Always loved a good ending.  *tips his hat to the assorted faces* We shall see how this one turns out.

Pumpkins

(not real, but snow!)

Too many :

The first awakening in the Matrix, the music, the code, the fading in of reality..it all worked and it never got dull seeing that code!

Running into Ozzin and Leelia on the way to fight Tengu and discovering the Oriens Veritas.

The White Room Party


Club Hel Party(s)

The Code-Bombs and the death of Morpheus. Suprising storytelling, and intelligently done so that we all had a chance to interact.

The return of Morpheus (sim) -

So many parties, so many twists and turns in the story, so many "matrix" moments, an amazing sense of reality/unreality, huge discussions on the moral and political rationale of the Cypherites/EPN/Human Machinists, and all in all Fun. MxO will be missed, the memories will remain forever.

For a load of pictures of nostalgia :

http://s15.photobucket.com/albums/a...2/Navidson/MxO/

nexus2revolution wrote:

i give up then....

i would like to say this tho before i 4get.

ah nevermind

its not even worth it

soe sux!

*thumbs up*

SOE suck?  Why would SOE waste money, time, resources on a game that never had mass appeal, is now three + years old and is never likely to gain new players.  We have repeatedly been informed that many of the things that could transform the game, simply aren't possible; not because of money, but because of the coding.  SOE have kept this game alive far longer than, in truth, it has deserved.

And yes, I love MxO, I play it once in a blue moon nowadays, but I'm not blind to the fact that it is a game that has zero potential even if SOE threw millions at it (Complete recode of the game and re-release as MxO2 wouldn't even do any good considering the rather anachronistic charm of the Matrix Franchise).

Nevertheless, back on subject, regardless of whether 50% Like the new Gi, and 50% hate it, this change has removed individual choice.  I have no real preference, but I'd like to be able to choose whether I wanted to wear a legless Gi or a full Gi as it gives me options.  In a game wear you can simply remove all your clothing and wear underwear only, this change seems absolutely illogical.  Why, exactly, was it changed?  To appease a minority group who had a preference for X over Y?  Why was the choice not simply implemented into the game so one could have X or Y as one would wish.

When one is a brain in a jar, in a world solely illusionary, reality is a very flexible concept.  To the "brain" the construct is reality and nothing can constitute a true disbelief and rejection of this "reality" (An example of this would be in Plato's cave parable).  As such, even if we were captives of a computer generated dream in a war between Machine and Man, we simply would never know.  The mind (imo) has no remarkable quirk to ascertain whether something is  truly real, it accepts the reality before it (even if it does not believe in it).  In [i]The Matrix[/i], mankind "rejects" the reality of the system through some speculative account of incompatability based on some indefinite human aspect (ie. Soul) but personally I find this a more unlikely occurence than the creation of a alternative reality.

As to what I believe, no, we do not live in an illusionary reality but even if we did it would be irrelevant. 

Cadsuane wrote:

Mindsweep wrote:

You duelling another dosen't remove the "Zerg" away from any organization at all.

The point of reducing combat to a duel is to remove the aspect of being outnumbered - the same aspect that people seem to complain about.  The purpose of these duels is to prove that Machinists win by being better rather than by having overwhelming numbers. 

The only problem is, Marias IS NOT one of those Machinists. He is very skilled at the game and I would say easily one of the best PvPers in the game. He doesn't hide behind a zerg and talk crap. There's no point dueling him cause he isn't one of the people who carries on with these antics, and as it is likely he would win the REAL perpetrators of those actions would use it as an excuse to talk more crap. If I personally feel someone is hiding behind there zerg I will call them out to duel myself, there is no need for Marias to prove himself.

Are you kidding?  The past couple chapters have been the most Matrix-esque we've had so far.  The machines are warring against EPN and Mervs are just making the other sides angry.  The idea of colonies in the real is intriguing.  If you don't like the story right now you aren't trying to.

There is a "colony" or safehaven in the Real that is far more interesting.  It is not filled with superheroic antagonists, it is not a threat or a challenge to the system, it simply exists.  This place, is Byzantine.  It is a place of dirt, of death, of deceitful handshakes in darkened corners, a place where neither Zion nor Machine are trusted and a place that harbours many of the miscreants that both Zion and the System are seeking. 

The idea of colonies in the real is indeed "intriguing".  The way they have been utilised in the storyline is not. 

The first Chapters were the most Matrix-esque (imo).  The last have not really been about the warring between the factions, but about a comic book villain being taken down.

