Olantern

Wow, he answered three of my five questions! What a way to come back to the game and the fora after a week of travel!

Thanks to Hero 1 for answering the questions, Viv and Cooch for asking them, the community staff for setting the podcast up, the podcast gang in general for producing the podcasts, and my parents for producing me.

[ QUOTE ]
4 words: mole machine parking garage

[/ QUOTE ]

Fixed. Hey, there are even several parking garages already available in the existing mission maps, aren't there?

For Joe Morrissey:

1) What inspired you to work with a Roman theme in i12? Did you try to base it on a specific period? What was most difficult about writing stories set in the distant past, as opposed to contemporary ones?

2) Do you have a favorite faction (e.g. Council, Malta, Legacy Chain, etc.)? If so, what is it and why?

3) Do you prefer creating new stories with the existing factions and elements or creating entirely new factions?

4) What are the most important differences between writing a story arc and creating other kinds of fiction? Do you find it difficult to create a coherent story when you know nothing about the protagonist, the player hero or villain that will play through it?

5) Is it all really a Nemesis plot, or is that just what Nemesis wants us to think?

***
For Pepcat:

[ QUOTE ]
And regarding Hamidon himself... how coherent is he? Can he hold an intelligent conversation with a player (through Clues or speech balloons, of course), or is he so super-obsessed with his overall mission of, well, devouring the Earth, that he'll be a random assortment of memories, repeating old catchphrases from his days of being an eco-extremist scientist? <_<


[/ QUOTE ]

Ooh, ooh, I can answer this one. There's a high-level villain arc, give out by Tavish Bell (I believe), in which Hamidon communicates telepathically through one of his organelles. He thinks pretty coherently, for a misanthropic unicellular monster. I imagine the "original" Hami is much the same. Also, remember that he was able to write or dictate a coherent letter to Tanya Tyler. In my second Kid Eros comic, "Echo and Narcissus," to be posted someplace as soon as a hosting site is available, Hamidon also has the ability to "speak" through any Devouring Earth creature. There's no precedent or basis for this whatsoever; I just thought it sounded neat.

For a variety of reasons, I'd like to stop having my work hosted at the successor site to hypercomics.com, the site originally associated with the Comic Book Creator software used by many of our better-known CoX comic writers. (For one thing, with the latest round of changes to the Creator, it's no longer possible to upload comics written in the old format to the new site.)

Is there anyone out there with an appropriate website that would be interested in hosting some of these CBC-made comics, either in their original .cbcx format or as PDF's? Even if there isn't now, perhaps with enough interest, someone could create a joint site for the entire comic-writing community here.

Please post your thoughts on this here or PM me.

Wonderful address, Positron!

Mission creation . . . whoa!

/e falloverdeadinshock

This thread has some good ideas, even if I don't agree with all of them.

The only thing I have to add (forgive me if this was mentioned and I missed it) is that heroes can unlock the Witch Hat costume piece, while villains cannot.

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Now I know how Dorthy felt when the Wizard of Oz told her to come back tomorrow. >.<


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I can't read the words "Come back tomorrow" without thinking of Oz, the Great and Powerful. After seeing that at the end, I looked at it again and imagined the whole thing read in Oz's voice.

Also, now I really need to make a Flying Monkey character. Off to recommend that Jay put a fez in the hat selections . . .

I never thought I would cry over a story I read on the Internet. This was fantastic. Bravo, bravo, bravissimo.

[ QUOTE ]
Release the hounds!


[/ QUOTE ]

This is a suitable response to any situation. Or to no situation at all, in fact.

There's a link to a pretty hefty comic in my signature.

I'm working on more Kid Eros stories, plus a couple of other projects. (If anyone, particularly on Kid's home server of Liberty, is interested in helping out by portraying a character, please PM me.)

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The thing I love about Jock's writing is his distinct lack of wordiness.

[/ QUOTE ]

Quoted for truth and emphasis.

In defense of myself, and praise of Jock, I'll quote Mark Twain. At least, I think it was Mark Twain.

