Megajoule

Fast typists for the win.

At this point, I would like to see any mission/arc awarded DC status. Give us a sign that you're still maintaining this (highly visible) category.

The use of s vs. z in certain words is one of the distinctions between American and British English (the best known one being words like "colour"). It is correct either way, depending on which side of the pond you're on.

I majored in English in college (because I liked it, not because it would get me a good job, and that was my mistake). I am biased toward people with good spelling, grammar, and use of punctuation, like myself. I don't go around correcting people in Broadcast or LFT tells who don't.

However, in a text-based medium, the kind of spelling, vocabulary, etc etc we use is how we present ourselves and our ideas to others - the ONLY way. You've already experienced this personally. How you communicate in text is how others form their first impression of you, like they would from your clothes and physical appearance in RL. It behooves you to make it a good one.

I'm constantly frustrated by people who assert that they don't "have to" worry about using accepted/formal/correct spelling, etc in their online presence, because "it's just the internet." Ironically, it seems to me that most of those who argue thus have never known a time when there was NOT an internet, and they were not immersed in it. The internet cannot be both unimportant and an increasingly large portion of our social and business lives at the same time. And if the internet does matter, then so does presenting yourself well on it.

I can barely imagine what it's like to only "dress up" (as if for a job interview) one's typing for certain things - school papers, perhaps. What you see here is my normal mode of "speech" online; I have to make an active effort to "dress down" when I wish to imitate and/or mock chatspeak.

One more thing: You mentioned that your character is vulgar and quick-tempered. A lot of people are going to have negative reactions to that, in-character AND out of character. So if that's the kind of character you choose to play, be aware that she (and you) may end up lonely and with very few true friends. If you're cool with that, game on.

I agree with Hydrophidian on all points.

(How's that for "words I never thought I'd say"? )

Great advice, Red.

As someone who used to spend a lot of time on MUCKs and MUSHes - IMO, 2L is a lot like those just with graphics. Which means occasional islands of neat building and/or coding surrounded by vast tracts of trash and idiocy. Lots of people getting together to talk, play mini-games, show off their flashy imaginary clothing, and pretend to bump the naughty bits of their pretty and/or furry avatar together with other like-minded sorts.

It's not the Future, though it's a decent rendition of the Metaverse for this time and tech level. Mostly what it is is a whole bunch of people stumbling around without a clue, trying to fulfill certain basic desires - companionship, money, sex. And isn't that basically what real life is?

Sounds to me like the way to balance the Leader would be to put (almost) ALL the offense into his powers, and (almost) ALL the defense into the (secondary) pets, who may not even get attacks past Brawl or Revolver or whatever. One blaster and his squad of buffers/ablative meat shields.

Great idea, poor implementation.

I've adopted a "wait and see" attitude myself. (I'm a 5-year vet, I'm in this for the long haul.) The recent nerf has been described as a stopgap, almost emergency solution, and I'm hoping for a better one. As someone I play with noted recently, this studio has a habit of coming up with three fixes for a problem and then applying all three, just to make sure. There's a lot of overcorrecting, with the result that sometimes they steer into the walls.

After we strike a balance there, the rating system desperately needs an overhaul for the reasons others have noted. The Dev's Choice category needs to be either given the staff support it requires or be scrapped. It would be nice if they had enough people to also detail someone to go through and delete all the defunct farms, but I'm not holding my breath.

My biggest fear is that all of these things are going to be ignored until after GR comes out, in which case the AE buildings may end up like the arenas - monuments to a feature that never really fulfilled its promise.

If you're still looking, I'd like to recommend my arc (from my sig) "Glory Days". Story based, mostly drama with touches of humor, and only one defeat-all (at the end, on a small bank map; all the maps are small or medium).

QJ did have, I think, one salient point: what are you, Donna, doing to adapt? Or are you just hoping that others will post their new farming strategies and give you free xpies, I mean advice without you having to do anything but stand next to the door?

In the specific case cited by NightshadeLegree, I would agree with whoever guessed that the 50 was only there for the Safeguard (and the badge and/or power that went with it) and wanted to get there ASAP. Still, given that the guy with missions at the appropriate level is doing them a favor, one would think they'd try to be a little considerate of the lowbies that are making this possible...

While I believe I understand the OP's motivations - I think he just wants to get way way WAY out in front of something that is inevitable (in a "decades" scale) - I still think it's a little premature.

Another great idea with poor/incomplete implementation and support, yeah.

Ultimately, it is the Devs' game, that you are paying to play. They can change it however they like, including to discourage certain types of play they don't like. Based on my reading of the terms of service, your only right or option at that point is to stop giving them money.

It is my guess that the Devs have, as part of their game design, a certain rate at which they would like characters to advance. There is probably some margin of tolerance in this. Hitting 50 inside of a day is probably outside that margin.

In the end, it really does come down to "because the Devs say so." Whether you find that a satisfying answer is not relevant. They don't have to give you a reason. They don't have to listen to your arguments. If you don't like that, stop giving them money.

I was going to kill off MJ sometime this year (per Three Views of Atlas Park, not that anyone is likely to remember that anymore). The idea was that the Hero's Journey is a hard and lonely one and often leads to dying before your time. In her case, it was going to be a combination of Heroic Sacrifice and plain bad luck: blowing away most of an alternate Nemesis Army force with a really big Nova, then being shot by a sniper while she was powerless. I wasn't really looking forward to it, and I let someone talk me out of it.

Hydrophidian: I have the story you posted about that, saved to my HD. Definitely a tear-jerker.

Dominators? What the heck do they want or need with a melee set?

While I'm sure I'll get around to making new characters, so far I'm just tweaking the ones I have.

Miss Megajoule (see icon) got her bubbles changed from aqua to pure blue, to fit with her blasts and costume.
V-Max got his Super Reflexes FX turned off (at least for now) and the new Physical Perfection power from Body Mastery.
Tempted to give the latter to VERB too, but his respec is likely to be trickier.
Thinking of removing the indigo from X's Cloaking Device, but that's all.

And a few others, but you get the idea.