For once i'm not hoping a long dragged out storyline ends quickly so we can move on to more interesting pastures because without any real closure on either the bigger picture with the oracle, nor the BIP, nor the intruders (and their never actually officially confirmed colony), nor the energy debate, it all just feels a bit hollow and *shock horror for mxo* anti-climatic ¬_¬

Agree (in principle, not been around for this Chapter much).  There are so many loose ends, so many elements that were begun and never concluded that the storyline of today, is on a very very distant limb from the storyline of early MxO.  At first, the loose ends were forgiven as though they were intentional (To generate rumour and speculation and conspiracy theories) but now I think it is evident that the loose ends were merely forgotten and left to one side as a new an exciting element came to the fore. 

Meh.  The storyline has nothing to do with The Matrix anymore anyway.

Halborn is a big glowing wire-frame man of origins unknown (A colony of some sort outside the Matrix under the watch of the "oligarchs".  He killed the Oracle, has beaten several shades of..well, gray, out of Gray and is generally a nuisance to all and sundry, Zion and Machine alike.  Hm, all that from running one critical mission of the last three chapters!

Darkness.  Familiar, welcoming and warming darkness.  Within the cocoon of the instance, soundless and without even a gentle breeze, the depth of emptiness holds him in embrace as distant friends, long separated, would hold. 

Beneath, no footsteps disturb the silence for there is only the absence of ground beneath his feet. 

Above, no sky taunts him and no burdens find his shoulders. 

All around, there is peace, there is nothing.

How long it had been since this feeling, this comfort, had been missing from his life he could no longer tell,  his senses disorientated by time and reality of the waking world, but now time had no meaning and his senses felt nothing but the dark space enveloping him.  This world between worlds, the stepping stone from the darkness of reality to the unseen light of illusion, was his solace, his sanctuary from stimuli, and in the lonely and empty isolation, he felt at peace, he felt...nothing.

His breath, no more necessary than the flesh and bone that portrays the coded entity, breaks the silence.  The inhalation and exhalation giving the world back the time, that had been taken by his presence, in its steady rhythm.  Still darkness holds, yet he knows that with time, the progression to the next world will come soon. 

Sooner than he had hoped.  The noise, the echoing, empty mechanical noise of machine and wire hums in the depths of his mind. A sound of both worlds, a sound born both of reality and illusion, the sound that informs his senses of caution upon the next step.  Darkness holds.

The noise, ceaseless and recurrent, grows louder as the oncoming torrent of the surrounding code begins to change, begins to form into the world of illusion.  All around, the darkness in his mind begins to flicker with the subtle sounds and presence of the world beyond; familiar voices, and unfamiliar, merged to one battering assualt of sound upon his mind, unremorseless in their whispers, unrelenting in the barrage.  The stepping stone, now near drowned in the flood of illusionary stimuli, releases him as his lungs fill.

And in that instant, in that moment between breaths, between the nothing, and illusion, there comes something new, something never felt or seen or welcomed before by his long dead eyes.  It lasts but that moment, yet the moment seems an eternity of both pain and wonder, and dissipates as swiftly as its arrival.

There comes light.  Light of reality, light of illusion, light of both worlds where he had only ever perceived one.  Light, glorious yet fleeting, met not by his dreams, not by the re-creation of senses in his mind, but seen with the eyes that had never seen before.  Seen, as one would perceive the virgin sight of the moon behind thick and clouded sky.

As his lungs empty in exhalation and the world of illusion takes hold, his senses flare to the familiar pain of the living world.  Noise, sound, even the touch of the ground beneath him come as one, as one touching a flame would feel the pain and the heat and the smell of burning flesh.

Once, this pain had been familiar, had even been a comforting reminder of the world in which he had reached, yet now without close memories of the torture, it brings him to his knees.  His mind burns with the conflagration of the illusionary stimulus; each spoken word, passing car, even from a distance, adding fuel to the flames.  He fights at first, his anger, his rage building against the blistering flames that ravage his senses, yet the pain only becomes worse. 

He succumbs, he relaxes to the world around and breathes.  Slowly.  For an instant, the pain remains as once the darkness had done, yet just as the solace of darkness had been lost, so too does the pain begin to subside.  A memory, "Control", reverberates from the back of his mind, forcing its way through the fire to his lips, uttered yet not heard by any. 

Control. 

The fire struggles as partitions and walls erect within the mind, each sense contained, each input restrained and tempered, until it burns only as cinders.  The sounds, the smells, the feel of the ground beneath his feet all come as one, yet his mind begins to perceive each as its own. The pain, reduced but never absent, become bareable, tolerable, and from his knees he ascends once more.