"I am sorry for sending you a ten page letter. I didn't have time to write a two page letter."

Writing is easy. Writing succinctly is hard.

This is a wonderful, wonderful thread, well-written, entertaining, and insightful.

One minor nit- I had a bit of trouble telling who was speaking in the last installment with no dialogue attributions. However, this is a pretty insignificant point against the excellence that is the Clockwork Tale.

You have heard the prophecy of the Endless Winter, when the City will be emptied and the servers will fall silent. But you have yet to hear of how the Winter will fall or, more importantly, of how the Children of Statesman will face its coming.

In the first bloom of the City’s youth, FF, the Warrior Who Bears the Shields, often hunted with his fellow children of Defender and his cousins. Of all Defender’s children, he was the most subtle, casting a protective cloak over his fellows that turned aside all manner of harm. With his powers and his wisdom, he turned the tide of many battles. Unlike his siblings, he was never rewarded with ritual chants of praise, such as “great heals,” and “tee wie for esbee,” but it distressed him not. Knowing the difference he made was reward enough for FF.

As the days passed, FF grew in power and wisdom. With his sibling Storm and his cousins Reg, son of Scrapper, and Fiery, son of Tank, he founded a mighty force called the Essjee, where all Children of Statesmen were welcome. Alone or with companions, FF traveled the length and breadth of the City, from the shining spires of Atlas Park to the Canyon of Steel to the riven world where his siblings had run their race for the Kora Fruit. He journeyed to the great Forum of the City, where the Children of Statesman gathered to petition the Lords of the City and to hear their words. FF grew renowned as a staunch ally of the powerful and a gentle mentor to the young.

Countless days passed, many sunrises and sunsets. One day, FF met his cousin, Fiery. Fiery’s head hung low, and even his flames glowed dimmer than usual. On his shoulder, he bore a heavy pack. “Cousin,” asked FF, “where are you going?”

“I am leaving the City, to seek new lands across the sea,” said Fiery. “When we were young, I could stand against a hundred whose names were written in the violet script. I can only stand against a few, and their blows cut far more deeply than they once did. I am no longer a true Child of Statesman. I am made like unto Those Who Push Us Out of the Way!”

“Cousin, have faith!” FF said. “I will stand beside you, no matter what the danger. Together, we will continue in our quests! Besides, you must have faith in Statesman and the Lords of the City. Is it not written that as they take, so do they also give? Who knows what they plan for us?”

“Statesman and the Lords have broken faith with me!” cried Fiery. “I will no longer keep faith with them. There are many who feel as I do. I fear Statesman has brought the Endless Winter upon the City.”

“No!” said FF. “The Endless Winter will never fall, so long as our hearts remain stalwart!”

Fiery only sighed and shook his head. “Cousin, if you ever tired of this place, seek me across the water.” And Fiery turned away and went down to the sea, and was never seen again in the City. FF, Reg, and Storm continued to elaborate on the Essjee. But the City seemed much quieter without the roar of Fiery’s flames.

FF continued in his path, and he grew even wiser in the ways of the City. His siblings and his cousins and their children and grandchildren now often came to seek his advice in the great Forum, and many newcomers to the City felt his generosity. One day, after a sojourn to assist the Pugs in the land of the great pit, FF came upon his cousin, Reg. Reg’s face was downcast, and he angrily kicked a pebble before him as he walked. “Cousin,” asked FF, “where are you going?”

“I’m getting out of this town and going across the sea,” said Reg angrily. “I used to be able to heal almost instantly, all the time, and now Statesman and the Lords of the City are saying I can’t do it any more. Hmph! Good riddance to them!”

FF shook his head in dismay. “But Reg,” he said, “you are still one of Scrapper’s mightiest children. Besides,” he added, for he knew his companions well, “I heard one of the sons of Brute call you a wimp not two hours ago. Surely, you will answer him!”

“There’s no point,” Reg groused. “There’re a lot more Children of Statesman who agree with me. Statesman and the Lords have brought the Endless Winter down on all our heads.”

