Coulomb2

September 1st;

Perturbation has been working at clearing all of the missions from the “native” 45-50 contacts (the ones who’ll actually give me missions, rather than having to go through Oro). All of Harvey’s are cleared, and yesterday I finished the last of Crimson’s. Now I’m working through Unai’s arcs so I can save Maria’s for last.

Why? Because I really want to enjoy all the AV goodness, and her arc “reset” from played to not played for me when States died.

Interesting side note: I actually made a free account and literally took a claws scrapper from 1 to level 40 so that I could dual box and give Pert access to all of the safeguard missions – so he could get every safeguard badge. In doing so, I found out that you can actually get all of those temp powers a second time (the first time being when I took him through all of the Mayhems! Cool, huh?). I also wanted to see what the game play was like on a free account – but perhaps I’ll reminisce about that some other time.

Anyway, here are some excerpts from Perturbation’s diary. Please don’t tell him I stole it. Or that I told you all he has one. I’m pretty sure that wouldn’t go well for me…

…

So anyway, I explored this dimension where Nemesis had taken over the world, and now I was being sent back to destroy any fueling stations there so that his robots would run out of “juice” and expire – hopefully saving any freedom fighters there. Hey, why not earn the adoration of *several* worlds on my way to power, eh?


Poor, poor bad guys. You just *happened* to be there right when a villain masquerading as a hero noticed his Ion Judgment power was recharged. Talk about the wrong place at the wrong time...

Incidentally, before the BAD NEWS, I was doing these missions set to x5, but I’ve now got them set to x1 – time is precious, after all. Still, boy do I feel seriously overpowered at this difficulty. I might consider upping things to x2 to maybe at least get the occasional boss.

So with Nemesis world saved, where does Unai want to send me next?

Uh oh … a bunch of weapon thieves have gated into a storehouse in Bricks. The fact they are *gating* in is the crux of the problem. Time to stop them (and, if possible, confiscate whatever portal tech they’ve got.)

Oh for the love of … Crey’s Folly?! That’s a funny way to get to Bricks. Thank goodness for Mission Teleporter (oh … hey … maybe the 30 minute recharge team version might be a good thing to spend my remaining stipend points on … it’s not like there’s a point in saving them for something new any more…).

Malta. I HATE these guys. No, not for the sappers, who can’t hit me worth a darn. It’s for that one engineer I forgot to punch once in the face who managed to bring down that no XP-having auto turret. I’m amazed at how often I just ignore the stupid thing, and just let it follow me around, bullets ricocheting off my energy shields.

Aw man! They used the portal tech to set up bases in other worlds?! *Sigh* I guess I better do something about that…

Hmm … why do I even have heal inspirations? Nothing can hit me anyway. How about I make some Rages? Yeah … that sounds about right…

Okay, so the first dimension I need to extract Malta from is one ruled by the Devouring Earth.

…

Actually, how about I just destroy all their portal tech and leave? I can always claim I didn’t find anyone there, and leave these Malta idiots to fend for themselves against wave of incoming ambulatory plants, rocks, and crystals. Yeah, I like that idea…

Well, there *is* this Zeus fighting this Devoured. And I *do* break out in hives if I don’t get to hurt at least one thing in every new dimension I visit – so I guess it’s your lucky day Zeus and Devoured!

On to the second incursion. Because, you know, Malta can’t have just one…

Besides, I need to get out of Primal Earth. A whole bunch of people are trying to crash this dimension in protest by collecting in Atlas Park. I think I’d rather be out of the dimension when that happens…

It would appear Malta incursion dimension number two is the Council Empire. Why oh why would you ever invade a dimension where they play the sounds of people marching over the loudspeakers 24-7? Come to think of it, why would you even play the sounds of people marching over the loudspeakers 24-7? Never mind … I’ve got stabilizers to destroy and Malta to strand…

A few stabilizers later (and a few charred Malta from random bouts of Ionic Judgement) it’s on to dimension three, which appears to be ruled by the Family. A few more stabilizers destroyed aaaaand … problem solved!

