Past and Present

So, sometimes I start things and get side-tracked and never get back to them. Yeah, I was ADD before it was cool.

But I went back in my e-mail to search for my forum ID and password. Do I even have one? Yes! I registered for the boards during CoV Beta, and the registration for the beta boards carried over. I even have a 3 post history! Probably all three are from CoV Beta, but I couldn't prove it, and I sure can't remember what they were. I only wanted the ID so I could avoid starting over with threads that I read that get to 20+ pages. In searching for that ID, though, I found all sort of old e-mails... and got lost for four hours. I'll spare you all the non-CoH related stuff.

I started CoH with a friend from another game, who left shortly after CoV came out. Blaze Noir, my first 50 and my first "real" character, hit 50 on September 19, 2005. Not long after that, I almost the left the game for... WoW. Yeah, really. My friend never really got into CoH like I did, and was campaigning very hard for us both to switch games. He did. I didn't. But, in searching through those e-mail, I was forcibly reminded of what it was like to start the game. Gale-ing mobs into walls and trying to heal a tank with O2 Boost. My friend took Teleport Friend on his tank in the very early levels because I got lost CONSTANTLY. That character never made it past 25. Someday, maybe, I'll try storm/electric again. I'd like to think I learned a bit in two and a half years. At least, as far as the game is concerned.

In other news, I've gone respec happy. In the past few weeks I've done several respecs. Lunatrix back on Team Evil-whatever-the-heck-we-called-it got a respec, and the new and improved version really makes me love mind/psi doms. I ditched her Stealth and Grant Invisibilty-- she's never freakin' chasing freakin' Bomber to make him freakin' invisible again. (Aside from the fact he's on a different server now.)

Related, I respeced Angel Noir, who needed it badly. She was my first post-beta villain, and she hit the then-level-cap of 40 in about a month. I had no idea what I was doing. She needed the respec badly. But after my now-infamous LGSF with her, I wouldn't be surprised if she gets deleted, anyway, even if she is level 44 now. I do NOT like being buff/shield/heal bot. It's not fun. It's nothing like fun. Some people enjoy it. Some people at least tolerate it. I don't think I can. I'm letting that bad experience wear off a bit more before I come to any irreversible decisions, but that's the way I'm leaning.

Lorelei also got a respec. She's also up to 44. I made a couple of questionable decisions with her: I dropped Blind, because it didn't work at all as well as I'd hoped/heard. Maybe it got better with different/more slotting. For me, it seemed like a waste. I also dropped Group Invisibility. I got sick of hearing, "Don't make me invisible. I can't get aggro/can't see my costume/have to be able to see my character or I get headaches/am allergic to transparent things," and then having to wait until the perfect team alignment occurred before I could fire it off. I took Superior Invisibility and Teleport Friend instead, so she's now able to stealth whatever all the way back to level 12. I also took Fallout. Which may be a mistake. I just *wait* for PuG members to die, now, and laugh maniacally while I blow up their corpse. This is probably not a good trait for someone with a heal power. I ditched EM Pulse, not because it didn't work. As a hold and an endurance drain, it's not bad, and it has decent damage. But. It doesn't hold everything, and certainly doesn't do enough damage to kill everything. So everything that isn't held or dead runs straight to me. On PuGs, this is instant death. Lorelei runs PuGs or solo, and solo, the groups aren't big enough to really justify its usage. I also respeced out of Choking Cloud. It's supposed to be a PBAoE hold. It doesn't hold. I tried. It doesn't work, or at least, it doesn't work well enough.

I respeced dom-Fyre. No real big changes, except I got rid of Bonfire (FUN, but too situational to keep when there were other powers I could make better use of) and picked up HotFoot. Still somewhat situational, as it's a considerable endurance drain, but much more useful.

The big news, though, is I respeced Blaster Fyre. I'm not even going to go into it, because that's going to be it's own post... if I don't get side-tracked first.

Happy Easter!

To the Pick-Up TF group I just left:

I hate you all. You've ruined one of my favorite TF/SFs for me, probably forever. Oh, sure, I should have known better. I should have seen the signs: advertising in one of my global channels for a fire blaster, because they wanted Fireball; asking for specific things, like an empath, a sonic, and a fire blaster; saying it would be done in an hour and a half. But, I offered my 42 fire/thermal corruptor anyway, because that TF is always fun. Yes, I know now, I should have continued on my merry little solo way, but I got greedy, so I deserved what I got. But let me tell you: a thermal corruptor is not an empath. A thermal corruptor is not a force field defender. A corruptor is not a defender at all. A corrupter is not a blaster. A call from what certainly must have been your ten-year old classmate in forth grade does not count as "an important phone call," and does not necessitate a 20 minute afk in which the team stops cold. Also, when the fourth-grader comes back hollers, "Ready!" this is not the time for two more people to reply, "brb!" Yelling "thaw" every 45 seconds is a sure-fire way to get yourself slept, held, and inevitably dead. Screaming "forge me baby" is a quick way to get yourself ignored for the duration of the mission. Also, the results of charging headfirst into Hami over and over and over again is not going to change the inevitable result, in which you die, no matter how many times you try it. In closing, if I ever see any of you looking for teammates for a TF, SF, or any type of group effort, I will ignore any such call. Even if it's the last TF/SF I need for the "OMGPWNZALL" accolade, and there will never be another team for it again. Thanks for getting me half-way to 45 and the several million in infamy. I also hope that Hami jumps out of the JELL-O snack pack your mommy packs in your lunch tomorrow and eats your face.

The End of the World: March 15, 2023

I haven't been posting too much about the Patron Arcs. Like I've said before, I know a lot of people haven't done them, and I don't want to give too much away and ruin it. But, since Vagz already let the (lol)cat out of the bag, I'll admit it... Fyre destroys the entire world. It's true. Maybe. In the Time After Time arc, your character, as the Destined One, is the cause of the destruction of the world. I've had plans to use that arc to tie up some loose ends in Fyre's story (which I haven't done yet, I've only hinted at things). The arc fit the vague ideas I had entirely too well for me not to take advantage of it.

So, Fyre destroys the entire world. Maybe. I say "maybe" because we all know how fluid the future is, thanks to Lord Mender Nemesis Silos, and practically every other sci-fi-fantasy-time-travel story out there. All we can really say for sure is that in some dimension in some future, Fyre at one time destroyed the entire world. Let's just address the possibility that Fyre destroys the world. Does that make people/characters who blamed all sort of things on Fyre right? I'll admit here that I had an unexpected and emotional reaction when I came up with and followed that train of thought. So, I won't bother to type her and my very short two-word final reply to that. But I would imagine that anyone who finds out about her part in the impending world destruction and has issues with her might want to stay out of her way, as they're more than likely going first.

Vagz's pictures are much better than mine, but I have a few, too, anyway because the map is awesome enough to warrant more.

"Agony Hall"

Okay, here's my question: Those picnic benches look wooden, right? So, uh, how are they still there?

On second thought... Will did it! He ended the world! It's all his fault!

Fyre also beat the crap out of Citadel. Will did help. I have proof.

I'm not entirely sure what happened there, but I'll bet it hurt for everyone involved.

Okay, that... Super Imp did that.

Issue 12!!1!1!!

http://www.cityofheroes.com/game_update12.html

(edit- Read this, too. http://www.plaync.com/us/news/2008/03/dev_corner_city.html )

That's all there is to say right now. I'm speechless.

Except...

WANT! NAO!

Super Imp!

I almost forgot...

The Chuck Norris of imps! It's... Super Imp!

lolPvP

This was last week in Bloody Bay, getting Shivans for no particular reason. Keep in mind, it was early in the afternoon, to avoid the actual PvP.

Meteor, meteor, Shivan Smashers, meteor, whatever. Gun, gun, etc.

03-05-2008 13:18:10 You have defeated Dual Artillery Gun

03-05-2008 13:18:28 You have defeated Quad Howitzer Battery

Glimpse of villain in the near-distance. Whatever, I'm almost done.

03-05-2008 13:18:43 [NPC]Control Computer: Firebase defenses still active.

There's another one? Dammit.

Back outside to figure out which one I missed. Oh, over there in the weeds. Sneaky.

Held. WTF?

Mind/something Dominator, stealthed with Super Speed on fades in, too close for its own good.

Break-free.

Blaze, Ring of Fire, Blaze, Flares.

3-05-2008 13:19:20 You have defeated Venom Seer

03-05-2008 13:19:27 [Local]Venom Seer: nice

03-05-2008 13:19:37 [Local]Fyre Hex: Now go away. Thanks.

.... I hate PvP.

Totally Off-Topic Music Video

Watch it for the 80's TV logos (Mason) or the "bad techno" (Keen). Either way, it's going to be stuck in your head for the rest of the day.


Justice - DVNO [NEW]
by PeteRock

In-Depth Political Commentary for "Super Tuesday"

What's Up

Okay, so I can post pictures and video, but why not sound? Because I'd really like to inflict on everyone else What's Up, by 4 Non Blondes, the infinitely annoying 90s song that's now stuck in my head because of the post title.

Anyway.