“No!” shouted FF. “The Endless Winter cannot fall so long as we stand bravely together. Reg, do not leave us!”

“Delude yourself if you want, cuz, but I’m not staying here to freeze! Come find me over the sea, if you feel like it.” Reg turned away and went down to the sea, and was never seen again in the City. And while FF and Storm carried on, they often felt their battles were much less fun to watch without Reg’s antics.

More days and nights, countless sunrises and sunsets, passed. FF grew more and more respected, until even the Lords of the City listened to his pronouncements with care. One day, while searching for battle with the Children of the Spider, FF spied En-em, daughter of Stalker, bounding across the City. Oddly, she was neither sneaking up behind FF with glowing fists nor fleeing a Child of Statesman’s righteous anger. FF was so surprised that he called out, “Daughter of Stalker, where are you going?”

En-em perched on a nearby rooftop and shook her fist at FF. “Even the lowly bubbler can see through my veil of shadows!” she cried. “Truly, I have no place here! Since you ask, Child of Statesman, I am going down to the sea, to seek new lands across the water. We Children of the Spider desire little and ask for little, just a few baubles to call our own, but the Lords of the City deny us even that! We are but poor cousins to you Children of Statesman. I am done with your City; you may keep it.”

Dangerous as En-em was, FF saw himself reflected in her, and he called to her, “Do not depart, Daughter of Stalker! I know not why Statesman allows you to exist, nor why the Lords of the City do not strike you down, but they have given you a home in the shadows. Have faith that one day, you will receive all you desire!”

“Bah!” shouted En-em. “I will not stay here to fight. If you wish a challenge, you must seek me across the water.” En-em leapt away, and was never seen again in the City, not even by the most perceptive. And though the City was safer, it was also less exciting.

Again the days passed, and the Lords of the City placed many marvels before the Children of Statesman. FF became wise in the nuances of them all.

One day, while departing from the place of commerce after depositing several boxes of cereal there, FF came upon his sister, the mighty and impetuous Storm. Storm’s cape did not snap as smartly in the breeze as it once had, and the clouds trailing her seemed gloomy. “Sister,” called FF, “where are you going?”

“I am going down to the sea, to explore the lands across the water,” said Storm. “My great powers have brought low every enemy who dares to stand against me. My words are renowned throughout the great Forum. My influence would stretch from here to the legendary Golden Palace upon the Moon. The City has nothing left to offer me.”

“Beloved sister,” begged FF, “do not go! Who will help me shore up the foundations of the Essjee if you leave?”

“I am sorry, brother, but you must go on without me.” Storm’s face grew downcast and pensive. “Besides, I see little point. Each day, more depart the City. I fear the Endless Winter has at last begun to fall.”

“Ha!” shouted FF. “You fear the Endless Winter? You have oft chided me for running from my foes instead of charging toward them. I thought the mighty Storm feared nothing!”

Have I not said that FF knew his companions well?

“I fear nothing!” she shouted back. “Am I not the mighty Storm?” Thunder rumbled in the distance. But Storm sighed and shook her head. “You try to goad me into staying, FF, but it will not work. The City is dying.”

“The City will never die, so long as we stand together!” pleaded FF. But Storm only turned away, and went down to the sea, and was never seen again in the City.

Now FF’s days and nights were lonely indeed, and as they blended one into another day upon day, year upon year, the murmur of the City did seem to grow quieter and quieter. No longer did new descendants of Statesman crowd around FF to listen to his wisdom. No longer did crowds gather in the great Forum to petition the Lords of the City.

At last, one day, FF was passing through the Isle of the Horned Giant when he spotted a young descendant of his sister, Empath, emerging from the place of commerce. “Child of Empath,” he called to her, “will you join me in the hunt, as your mother did in days gone by?”

The youngster shook her head slowly. “No, elder. I have just finished gathering up my few goods, for I am going away, to seek new lands across the sea. The City is beautiful, but it is a lonely place. I have heard some say that Statesman speaks of the City’s age and death, and that better places await us across the sea.”