Yes, yes. I’m Perturbation. Savior of dimensions. Your adoration isn’t necessary … I do this out of the goodness of my heart.

(I didn’t say to *stop* the adoration!)

So now it looks like the Council Empire kidnapped a Portal Corp scientist. HEY! Shouldn’t they be busy with a bunch of “Left Behind” Malta? When did they have time to nab a science dude? *Sigh* Off I go.

At least this time there’s actually Council Empire people in the Council Empire. Sadly, I scour almost half the map for dimensional stabilizers before I remember I’m actually looking for a scientist. That’s probably a good sign that the current beer should be the last of the night…

Well would you look at that. The scientist was actually a Council Empire agent!

Well would you look at that. Some energy cloaked berserker maniac just popped in right next to him and shuffled him off the mortal coil.

HA! And he gave me an incarnate shard to boot! *Sigh* I’m going to miss the little “brighten your day” moments like this…

Jeez, Unai. You’ve *still* got stuff for me to do? It’s like you work for some sort of corporation with access to unlimited dimensions, and you’re trying to ever so slowly help grind some idiot hero in the level 45-49 range up to 50. I think I’m going to put you on “the list” of people who need to be “dealt with” once I’m the ruler of this world. (Or, if that version of myself who kept bothering me a year ago would have me believe, the actual *god* of this world…)

Oh, wait, no. I should have talked to you first. It would appear you only want me to hunt the Devouring Earth. I might consider it – in another two days when I’ve recharged this mysterious ability to just kind of automatically convince you I just did what you asked me to even though I actually thought it was a very tedious and boring request and kind of ignored it…

And, at long last, I’m ready for Maria.

Ah, Maria. I can’t thank you enough for giving me an opportunity to beat the snot out of a whole bunch of people who look *JUST LIKE* this world’s most beloved heroes, and actually EARN goodwill for doing so.

But that’ll be reserved for some other time…

To Be Continued!

Time to join in with the farewell threads, and do something that I'm sure I won't be unique in doing.

I do this for fun, and to show the devs that there will be people enjoying the heck out of their product until they force us off the servers. I also do it because I actually did have an “exit strategy” that I’d planned “implementing” – only now there’s not enough time left for what I’d originally planned.

Like many others here, I have a “do everything” character. My goal was to get all of the story arc souvenirs and badges on both sides of the game on this character, and that goal is almost complete. At that point, I really will have done virtually *everything* the game had to offer – every mission, every trial, every TF, etc.

So my plan was to have one final, extremely extended “hurrah” as my farewell to the game (well, at least as an “unending subscriber”). I was going to create a hero and a villain. Using the ability to turn off XP, I was going to play through *every* mission and arc in the game one last time – my way of saying goodbye to the game I’ve loved for these past eight years. Naturally, I expected that was going to take a while – so I figured I’d still be an active subscriber for quite some time. It was a slow, easy, and (for me) extremely satisfying exit from the game. And I had no intention of really leaving for good. I’d be Premium, and every time new stuff came out, it’d be time to VIP up, enjoy the new content, and then wait for the next batch.

But it seems that isn’t to be the case. So I plan to do the next best thing. I plan to chronicle here (at least until the forums go down) my last days in the game – it’s my way of saying goodbye. I hope those of you that care to read it enjoy…

My story (at least in CoH)

What I’m doing probably could use some context, if you care to read it (if not, don’t worry – I would never be offended you aren’t interested in the story of a relative nobody here on the forums ).

As I indicated in the “unveiling” thread, in real life I’m Christian Aars, a Professor of Physics at Collin College – my training is as an astronomer. (And, by the way, if anyone wants to stay in touch, my e-mail address is christianaars@hotmail.com) Eight years ago, and change, I was a postdoctoral fellow in San Antonio. I’ve loving games and gaming my whole life, and always gravitated to “construction set” type things that let me make my own games. I love what I do, and I would never change it, but if I hadn’t been an astronomer, I would have wanted to design games.

