Doctor Vivian

Welcome back to Guardian, MN!

I wish you'd been here for the big 3.5 Billion event this past Saturday!

And GRATZ on the big loss! That takes real dedication!

-- Vivian

All of the images in this review can be clicked on to be viewed at high resolution in a separate window.

Hello, Everyone! Welcome to the Official Review of the Event!

As the previous year's event had locked out Atlas Park due to overpopulation, and some contestants were not able to get in and strut their stuff, this year's event was held in Kings Row.

There were no lockouts this year -- everyone was able to get in and compete. Also, many felt that by changing the venue from Atlas Park, it kept the competition free of "hop on" contestants who tend to interrupt proceedings.

Prior to commencement of the Event as well as during the Judging, there were various minor prizes awarded (such as the EARLY BIRD PRIZE, which was 2 Million for the first Contestant to Arrive at the Event Location, and 1 Million to both #2 and #3 as well), plus an entertaining Trivia Game with prizes of 1 Million to 5 Million apiece across several questions.

As the event had been promoted in the forums and also in broadcasts across all of the servers for five weeks prior, some of CoX's most creative and fashionable costume designers showed up to compete for the ten categories of prizes.

The Costume Event was to be judged by a panel of 20 SG Judges -- two per category. A photo of some of the Judges is below:



The judging went quickly and smoothly, and soon the entire group adjourned to Pocket D for the Awards Ceremony.




The Costume Contest awarded 2 Billion in Prizes across ten Costume Categories. The winners of these categories were:

-- Texas Steel & Mrs. Tex won "Best Dynamic Duo", 100 Million each!



-- Ancalime of Rivendel won "Best Fantasy" and 200 Million!



-- Electra Voltara claimed the title of "Sexiest Female" and 200 Million!



-- Sgt. Taylor Jones was awarded "Sexiest Male" and 200 Million!



-- Fire of Liberty won "Best Retro" and 200 Million!



-- Bronze Guard took "Best Cyborg" and 200 Million!



-- Fire Kinetic was awarded "Best Non-Human" and 200 Million!



-- E'lan claimed the title of "Best Casual" and 200 Million!



-- Blood of Ra was awarded "Most Intimidating" and 200 Million!



-- McPeaceBringer took "Most Comical" and 200 Million!



The second stage of the event was a series of six PvP arena events with a total purse of 1.5 Billion (250 Million per match) -- six Timed Battle Royales across a variety of weight ranges, from Level 5 Straw Weight up to full Super Heavyweight bouts of Level 50s going toe-to-toe!





Two heroes proved their skills superior that day, claiming several victories across all weight ranges from 5 to 50!

-- Petrifier won 3 Matches, claiming 750 Million in prizes!



-- Ice Virus won 2.5 Matches (one tie), claiming 625 Million!



-- Brainfreeze won Half a Match (tied with Ice Virus) for 125 Million!



Congratulations once again to all the winners, and thanks to everyone for coming to the Event and helping Earthclan Elite celebrate its ascension into the Ranks of Guardian's Top 10!

For those that missed the event, there's always next year! See you then!

-- Vivian

As in -- TOMORROW -- 3 PM Pacific!

Tomorrow! The Big Event is TOMORROW! Don't miss it!

Only two days left!!!

I'm sorry there's a chance you're going to miss out!

Hopefully there will be a ton of coverage of the event... 3.5 Billion is a BIG contest!

I hope you can make it -- fingers crossed for luck!

Keep polishing and tweaking until the final day -- you can do it!

I suggest getting to the Zone and Area of the Contest a little early to prevent being locked out if the Zone fills up from too many contestants!

With 3.5 Billion in prizes, there's going to be a pretty massive turnout!

Just ONE WEEK to go until the big event!!!

Exactly 14 days to go until the big event!!

Great work, MM! I was really laughing a lot!

This all brings me back to an earlier thought I had posted in the Suggestions area, when AE had just come out and AE Babies had not yet made an appearance on the scene, that I thought to share with everyone here, with the intent of hopefully spurring constructive debate.

Basically, at the time I was thinking of ways to stop the immensely heightened level of farming that was taking place, as well as pointing out some things about the AE system that just didn't make any sense. Correcting the latter would also fix the former -- killing two birds with one stone. Little did I know that it would have killed three birds -- had it been implemented, AE Babies would never have come into existence.

In-game, and in-character, the AE Complex is offering its customers a virtual experience. In other words, players are being virtualized (a la TRON) and are experiencing adventures within the AE computer system. Since this is the case, why would their actions in the virtual game world of the AE computer earn them Influence in the "real" world of Paragon City? Why would it earn their Super Group Prestige? And why on earth would they get Recipes and Salvage? (from Dev Choice missions)

Any XP users of AE get should be a fraction of normal XP, since it's a virtual world -- basically, a training experience, a la the "Danger Room". There is something indefinable that is lost... perhaps the element of actual danger? And certainly -- since heroes who are defeated in combat are not using the Medical Transporter System, but rather are just being dumped out of the AE System and re-materialized as hale as they were when they went in, why would they suffer "debt"?

I proposed that users should only receive 1/4 the normal amount of Experience one would gain in an actual (i.e., non-MA) mission, and no debt for being defeated. It made no sense that playing MA missions awards Prestige or Influence, and certainly not drops, either from an in-game or an out-of-game perspective. I felt, and proposed, that these rewards be removed entirely from AE.

Out-of-Game, by removing Influence and Prestige and Drops ENTIRELY from the AE System, the Devs would also completely remove the Farmers and Grinders from the system. Farmers will go only to the places where they can farm for the influence that they sell through their pay sites. If AE didn't offer it, then they'd go back to RV, or somewhere else. Similarly, if the amount of experience earned through AE missions was significantly less than that of normal game content, the Grinders and Power-Levellers would go back to using their demon farms and XP-turned-off Level 46 bridges or what-have-you -- but at least they would not be clogging up the AE building trying to power-level one another.

My thought was that if these changes were implemented, it would leave the AE System exactly what it was meant to be -- a venue where players can create, share and experience user-generated content in a safe, "virtual" venue that does not at all impact the "outer" world of CoX. Where there is no grinding, no griefing, and no farming. Just pure storytelling, and the enjoyment that comes from experiencing it.

What think you all?

-- Vivian

Only three weeks remaining!

Don't wait until the last minute to get that new look ready for the Contest!