in AK at a time and using more does result in a ban on all accounts, but people who are pissed about people doing this should take action to stop it by reporting it with actual evidence and not rely on a GS that isn't there to police the game 24/7 as they should be allowed to enjoy playing too. But like me I have multiple accounts logged in at the same time 1FK, 1RG, and 1 that will either be FK or RG and if we knew what the Alts were of GS's that are in the game but not in the match we could whis them and tell them of a player doing this. That way the GS in AK and the GS outside could work with those in the faction where the offense is taking place to verify a kick and ban is needed. There are ways to deal with AFK'ers and multiloggers who break the rules and players who would be most upset by this are those that are in AK and losing because of them so they should be the ones most likely to report it.

@monoki The other thing to consider is reducing the Urka travel allowance before reset. Too often players are pulling Urka into guards, which are OP and then instead of facing off a higher amount of Arkana you are also dealing with guards which make it pretty much impossible to take back Urka or pvp for it.

We stopped complaining about it because nothing was being done about it. Sure Vivi did it once and people still said they were too high still, but then never got lowered again.

I think lowering it till both sides reach max value would be a good way to keep it balanced. If both sides aren't reaching max value then the value is too high. If one reaches max value and the other still has away to go to reach max value then lower it to force players to play on their alt faction toon to enter till both sides reach max value. If there's still slots open for people, the GS can enter still. @monoki Note: My problem though besides the faction balance in AK is that the guards are still hitting to damn hard, would somebody for the love of God lower their damage output and that goes to every NPC guard in every map for 60+ that should in theory be killed by Arkana, leave the guards that are supposed to 1 shot players as is, but guards shouldn't be the reason people die so easy. The Spies in DV, the RP mobs in Amara, and every BG guard in the in the pvp battle zone(not guards in spawn). And that includes reducing the ones down below the spawn in TP and SP. That's because players use those guards to make for an easy win.

all fine and dandy till players DC. So, question though, what are max numbers of RG and FK entering AK? I haven't been able to attend AK on Saturdays due to I'm not waking up early for a pvp battle. And Tuesday's as of late because I have things to do, especially when I get my kids or I need a nap. If it is constantly 30 RG to 18 FK dropping it down to 25ppl each would be my suggestion, but if it's like 30+ to 10 or bellow, might say that is should max out at 20, but I've seen AK where both sides reached 20ppl. Just need some statistics of average player amounts on both sides to for me to say what might work, though lowering it from 50 is fine, but by how much?

they can adjust the damage output to compensate for this damage reduction, 3 seconds with a void/ch pierce, acc/ch-acc, and atk/ch-atk if given the right stats will do just that and still be equal to the 8 seconds of skill atk speed increase and skill cool down. The reason for removal of this would be the same reason that they removed and replaced the same buff that the last boss in IV that would do the same. It causes players to glitch out and effects them to give them better atk speed and reduced skill cool downs so they can pvp against others better, which is cheating since it was only supposed to be a temporary buff not a buff that stays like it can.

Now, I have gotten backlash from MEs because I have spoken against the use of Kali buffs by MEs in game when I am attacking bosses and such because they can become permanent while staying logged in. Logging out and then back in clears this so it's not perm just perm till you relog going into character select screen or restarting the game, but people don't want to do that in the middle of BGs either so this becomes a problem there when a player gets this glitch. Due to the nature of the kali buff by way of causing your skills to cool down faster as well as your atk animation is faster. Now, many times this kali buff glitch can cause skills to act funny when you get it so bad that you end up using a skill and have it show the animation but nothing happens and you can even repeat that skill over and over and that skill still won't work, this is the bad kali buff glitch. However, if a player gets this glitch right they are stuck in constant kali mode can use skills just fine, but cool downs and animation are quicker. Though I've mentioned how this glitch works to players and said that I am not a fan of the kali buff due to 1) it causing my skills to no longer work right by way of not working when I want them too and 2) that I feel personally that it can become cheating to purposely get this glitch to get the advantage over others. With this knowledge of how kali buff works it will cause certain things for certain players to have happen. SW's for instance can fade and easily keep fading without having to wait 4 seconds before fading again. So a player who has this glitch will get labeled cheating when they end up with it not realizing how they got it. All Defensive buffs and atk buffs cool down shrink the time between when they end to when they can be used again on every player, causing some to permanently have their defenses high making it impossible to catch them between buffs like a WH which has a natural 5 second gap between the use of Ultimate soulshield cool down and when they can use the skill again. Which when given a kali buff that 5 second gap no longer exists. So, I would like to submit a request to remove the kali atk speed as well as the skill cool down reduction as part of the kali buff, due to some players getting it not trying too and end up getting accused of cheating because they can stay in fade or constantly stay in defensively buffed. Though removing those two with something different would need to be in order and I am up for suggestions. I think that 3 seconds of higher void pierce/ch-pierce, atk/ch-atk would, and acc/ch-acc is what I would recommend, don't make them so OP though that players are picked off in 2 skills from it but enough that there is sufficient damage that can be done.

So, considering Vivi's long absence and the amount of work that certain things take, I can understand some of the items that have been approved for future patches taking some time so I am hopeful that those things will still happen and some of the things improve the pvp aspect of the game like reducing chest points in TP rather than removing them all together, because then you still have player who will afk if the only points gained are from pvp and there's no way to force them into the pvp zone if winning is still lowest level wins in a 0 point match. But moving forward, I do look forward to some of the planned patches. I mentioned it earlier today, but lvl 60+ really doesn't see all that many rare gears that can be salvaged. Was wondering if we could get some in DV as well as in DS. I say use kappa gear, but the new pve gear I think would be fine too if we get some of the items that kappa give like clusters, pet food, and base stardust(crimson and emerald gems, shards, silver, and throw in some steels). Drops from DS world bosses, can I also suggest removing or reducing the high number of trash drops, when my pet goes and starts picking up stuff, it mostly gathers all the trash and our bags end up getting full of stuff we can't use that make it harder for us to get the items we actually want. I can understand having some of the trash drops, but I think the amount is just way too high.

I think you missed the number of players that DC, and DC is different than being kicked by a GS. I wasn't talking about you kicking players intentionally, but mass ball spawns tend to kick players from the game, cause players screens to freeze, and so many other issues surrounding ball spawns. That is why I called them the gold ball dc event. Don't take it personally and create drama .