'Twas the Night Before i11...

(Honest, it's tomorrow. See?)

And I have no ideas for a DB/WP alt. Or even a WP/DB alt. Nor do I have any definite ideas for who might get the axe on Virtue to make a space for one of those alts. Currently, I have 3 scrappers on Virtue: Cassandra Noir (level 47, MA/Inv), Scarlette Blade (level 36, Katana/Regen), and Hex Raven (level 18, dark/dark).

Cass would be the one to go, if she wasn't level 47 and duo partners with Vagabond Blade (aka: Team Scrapper). Inv. is a terrible secondary for scrappers. When she was created, it was awesome for tanks, and not bad for scrappers. Not so much seven issues later.

Scarlette could go. Regen's so over-done. She doesn't get much play, she doesn't have any partners or a usual team, and playing scrapers in a full, fast moving team isn't a lot of fun for me. (Attack! Wait, that one's dead already... tab, move, click-up an attack... oh, that's dead, too.... Next group! Wait, the tank stopped for no reason... I'm dead because all those purples aggroed on me. *sigh*) But, I really like her bio and her "personality."

Raven's probably not going. She's partners with Derick, Vagz's Warshade. Dark/dark for scrappers is still not fun. But it looks like it might be, sometime after level 24 or so. And I like her. She's absolutely clueless. Oh, she's not dumb, but she's only existed for a couple of months. By the way... how odd is it that Idaho and Raven came to exist practically the same day? One's a clone, with no past of his own, and the other's a "construct" with no past. Pretty similar there. But they both went in total opposite directions. Idaho's an angst magnet, with Mason's past bogging him down, and all kinds of freaky sexual tension. Raven's practically angst-repellent, innocent, and somewhat socially-stunted. It's fun to play off of that with her, too. Everything's new and interesting, and sometimes inexplicable and difficult to understand. She's like the anti-Snow. (Ooh, is that an idea? No... wait, maybe.)

There's a possibility of Scarlette getting recreated (Not re-rolled. There's no dice involved. None. Nothing is being "rolled" for. You pick. No leaving it to chance. There. Is. No. Rolling. /end rant). Or I could just delete Obsydian Fyre (Level 43 WS) who's still hanging around, though I've acknowledged I'll never have a use for her. I've just never deleted something that high. I could have her to 50 like that. But, who cares? I'd probably never play her again, and what's the point of having a 50 around taking up space when you'll never play it? The same point of having a level 43 hanging around that you'll never play. None.

Or I could just put a DB/WP scrapper on another server. Scrappers are the easiest to solo, and I could just break it out when I was bored or wanted to play on my own.

Something's wrong when a game is stressing you out. I think I'm going outside for awhile.

Gamer Rant, Volume I, Footnotes

From Dictionary.com:

Rant /rænt/
–verb (used without object)
1. to speak or declaim extravagantly or violently; talk in a wild or vehement way; rave: The demagogue ranted for hours. –verb (used with object)
2. to utter or declaim in a ranting manner. –noun
3. ranting, extravagant, or violent declamation.
4. a ranting utterance.

I didn't call it, "How To Play Your Empath, Defender, Blaster, Scrapper, What-the-f-ever, And If You Don't, You're A l0z3r." I'll leave that to the people on the CoH/V forums. And I certainly didn't mean "you" in particular, but more like the people on the PuGs I've been playing with, such as the previously mentioned Kinetics defender who quit the Moonfire TF I was on in the second mission when the team asked for Speed Boost (True story).

Once again, PuGs are held to different standards than our core group who plays together, or any group that plays together. Like I said earlier today in a Yahoo Chat:

If a person's going to play on their own, I don't care if their scrapper has the entire medicine pool, tp friend, flurry, and 2 other attacks. But I don't want them on my PuG. Heck, if one of you guys (meaning Team Whatever-we-are-this-week, and our list of occasional Guest Stars) makes that scrapper, and we RP through ten missions, that's fine. But, on a PuG, that scrapper's dead weight.

