So, just for my benefit, what you want is for Harmonics to be more about 1v1 combat similar to the other guardians, except you want the descriptions/basis for said skills to be overtly scientific as opposed to vaguely mystical. Is that right?

If that is right, I can understand having those preferences. I, personally, don't think those constitute actual problems with the Harmonics skillset, but I can understand why you might want / have wanted something different.

How is it not an issue. I have signed up with the institute because I expect a guardian class to play as a guardian class, if I want to play a science character I can go anywhere else, if I want to play with passive effects that I carry with me I can even go to the bard guild when they are open and play a science character.

Different archetypes bring different play styles within an organisation, if our guardians are just another type of bard what do they really offer? Why would we not just go science bards when that guild opens?

Meh, I used the abilities cause I could look on the Lore wiki and pick a few of the gems and their effects out but I have no idea what the spheres are called.

But, heck, why not? There's a measurable balance to biology, isn't there? Vindicated Convergence makes me think of paths all headed the right way, which is kind of psychological, if you think about it.

Seriously though, don't use my examples, make up your own! That was really the point I was trying to make.

Ok, that clarifies things for me. I think all the discourse about the spheres and paths and wands and Inc's book and RP viability in comparison to the Illuminati threw me off.

But if your actual issue is that guardians have a certain playstyle with them and Harmonics forces a playstyle more like another archetype, and you'd rather it be more faithful to the traditional guardian playstyle, then I get it, and I can see why that's a legit complaint.

I think this is the most appropriate background for Continuum.

Really, it's all together. It's very boring to actually have these abilities, the concerns about the spheres and rp are potentially because Harmonics is so ill-fitting.

We believe in Elostian, the Enigma
the Maker of Science and Awesome
and of all that is delicious and cool.

We believe in one Lord, Elostian the Enigma, the only Patron of Hallifax
Eternally loved by Estarra
Elder from Elder, Awesome from Awesome, true God from true God
Fused, not made, one in Being with His Predecessors
For us shards He came down from the Havens
By the power of Estarra
He was fused from two Elders and became God.
For our sake, He checked on Zenos the Insubstantial
He studied, Kalikai blundered in, and died.
On the tenth weave he rose again, in fulfillment of Hallifax's need
He ascended into the Havens and is seated at the left hand of Estarra
He will come again to judge the intelligent and the idiots,
And His kingdom will have no end.

We believe in Arel, the Temporal Primus, the giver of advice
Who proceeds from Elostian as His Voice
With Elostian, he should be worshipped and glorified.
He has spoken through Executive Directive.
We believe in one smart and sexy Order.
We acknowledge only once chance for the forgiveness of stupidity.
We look for annihilation of the idiots
and the life of the world to come. Science.




You can save your pity, Rod. Elostian has done a great deal to help us out so far, and has been an incredibly helpful Patron since the beginning of Hallifax in helping us establish and RP for the city and all of our guilds (or at least I assume that him controlling our mobs and dropping lore of us from Above.)

I don't know which I like better - the fidelity to the Nicene Creed, or the line, "You can save your pity, Rod."

I'm really not sure if that's blasphemous or not, but I laughed anyway.

I want back in Elostian's Order, but that's probably not happening and there's no way I'm joining Eventru's.

While I'm sympathetic to some people being disappointed (alas, we can't please everyone!), I would like to point out that if you are joining a guild called the "Matrix Research Institute" that is tied into a "dead plane" (reinforced in the histories and events), you shouldn't be too surprised that it's not a traditional guardian ("priest") guild. The Master Crystals aren't going to be entities for you to talk to or give you advice and there's going to certainly be a lot of gaps to fill in.

The Institute is lucky enough to have people behind the scenes who care and are helping to guide it. Some comments frankly take the wind out from under their enthusiasm, so I respectfully suggest that the more encouragement you give the admin, the more rewards you'd probably see. Too much negativity sometimes results in admin throwing their hands up in the air and walking away. I'm not saying that you shouldn't complain or don't have reason to, just pointing out the consequences on how you present your complaints. (I wonder sometimes when people excoriate the admin over something and then turn around and wonder why there isn't more admin involvement over it if they don't see any type of cause and effect. Just saying!)