Only the memory of that instant, the memory of light, haunts him as he steps forth into the unseen world...Out of the Darkness...and into the light.

(tbc)

((My name has been too long absent from these pages *chuckles*))

Sykin wrote:

At last...

Indeed...

Well atleast the response was light hearted...could have been far worse but i did have a point " width="15" height="15" /> Dont you think it makes it look stooopid? i mean its not noticable because every mother (minus good ol star " width="15" height="15" />) flucker is in a b/w shirt/tie combo (inc clip) " width="15" height="15" />

Anymore silly than Black/Black Machello & Black Pants?  Not really new in Syntax Mechs, we are defined by the suit colours we wear

Old shot, TGS Top left (Half coats etc), Tetragrammaton Top Right (Black Machello, Black pants etc), Foxhound Bottom (All Black), Watchmen all over the place (no discernable taste or scheme ), and Veritas Lucis bottom right (White, any clothes)

Procurator wrote:

...room dominating...

Hmm, I dunno, Procurator.  My eye was immediately drawn to the colorful bunch in the right-foreground, particularly the jaunty fellow in the natty aquamarine crocskin jacket...

I.

It doesn't matter if they made up the war, B116er and all the other stuff, because it comes down to this:

To keep us (Zion) in check for the purpose of the One-Cycle, planting knowledge is a given, that includes (fake) history. The history of us inventing the Machines then wanting to destroy them because we were afraid of them but then being destroyed and enslaved ourself, is probably the worst possible history. That kind of history manages to get people to belief that their existance is easily understood (last bastion of humanity) and justified (avenge humanity, destroy machines, repopulate the earth, etc.). In other words, the history we (Zion) know is the perfect reason for Zion to exist in the first place. In fact, it is so perfect that if you come down to it (people get to know it after the beginning of the truce), it could have been nothing else than fake (the city of Zion that is, while considering that if the first city of Zion really was built by humans, their situation would have been "less perfect", because they didn't have a guideline like the other Zions).

So, since Zion was a system of control, also history has become a system of control, because without a good reason to exist, Zion would be destroyed before the reinsertion of the Anomaly into the prime program. That, of course, doesn't answer the question if the history is real or not, but essentially it does say: It doesn't matter. If humanity did have a different history, fake history would have been planted (system of control; to control the reason to exist is to control purpose and direction of life), if it did happen exactly like that, well, less waste of resources for the planning of Zion.


The only source of recorded history lies within the Machines, but one resource of history is never trustworthy. Heh, that's why I belief, history is utterly useless in the world, that is the Matrix (+ RW).

There are numerous sources of "recorded history", only the most detailed and complete is with the machines.  The Second Renaissance, for instance, is part of the Zion Archives which one could either take as collated archives that Zion has compiled in its present incarnation, or as wholly machine constructed to shape humanity.   Nevertheless, the old idiom that "history is written by the victors" is correct, in this case the Machines have written history and could potentially use it to for control, but as with the Matrix, not all are so susceptible to established truths which are in fact deceptions, and would seek the real "history", something that could be found in one of a million ruined cities on the surface, or in the great burial mounds of machines.  The evidence of Man's sin is above everyone, a ravaging storm designed for one purpose, to prevent sunlight reaching the earth.  Such a purpose would not be beneficial or logical to Machine so evidently there is truth in the lie, and in the history

As for History being useless, that is a strange sentence.  History, the study of the actions of mankind in the past, is of vital importance in understanding human nature, evolution, culture, society, religion...and almost anything else you can imagine.  A poor historian, or a man who knows little of empirical research, might use one resource of history, but most historians do not.  Truth lies at the centre of a web of contradictions and truth is of moral and social importance.

Mave wrote:

NegativeEight wrote:

The following message is completely OOC ((out of character ^_^))

Ok, I've been here a long @$$ time, since August 2005. And I didn't get into Rp till around level 18, which was around 06, since I took till 07 to hit 50....I know, daaaamn... But I always had a bad Roleplaying reputation because of some problems with the community when I first joined the game. The people that I had problems with that long while ago are almost completely gone, and the few that remain got over it, and still, my RP suffers. May I ask, is there some people still pissed about what I did has a nublet, or can I have some tips to improve my RP, because my Player Events are /dead, even with my new position on Recursion.

I mean, I no I don't RP well, but it can't be that bad, so, tips to help my PEs contain more than two friends from Syntax ~_~

^_^

-M.A.

To be honest, if you're a lesbian Vampire, people really won't mind your RP.