At the time, I was avidly writing modules for Neverwinter Nights, a topic I often discussed with a colleague of mine over lunch. One day he told me he was in the Beta for a superhero-themed MMORPG named “City of Heroes.” I’d never played an MMO before, but after watching him play a few missions in beta, I figured “what the hey.” I picked up a copy of CoH the day it launched and the rest, as they say, is history.

My first character, and my original main was an electric blaster named Coulomb (so now you know where my forum name comes from). Shortly after I started playing, I met the woman who would one day become my wonderful wife. It took a while, but after nine months, she decided she wanted to join me in the game. We created a duo: I was a tanker called Lethal Guardian, and she was the fire blaster Flame Kitten.

It was about that time that I first registered for the forums. Evidently Coulomb had been taken by a player that wasn’t in the game for very long, so I had to settle for Coulomb2 (which later became my original global). While Flame Kitten and Lethal Guardian were just getting started, Coulomb became my first character to reach 50. It was a bittersweet day, since I knew that meant I’d probably be playing my “main” only infrequently now.

As I said before, I’m passionate about games and gaming – and folks, few things bring you more joy than doing something you love with someone you love. As Flame Kitten and Lethal Guardian rose through the ranks, I found myself in one of the happiest times of my life. It didn’t take long before I came to think of Lethal Guardian as my main. So when one of the many global chat server resets of old changed my global to @Lethal Guardian, I didn’t mind. (And now you know why that’s my global – and for that matter why my MA arcs are posted under @Flame Kitten and @Lethal Guardian – my wife graciously offering to host some of my work on her account back when you only had three arc slots.)

And speaking of MA, when it first came out, the devs touted it as an alternate way to level a character to 50. So I decided to do just that – and thus was born Pro Payne, whose journey from level 1 to level 50 in MA I chronicled on the forums (and now you know why I enjoy doing things like this).

Also during this time, I got my first villain to level 50 (a SS/Elec Brute named Lord Galvanic) and decided it was time to create a villain that I would “do everything” with – I’d play every ounce of content villain side; and thus, my Energy/Energy brute Perturbation was born. Once flashback was in the system, I’d intended to make Lethal Guardian (whom I did scads of badge hunting sessions with alongside my wife) my “do everything hero.”

Well, all good things come to an end. After six wonderful years of play with my wife, she got very burned out on CoH and left the game. “Our game” became “my game” again. (She has lots of fond memories of CoH, but never intended to return.) My plans to make Lethal Guardian my “do everything” hero fell through – it just wasn’t the same playing him without Flame Kitten by his side. Fortunately, by that time, Going Rogue had been out for just a bit, and I quickly decided Perturbation would be my “do everything” character for both sides (at least as far as story arcs went). In time, I came to think of him as my "main" - the last character I would ever think of that way.

I set about making him the most powerful character in my stable of characters – spared no (virtual) expense maxing him out as best I could. In time, he became my AV soloer, and the character who could handle virtually any challenge in the game I wanted to pit him against.

A bit over a year ago, I made the final commitment to actually switch sides. I concocted a story for him – he planned to fool everyone into thinking he’d redeemed himself, using Oroborous to travel back in time and “erase” his villainous history (that was my rationale for using the system to visit all of the hero side story arcs). Once he was beloved by the world – and the Well’s new Champion – he would take center stage in fighting off the Battalion and be welcomed as the world’s savior. In short, he hoped to become this world’s Tyrant. (Yeah, not terribly creative, I know, but it at least gave me some justification for becoming heroic.)

I played through every hero side arc, and all of the main task forces.

Almost finished with his grand journey, my plan was to wait for Issue 24 to spend some hero merits on some of the choice new IOs coming out, then return to villainy and start playing through the new stuff that had come out villain side in the last year.

And that’s when the bad news came.

And that’s where this final journey begins – I have a few loose ends to tie up hero side, then we start returning to villainy.

My goals:

Start burning through all of the stuff my PP stipend bought me.

