BlueBattler

Depending on the nature and extent of the superhuman's powers, then I think it'd be a lot harder to capture and intimidate them than most people think.

For instance, if I were a super human with the power of a Superman or Dr. Manhattan and the government tried to tell me what to do, I would just pop into the White House and threaten to depopulate Washington DC starting at the top.

On the other hand, if the Government wished to pay me to do certain things I didn't find morally objectionable-- say lift satellites into orbit or help establish outposts on the moon or Mars ... then I'd be willing to do business.

Okay, I guess it's probably years since I took any of my toons into the shard all the way to the Storm Palace ... maybe two computers ago if I'm guessing right.

One word: WOW!

I saw meteorites striking the big floating Pokemon palace! I heard lightning! It was so much better than I remembered ...

For gosh sakes, Devs, do something! Use that cool zone for SOMETHING besides gathering dust!

Dalton Grimm is praying that he’s gone mad.

It’s the only thing that can save him now. He would give anything to be dreaming, but he knows that he is not dreaming. Therefore, either this is real, or he has gone insane …

He prays for madness like a dying man’s hope of heaven.

But he knows that his prayers will go unanswered. Heaven will never answer HIS prayers. Not now …

Three hours ago, the thing that crouches before him had been his best friend, Martin. They had been walking home after seeing a movie, laughing, talking about girls … and then two Skulls had come out of the darkness at them.

Gesturing, the Skulls forced them into a dark alley.

Martin had immediately put himself before the Skulls and Dalton. That was Martin’s way; he had been looking out for Dalton since they were kids. He had told them that they wouldn’t fight just so long as the Skulls just took their money and left …

The Skulls had shot Martin before he even had a chance to finish.

“Martin!” Dalton had screamed. “Martin!”

The Skulls had laughed at him. Laughed at Martin. “Make him beg,” the one who had killed Martin had said to his companion. “Use the knife! It’s more fun when you use a knife …”

“Martin!”

And Martin stood up!

He was decomposing even as Dalton watched. The stench of rotting flesh almost took his breath away. The eyes … there was nothing of Martin left in those dead eyes.

Martin—the thing that had been Martin—lurched into the Skulls.

His attacks were feeble. If the Skulls had not been so disgusted and frightened, they could have easily torn him to pieces … but they were nearly as horrorstricken as Dalton himself. Shrieking in fear, they had fled for their lives.

And for the last three hours Dalton Grimm has been sitting in the dirt and filth of the alley, staring at the thing that had once been his friend, watching it rot, watching its features decompose until there was absolutely nothing of Martin left to see except the tattered blue shirt it still wore …

Watching, and praying that he had gone mad ...

“Martin?” he asked.

The thing groaned in response.

“He can’t answer you anymore, mate. Zombies aren’t exactly sparkling conversationalists.”

“Zombies?” Dalton asked numbly.

“Please tell me you know what a zombie is.” A man walked into the alley. He was bearded, casually dressed, but something about the way he walked suggested he was not someone to cross.

“I know what a zombie is,” Dalton snapped. “Did you do this?! Did you make Martin into that … thing?!”

The man barked out a laugh. “No, mate. That’s not my gig. I don’t make zombies.”

Martin—the thing that had been Martin—began shuffling towards the man.

“Call him off, mate.” The man didn’t seem afraid at all, but he took a step back. “Zombies stink so. Don’t want to lose my dinner …”

“Call him off?”

“Just do it. We haven’t got all night.”

Do it, a voice whispered in his head. It was a cold voice … it made Dalton shiver just to hear it. He can teach you. Show you what you need to know …

“Martin, stop!”

Martin froze in place.

“Good job there, mate.” The man offered Dalton his hand.

Dalton took it and rose unsteadily to his feet. “Who are you? What happened to Martin?”

“I’m Gregor Richardson, mate. As for your friend there, he died. It happens to all of us.”

“But how did he become a zombie? If you didn’t do it—“

“You know who did it, mate. You’ve known since it happened: you did. Now you can spend the rest of your life trying to deny it, or you can accept what you are and move on. I’d suggest the latter. You’ve got a lot to learn if you’re going to stay alive.”

Gregor Richardson grinned, but there was no humor in it. “Paragon doesn’t take kindly to Necromancers.”

Necromancer, the voice in his head whispered, and there was a kind of unholy joy in it. At long last, a Necromancer …

Something that came up for me today.

Let's say that you had War Witch's job, but were actually lucky enough that you had enough money and staff to run the game exactly as you wanted ... and that you could completely redesign the game engine if necessary to accomplish your goals.

What sort of things would you want to do?

Here are a few of mine.

Use "actors" to play some of the NPCs that we meet elsewhere in the game. Unlike our regular Devs, these people would NEVER break character and could only respond as the character they were RPing ...