At the same time, Player Events have kind of gone down the crapper. Best thing you can do is try to advertise whatever event you work on through extra means, not just a forum post.

Cryptic Messages and what not are always nice. ">

fixed

Fixed.

But in answer to the query, RP can only be proven on consistency.  If someone makes a mistake once, twice, a few times, then they are likely forgiven and the mistake overlooked (but hopefully learned).  Consistently make mistakes, without an awareness what you are doing wrong, or with such awareness but ignorant of change, then that is a problem.  With regard to Events, just get people involved - People make RP, not words, pictures, movies, puzzles, they are just tools to accentuate and demonstrate.

*sighs* Dear lord, do people have no restraint?

IC actions have IC consequences.

Procurator wrote:

I'll target people in the following order of preference:

1. Cypherites
2. EPNoobs
3. Zionites
4. (Some) Mervs


H'mm, actually, it depends what certain Machinists are doing. If they're siding with Cypherites, I'll knock them spark out. Otherwise I'll leave my colleagues alone, obviously. ">

I approve.

Reeverb wrote:

Ah, so it has been mentioned. Couldn't be bothered to read the 17 pages. Thanks! <3
Though the FFA doesn't have anything to do with the mission system, right? 'Cause we could still run missions on Syntax when FFA was enabled, if I remember correctly.

but, zomg cant wait for diz! tis gunna be awzome!

No, I just put Rarebit's quote in to answer your FFA question, my answer on what I gather about running missions was added seperately.

With regard to missions (no comment on the rest as even a FFA area is, at least, adding something) there are currently none in the Archives and one in the Construct (and none in the White Hallways) triggered from an object, rather than calling up Gray.  I suspect that if this area is set up for FFAPvP there will be no mission system in a similar vein to the Archives.  However, is that a loss?  The mission system is one of the most stale and depressing features of the game once you have run the 10 variables of a mission thousand times before.  So, I'm running into this room to kill these guys for reason (a) this time, tomorrow I'll run in and kill them for reason (b). 

If possible, Phase 2 should move away from the tired system above and implement the next step Pandoras Box.  Item generated missions, clues, intrigue in a world where you could be apprehended at any point in time.  If Agent Gray sends me to the "Datamine" to assassinate yet another exile (How many Exiles are there?  If Every lvl50 Machinist and Zionite has run the assassination mission that many times.....) for no reason whatsoever, and without any threat to my personal safety then I may just have to sigh.

Isn't changing clothing during a fight dishonorable?

Just laughable.  Is the need to win so great among people that they have to change clothes during a fight? *chuckles*

Fix : Remove buffs when change of clothing takes place.  Changing Clothes in IL is neither necessary, nor appropriate (ie. Working as Intended)

The AI in MxO is not advanced enough to support a Raid system and the combat structure would need a complete revamp given the current class system

Advanced in what way? Can you be more specific?

A Raid System such as? A raid Menu with group names?

Combat Structure need a revamp? Why? Explain this to me like I am a 2 year old.

There are no more models

Again- you dont need new models. Everything I have stated ALREADY exists. Commando models exist. Vampires. Succubi, Lycans all exist. A high end raid Archive would not be worth while? Does anyone else feel the same way? Risk Vs Reward ring any bells here?

Personally, why would I play a second-rate, uninteresting, unchallenging, Raid in MxO, when I can have a challenging, intriguing, and truly demanding Raid in a game that is more disposed to Raiding and teamwork?

Exactly, there are so many elements that are untapped just in this game alone. Everyone knows it but nobody says anything. We have threads about new districts but the disctricts and archives we have can be altered(we've seen it done, we know they can do it)

There is a whole market of MMOs that offer Raiding. MxO has always been outside of the traditional generic MMO structure, and I hope it remains that way and builds upon the things it already has.

You mean like Second Life with their Sex Clubs? or the rest of the Free to Play games that have Item Malls? This is a product of Sony and everyone knows *CENSORED* well they have a responsibility to their reputation as headliners when it comes to MMOs.

Consider your "NPC war" between Lupines, Vampires, Succubi.  If this is implemented in a similar way to PBs and The Commando helipad (ie.  These NPCs won't attack you because you are their allies) then what you get is not a raid, it is simply a progression of NPCs who offer absolutely nothing different from Generic NPC #1 in a mission.

