BlueBattler

... in the COV Arachnos Soldier Arc I just did.


What would the children of Paragon City, think?!!

Thanks, guys.

Still haven't decided on what I'm going to do.

This guy is running on plus 0 plus 8 in RWZ which is pretty much where I expected him to be with the 90 percent energy resistance cap. (My Elec/Elec Scrapper does the same thing so it wasn't surprising to me.)

I was fighting COT at Plus 0 Plus 6 a few days ago, and they were just kicking my butt to the curb.

Now he's obviously not going to be able to steamroll everything like he can Rikti, so that was probably a case of just overly high expectations, but I do like the thrill of having tons of enemies trying to kill me and winning ...

So I am expecting to use Power Surge a fair amount ... at least much more than my Scrapper which is almost never.

I dunno. I think there's some interesting unseen lore in the game about Longbow that I'd like to see touched upon ... from the inside, as it were.

The Radioactive Wardens are revealed to have developed their powers from a sample taken from a villain ... meaning that these people VOLUNTEERED to have their powers bestowed upon them.

Are all the Wardens the result of scientific experiments? Or are some of them mutants?

You have the Wardens, and then you have people like Darla Mavis, Doc Quantum, and other heroes who work with Longbow while retaining costumed identities.

Are there any female Ballistas? Are the Ballista powers inherent or do they involve technology? Notice how the Wardens are a Rainbow of Colors, but none of the Ballistas are?

Is Ms. Liberty-- or at least Longbow?-- somehow prejudiced against people who have inherent super powers?

Whatever happened to the Sapper who cost Maverick her powers?

As for the Paragon Police Dept, why is Blue Steel the only authorized super hero working for PPD? Why are ESPers and Peacebringers the only metas working for the PPD? Is there some kind of prohibition against metas working for PPD instead of Longbow?

As for story arcs, maybe you could play a corrupt police officer or Longbow hiding their villainy and framing innocents for your crimes ... or maybe you could be wrongly accused and spend the journey from 1-50 searching for evidence to clear your name while running from your former colleagues ...

Mercedes takes him to a rundown apartment in King’s Row. It stinks. The building moves in strong winds. It leaks in the rain.

“But they don’t ask questions here,” Mercedes tells him. “You’ll be safe here while you pursue your studies.”

“My studies?”

“Do you want to die?”

He ponders that question for a moment.

Mercedes does not appear perturbed by his silence. She stands and waits for him to come to his conclusion. There is a faint trace of amusement on her face.

“No,” he says finally. “I do not want to die.”

“Then you have no choice. You have to develop your powers to the utmost. Nearly every mystic in Paragon City will want to either kill you or enslave you.”

“Except you, of course.” He smiles ironically.

“Oh, I will get my pound of flesh out of you, Reaper Blue. I have not had many opportunities to study a true necromancer. I will learn a great deal from helping you—and if there should come a time when you DO master your powers, you will owe me a great deal.” She tilts her head slightly. “I always collect on my debts, Reaper Blue.”

“That’s good to know.” He sits down in a chair that looks reasonably sturdy enough to support his weight. “So where do we begin?”

“You need to bring your friend back.”

“No.” He will not violate Martin again. His friend will finally get the rest that he deserves.

“You will either learn to bring him back voluntarily or you will bring him back inadvertently in a moment of rage or fear … as you did the first time. Is that what you want? Is that what your friend would want?”

“No.” He’s already breaking a promise he made to himself. That is not a good sign. This woman is dangerous to him.

To his soul, if not his body.

“All right, then. Call him up.”

“I don’t know how.”

“Yes you do. Somewhere inside you, you know how. Bring him back, Reaper. Bring back your friend.”

“Martin,” he says uncertainly, “come.”

For a moment, nothing happens.

Then the floor seems to smoke near his feet, and there’s a foul stench that’s worse than anything he’s ever smelled before, and he sees a bony hand reach out of the smoke. First one, then another.

