Nethergoat

lots of mapserving going on this AM, so I only got partway through his offerings.

First mission, a 'save a million hostages' on a big office map stuffed with Vaz.
Blech.
I've avoided them for so long I forgot how wretched they are, but it all came flooding back to me with the first wave of toxic puke & poison slow darts.

Next up, a standard 'stop boss and crew' that could have come straight off the Police radio. Except with more Vaz, which I'd never pick on purpose.

Oh, and now a HUNT! Oh boy! Back to King's Row to mow more grays- thanks, Tristan!

And what's this, now you want me to take this paper I got to the City Rep in Atlas? Oh boy, I bet there's a REALLY COOL dialog waiting for me at City Ha.....Ah hahahahahaha, I crack myself up sometimes!

Now I'm trying to save the city's water supply from poisoning, which is suitably heroic, but the mapserving derailed me after the first spawn. Which was cool- they were guarding a barrel of toxic waste that healed the Vaz and did damage to me, which I thought was cool. Seems like a neat mission, I'm looking forward to clearing it tonight.

And I'm wondering why all the missions I got from this guy sent me to Kings or Atlas?
If it was the old days, when contacts didn't give you their # until it was too late to do you any good, I've have been enraged at having to run back to Skyway and halfway across the zone to pick up my next boring hunt or scanner mission equivalent.

Also, being able to fly is a big help against the Vaz. On most maps it lets you neutralize their brutal melee damage & takes the exploding guys out of the mix. I picked up hover at six (thematic choice- the Bee has to fly & I've already bought and attached her insect wings), but the raptor pack would serve anyone in good stead.

I took a screen of a particularly well-populated hallway, I'll try and remember to post it when I finish the arc tonight.

Why don't the frustrated duelists just join forces against the Man, beat him down and then go back to thrashing one another.

Am I missing something?

random roll is random?

that was a blast.

And also educational!

see, who says learning can't be fun!

my two best blue side farmers are my fire/rad controller and my fire/ice blaster.

the controller was pretty tedious pre-imp, though.

this thread is funny.

if you're just going by in-game time forget playing the game, just play the market.

log in, fiddle for a few seconds, log off.
it is by far the most time efficient way to make inf.

Much better!

TY sir, grade adjusted.

see Cat, this is what I'm talkin' about! =P

GRATZ to BS, A+ on the screen and accompanying screed against the poor.

The devs know darn well why people are in AE.

Some segments of the playerbase are still in the dark, but I'm sure the devs know how badly the hero-side early game has aged.

pros: epic mountain of inf

cons: lame 'just the facts' screenshot with no cool production values (special occasion formalwear, fun emote, unique location)

I'll grade it a B, but pin a note to your shirt explaining that there is plenty of room for improvement.

it's stupid we can't mail cash to ourselves. Slap a 10% (or whatever) convenience fee on it and make it happen.

As easy as it is to make inf in this game I rarely have occasion to need a transfer- but I do have several FILTHY RICH characters who are basically retired, and I'd divest their bankroll to various characters I do still play if I could do it without organizing a cross-server transfer with one of the players who does that sort of thing.

I shipped a few hundred million from my fire/rad to the Goat with the help of Fulmens a while back- it isn't like they're preventing us from doing anything, they're just making it tedious.

The game has a market now, influence is just $$$$, so upgrade the email system to reflect reality.

Playing a new blaster, running 'real' contact missions (I swept past Atlas and picked up in Kings at level 6), selling everything for 1 inf. Hit level 11 last night, sitting on 500k inf. And this is with fighting nothing but skulls and lost the past few levels- I've had a belly full of stupid Boresights.

I haven't bought anything, haven't needed to. Slotting whatever trainings drop + 'beginners luck' = plenty of firepower to deal with stock content.

If you play 'normally' you're going to generate a TON more stuff than you'll use. Sell it, reap the rewards, then buy what you want. It's never been easier.

Unless you dream of an Uber Build bulging with +recharge, you'll have all the inf you'll ever need before you can even slot level 25 enhancements.

So, my archery/electric blaster the Silver Bee has about out-levelled Kings Row and I figure I'll hit a zone I have intentionally avoided for a very long time, Skyway City. Someone introduced me to Sanjay Chandra & I hop on the train to check things out.

He's standing right next next to the train station- nice!
The first missions on offer are one of those stupid 'security chief' things or a Lost hunt in Kings. I figure beating up some blue & green lost won't take too long, and I'm right by the train so I opt for that one.
Sort of annoying getting a hunt in the zone I've just left behind, but whatever.

Next up is CONFISCATE THE DRUGS while defeating Toothbreaker & Crew.
This is strikingly similar to the DISRUPT DRUG PRODUCTION & defeat Bonebreaker & Crew mission I'd just run in Kings with some other contact. Oh well, at least it's not a hunt.

Next up is one of those missions I detest. More skulls and drugs, but it's a 'find 5 bombs, rescue 5 hostages' in a giant office map and it's timed.
Once I get there and start blasting away, I discover the bombs are those stupid LITTLE ones, not the big oil drum kind. Extra annoyance, just what I love in a mission!

I finish it off and check in with Sanjay.
"Oh, I don't have anything more for you until you hit 10th."

This is sounding familiar...

I'm pretty close, so I buzz around and pick off a few smallish spawns around my level until I Gratz, then head back.

"Ok, now that you're 10th level....go hunt 10 skulls in Kings Row!

Are you kidding me?

No, he isn't.
I backtrack to Kings again, blow away some gray & green skulls, wonder why he thought I needed to be 10th level to perform this arduous task, and jump back on the train.

For my grand finale with good ol' Sanjay I get the infamous Unlucky Pete mission, which I'd almost forgotten about. Back in the day this was one of those ridiculous 'front loaded' missions that were so dear to Statesman's heart and which inspired my first argument with him.

Back then, our team of three zoned in and found a huge spawn of reds and oranges, which we managed to defeat through attrition after a couple of team wipes and a lot of running back from the hospital. With our virtual adrenaline pumping, we charged ahead....only to discover that once we cracked the hard candy shell the spawns became progressively less challenging. By the time we cornered Unlucky Pete, he was gray. And yes, this was an intentional design choice that Statesy chose to argue about with me.
Sigh.

There is still something wonky about the balance- spawns seemed to alternate randomly between greens and blues and yellows and oranges, but at least Unlucky Pete isn't gray anymore.

Overall, I give Sanjay a D-. His missions are boring level-inappropriate hunts in the zone you just left and re-hashed Skulls/Superdine missions nearly indistinguishable from the ones I got from Ron Hughes. Nostaliga for Unlucky Pete saves him from being a complete failure.

Up next- Tristain Caine.

Try as I do to mix things up and keep it fresh (I made a psi/psi blaster named Psicops- he works for the PPD- because I'd never used 'third eye' before), there are some things I seem to use quite a bit.

That one tech belt with the round buckle and the pockets along the sides and back. Folded gloves & boots. The 'sharp' pattern. the Retro full helmet.