So one day you're heading into Faultline and you see Fusionette saying, "Level 16 Blaster looking for a team to help her with some Lost!"

Or maybe Doc Quantum is looking for some heroes to help him run a Posi TF ...

These characters wouldn't have any more powers than regular toons, but still they'd be the "official" NPCs.

To try to spice up Giant Monsters and zone events, I would have Recluse's lieutenants and the Freedom Phalanx respond and actually show up to do battle-- but only after a preset time limit to give people who wanted to fight and win the badge for themselves the chance to do so.

So, let's say that no one shows up to fight the Kraken or Paladin a half hour after they spawn, then we get a zone message saying, "Freedom Phalanx is dealing with Monster X in Zone Z. Civilians should seek immediate cover ..."

And for completing a TF offered by a member of the Freedom Phalanx (or villainous equivalent) you get a one time only temp power that lets you call on them for assistance. This power could NOT be regained through repeating the TF, so you'd have to make sure you really wanted their help the time you called them.

I would also make subtle changes on each server, so they were not identical to each other-- not enough changes to require extra content, but I'd do some work to suggest they were actually alternate realities.

For example, some of the contacts in Triumph (especially lower level) would look different than than they do on Freedom or Virtue. Maybe General Hammond is a black man on Freedom and a woman on Liberty.

Related to that, I would create some "Crisis on Infinite Servers" that would allow cross serving teaming ... it would work by having the heroes and villains from one server being able to meet heroes in villains from another server on a THIRD Server created especially for this purpose.

I would also the the Signature Characters appear in Pocket D From time to time ... so in addition to War Witch you can see Synapse feeding lines to Desperate Guy while Dominatrix is dancing on the bar at one table while Recluse and Statesman are having an arm wrestling contest at a third ...

I think that's about all on my "impossible" list. What about you?

What I remember from the comic was how every heroine in the comic had the hots for Manticore...

Wonder how THAT happened.

Okay, is it just me or is anyone else sensing a bit of couple vibe about those two?

Statesman's involvement in her past, his saving her life which leads her to redemption, their appearance in the video promo together...

I don't know if the Devs have any intention of that, but I just find myself thinking there might be something there ...

After all, per the novels, Marcus Cole was quite the rogue himself before he reformed ...

My Scrapper with the complete outfit took around 5 months to get the whole set, and I ran A LOT of Vanguard timed missions.

To be fair, she was almost never alone on those runs. (I found out later you get far more merits solo than you do when teaming.)

I was only able to run one Mothership Raid, and I did the Lady Grey TF with her.

On one hand, I kind of like the effort it took and I think I appreciate the outfit more because of that. On the other hand, thematically, it seems to me that it'd make more sense that you get awarded the Vanguard Outfit if you complete the entire Lady Grey TF. (How much more can you do for Vanguard than that?)

I LOVE the Vanguard outfits.

I spent months getting the full outfit and costume change emote on one character and I'm almost halfway there in terms of having the Vanguard merits on another.

(Seriously, if you have never gotten the costume emote, consider it or ask someone to show it to you. I think it's one of the neatest costume change emotes in the game. Even if you don't want the outfit, get the emote. I think it's just THAT good.)

Anyone else really like the Vanguard gear?

Someday in the future, maybe they can offer rewards for facing other factions of enemies in the game. Maybe the PPD can grant special costume pieces for doing Radio missions or maybe the Praetorian costume pieces will be earned in a fashion similar to Vanguard stuff ...

Freakshow used to be my very favorite enemy to fight, and I still enjoy them. They're visually interesting, and I just love their personalities.

Since RWZ opened, I have found myself enjoying fighting Rikti most of all. Mostly, because I like earning the Vanguard merits. It took me months, but I finally earned enough to get the whole outfit and the Costume Change emote for my Fire/WP Scrapper. (Only got to do one Mother Ship Raid on her; rest were doing the Arcs and Timed Missions.)

I like fighting the Lost too-- they have some of the neatest looking characters in the game IMO.

I like Carnival of Shadows when I'm on something that isn't held to death by the Bosses or punched to oblivion by the Strongmen.

The only thing I like about Malta are the Titans. They have WAY too much stun on their side. (Once had a blaster who popped a breakfree after being stunned-- and he went BACK to being stunned when the breakie wore off-- the stun lasted LONGER than the lowest breakfree!)

What's your favorite enemy and why?

I recently took my Elec/Elec Scrapper up to 50, and he's been one of the most fun characters I've ever played-- in fact, my friends are probably sick of me talking about how much fun I'm having with the set.

So, I was thinking about actually working on an Elec/Elec Brute.

How do they compare to Scrappers? I've been running my Scrapper at Plus 0 Plus 8, and he's been pretty good at what I'm tossing at him. LOVE fighting Rikti.

How's an Elec/Elec Brute going to do?