A face that is little more than a skull bobs on a neck that is little more than bone. Wisps of hair that had once been a vibrant red are faded like old copper wire. Around that neck, dangling on a tarnished chain, is a ring … a girl’s school ring.

Tonya’s ring.

“What’s wrong?” Mercedes asks him, and he suddenly hates her. Hates the fact there is nothing of sympathy in her voice. That she looks at him with the cold curiousity of a vivisectionist while he is staring at the animated corpse of his best friend who’s wearing the promise ring of a girl who will (hopefully) never know how he died, or what he has become.

He hates her with a ferocity that frightens him.

Martin moans and suddenly looks at Mercedes.

“Reaper, call him off.”

Martin takes a shambling step towards her.

“Reaper!”

Is that fear in her voice? It pleases him now. To see that icy exterior crack as the shuffling horror that had been a living man less than twenty fours ago glares at her with something like hatred in its wormy eyes.

Martin takes another step.

No, you fool! The Voice of the Other. You cannot allow him to kill her. We will lose this opportunity, and the Midnight Club will set loose their hounds upon you! Stop him!

He’s tempted to refuse. Mercedes is stepping back, but she cannot escape. Martin is blocking the door.

“Reaper!” Mercedes does not beg. He has to grant her that.

For a moment, he stares at the two of them, weighing his options.

“Martin, stop. Leave her alone.”

Martin groans.

“Martin, stop.”

As though bound by invisible chains, the zombie halts. He glares balefully at Mercedes, but he makes no move to attack her.

“Martin, step away from the door.”

Reluctantly, the dead man shuffles away from the door to stand beside Dalton.

Mercedes closes her eyes and takes a slight breath. When she opens them, her voice is steady and she looks at Dalton as though nothing had happened. “I’ll be back tomorrow with some books about necromancy. With luck, no one will miss them for days.”

“All right.”

“Do you need food? Are you hungry?”

He has not eaten for almost a day. Gregor had not offered him food, cryptically saying that he would have to learn to feed himself now. “I’m fine.”

He is hungrry. Ravenous, in fact. But the thought of food nauseates him. He does not know what he needs, but he knows that his sustenance will no longer be conventional.

“I’ll see you tomorrow then. They may not ask questions here, but be careful and don’t go out unless you have to. It won’t be long before someone reports your disappearance, and then things will get complicated …”

“Good night, Mercedes.”

“Good night, Reaper.” She smiles, but there is no humor to it. “Sweet dreams.”

Dalton almost laughs at that. His life has become the stuff of nightmares, and he does not expect to ever dream again …

Soon, the Other tells him.

“Soon?”

Yes. Once night has fully fallen, we will go out … and you will FEED …

I had this thought while playing Spider Blue today.

How would the players feel about an AT based in Longbow or the Paragon Police Dept?

Start off small, and rise up to be a Warden or even a Ballista? Be a super powered Cop like Blue Steel ...

Hit level 38 and too Power Surge on my Elec/Elec Brute.

On my Elec/Elec Scrapper I didn't use it all that much so I think I only put two slots in it.

On a Brute, depending on what I face, I don't expect to use it a lot, but probably more than I have on my Scrapper.

Here's my question: how many slots should I put into it, and could someone recommend a relatively cheap IO set that I could put in it. (I don't have a ton of Infamy on this Brute, and probably not more than a couple hundred million on all my Villains spread across various servers ...)

So today while I was going through the process of logging on my toons for badges I took my Level 22 Ice/Storm Troller out. I had gotten her to SO Level and gotten her sos during the Valentine's Day event but hadn't taken her out for a spin yet to try her SO-level awesomeness.

And it WAS awesome!

I just tackled some white conning Freakshow by myself, and she did GREAT. It took me forever to do it, but my endurance use wasn't unmanageable and it was a blast to so totally own them.

With Hurricane, I can see this set working well teamed with a Blaster.

I'd really like to do some teaming with her and see what she could REALLY do.

I wonder if new issues are harder now due to customer expectations?

Maybe the Devs feel that we expect so much in an Issue that they just can't produce it in a 4 x a year timeframe?