In any event, we don't have plans to completely redo the Institute so you're pretty much stuck with what we have. If you are in the Institute and think you've been misled in any way, please contact me in-game and I'll get you out and refund your lessons.

This is the first time I've ever seen anything like this in IRE.

As for the rest of that, do you mean to say you don't foresee redoing the Harmonics skillset to be something more 'appropriate' or, dare I be punny, 'refined'? Or do you mean you don't ever intend to remake the Institute's place and intended RP/their backstory?

I don't know about anyone else, but I've quite enjoyed my time in the Institute thus far, hectic though it has been.

I believe I've made similar offers before! (Don't know about other IRE games.) In any event, being that I think the Harmonics skillset is completely appropriate for the Institute and once we release something we don't ever "remake" the RP/backstory, that kind of renders your question moot. Whether we build on what we have is something you'll need to find out in-game.

(I assume you are just talking about RP/backstory. Of course, we'll adjust the mechanics of Harmonics for combat balance pending observation and reflection on our part.)

This is exactly what I didn't want to happen! Like I said earlier, if everyone could just ACCEPT that some things are problematic, we could play with ideas in a constructive way. Instead, the thread has a strong, negativistic bent due to the fact that people are repeatedly having to insist that the new content is terrible to make a point. It's not, but that's the way rhetoric actually works. Consider someone who thinks they have a weight problem arguing with someone who thinks they don't. Over a period of time, they're going to feel worse about themselves, because they're having to adjust their argument from 'I could maybe lose a few pounds' to 'I am disgustingly obese' in order to actually convince the other side of what is being said, and thereby make the progress they want.

So, yes, this thread isn't supposed to diminish the work you guys did on Hallifax. Really, the amount of new and interesting things we're seeing overall is astounding. Some of the new content has left me floored (epic quest!). And I know that Elostian, specifically, has put his heart and soul into getting everything 'just right'. As have you, likely, given how long this has been a work in progress. I don't think we're quite there yet, but that's not surprising given the relatively short timeframe and the nature of new content being introduced.

It's not really rp or backstory, it's the skill itself. Right now I just can't get away from this impression that it's just a new version of a bard skill. I like the institute, it's just this skill.

Agreed 100%. It's more about the actual Harmonics skillset than the guild. I'm loving the RP so far. Is there some way that we could get a special report done like with Aeromancy and Pyromancy? I'm sure Inky would have a field day coming up with new ways the crystals and crystalplex could be utilized.

/agree

I really like this guild and its history and its concept, none of that needs to be redone. Whoever came up with it created something awesome.

There are a few small things here and there that causes some of us to raise an eyebrow. In the longterm it's not going to make us stop playing or stop enjoying what we're doing. But if we could have a chance to address them it could lead to a much more fulfilling experience. I don't know how many others feel this way though, so maybe a poll or referendum is needed.

Talking about small things, could the wand attack message be looked at again?


Apart from the double 'which', cosmicfire currently looks stronger and more interesting:


However the kill message is pretty cool!


*hum*

Illuminati's Myth weapon results in "You slug a formless entity in the jaw." I think you've got us beat there.

Yeah, I saw that as well. They're both surprisingly non-descript attacks. You should get something way cooler too! (clawed tentacles that flay the flesh from your victims?)

I agree that the battle message is weak. At the least, the sentence could be fixed from:

You point a turquoise wand at a grey pigeon which releases a stream of
corruscating energies which rips into his body.

To:

You point a turquoise wand at a grey pigeon, releasing a stream of
corruscating energies which rips into her body.

Or something like this:

You point a turquoise wand at a grey pigeon which releases a corruscating stream of energy, the lesions of harmonic force ripping perilously through her body.