Stalemate

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...Standing in Atlas for the first time.

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I had to respond again.

Welcome to the Jungle- Guns N' Roses.

Defeating your first signature hero / villain. (in Recluse's Victory, or through a TF / SF)

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La Cucaracha - various artists

Hunting 1000 Rikti Monkeys for the Zookeeper badge

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Immediately, the title popped into my mind:

Shock the Monkey - Peter Gabriel


Let's see... maybe this will be harder to find:

Unexpected server downtime while you were invested in a TF / Timed mission / Trial.

Ran this solo, on tanker, inv/em at level 50 and difficulty setting 4.

Nothing really disturbing here, unless I missed it.

Was it their names?

The only controversy I could see was the AV (EB to me) self-rezzing repeatedly. I stopped taking him out after the 2nd rez.

I didn't star the arc yet, since it appears like it's not quite finished and I wanted to play it again later before I gave it an actual rating.

I use IE8, IE7, google Chrome and Firefox every week (in that order of preferrence) and visit DeviantArt several times a week whenever I'm not working or idly waiting for tasks to complete (SysAdmin for a govt. agency).

I've never heard of such a bug. Ever.

The recommendations for getting your PC scanned with a current antivirus (free ones like Avast! can do a great job - or visit your favorite, Almost all have an online scanner option now) are sound.

Follow that up with an anti-malware prog like Super AntiSpyware or AVG's solution. Then set up Spybot's Search and Destroy and use the Tea timer module.

As for the browser solution, with all the respect I can have to my fellow CoH players, it really doesn't matter. Use the one that works for you.

IE may be buggy on certain sites specifically designed not to cater to it's proprietary interpratations, Firefox could bomb on your favorite online flash games, etc.

I like Chrome, personally, but 85% of my time is spent on IE8 and IE7, since I need the added functionality it provides.

I believe I'll take you up on that, El_Condor.

You're A Mean One, Mister Grinch

by... well...

- Thurl Ravenscroft, the original artist.
- Jim Carrey, for the 2000 live-action version of the film, in which he portrayed The Grinch.
- Flipmode Squad featuring Jim Carrey, a rap version where Carrey, rapping as the Grinch, collaborates with Flipmode founder Busta Rhymes. The only part of the original song heard is the first verse during the chorus
- That Handsome Devil covered the song, titled as "Mr. Grinch" as a 2008 Christmas single.
- Slaid Cleaves, on the Holiday Samper EP.
- Gary Hoey, guitar instrumental.
- Sixpence None the Richer.
- Rockapella, a cappella.
- Marty Gold Children's Chorus.
- Whirling Dervishes, titled just "Grinch," on the Grinch EP.
- Mojo Nixon & Toadliquors, titled "Mr. Grinch," on the Horny Holidays album.
- Deanna Kirk, on the album Where Are You Now?
- Bus Stop, titled "Grinch," on the album Miracle Time!
- Blue Meanies, titled "Hey Mr. Grinch," on the A Very Punk Christmas compilation.
- Brian Setzer Orchestra, from the Dig That Crazy Christmas album.
- Go Fish, titled "The Grinch Song," from the More Than a Story album.(This also contains silence and then a hidden track after the song.)
- Hugo Lugo, on the "Buoppie Stew: Originals And Covers" album.
- Dweezil Zappa.
- Fareed Haque.
- Bob Malone.
- The Coats, on the album "On Christmas Time."
- Crash Test Dummies.
- The Asylum Street Spankers.
- RuPaul, on the album Ho, Ho, Ho.
- Aimee Mann, on the album One More Drifter in the Snow.
- Mannheim Steamroller, on their album Christmasville, sung by Jeffrey Morrow.
- Trevor Davis, Christian musician, recorded a cover of the song on his album "B-Day in Bethlehem."
- VersaEmerge covered this song on December 15, 2008 in Fueled By Ramen studios.

...thank you, wikipedia.


=> Facing Infernal for the first time

So I was explaining to Vorac how System of a Down sucked 3 different ways: "so hard", "so much", and "so long" when I remembered something I wanted to try here.

Let's say you were given an ingame activity or city zone as inspiration, what song would you pick as a theme for it?

For examples:

Siren's Call Theme Song = Headhunter 2.0 by Front 242

Boomtown Theme song = Boom by P.O.D.

Got it?


All right.

Post your theme song to the previous poster's avtivity or city zone, then propose your own.


Start :

Rescuing little old lady's purse from Hellions

*peeeeeeng!

....


Was that a pebble?

Except for the ones where they sing... or play music... or go all political in their yrics... or breathe...

Then again The_Alt_oholic, as I mentioned and as others have also written about here, this particular arc does appear to be "legit" according to the MA Code of Conduct since it wouldn't technically fall under any of those 2 categories.

There is no "blatant non-conformity with the rules", IMO and in that of others.

Whether or not the MA evaluators see it the same way remains to be seen, it's true.

I've seen a few arcs which could definitely be called "derivative works" of the printed CoH books / comics.* Not only are they not removed, some have even made it to Devs' Choice.

I'd say just publish what you have in mind, and see how people react.



* Someone even said to me: "Isn't anything we do using ingame content (maps, critters, etc.) considered a `derivative work` since it's copyrighted material?"

Thanks for the feedback so far guys and gals.

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I loved that Arc, btw.

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Thanks again.

I appreciate the dozens of great comments and critiques I've received, but it's especially nice when they're from people you know.

I must admit I think yours is still on my To Do list since I worked til midnight last night (Exchange server crash at work, a half hour before quitting time of course). But I'll get to it!

I need some unbiased opinions about an issue I have: https://boards.cityofheroes.com/showflat...=0#Post13488066

I thought my arc was safe from violating any MA rules, but it appears others see it differently.