And the low hanging fruit has probably already been picked.

Offhand, I can only think of two things that the Devs could add post Going Rogue that might generate a lot of buzz in the game if not the gaming public as a whole:

1. New travel powers.

2. Cross server teaming.


My own hunch about the new Incarnate system is that the amount of effort it will take to advance in it will mean that most of the players never see it.

Hi, guys.

I've got a couple of Level 50 Villains, but only my first one did Villain Content all the way to 50. The second wound up doing pretty much 35-50 in RWZ because I was getting pretty aggravated fighting Arachnos and Longbow on a Mace/Fire Brute.

I've done Ghost Widow and Scirroco's (sp?) Patron Arcs. I do eventually want to do the other two.

What's your favorite Post 35 Villain Story Arcs and Contacts? I want to see if there's something I haven't done yet that I might enjoy Villainwise.

I personally wish that we could add costume emblemes to Kheldian alt-forms and Granite for Tanks/Brutes.

At least that way people could tell my Stone Tank from someone else's ...

I'm grateful we can actually change the color of the thing, but is there any chance we could someday get a chance to change more about the look of it?

Say, replace it with the Meat Doctor backpack?

I'm not asking to have different powers. I just want the option to make it look like something else. (If I'm going to be a Destined One myself I should be able to remove the symbol of Arachnos and place my OWN symbol on my backpack at least ...)

For the Dark Reflection Arcs.

My villain felt like a real villain with schemes of his own being respected as being a dangerous, powerful individual.

My hero got a chance to be a real hero, and I got the closest thing to a cut scene featuring one of my own characters ...

And not only that, this arc was written with a thorough knowledge of the background lore of the game. Protean even mentioned Dauntless for gosh sakes!

Well done, Devs! Well done indeed!

Same thing for me.

I have two accounts. Ran them on two different computers. One on Windows Vista and one with Windows 7. Both had reset to default colors on powers on everything but the default costume slots.

Is there a particular day or time where you can get on a Mothership Raid?

I want to get the Vanguard outfit for my Empath/Psi Defender, and he's just not making a lot of progress in the Vanguard missions.

I took an Elec/Elec Scrapper to 50 and had such a blast with it that I turned around and made an Elec/Elec Brute. The Brute just hit 32.

He's fun.

On my Scrapper I very rarely used Power Surge, so I only put two slots in it.

Is Power Surge worth slotting as a Brute?

The one thing I know I'd like to do with him someday is that I'd like to Tank the Lady Grey TF with him, though I would appreciate any input anyone has about how he'll function in other SFs.

Okay, so everyone knows that Posi's wedding gift to Manticore and Sister Pysche was a blender with a transwarp setting.

Strange as it may seem, that is NOT the oddest wedding gift that Posi ever gave anyone.

That honor has to go to Luminary. (For those of you who do not know, the android Luminary was built by Posi to replace the retiring human Luminary upon the occasion of his marriage. Luminary was supposedly built with the first Luminary's powers, but looking like his bride.)

Yes, really.

Personally, I'm blaming Synapse for this one ...

Hi, BP. Welcome to the forums in your official capacity!

Here are a few things that I've thought about that might be cost effective.


1. Does COX have its own You Tube Channel?

2. How about advertising on various websites like Fanfiction.net, Newsrama, or any other online places that sells comics? "You like reading about super heroes and villains-- come to COH/COV where you can BE one!"

3. I'm also down with the idea of having COX Mousepads, posters, mugs, etc, but I don't know what kind of budget that would require.

I wonder if this is technically possible?

I've been wanting this capacity for gosh I don't know how many years now ....

Gregor drops him off near the Steel Canyon Paragon University Campus like he’s an unwanted kitten. The Magi Representative drives off without looking back. Dalton finds himself both envying and hating Gregor for his ability to leave this nightmare behind.

Martin crawls out of the earth to crouch beside him. There is just enough of Martin’s face left to recognize the decaying figure for what he is. An occasional groan is the only sound that the zombie makes.