Since some of that will work best on a new character, I *do* intend to try to get a few of my other characters to 50. I might even try to squeeze in one more 1 to 50 run before the end. I intend to record their efforts here as well.

Start using my hordes of incarnate salvage to craft whatever powers I see fit to craft.

Play through all of my MA arcs one last time. Maybe hit some favorates from my Pro Payne days one last time too.

The aforementioned “rack up the new villain arcs” on Perturbation.

And whatever else I can think of…

If you choose to follow along, then – first, thank you – it’s always nice to know something you are doing is entertaining someone else. And second, I hope you enjoy these last months as much as I hope I will.

One final note before I begin… I am aware of the efforts being made to try to save the game. From the bottom of my heart, I’m extremely grateful to all you are making the effort. Nothing would make me happier than this thread ending with an “Oops! I guess the game isn’t going away after all!”

I lied … there’s one more thing. Weekends are time for family and friends for me – I play when I get the chance, but don’t be surprised if this thread only sees updates during the week.

Cheers! Time to log in!

OH! And how could I forget Bubbawheat! Another player that I suspect is long gone ... but whose arcs I loved playing, and who I am eternally grateful for running the Player's Choice contests.

Who knew the last one was going to ... well, be the last one.

(And yes, I've been considering just reposting my earliest arcs just for fun ... it kind of doesn't seem to matter any more that they're *crap*, it'd be fun to play through them one last time before the end...)

There are others I'm sure I've forgotten, but I'll try to update as they pop into my head. It's been a sucky day (for obvious reasons) so hopefully I can be forgiven for my 'appreciation' memory not being razor sharp right now.

I guess we all tell ourselves there'll be more time. But that's just not the case.

I haven't been active that recently, but before I lost the chance, I wanted to thank you all...

(Right or wrong with the spelling, and *absolutely* in no particular order)

PoliceWoman (you'll never know how much I appreciated your cheerful, but brutally honest feedback - I always felt you took the suggestion I made to improve your arcs to heart; the fact you made it to HoF at least gets to be a minor proxy for me... I am so proud of the fact that I got virtually every arc that actually *mattered* to me on your list... that alone shows how much your opinion mattered to me.)

Wrong Number (I can't even begin to pretend what you've gone through. You've been an inspiration for me, both personally, and as an arc writer. You make me wish I'd had the time to fill those empty slots I'd bought years ago... and your arcs are among my favorites!)

FrederickSvanberg (You've got one of my favorate arcs ... who knew you could make me care so much about Ernesto Hess? It's been a pleasure.)

Zamuel (And you get the award for character design ... I don't think I've played an arc where I was wowed so much by the customs as yours... and you had some stiff competition from everybody on this list. And I've never found your "handyman" suggestions lacking, as I spied on them to see if I could find something to help my own arcs.)

Eva Destruction (What can I say? You were the first to review one of my arcs, and I've had so much respect for you since ... plus you've made the most consistent references to other games that I've loved - like it or not, when I return to Star Control from time to time, I will always think of you. And ... although it probably matters very little ... you've got a lock on what the Freakshow should be ... strange what we focus on, eh?)

Clive Dark 5 (I love your posts, I love your arcs, and I'm going to miss seeing your avatar. What more can I say? You've been a wonderful person to know.)

Lazarus (although I doubt you'll even see this, you wrote great stories, constructed great arcs, and created one of the most memorable villain groups I've even had the pleasure of beating the tar out of.)

Mr. Captain Man (Just so that you know ... your six mission, but it's really three missions per arc arc was always one of my favorites ... so *much* neat stuff. Consider your efforts a success.)

Venture (You practiced what you preached ... I might have thought you an exceptionally mean S.O.B. -- but I can't deny I found your arcs absolutely top notch.)

Laser Jesus (Your arcs are on the list of my favorites. I haven't seen you here in quite a while - and I expect you're long gone - but it doesn't change the fact that I got a whole lot of entertainment out of what you put on the M.A.)

Tubbius (What can I say - again with this, eh? You made one of the most memorable characters I interacted with in M.A. And for that I'm very grateful.)