If I'm playing with "you guys," I'm playing for fun, social aspects, humor, entertainment, stories, whatever. If I'm playing with a PuG, I might be playing for fun, too, but the main goal is XP/influence, or some type of game reward/advancement.

On a PuG, my blaster doesn't care that "your" (General, universal "you" representing some random person in the game, used to distinguish that this person is not "me") defender hasn't taken CM/SB/Any shields/whatever because you only play with scrappers/tanks/Khelds/your husband/wife/cousin's-wife's-roommate's-best friend normally. You're on a different team, and if you can't contribute to that team in a meaningful way, maybe you ought to play on your own or wait for your cousin's-wife's-roommate's-best friend to log on. And, no, "tanking" with your Stormy while the tank is regaining endurance and then screaming at the empath/scrapper/blaster for not healing you/taking the extra aggro/shooting the baddies, and then telling everyone why their way of playing is wrong/ineffective/old-fashioned/n00by/stifling your creativity doesn't count as a meaningful contribution. In a PuG, you adapt to the team. Don't expect them to adapt to you.

I'll stand by everything I've said here and in the last post. And also admit to making some of the mistakes I've listed. Blaze (Blaze Noir, level 50 dark/dark/dark defender, hit 50 somewhere around i5) was respec'ed not all that long ago. She was an "offender."

But, wait, didn't I just say if you want a defender to do damage, make a blaster? Why, yes, I did, and thank you for pointing that out. But I also talked about building for the group that you play with, didn't I? Well, yeah, I guess I did.

Blaze's "core group" was a variation of a tank, a scrapper, an empath, and a blaster who didn't do very much. Sometimes another blaster, sometimes not, and a few random others with no regularity. Healing wasn't a big thing. Damage was. The ability to pull and not die was. Holding/stunning/sleeping mobs wasn't. So her damage was built up, and it was pretty freakin' decent. She had BlackStar (dark's "nova")... and it still sucked. Oh, sure, it looked cool, especially after they changed it in... i7, maybe? But, usefulness-wise, it sucked. And by then Blaze's old group was gone, and she was more or less put on the shelf and only brought out as back-up for Vagabond Mage occasionally. Her heal and damage mitigation was enough to keep one level 50 competent blaster alive... most of the time. But, then I found myself wanting to take her out more often, and into PuGs. And she just wasn't cutting it. I hate respecs. The more levels, the more I hate respecs. But I respeced her, a lot. It's like a whole other character. And she's pretty freakin' awesome now. I wish I'd done it a long time ago, even when she played with that first group. She takes advantage of her primary much more now, and the effects those powers are meant to have. No, she's not going to out-damage Fyre anytime soon, but that's why one's a defender, and one's a blaster. But, they both solo AND team very well, and highly effectively.

So, yeah, I do think I know some stuff. No, I'm not an expert. I'm not a genius. No, I'm not saying that "you" and your Whatever-character-you-think-any-of-this-applies-to suck. Yeah, I've "only" been playing 30 months, and some people have those shiny new 42 month badges. And maybe some people have 6 month badges and they've read every guide there freakin' is and have spent hours with calculators in their hands working out percentages. But I'll stand by what I've said, and if I'm in a PuG tomorrow that proves one of those things wrong, I'll be grateful to whomever teaches me differently. Once you think you know everything and there's nothing left to learn, that's when you need to worry.

Pictures, Part Two

I should call these next two, "Pictures That Got Me Killed."

This is why you need to pay attention in Croatoa, even when doing out-leveled hunts.

And if you aren't paying attention while running flying through the little tree maze, if you run into this, don't stop and take a picture.

Unless you're looking for a short-cut to the hospital.

"Hey, wonder how close I can get to one of those drop ships?"

About this close.

That flash? Yeah, that's the last thing you see before the drop ship drops you.