Does he hate me? Dalton wonders. Does he understand that I did this to him?

Fool! The voice of the Other (as he decided to think of it) taunts. He is nothing more than a tool! Your friends, your enemies—all will serve your destiny! Our destiny

He was my friend!

Then you should avenge him. Smooth and slick as a serpent, the words came. When you have learned enough, I will show you how to make his murderers pay. You want that, don’t you, Dalton? You wish to make them pay for what they did to your friend … for what they did to you …

“You must be the man I was supposed to meet.”

The woman is surprisingly youthful in appearance. She looks too young to even be a student here. She is pretty, but not soft. Her eyes are wide and soft, but her mouth is thin, perhaps even cruel. The hand that she offers for him to shake is cold, but strong. “I’m Mercedes Sheldon.”

“Hi.” He’s not used to talking to attractive women. Martin used to laugh at how easily he blushed. “I’m—”

Do not tell her your name, fool!

“I’m—I’m the one that Richardson told you about.”

“I rather suspected that was the case. There can’t be too many Necromancers lurking around the campus.” The smile is frosty. “We shouldn’t stay here. The Legacy Chain is aware that a Necromancer now walks in Paragon City.”

“I haven’t done anything.”

“It’s not what you’ve done. It’s what you are. The Legacy Chain tends to look down on darker magics.” Something about her smile suggests that Mercedes finds that concept amusing. “While your friend is walking around with you, you’re a walking target. You need to dismiss him so that you might move more freely in the city.”

“Dismiss--?”

“Yes. You’ve seen the way he can travel to you no matter what distance is put between you?”

“Yes.” He’s quite sure the sound of decaying hands slipping their way out of moist earth will haunt him the rest of his life even if he never hears it again.

“You can send him away until you need him again.”

“I don’t know how—”

“Magic is all about belief, Necromancer. The gestures. The magic words. The wands or staffs. Those things are tools, props. They allow the spellcaster to get into the proper frame of mind to work his magic—you have to know that the magic will work. You can speak or gesture or do nothing but will it, but you must believe your magic will work. You have to find the key to your magic.”

Listen to her, boy. This is important. There are things this woman can teach you …

“Martin.”

The zombie sways on unsteady legs. There is something like a question in his yellowed eyes.

“You can go, Martin. Rest. Sleep. Go!”

Martin stares at him.

“Go!”

The zombie falls to his knees. “Goodbye.”

For an instant, he lies prone on the ground … then he seems to decay into nothing. The only thing that remains is a scrap of Martin’s blue shirt …

Dalton falls to his knees and touches the earth where his friend had been. He picks up the piece of cloth and clutches it in his hands. “Martin,” he whispers. “Martin …”

Well done, Necromancer. Well done …

“You need a name,” Mercedes said softly.

“I won’t tell you my name.” He’s angry at the woman for what she’s told him, what she’s made him do. He feels like he’s killed Martin again.

“Then I will give you a name.” She frowns for a moment, and then gives him a frosty smile as she looks at the cloth in his hands. “Reaper. I’ll call you Reaper Blue …”

I'm clearing some old arcs on my Empath/Psi Defender, and I'm currently on Unai's "To Save a Thousand Worlds" arc. Last night I auto completed a huge map filled with Psychic Clockwork because it was a kill all.

There are way too many kill all missions in that arc.

If it's an enemy that I enjoy fighting then I don't mind them, but if it's on a map or with a group that I don't particularly enjoy-- I'm looking at you, Oranbega-- then I'll tend to auto kill alls.

And even with groups that I do LIKE fighting, it does get old to have a string of those in a row, especially on the same map ...

I love Melee ATs.

There's just something so fun about standing in the middle of enemies and kicking butt in a major fascination.

That being said, the one melee AT I've never gotten past about 8-10 or so is the Stalker.

I'd like to correct that.

My favorite setting for a Scrapper right now, is Plus 0 Plus 8.

Is there a Stalker set that could do that? If so, what would you recommend?