Phaeton_NA

May I just say how impressed I am at the various points of view that have been expressed in this thread. It's like reading a transcript of a law class (i love stuff like that).

So do we all agree that, generally speaking, Cryptic does not hold the rights to the characters in a truly legal sense, but that its such murky waters, they don't even really know what they have a right to or not? Do any rednames have anything more to say on the subject?

It is my understanding, in reading the EULA and in the discussion of this thread, that once a character is deleted (assuming it's not backed up), you have removed Cryptic's and NCSoft's rights to the character. Given that they will make a name "generic" in an attempt to keep copyright infringment out of the picture, one could maybe assume there position on that extends to deletion--as long as they don't have it on their system, it's not a problem.

I also would assume that they don't back up characters at all, once they are deleted by the user. Remember back at launch when all you had to do was click the delete button on a character and confirm it? Then they added the "type the character's name" field in to further assure you, the user, that this deletion was final and irrevocable. Given the number of alts that have existed on this game ( 17,558,847 at the time of the newsletter going out), there servers would EXPLODE from the various alts being reserved and backed up.

I PMed CuppaJo--let's see if she responds.

Static-

We're waiting with bated breath. I really want to see how the rest of the drawings look--good luck to your son on the science fair!

-Phaeton

Still the best EM/EA guide out there.

Flagged, Tagged and Bagged.

(Well, flagged for favorites, anyway )

(Having said that, I actually have to click "add to favorites" to make that work)

Thanks for the bump, i would have missed this post otherwise. Adding it to my faves to I can keep a tab on it.

Also: I'm not seriously considering looking into placing an order at MMOArt, simply because of the artist's work for Static's Son. I feel pretty damned good supporting work like that.

Name: Fire Fighters, Inc.

Shard: City of Heroes

Overall Theme(s): To Fire Damage and DoT anything and everything. This is actually based on a team I saw in the early days of I1.

Backstory: Back in the days of Launch, I happened across 8 fire/dev blasters tearing up Perez Park. While I was watching, they jumped from level 7 to 10 in about half an hour. I think the idea is still a viable one today, and could be done even more effectively with some tweaking.

Group Make-up: The team makeup with be as follows:
(6) Fire/* Blasters. Each blaster would be required to take Fire Blast, Fireball, Fire Breath, Rain of Fire, Blaze and Inferno. Blazing Bolt, Aim and Flares are optional. Secondaries can be anything, but recommended are /dev for mitigation and /eng for the early buildup. /fire could work too (obviously), but the early levels of that particular secondary make it less than appealing.
(1) Fire/Fire or Fire/Inv tank. While not as effective as it used to be, fire/fire is still a strong tanker build and can be used to drawing aggro and mitigating damage away from the blasters (though, if this works as it should, the tank should have little to worry about). Blazing Aura is a must.
(1) Fire/Kin Controller. Fire for the obvious reasons; aside from conceptual reasons, Fire/ for controllers is a strong primary with pets and other goodies. /Kin works well to synergize and boost the powers of each of the other teammates.

Power Pools: Fitness (Swift/Hurdle, along with Health and Stamina, are a MUST), SS (Though you can't perma-Hasten anymore, makes for a great team round-robin when you have two people activate it at a time. When the first two lose the charge, have the next two grab it, and so forth), maybe Flight (for Hover as well as Flying in formation, a cool look for anyone).

Combat Strategy and Power Combinations: Burn, burn, burn. Opening with BU/Aim/BoF/Fire Breath/Fire Ball, then laying down several RoF's would virtually decimate any even or +1 mobs without a second thought. Add secondary abilities like ice patch in /ice or caltrops in /dev and you've got a serious beatdown coming down on your enemies. Following the chain with Blaze and Fire Blast will take care of most enemies, and for those with real chutzpah, try unloading six Infernos at once. Fire/ Tanks will be able to still draw enough aggro (with proper communication to the blasters), and the controller can buff, hold and occasionally heal when necessary. This is not a passive group, but a very interesting, hopefully fast-paced one.

Costume, Names, and Other Design Issues: My only suggestion would be a common color combination with a standard costume look (tights with a particular stripe, folded gloves and combat boots, for example). Variable depending on the tastes of the particular group.

Alternative Suggestions: You could hypothetically do this on CoV with Corruptors, Brutes and Dominators, but I've only seen it work on CoH. If anyone tries it on CoV, let me know!

Personally, I use the time at work to read the boards, get up-to-date on my numbers, and to develop discussions and build templates. Then I go home, play for two hours, and I'm a flippin' MASTER.

Though I do love the idea of having the portable harddrive or laptop to play on.

PS. How about a guide for getting a job at Cryptic and taking over for Statesman?

Great guide. Adding to my favorites!

Very nice; read the whole thung.

(Marking in my favorites)

Great guide. Going in my favorite threads!

Love the guide. I would suggest including something about how you can exemp down to a lowbie (level 1-6) and work off the debt in NO time, if you're in a rush. I've done it twice now, where a friend has exempted me on his new alt, and I'm out of debt in 20 minutes of teaming.

Granted, this isn't quite as fiscally viable as just teaming with ppl at-level, but in a rush (eg. you've amassed three bubbles worth, and the debt-monkey is humping your leg with joy), it's a fast way to get rid of those nasty dark purple spots on your otherwise great record.