“The true Statesman would never curse his creation!” cried FF. “Such venomous whisperings are the voice of the Spider!”

“It matters not,” said the youngster. “The City is empty, and the Endless Winter has fallen, as the Prophet foretold.”

“No! No!” shouted FF. His voice trembled. “The Endless Winter will never come! It will never come! I beg of you, do not leave me here!”

The youngster’s eyes widened. “Are you not FF, the Warrior Who Bears the Shields? I have heard many legends of your bravery and wisdom. Why are you so afraid?”

FF could not answer her.

The youngster turned and walked away, down to the sea.

FF searched the whole of the City. The youngster had spoken truly. All the zones and servers had fallen silent at last. FF’s heart leapt in his chest. “Great father Statesman,” he called to the empty skies, “why have you abandoned me? The Endless Winter has fallen, and I am afraid!”

FF breathed deeply and thought on the youngster’s words and on his own. For ages, he had defended others, had counseled them not to fear. Could he do any less?

FF stood at the edge of the sea and listened to the lapping of its waves. A small boat floated close at hand. “The City has fallen silent,” he said, “but I am not afraid of the emptiness, nor of the voyage across the waters. I am FF, the Warrior Who Bears the Shields. All evil turns aside against my power. I am not afraid.

“And so long as the Children of Statesman remain unafraid, the Endless Winter will never fall.” FF, the last Child of Statesman, stepped into the boat and began his journey.

I've been thinking about Dooom a lot lately. We often tell each other on these fora that Dooom is all in our minds, but sometimes, it's pretty real. People do leave the game. We do lose touch with our friends. Things do pass away.

But more important than Dooom is how we face it, in CoX or otherwise. With that in mind, here's a story about one of the Children of Defender who hasn't received his own story yet, so far as I can remember, as well as cameos from some of my personal favorites in the CoX mythos. Even though I'm not a Forcefield expert, I felt FF would make a good protagonist, especially since, in a way, the story is about Defense.

The whole comic is a reference to the Common Grounds story "Love Life." Right? Right?

It's late; that's the best I can come up with on short notice.

The "Big Orange Head" thing itself? Not so funny.

Expendable Man's reaction? Hilarious!

Funny video and great voicing.

<QR>

I'm a bit troubled over being charged for costume options, emotes, and nothing else. As many others have pointed out, the GvE pack had considerably more content for the same price.

This sort of thing makes me wonder a bit about the direction the game is headed. Will we see more situations where we have to pay for types of content that, until now, have been free? In my opinion, probably. This pack definitely has the feel of a marketing test. Will this become a regular thing? Will the prices change with future releases? Will there be "major" content expansions that are gated by purchase? Who knows? I certainly don't.

This pack does seem like another step toward making CoX more like other MMO's (e.g., a focus on reaching the level cap and doing things once there, an emphasis on "gear" or other character add-ons, and significant purchase-gated content). This isn't necessarily a bad thing; the success of pretty much any other semi-successful MMO shows that it's a viable model for a game. I'm just not sure how much it appeals to me, individually. And this shift of design philosophy may be all in my head, anyway.

And, the biggest question of all, will I buy the V-pack? I'm not sure, because I'm not sure how much I'd use it. As with so many other things, I'm taking a wait-and-see approach.

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To be clear, the Ushers won't be available until the scheduled event on the Training Room Test Server only. We will have more information about the event shortly.

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I'm a bit confused. Does this mean that only characters on the test server will be able to do the ushers' missions? Or does it mean that the ushers will first appear on all servers at the same time the wedding is being staged on Test?

Also, while I'm unlikely to be able to make it to the Test event, best Valentine wishes to all attendees from Kid Eros, the Cherubic Champion of Love!

Edit: Woops, missed others asking the same question, but I suppose it bears asking again.

I'm about to type something that I never thought I'd type with absolute seriousness about a thread on a message board:

This is beautiful.

