Bubbawheat

Hero tip: Never carry a bulky wallet, it affects your aerodynamics.

Hero tip: Always wear clean underwear

Hero tip: tear-a-way capes, you'll thank me later.

Hero tip: Spend the extra on the velvet-lined mask, it's worth it.

Graphs!

April votes


Total points


By the way, really looking forward to posting the pieces anonymously for May, and eliminations in June. Things are starting to get exciting!

Voting is closed, the results are in. The winner for this month is: Lousy Day! Congratulations!

Full results - hopefully correct this time.

1st: Lousy Day
2nd: Liz
3rd: Christopher Robin
4th: Defiance Jones
5th: Battlewraith
6th (tie): Darth Delicious
6th (tie): Tartyrsause



Points standings

Christopher Robin: 79 points
Battlewraith: 67 points
Defiance Jones: 62 points
Lousy Day: 59 points
Henri: 57 points
Darth Delicious: 54 points
Tartyrsause: 54 points
Airhead: 48 points
Techbot Alpha: 34 points
Liz: 21 points

Reminder: Only one more day to vote until the deadline!

You could always slot your Lore slot, but never summon them - for the Incarnate shift.

Yet another update, finally decided to try my own hand at planning a build. I'm not sure how well I did on this try. It seems to do several things moderately well, there's some good +damage, +recharge, and a bit of +melee defense and +Psi def/res too. I think this is a good start, and I'm already maybe 1/3 of the way there as far as what I currently have. Am open to suggestions on how to tweak this, or if there's anything I'm overlooking that would be a great help.


Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.94
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Burnt Matchstick: Level 50 Magic Tanker
Primary Power Set: Fiery Aura
Secondary Power Set: Fiery Melee
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Speed
Ancillary Pool: Pyre Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Blazing Aura -- Sciroc-Acc/Dmg(A), Sciroc-Dmg/EndRdx(36), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(50), Sciroc-Dam%(50)
Level 1: Scorch -- C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg(A), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx(3), C'ngImp-Dmg/Rchg(3), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(5), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(5), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(7)
Level 2: Fire Shield -- ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), ImpArm-ResDam/Rchg(7), ImpArm-EndRdx/Rchg(9), ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(9), ImpArm-ResDam(11), ImpArm-ResPsi(11)
Level 4: Healing Flames -- Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx(A), Dct'dW-EndRdx/Rchg(13), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg(13), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(15), Dct'dW-Heal(15), Dct'dW-Rchg(17)
Level 6: Fire Sword -- Mako-Acc/Dmg(A), Mako-Dmg/EndRdx(17), Mako-Dmg/Rchg(19), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(19), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(21), Mako-Dam%(21)
Level 8: Combustion -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(36), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(37), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(37), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37), Oblit-%Dam(40)
Level 10: Consume -- Efficacy-EndMod(A), Efficacy-EndMod/Rchg(34), Efficacy-EndMod/Acc/Rchg(34), Efficacy-Acc/Rchg(34), Efficacy-EndMod/Acc(36)
Level 12: Plasma Shield -- TtmC'tng-ResDam/EndRdx(A), TtmC'tng-ResDam/Rchg(23), TtmC'tng-EndRdx/Rchg(23), TtmC'tng-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(25), TtmC'tng-ResDam(29), TtmC'tng-EndRdx(29)
Level 14: Boxing -- Empty(A)
Level 16: Tough -- ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(27), ImpArm-ResDam(48), ImpArm-ResPsi(50)
Level 18: Burn -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(46), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(46), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(46), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(48), Oblit-%Dam(48)
Level 20: Build Up -- Empty(A)
Level 22: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 24: Super Speed -- Zephyr-ResKB(A), Winter-ResSlow(31)
Level 26: Fiery Embrace -- Empty(A)
Level 28: Fire Sword Circle -- Sciroc-Acc/Dmg(A), Sciroc-Dmg/EndRdx(31), Sciroc-Dmg/Rchg(31), Sciroc-Acc/Rchg(33), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(33), Sciroc-Dam%(33)
Level 30: Temperature Protection -- S'fstPrt-ResKB(A)
Level 32: Rise of the Phoenix -- Empty(A)
Level 35: Incinerate -- C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg(A), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx(42), C'ngImp-Dmg/Rchg(42), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(43), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(43), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(43)
Level 38: Greater Fire Sword -- T'Death-Acc/Dmg(A), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx(39), T'Death-Dmg/Rchg(39), T'Death-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(39), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(40), T'Death-Dam%(40)
Level 41: Char -- Lock-Acc/Hold(A), Lock-Rchg/Hold(42)
Level 44: Melt Armor -- AnWeak-DefDeb(A), AnWeak-Acc/DefDeb(45), AnWeak-Acc/Rchg(45), AnWeak-DefDeb/EndRdx/Rchg(45)
Level 47: Fire Ball -- Empty(A)
Level 49: Weave -- DefBuff-I(A)
Level 50: Cardiac Partial Core Revamp
Level 50: Pyronic Partial Core Judgement
Level 50: Reactive Partial Radial Conversion
Level 50: Warworks Partial Core Improved Ally
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Gauntlet
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 4: Ninja Run
Level 2: Swift -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Health -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- Efficacy-EndMod(A), Efficacy-EndMod/Rchg(25), EndMod-I(27)

Build update and bump so I can find this easier. Current plan is to fully slot everything that's not changing, that way respeccing will be much easier. Definitely giving up [Breath of Fire] and [Temperature Protection] to pick up [Weave] and... not sure.

Also wondering if it's much of a difference for [Healing Flames] to be slotted with 5 Doctored Wounds and a heal instead of heal/end to get that extra little bit of healing instead of 1.26% Psi resist. Suppose maybe every little bit of Psi resist helps? Where an extra 10-20 points of healing might not? Especially if I go at least 2x Crushing Impacts and at least 1x Impervium Armors?