Hey, I made a tank. WP/SS. Since everyone's seen her and played with her now, I can talk about it. Alastrina Sylvanie. "Alastrina" means "defends mankind," in Celtic, and seems pretty appropriate for a tank, and for the freedom-fighter bent of her character. "Sylvanie", by the way, is also Celtic, meaning "of the woods," but in this case, I'm just duplicating the name from Ellianne Sylvanie, my deleted elvish archery blaster. To make things easy, she'll be refered to as Trina from here on in. Thanks to one of the longest lasting PuGs ever-- even if half of it: Keen, Mason, and myself, wasn't exactly a PuG-- she's about four bubbles into 21. In lower levels, she was almost deleted. I remember one notable PuG where about every group was a death. Probably, though, the levels of enemies was too high, and the team just wasn't up to the challenge. Her survivability is much better now, possibly in factor to DOs and more primary powerset powers. I can't wait to see the numbers from Rise to the Challenge with SOs. I love watching the regen numbers climb while she's in the middle of a group of enemies.

But how am I doing with playing a tank? I have no idea. Honest. Half the time in that PuG, we had three tanks. No, really, three tanks. Part of the time, two. Only toward the end was Trina the only tank. And then we were fighting enemies that were white and blue con to me. No one has yet said, "lol, lrn2ply, n00b," so maybe I'm doing okay. Taunt. I<3 taunt. Really. I don't understand how a tauntless tank would work. Get a spead out group together? Taunt. Get that Sky Raider Porter off the Peacebringer? Taunt. Get that next group that someone agroed too early? Taunt. The main problem I see at the moment is she only has two attacks from her secondary. Luckily, I have two vet powers: Sands of Mu and the Nemesis Staff, to fill in for "real" attack powers. At the moment, I plan to get either Foot Stomp or Knockout Blow at 22. Foot Stomp concerns me a bit because of the knockback. But Super Strength has a considerable amount of knockback, so I'm just going to have to suck it up and deal with it, I guess. In the lull of new power choices at between 26 and 32, I plan to pick up Swift and Health. I have no need for Stamina, with Quick Recovery. Her endurance bar barely moves, even with somewhat heavy use of the notoriously end-heavy vet powers.

Mo hit 29. Yay. I cannot empath for more than one person for more than a couple of hours. I forget to blink. She'll probably (finally) get another attack power at 30, bringing her to three attack powers.

Callie's at 39. I still love blasters. That's really the only thing I have to say about her powers. Except I am debating on her Epic powers. Well, not which epic to pick. Electric Mastery, no question. But she still has 2 powers in her secondary that look mildly interesting, Thunder Clap and Shocking Grasp. Thunder Clap is a no-damage disorient. I've had bad experiences with disorients, though, so I don't know how well it would work. Or how often I'd use it. Shocking Grasp is a high damage melee hold. How many holds does a blaster need, though? I already have Tesla Cage, which I'm very happy with. From the epic, I want Static Discharge, just because it looks so gosh-darned cool, and the electric armor, the name of which escapes me at the moment.

RP-wise, she's... okay. She's a girl from a small town, with powers that at home pretty much got her ostracized. Now she's in a big city, with a lot of strange things going on. She's understandably overwhelmed. At first, I tried to throw a lot of "..." and "uh" and "um" into her speech to show she was uncertain and a little timid.

(Slight aside: I think I over-subtle myself sometimes when it comes to RP. Okay, I know I do. I've said before that I can't bring myself to do melodrama [or at least not much, and not intentional], and I also have a problem with using a sledgehammer to get my point across, unless and until it's absolutely necessary. Sometimes, that doesn't make too much difference. Maybe it's an unimportant point, or just background. Example: when Fyre first started in the Isles, I made a point to only have something like, "smiles slightly," or "gives a bit of a smile." She was very unhappy, but she's not the type to drag around in sweats and unwashed hair and wallow in her depression. In that case, it was just background noise, and reinforcing a pretty obvious point. Other times, I think my point and my purpose was completely lost, because I let it be.[Aside to the aside: except for still being "stuck" in the Isles, Fyre is quite happy, thankyouverymuch])

As an unintended side effect to a conversation with Vagabond, Callie has made a real effort to be more sure of herself and her powers. She still slips back into being overwhelmed on occasion, and she probably will for quite awhile yet.

Back to Trina, for a minute, her RP sucks. Considering that the marathon PuG, I was almost all OOC, even though there was prolific use of (())'s on the team on occasions. I just cannot take RP serious from someone on a PuG who says something like, "let us pwn these hellions, lol." No, that wasn't used, but that was an example of PuG RP. To actually be IC, I image Trina speaks somewhat formally, with little humor. She takes things seriously. There is little grey in her black and white views, I imagine. There is little-to-no "anti" in her "hero." Given that she's hit 20, and nearing SOs, I expect her to stick around for awhile, so there will probably be some RP chances in her future. I'm interested to see what she's going to be like. And, no, I don't actually know, and won't until she does start talking for herself.