(QR)

Wow, scary news. Not necessarily bad news, just scary. Change is frightening, even if the ultimate result of the change is good.

That said, I don't see any particular reason to be either pessimistic or optimistic. This change could begin of CoX's transformation into a loot-centered, forced-teaming, raid-based grindfest with a level cap that goes from 60 to 80 to 100 in the space of a year, or it could foster all of the positive things that others have posted in this thread. It's simply too soon for anyone to know.

I'm glad that nearly all of our dev team will stay with the game. I just hope this is a long-term thing for them, not a stopgap while they seek other jobs. Aside from my selfish desire to keep them working on "my" game, I'm sure they've faced their moments of uncertainty over the change during the transition process, too, and I'm sure they could do with some stability by now. Regardless, I wish all of them the best at their new building.

Also, I'd like to add my voice to those offering appreciation to Jack "Statesman" Emmert. I didn't always agree with his decisions, but I always loved his optimism. As he pointed out a number of times on these fora, he created Statesman as a pen-and-paper character years before CoH was even a gleam in anyone's eye. It must be somewhat wrenching to give up the rights to a character that's been with him for so many years.

Also, thanks to Ex and Lighthouse for their work on this thread to allay everyone's concerns.

Nervously and Excitedly Yours,

-O'lantern

(QR)

The articles and wild speculation are starting to weird me out in a serious way. But they're still interesting!

For me, the most intriguing aspect of these articles is that President Marchand's costume seems to use no unique costume parts. Yes, citizens of the main timeline/universe/quantum-whatzits-of-your-choice can make UnPresident Marchand today!

[ QUOTE ]
Log in to the game, go to your nearby press outlet and role-play receiving a press kit

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This is, far and away, the best Lighthouse post ever.

Also, this reminds me- so far as I know, this "Incandescent" never appears in the game. (He [she?] may just be in a RWZ I haven't done yet.) He ought to be standing around someplace handing out press kits.

EDIT: I'm looking forward to unexpected Rikti invasions going on over the next few months. That makes them really special. I don't expect to see many spawned by the Lady Grey Task Force after the first couple of weeks, but who knows?

[ QUOTE ]
So... Lady Grey is... Jesus?

[/ QUOTE ]

Maybe; who knows? Is she standing near seven lights on poles? (The Revelation includes references to seven lampstands.)

Other possibilities include Revelation's Woman Clothed With The Sun or John of Patmos, author of the book.

It's not clear to me just how allegorical/literary this TF is supposed to be. I think there's potential for reading a lot more into it than is really there. Comics have a tendency to incorporate references to literary, historical, or religious sources, especially in their titles, that have little or no bearing on the stories. Some examples, off the top of my head, include the John Constantine story All His Engines, which takes its title from a line in Paradise Lost, and the four opening chapters of the '70's World War II comic The Invaders, which incorporated references to Wagner's Ring of the Nibelungs cycle of operas in their titles. Neither, so far as I could tell, had much of anything else to do with their literary sources. I'm actually pleased to see CoX adopting this trope, too- it deepens the "comics" feel of the setting.

This whole subject of the TF references calls for investigation on a much more thorough scale by people who 1) know a lot about the appropriate source material, 2) have lots of time on their hands, and 3) would rather think about this than test the content itself. Personally, I don't really qualify for any of the three, but I bet someone out there does.

I thought of that, but then I began wondering how the Revelation and The Histories of Herodotus could be related, and all I could come up with was the fact that they were both originally composed in Greek. Not even the same kind of Greek, either. Perhaps the idea is that he's a war leader, and Herodotus wrote about the Persian Wars.

Man, my deity-hating, magic-using Rikti villain is going to love this thing! It's got all his bases covered.

Also, it's great to see the devs moving back to literary references. I've missed the old "book chapter" issue names lately.

Having looked over the paragonwiki notes on this TF, I got all the Revelation references except the name of the Rikti AV beginning with "H." Where did that come from? Is it an anagram of something?

Edit: Not the Honoree, the other one, the one with the apostrophe.