BTW, I don't think I know this player, so doubt it's some sort of personal retribution happening there.

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Okay. Let me get this strait, because I'm a little confused...

...I'm confused.

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I know you state it twice, but judging from the amount of work and research you put into this reply, I'd say "confused" is just about the last thing you are.

That's a compliment btw, and thanks for going out of your way to point this out.

Based on the definitions I just Googled of "parody" and "derivative works", I can safely state that this arc is not the latter, and *might* under a certain light be seen as the former since I use the term "tongue-in-cheek". If I remove that, even that ambiguity would disappear, IMO.

My intent was, and this is stated in my arc description, to be an hommage to this classic SF story. There is no use of any names / locations / processes which could belong in the movie, or the book written for it afterwards. I can't even say my idea of using an existing story as inspiration to be original, since it's been done countless times before in and out of the MA system.

Heck, one could even argue Dr. Vahzilok is inspired from Frankenstein to an extent. But I digress.

I'm the one who published this, and am definitely biased. My own motivation is clear in getting more people to play this. I even made a poster for it and submitted it for a few reviews.

I'm sure if anyone wants to report the story, if you haven't already, that it will be evaluated by those who can rule on these things. I'll just accept that possibility and deal with it accordingly.

In any case, that brings closure to my first poll.


Follow up poll: Do you consider this arc to go against the MA Code of Conduct?

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It grossed $85 Million in week one. But it plunged to $43 Million the next. That's a big drop off. Sure it still will pull in (likely) $180 million in total. But that's less than they acutally expected. Given the money spent on the film and advertising and such, a sequel does not look as promising.
...

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And yet that's still more than any other Star Trek movie's initial weekend release earnings. According to Nydailynews.com, "The new "Trek" easily topped the previous record opening weekend in the 11-movie series, which was $30.7 million for 1996's "Star Trek: First Contact."

I hope they do make another one, and I wouldn't mind at all seeing the series continue along this new timestream.

This is coming from a long time fan who's seen all the series, used to read the Star Trek Compendium almost nightly, and even liked the Enterprise series.

Now hopefully someone will realize the potential they have here, and work it right with decent plotlines.

I'm using Vista SP2 at home, with a 8800GT card (185.85 drivers - latest as of May 6), game has never worked better on this machine.

Seriously.

I had random CTDs before, but after playing around with older drivers the trouble was gone. It came back after Issue 14 and since applying SP2 and using the latest drivers it is rock solid.

Just a heads up Interface: My plans changed yesterday and today, so I'm having to delay posting a review of your arc.

I will get to it as soon as I can and post back here.

I've done all the Shadow shard TFs repeatedly, never failed any, and some I've run over a dozen times.

I usually don't use shortcuts (except perhaps the Wentworth's teleporter) and if it needs to be split into 2 evenings, then so be it.

I know your team is already full, but if a second team wants to run this as well, I'm interested and pretty sure I can convince wifey to pop in as well.

I'll hop into whatever function you think I could help with Kyo.

I'm just thrilled to see NPWN moving onwards, with young blood leading it.

Another review, this time by Interface. His style aims to "try for the maximum amount of sarcasm possible without melting the forum", so I was looking forward to his take on this particular arc.

Thanks for taking the time to write this all up after your playthrough last night Interface. The time you put into these is very much appreciated, and the style is diffferent.

To answer your question re: critter info - yeah. Can't change it. Hopefully that will work in our advantage later.

As for the defeat all, I thought it fit the "disinfection" concept as leaving any of them alive could be a risk for further spreading.

Defeat alls *do* suck, and I hate having to do them when I run arcs myself, but I opted to risk it here since 1) it made sense and 2) it was a relatively small map.

But yeah, that map is screwy... I had to remove the destructible objects as mandatory mission objectives since, apparently, they sometimes spawned outside the geometry, as you said.

Looking forward to plaing yours later today.

Basically, there are mentions (IMDB, amongst others) that Shatner was originally planned, but plot twists were already difficult to deal with.

Bringing Kirk back (from the dead... again) was just something they felt was going to be perceived as placating a part of the fan base with no particular benefit to the story.

Personally, I think it would have been a nice gesture, but at the same time, explaining his presence would have been putting unnecessary strain on the film.

I would like to add my own arcs to the list as well:

Humor section:
A Voyage Fantastic -- Neutral -- 81829

Drama section:
FREEM! -- Heroic -- 76867


Although it could be argued both of these have science fiction elements, that's not their main plotline.

Thanks!

I'm game.

The arc I'd like reviewed is A Voyage Fantastic (ID: 81829).

I'll be running and commenting on the hero arc you have here, and perhaps one of the others later once I can bring my To Do list of MAs under some sort of control.

I have another arc, listed in my sig, but that one is definitely more challenging, is more story driven, and was originally tested on my main (purpled inv/em/em on Unyielding). Don't do that one unless you're prepared.

I try to send written comments on all the arcs I play, which is a lot these days.

Most times if I see a typo I will report it, but it never affects the star rating I give it.

But if the text is downright incomprehensible through syntax and grammar problems, to the point making even the mission objectives uncertain, then that would affect the rating.

I figure if I see the typo and report it, I'm already assisting in improving the arc. Why would I penalize it when I'm almost certain it will get fixed?

I'm trying to see this like I would a movie. Sometimes the language will get beaten up, but if the premice is interesting, I'll still enjoy it.

That said, I know some have rated my arcs lower because of spelling mistakes or that cursor positioning glitch.

That's the downside of the current subjective rating system. You could be using the wrong shade of red in your text, and a player could 1-star the arc for it and there's nothing one can do about it.

In other words: Try to not let it bother you. Maintaining a star average above 3 is quite an accomplishment under these circumstances.