Poor Roxi Toxic. She's been a hero, a villain, a defender, a controller, a corruptor. She made it to level 12 on Freedom in this incarnation. She stayed at level 12 for about a year, and even though I didn't play her, I thought she'd stay like this, because I like the costume. Then I had a random dream, and I saw another costume that I had to try, and Roxi seemed like the only one to try it on, because of the color it had to be. So:

Roxi Toxic, Version Some Number I Can't Keep Track Of. She's on Freedom again, and she's up to level 9, as of now. The last costume will probably go in her level 20 slot. If she makes it that high this time. But, less with the pink hair this time, I think.

At least this time, it was appropriate to get XP when one of their teammates got smushed.

This time, Team Evil got points when Styrm died. (Ha-ha!)

Note Snow's complete and utter disinterest. Isn't she fun?

I know what you're saying. You're saying, "What the hell is that?!" I know, because that was what I said when I first saw it. Imagine coming around the corner in the sewers and seeing That. That is a Wailer EB (probably an AV with a bigger team, but I don't know that for sure. Here, it was only Fyre and Will).

Fyre's semi-formal outfit for working with her "patron." Havoc liked it, anyway. And it scared Idaho nicely. I put "patron" in quotes because not only is Fyre IC not loyal to Ghost Widow, but she's already betrayed her according to the game storyline. And I will not mention anything else about the arcs from here on in, or will at least try to be very brief about anything that relates to them, because I know some people who read this haven't done any of the patron arcs, and I don't want to ruin them.

Will's level 40 costume slot, in Grandville. I like this outfit on him, a lot.


Look! Fyre's still building the army to take Masonry out! ...what? Mason's dead? Really? Huh. Well, scratch that, then. Wait... are you sure....?

Masonry, here with Keen Frost. The last picture of Masonry in the blog. Well.... maybe...



Ghost Widow, from her Patron Arc. Don't make her angry. You wouldn't like her when she's angry.
Note the PToD (That's "Purple Triangles of Doom," in non-forum speak). PToD is an interesting form of status protection that EBs and AVs get. And by "interesting," I mean, "incredibly frustrating, annoying and just NOT FAIR!" It makes soloing a Dom and maybe a Controller over a certain level an exercise in futility.


Lord Recluse from the STF. What a putz...

Uh... if he asks, I totally didn't call him a putz.

Pictures, Part One

I haven't even posted pictures for awhile, so I have a bunch. I'll break it into 2 posts so as not to overwhelm.

Things in the Shadow Shard have deteriorated so badly, they've contracted out the Knives of Artemis. Or maybe it was just Fyre and me goofing around at Halloween.

Halloween was fun. I did a lot of ToTing. Both red- and blue-side Fyre had almost all the costumes at one point. My favorites were the Knives of Artemis costume (above) because I just love how it looks, and the Malta Gunslinger costume on Fyre, just for the irony. The Malta costume also caused some IC drama red-side, when Will innocently tried it on.

Mo's Halloween costume. I liked it, partly because I could never seriously use the Metal costume pieces, so I'd never had a chance to try them out before. Pen didn't seem to like it. The amount of skin it showed made him nervous.

Level 50 Red Caps are wrong for so many reasons. Mase, Keen and I were hunting Jack in Irons when we came across these. They were spawning through out the northern end of Croatoa. I hope it was a one-time-only bug.

Team Ice. Well, most of it. Khryo (aka Rosie), Crystal, and Bob. The guy in the lab coat and the chick in shorts aren't part of the team.

The Hacker we saved from the Tsoo was entirely too energetic. Or maybe just stuck. Rosie kept up for awhile, but gave up not much later.

Vagz and my DB/WP characters on Test. Mine was Valerie Hex, and Vagz's was Blood Crucible. I find myself in a state of anti-altitis: I have no ideas for alts, and no desire to create any, though I do want to try DB/WP on Live, especially after we played after the level bump that took us to level 37. I'm looking into medication for this reverse-altitis thing to get an idea for that.