GlaziusF (Guess what? When it was all said and done, you ended up being the one I read the most reviews for. And you never failed to demonstrate in them why I should be using your advice to improve my own arcs. Plus you had some very top notch arcs of your own.)

...

I'm sure as time goes by, I'll remember the egregious mistakes of those I've forgotten to remember here.

And it'll be a long, long time (read: NEVER) before I forget what NC Soft decided would be the best way to continue to make money. It's a shame, for them, that none of it will be coming from me.

Ever again.

Glaz,

For what it's worth, I read your thread a lot, even when I felt no need to respond. Now I wish I had.

Just so that you know: you made a difference for me, and I'm glad you were here to do what you did.

Ditto, MCM. I wish I'd stayed more active. As lame as it sounds, I always told myself "there'd be more time." I guess not.

Is this some sort of bad joke?!

Did this while testing out various options for my newly unlocked Hybrid slot -- Uncommon and Empyrean.

Still, based on the activity here recently, I'm guessing it's getting close to time for a "final results post."

Interesting ... when I'm up to a return to Dark Astoria, I've been toying with the idea of seeing "how bad" trying to get to a Tier 4 would be. Like InOnePiece, I was considering Alpha for that. So it's really neat to see that someone has done it. Hopefully with just a bit more of a break from DA I'll be ready to give it a try.

By the way, InOnePiece, would you happen to have the individual results for the merit rolls? If not, that's fine, but I figured I'd ask.

Aaaand ... with the big influx of data (courtesy of Rodion and InOnePiece), here's where we are now:

1065 rolls total:

814 Commons (76.4%)
191 Uncommons (17.9%)
47 Rares (4.4%)
13 Very Rare (1.2%)

So far, each roll on the component table gives "incarnate progress" of:
Average Thread Value (Standard): 57.65
Average Thread Value (Tier 3): 50.67
Average Thread Value (Tier 4): 48.55

Merit rolls:

72 Astral (83.7%)
14 Empyrean (16.3%)

A roll on the merit table gives "incarnate progress" of: 13.62

Thanks to everyone sticking it out and still providing data, in spite of my current hiatus from running any more DA arcs.

Here's the current data...

And the totals thus far are...

1030 rolls total:

787 Commons (76.4%)
185 Uncommons (18.0%)
45 Rares (4.4%)
13 Very Rare (1.3%)

So far, each roll on the component table gives "incarnate progress" of:
Average Thread Value (Standard): 58.08
Average Thread Value (Tier 3): 50.75
Average Thread Value (Tier 4): 49.08

Merit rolls:

71 Astral (83.5%)
14 Empyrean (16.5%)

A roll on the merit table gives "incarnate progress" of: 13.68

Common drop and Astral Merits.

I intend to continue to gather data and (every few days when warrented) post updates, but I need to take a break from Dark Astoria. Today I just finished this week's run for Gabriel's two empyrean merits and, to be honest, at the moment I've run these missions so much here and in beta that I'm just plain sick of them.

I'm sure I'll be back to DA, but for now, it's break time!

Like I said though, I'm still tracking whatever information gets posted here, and will continue to update every time we've got enough added information to make it worthwhile.

(In gathering data mode)

...Only did a single component roll today (flashback as usual). It was a common.

Update time!

Since my last post, it was another round of Common and Astral.

I credited Hyperstrike with 19 commons and 1 uncommon. The information about merits, though, isn't specific enough for me to use.

And the totals thus far are...

1022 rolls total: (At long last, we've broken 1000!)

780 Commons (76.3%)
184 Uncommons (18.0%)
45 Rares (4.4%)
13 Very Rare (1.3%)

So far, each roll on the component table gives "incarnate progress" of:
Average Thread Value (Standard): 58.34
Average Thread Value (Tier 3): 51.05
Average Thread Value (Tier 4): 49.39

Merit rolls:

69 Astral (83.1%)
14 Empyrean (16.7%)

A roll on the merit table gives "incarnate progress" of: 13.8

In honor of getting 1000+ results (the first step to actually making the statistics at least decent), I've added the current "prediction" of what the actual drop rates are (95% confidence interval):

Common: 76.22% +/- 2.61%
Uncommon: 18.12% +/- 2.36%
Rare: 4.57% +/- 1.28%
Very Rare: 1.45% +/- 0.73%

Common and Astral for me today too.