Current in-game build pulled from Titan Sentinel:

The top 3 are safe no matter what. If everyone uses their safety net, then no one gets eliminated.

This will of course change to 2 and then 1 as the field gets narrowed down. And some months may eliminate more than 1 if needed.

Turning to my wife as usual for her picks:

1) Lousy Day
2) Liz
3) BattleWraith

PS. I think it's funny that shortly after Frozen Death changed his forum name to his dA name that we get someone else that goes by two names.

I've decided to allow Liz into the competition. If I had stuck by the rules I had set up from day one, there would be 2 entries total this month. DD missed January, Lousy Day missed March, Tartyr and Defiance Jones were past the deadline. Things change over the course of several months, so the rules have to adjust as well. I've always envisioned this as a friendly competition, and I like to see as much art come in as possible. Anyone joining this late will be at a *severe* points deficit, and will have to rely on submitting a top 3 piece to be safe from elimination, everyone who has been participating has at least one "safety net" in place, and can stretch that out if they play their cards right. Next month should be interesting, and things should get very interesting come June.

I will say, however, that once eliminations are involved, I promise to be very strict on the rules. So, if you see any problems with them that I may have missed, be sure to let me know.

Unfortunately they hit a bug and postponed the merger for a bit. But hopefully it will be much sooner than the end of summer still, and I look forward to teaming up with some EU mates. There will probably be at least two new Burnt Matchsticks as well.

And as promised, the latest episode of On Your M-Arc is live! #7 The Rise and Demise or Otherwise of Tekna Logik #402506 by @Coolio

As usual, I'd love to hear comments about the video. What's your favorite part? What do you think I can still improve on. Personally, my favorite part is the patrols montage, and I think I'm getting better at the speaking part of this every time. I also edited the heck out of the audio this time, the original audio was 11:30 mins, and it's been cut down to 6:43. It's a little choppy in some places, but I think I did a passable job.

Enemies will downgrade their level range, but they will not upgrade their level range. I don't know the exact level ranges, but let's say Gold Brickers are levels 10-30, and Malta is 40-50, you can force your level range to be level 20-30. The Gold Brickers will be in range, and Malta will be dropped down to the level range. If you made your level range 30-40, then the Gold Brickers would only be level 30.

Of course, Malta are already difficult at level 50, and they are even more difficult at level 20 where you don't have as many power to be able to deal with them.

My experience with it. I haven't tried Freedom, but it think Freedom and Virtue are the only servers where you could actually use the LFG with mixed results. I've used it a couple times successfully, but I also had to sell the heck out of it in global chat channels, which is practically the same as forming my own group, except I had no idea how many members I had at any given time.

The anonymous theme has two parts to it. Part 1 is the artist being anonymous - I'm suggesting trying different styles, and I would suggest leaving the signature off the submitted piece (you can sign it and place it on your dA page *after* voting is over, of course). But aside from submitting to me so I can post it without the artist's name, there are no other *requirements* for the artist anonymity.


Part 2, the anonymous theme within the piece is completely up to your discretion on how to interpret it. Using the fact that almost every hero and villain is in costume which creates its own sort of anonymity is a perfectly valid concept that fits with the theme.

Sounds good to me, these current late-comers will be docked 5 points. And remember, starting in June, you can use 15 points to submit past the deadline.

The 7th year anniversary is making me feel quite generous. I'll allow it. But come June, no more Mr. Nice Guy!

U-stream highlights

STEAMPUNK BOOSTER:

cog/bits aura

Steampunk BACKPACKS - and they're animated (showed pic)

Steampunk rifle (showed pic)

animated victorian decor aura - victorian designs that move (showed pic)

new face technology - for more detailed faces. (showed pic)

Steampunk mechanical wings (showed concept art)

Travel power - Steam jump (showed video)

Oil geyser costume change emote

due June 1

Server Merge:

Passport badge will not be re-activated at launch, but there will likely be a way to gain it at some point in time.

Account reactivation and a global rename token will happen.

all trial account global names will be renamed to "trial####"

May's closed beta is *not* issue 21 - new trials will be 20.5

It was a long day on Striga Isle. Selena never liked zombies much, let alone gun-toting zombies. But they weren't the real threat. The Warriors, specifically Heracles. In her mind, his name wasn't very fitting. He may be strong, but Heracles wouldn't show his strength by lifting a ring off an old woman.

Into the warehouse she went, arrows and ice flying fast and furious. Selena could only run so fast, so she could only rely on the cold she could create to keep the Warriors and their weapons away from her skull. Later, her friends would call her a fool to take on a mission like this alone, but the element of surprise was on her side. She brushed a stray hair away from her face. Her hair buns were usually held tight, but under the sweat and stress of battle they had come loose. It was only a matter of time before she got to the back of this warehouse and the one man she was truly looking for.

He was larger than she expected, and hit her fast like a ton of bricks. But instead of crumpling to the floor, she tucked into a roll and used her sturdy longbow to spring herself away a safe distance and immediately fire off a glue arrow. It didn't slow him much, but enough for her to stay a few steps ahead as she fired arrow after arrow, ice blast after ice bolt. She just needed to stay one step ahead... until... until... was he even slowing down? She was partly in awe of his pure strength, but then she noticed him stumble. It was only slight, and he recovered quickly. But she saw it. At that moment she knew the day would be hers.

And after what seemed like hours, all the blood and sweat, arrows and ice, Cerulean Archer proved victorious. She easily found the small ring, what seemed like just a trinket. A precious little circle that meant so much to one woman, but was just another paycheck to Heracles. But not anymore. He would remember that ring, his defeat. And so would Selina.