A travesty in Weapon Customization. They're all tanks, from Test. The zombie with the shovel is mine. The little girl with the hammer is Keen's, and the pseudo-fireman with the fire axe is Vagz's.

With Ourborous, you can get a mission to fight the Fifth Column, which I missed in the original time-line just barely. Here, Fyre got her chance on Test. Note the banners in the background.

Gamer Rant, Volume I

I know, it's been quite awhile since I had a post. No, the lol-cats don't count. And, no, it's not because I haven't had time. I've had plenty of free time. I've just chosen to spend most of my available time playing the game. That's the problem I have with some of the people on the forums, by the way. If you look at their post counts, it makes you wonder: if they spend all that time on the forums, when do they actually play the game?

I've been playing the game for about two and a half years now (30 month Veteran Reward on the 26th. Yes, I had to check). And, as I never spent time hanging out in Galaxy or the Paragon Dance Party, or Pocket D, or anywhere else (until recently) RPing, I was actually playing the game. Let's say, then, I've picked up some stuff.

There was a comment made in team a couple of weeks ago, where someone was shocked that I had gamer-urges. That really kind of surprised me. Let me say, I am NOT a gamer. Video games, MMOs, I've never been into them. Sure, Super Mario, other early Nintendo and Sega games, some of those pop-culture type games, but nothing ever complex and nothing intensely. And even with CoH/V, I'll never be getting into complex mathematical formulas. But, I've played a lot of sets, and I've played with even more sets. I know what the powers do, and how they work. I know tactics that work, tactics that don't work, tactics that should work but don't, and tactics that shouldn't work but do. Am I an expert? Hardly. But I pay attention, and I have a good amount of common sense, both things that I see lacking from a certain amount of players in the game.

Now, before I go further, my comments here are not directed toward our core group that play together, or even any individual person that I've played with before. My level 41 Corrupter, the level 34 Warshade that I deleted were exclusively PuG leveled. A considerable bit of Blaze, and bits and pieces of almost all my other characters were parts of PuGs at one time or another. Fyre's been on a LOT of PuGs lately. PuGs (Pick-up Groups, in case you're new or have forgotten) are wonderful things. Honest. You learn all kinds of things in them. Often, what not to do, but also new tactics and things you didn't know before. These days, it's mostly what not to do, true. But, compared to the general game population, I'm entering the "Get off my lawn!" phase of gaming. Been there, done that. Really.

(Minor rant: Another problem I have with the forums: The forums do NOT represent the general game population. If those people would get off the freakin' forums, and play the game outside of their little elitist boxes, they'd get a taste of the general population, and maybe how the MMO part of the game actually works.)

So, what are my sticking points? Lately, I've noticed some things that people can't seem to get, as I've been PuGing more than usual.

Ever hear the phrase, "know your role?" It fits this game pretty well. This one, though, that applies more in bigger teams, or teams that don't play together enough to have general tactics, like PuGs. If you're a defender, your role is "healing" or buffing, or debuffing. I don't care about the forum healer-hate. If you have a heal, and you're playing on a team, you are obligated to use that heal, if and when those little green bars go down. If you've got a heal, and you're too busy attacking or filling in the map or trying to figure out what the shape of the blood splatters in Infernal's ritual room make, you're doing something wrong. If you're a scrapper who's picked up Aid Self, Aid Other, and Stimulant (for whatever unknown reason), and you're busy using Stimulant on a Council map while the empath is being batted around by a Warwolf, you're doing something wrong. Similarly, if you're an empath who isn't using Clear Mind, or a kin who's not using Speed Boost, or a rad who isn't using debuffs, you're doing something wrong. General rule? If you can do, or should be able to do, something that other ATs or players on the team can't do, you ought to be doing that thing. Other stuff is secondary.

Are there exceptions? Of course. I'll use Mo as an example. Is she perfect? Not even close. Nor am I. That's not what I'm saying.