(Gathering data ... just like before I'll do a full update once we're in the 7-8 component rolls range, or higher...)

Ooo! Always nice to get a good chunk of data!

Today for me was an uncommon and astrals.

And the totals thus far are...

987 rolls total:

747 Commons (75.7%)
183 Uncommons (18.5%)
44 Rares (4.5%)
13 Very Rare (1.3%)

So far, each roll on the component table gives "incarnate progress" of:
Average Thread Value (Standard): 59.33
Average Thread Value (Tier 3): 52.21
Average Thread Value (Tier 4): 50.59

Merit rolls:

56 Astral (80.0%)
14 Empyrean (20.0%)

A roll on the merit table gives "incarnate progress" of: 14.9

Today's runs (all flashbacks) netted me an Uncommon and Astrals.

And the tally thus far...

970 rolls total:

736 Commons (75.9%)
178 Uncommons (18.4%)
44 Rares (4.5%)
12 Very Rare (1.2%)

So far, each roll on the component table gives "incarnate progress" of:
Average Thread Value (Standard): 58.43
Average Thread Value (Tier 3): 51.37
Average Thread Value (Tier 4): 49.46

Merit rolls:

48 Astral (80.0%)
12 Empyrean (20.0%)

A roll on the merit table gives "incarnate progress" of: 14.9

Flashbacks: Common and Empyrean

(I think I'll have enough to justify a full update tomorrow)

Both flashbacks - Uncommon, and Astrals.

(Yes, I'm aware I'm the one who posts the full-fledged updates, but I want more data to collect before that happens ... I generally try to wait for at least 7-8 new "drops" to be reported before a full update. In the meantime, I'll just track what I'm getting just like others participating in the thread.)

Just a friendly reminder to not worry if a couple of days go by without an update ... I do like to let at least some data build up before I update, but I'm still actively keeping track of the drop rate data.

For me, three commons and one rare (all flashback), and two astral rolls.

And the tally thus far...

961 rolls total:

730 Commons (76.0%)
175 Uncommons (18.2%)
44 Rares (4.6%)
12 Very Rare (1.2%)

So far, each roll on the component table gives "incarnate progress" of:
Average Thread Value (Standard): 58.67
Average Thread Value (Tier 3): 51.64
Average Thread Value (Tier 4): 49.71

Merit rolls:

44 Astral (81.5%)
10 Empyrean (18.5%)

A roll on the merit table gives "incarnate progress" of: 14.39

Actually, lately I've been getting the distinct impression that they've more or less forgotten the WST even exists...

I can almost see them coming into work this morning, going...

"Oh crap! We totally forgot we needed to pick some WST's for May!"

"Quick! Copy-paste April's into the queue!"

"But won't they notice May's are the same as April's?"

"Quick! Change which respec trial it is! That'll make it seem different!"

Actually it isn't just the redside WST's - look at the blueside ones too. They're all pretty much a copy of what they were in April...

Since the last update, I've gotten three commons and one uncommon. For merit rolls it's been two empyrean rolls, and one astral roll. Everything is flashback.

As for the update...

And the tally thus far...

954 rolls total:

726 Commons (76.1%)
173 Uncommons (18.1%)
43 Rares (4.5%)
12 Very Rare (1.3%)

So far, each roll on the component table gives "incarnate progress" of:
Average Thread Value (Standard): 58.53
Average Thread Value (Tier 3): 51.40
Average Thread Value (Tier 4): 49.58

Merit rolls:

34 Astral (77.3%)
10 Empyrean (22.7%)

A roll on the merit table gives "incarnate progress" of: 15.84