A Raid needs to be challenging, and killing numerous enemies, no matter their level, is not a challenge.  NPCs rush towards you, shoot, and wait for you to engage them in Interlock, there are very few exceptions to this rule (if any), they do not truly assist one another (Healer NPCs don't tactically heal, they heal when their companion drops a few health and they don't have the intelligence to realise that healing might be best used elsewhere, Buffer NPCs don't use all the buffs they [i]should[/i] have access to, MA NPCs don't attack with any degree of intelligence whatsoever, they do not specifically line up attacks to get states etc.). 

When an enemy is so predictable, it is not a challenge.  No NPC in the game requires a modicum of sense to defeat, spam attack and the NPC dies.  In games that have Raiding, NPCs are able to adapt on the fly (Balrog of LOTRO for instance, switches his attacks and his defenses, and his damage type throughout the fight at specific Morale triggered intervals, this makes it engaging because you have to adapt along with the fight.  The Giant preceding him, cannot be killed but while he is alive waves of enemies appear, as each one is defeated the Giant has a change of heart eventually leaving the battle before the true boss arrives with more waves of enemies.  They heal one another if within range so they must be divided up, once they are dead, the boss must be drawn near to specific areas to be harmed..these things are challenging and rely on interaction between numerous classes) in this game NPCs do not adapt, they continue to attack in the same method, and they continue to die using the same method.

Reward vs Risk - Where is the risk?  I have never felt a risk fighting anything in the game, no NPC is intelligent enough to offer such a risk.  Level is unimportant, it just lengthens the fight to a war of attrition, you attack, block to build up IS, then attack some more and trust the enemy doesn't recover enough health. (See below for example).  No risk, but a supposedly significant reward.

SOE successfully destroyed their reputation with the faux pas of NGE, they are not the Headliners of the MMO genre and MxO isn't a headliner for SOE, in fact on half the station pages it is not even mentioned. [and Raiding says nothing of being a headline MMO.  PotBS does not have a traditional form of Raiding and yet it is one of the most innovative games on the MMO market at present

I don't disagree with the intention, but the game is too broken, too far down the line, too understaffed to follow the structure of "EQ" MMOs so late in the day. 

If they could adapt the AI, if they could create instanced encounters (with NPCs requiring more than Interlock-death), and keep them interesting and challenging, then they might create some fun content.  But if people are seeking Raiding, they would not be satisfied.

Zero-One was never wiped out in the first Man - Machine War.  Mankind bombarded it with nuclear attacks and devestated much of it, but it was never wholly destroyed (otherwise the Machines would truly have lost the war, their ability to build new armies, replacements for their losses, and sustain a war would have been impossible on a scale worthy of defeating the human race).  The Zero-One of the movies and of the current period are one and the same but the latter is likely much larger and more efficient than the original.

In real terms, consider the city of Dresden.  The city was all but destroyed during WWII and much of it was left in ruins for a long period after the war, yet it was rebuilt anew and the destruction caused in the war was largely repaired (in fact it made way for a regeneration of the city in many ways).  Zero One is no different, it was greatly damaged and weakened but never destroyed and after the war and the victory of the Machines it was built anew.  Zero One was still in existence, still in production, when Operation Dark Storm commenced, this was after the supposed nuclear destruction of the city.

As for habitats, I never believed the Machines made provision for permanent living quarters for human operatives.  The Hovercraft is a home in itself, just as the ships of the 19th Century / 18th Century navies sustained their crews for long periods of time.  However, the Machines have likely provided resupply, repair, and docking facilities upon the surface or within the tunnels nearest to Zero One for the use of Machinist Operatives.

Whether a redpill believes it to be possible or not is irrelevant and the movies, in fact, counter any possibility that it may be possible with the attempted destruction of the Neb.  "We proceed as planned?" The agent says to Smith, indicating that their intention was always to have Sentinels attack the Neb.  regardless of whether Cypher was succesful, and any proposed deal.

A bluepill believes the noodles he is eating are "real" and made of a physical substance, that is not true (without getting into the philosophical arguements) anymore than the redpills belief that reinsertion is a real possibility.

And the Animatrix episode is a test, in fact the other redpill states something along the lines of "It isn't possible" if I recall, suggesting that most believe it is not, but there are some, who wish to return, that believe in it.  Just as some believe the prophecy, some do not.

what the hell has happenned to the rp community? When did it get to this stage..

Last years.

Why Neo? (aka. Thomas Anderson).

The source code of "The One" is not necessarily related to its previous incarnation, in fact the wireframe could be the source code of The One searching for a new host (which may make sense as Zion and Machine are at war again, the balance that Neo put in place has become unsettled, the purpose of The One is perhaps necessary ("You are needed" once more for a restoration of balance, but that "One" is not the same as "Neo" but the next iteration of The One).