But, this is how it works, for me and her. I'm actually pretty hard on myself as an empath. Clear Mind is on the squishies (ie, anyone who doesn't have status protection) almost constantly. Stuns and disorients happen from almost anything you fight, not just enemies with sleeps and other mezzes. If there's time, or if it's an enemy known for mezzes, Clear Mind is usually double-stacked. I like to use combat-buffs. That is, I'll wait 'til a fight starts and the group is tightly packed before using the RAs (or AM on my rads). Otherwise, people tend to stand around while the buffs tick down. Wasted buffs is one of my pet peeves. If it's a group that doesn't seem to get close enough together, or a group that moves quickly, then I'll do a "Gather for RA (Or AM, or Invisibility)!" Especially with the Empath, but also with my /thermals, I'll keep someone targeted, usually the person who seems to need healed the most. I target my attacks through them to reduce aggro on my own poor little squishy (who may be the least buffed and who I'm unable to spot-heal), and also have them targeted for easy healing (On Snow, this is most often Provo. On Crystal, even though it's only o2 Boost, it's Khryo). If there's time in between the healing and buffing, I'll throw out an attack. Yes, it's true, at level 28, Mo only has 2 attacks from her defender secondary, Sonic. I chose Sonic as a secondary for it's debuffs. I knew Mo's primary function wouldn't be damage, so I wanted her attacks to have some type of helpful effect.

Little side-track, but sort of on the point: If you want ranged damage, play a blaster, not a defender. If you want a "Nova" at level 32, play a blaster. Oh, the ways in which I hate defenders "novas." Especially the defender version of Nova. Knock everything way back, piss everything off-- because you're a defender; you're a defender, not a blaster, so you're not going to kill it off, AND use all your endurance so you can't heal/buff yourself or your teammates while you're fending off half dead pissed-off enemies. Up your team-wipe potential with the press of one button! Brilliant.

Anyway...

I can keep Fortitude on two people, one-hundred percent of the time, and add a third off and on. I usually try to keep it on the person with the most damage potential and/or the person with the best target potential (something like a side-kicked scrapper, or someone who keeps getting beat up-- unless they deserve to get beat up. Like my first emp's bio said, "I can heal your hit points, but I can't help you with stupid.")

I have been known to put Healing Aura on auto ("rocking the aura," as I've seen it called). And I don't think there's anything wrong with that. IF. If it's done during fights, and not standing around the mission. If you're also doing other things: spot healing, fort'ing, cm'ing, buffing, attacking. If you're just "rocking the aura" with the tank on auto-follow, you're doing something wrong.

My tactics with Mo vary when she's paired with just Hero-Will, or even to some degree with Hero-Will and Penitincy. She uses her attacks much more often, and even uses the Sands of Mu. Often. Mo, unfortunately, still will probably never be a solo-er. Empathy isn't built for it.

Why did I spend so much time talking about the empath? There are levels to the game. Which may vary from player to player. Some people play all on one level. But, let's call it levels that the player needs to rise to, to play a class correctly. For example, I love my blasters, but they're pretty much "easy" mode. Point and shoot. No, not at that... right, that. Good blaster. Some defenders are just slightly above that. Rad defenders, maybe. Scrappers aren't hard, but they're work-intensive. Tanks can be pretty tough, especially on a non-cooperative team. Empaths, played correctly, are definitely in the "advanced" setting. It's work, also.

I know I didn't just write a guide for "how to play," but after all the PuGs lately, where I stand there and wonder how in the world someone with more than three veteran badges can be such an idiot, I had to do something before I started using lol-cats in team chat, "WTF r u doin, N00b? u ded agin, lolz! u suk!"

(edit: Interesting that I wrote the first couple of paragraphs Saturday, but actually published 11/22, and I still got the 11/17 date.)

Filler Post

I plan on making a real post this week... maybe. But, 'til then, you get this.