houtex

I want to bump this up... tonight, MNFs were held. And they were glorious.

I went in with a just transferred Total Dependent... she didn't do anything. Just wanted to see.

I then took Homeslicer in, my claws/WP scrapper... Boom, dead twice in quick succession. Hehe. He's not Win in PvP.

Then swapped for Ruby Dawn, my Mind/Emp 'troller. She was deadinated *fast*... she's obviously NEVER gonna be Win in PvP... time to get out and...

What next... Thing of Bigness? Meh, sure... well... aw heck, why not?

Brawling Humiliator entered the fray in Warburg... now we were talking.

1 draw after 20 minutes, 1 eventual loss (curses) after, I think, 10 minutes or so?, and 1 win outright that also took something like 15 minutes.

That's right. I PvP *brawled* someone to their demise. I could not believe it happened. And, I hadda fly everywhere to *catch* the enemy... Yay jetpack. Gonna have to buy another soon...

---

Guys/gals, I still hurt from all the smiling, laughing, and grinning about BH's tenacity. I freakin' love that character... dude is *awesome*... and so are all y'all! Thanks for the FUN, I'll be there next week fer sure, and hopefully earlier this time.

Mike

/Oh, and TIL that Warburg is a complete Mano a Mano free for all PvP zone... after all these years, you think I woulda known that...

I actually rolled a Jab/SR brute heroside. Sonova BH. Anyone who knows who Brawling Humiliator is will understand this one... and yet, consider me a bit off for doing it.

This one is not going to be a solo artist, though, whatever team/mission will have him, there he'll go. Just using Jab.

The SR is... really good so far...

---

But the one I was lamenting, but now will be playing a lot of, is Total Dependent. She's a 37 ICE/rad Defender currently, about 1/2 bubble shy of 38. Notice the caps 'ICE' and notcaps 'rad'. She has just about nothing offensively, and is a total team player. I moved her to Pinnacle, and am hopin' the troops will play with her, because I always wanted to get that to 50... but other projects kept me away. She's got good Ice buffs, and also debuffs the enemies with the chilliness.

In other words... as exact an opposite to BH as possible, I think.

Wouldn't that be a hoot. BH, the Brawl Only Brute at 50... and ToDep, the No-Offense Defender at 50.. nice endcaps. Heh.

---

There are others, but ToDep is the next one. IS. Not was.

Mike

Voted.

Mike

/And I selected 'Yes', in case anyone was wondering...

I disagree with the Hollows, as I can run that with a level 1.

Mike

And this decision has more far reaching considerations than just the dollars. I've been thinking about it...

You are the executive who just killed a money making section of your company.

You now have just about 0 reason to ever let that IP escape from your company's grasp. And the company itself has the same 0 reason.

The problem is this: You have declared this game dead. You have declared this game is not profitable enough to continue (wrong as that may be.) And there isn't enough activity to keep it alive (also WATMB.)

IF they were to give it away and it were to flourish in open source/private hands... that would disprove a coporate tactic, and cause questioning of the positions of all who made the decision.

IF they were to sell it off for the 'quick buck'... and it turned into a better, more profitable game in the hands of the new owners... the same questioning happens.

IF they, however, do what they are doing... mothball the game... then there is no way to be questioned except in the horrendously pitiful way they dealt with the customers... which is a small price to pay compared to those other two, and the spin has yet to happen, I think, that will smooth even that piss poor handling situation... and everyone wins at NCSoft.

Until it completely goes bankrupt due to people leaving their games and investors remembering this utter stupidity.

Basically, it boils down to this: Whatever the honest asking price of Co* would be, NCSoft would need to acquire many X more than that to allow for the first two problems the sale would make, should they come to pass: it flourishes, which is a problem, and it's *profitable*, worse.

At least... that's what I was thinking. Perhaps I'm wrong.

Mike

/not being Debbie Downer.. Just honestly trying to get a hold on what the situation is like on their end, maybe.
//Gonna be tough to save it. Tough.

On the face of it, I'm goin' "NOOOOOO!"

Wonder Woman comes from Themyscira. Therefore, this could never be Wonder Woman. She might be someone else... something they can draw lore from like Superman, but NOT Wonder Woman... Who would that be?

But that's the purist in me... if I said that about Batman, I wouldn't have liked what Nolan did to it... and I like it. A lot. Joker wasn't Joker as we'd recognize him... but he was, all the same. Same with Selena, 'Robin', Two-Face...

So in that respect, I say... go for it, CW. Let's see what ya got.

Mike

Healix, stop posting that, it makes me haz a sad.

---

Then again, maybe you should post it every post you make... hm.

---

I agree, nothin' like Co*. CO is just a mess. DCUO is actually okish... but I'm not digging the 'you will do this' power choosing, and I don't like the wearing of items for power... and they apparently wear out. And where's my XP indicator? And HOW DO I GET A CURSOR TO PLAY WITH THE MAP!?! Geez... little things, people... this is a PS3 engine, so I see where the limitations are... Overall, though DCUO isn't terrible...

---

STO needs a lesson in *how things should work*. The ground missions were... horrid, for me, but not bad, just... badly lit. Perhaps that's 'realistic', but give me some light, this isn't Doom 3.

But nothing takes the cake of the broken space battles. Having a starship that *cannot loop-de-loop*, much less do a barrel roll (yeah, yeah, Starfox, whatever)... AND has to be assaulted by no less than 4 Borg spheres, and I *cannot warp away* until I beat them all!?

Right. Game over man, game over.

Sorry... STO really chaps my *** as a Trekkie. Ticks me off royally. I want my starship to WORK RIGHT, dangit, and as such, STO is horribly broken...

--

Of course, perhaps they fixed it... it's been a couple of years, I admit. Ah well.

All that bein' said... I am probably done with MMOs... and gaming in general, to be honest... after Co*. I said it in another thread... I've been spoiled rotten. Nothin' gonna come close to the experience and mechanics of Co*... unless they make a Co*2 and use a lot of the rules of this version...

And even then, I'm probably not going to join up... I don't want 7+ years of stuff lost because someone else decides to up and stop the works.

I *made stuff* in this game... that's kinda what hurts the most.

Mike

/I have housework and car stuff to do anyway, so I'll be occupied.

The interface alone is stunning, after tryin' a few others in these past couple of days. I'm definitely jonesing for Co*'s inteface, it's just... heavenly in comparison.

The looks overall of Co* is simply... better. I can't describe it... the engine may be old, sure, but the artwork of...well...everything... seems to be a step above, and more 'real' than the others. I can't believe anyone would be complaining about it, frankly.

The way you get to make your character. I mean... I can't make a brawler only character anywhere else. How awesome is it that this is, so far as I've seen, the only place where you could actually 'South Park' a character from 1 to 50?!

And the CHAT SYSTEM... goodness me, it's just... awesome. Period.

And on and on...

NCSoft simply doesn't understand what is has here... or had. Whatever.

---

Mind, this is only the game itself. There's so much more than the game too. But yeah, thems the things about the game that aren't going to let me play anything else long... I've been *spoiled rotten* and nothing will compare for a LONG time.

Mike

So... did I read/see this right... Batman is just... Batman?

I LOL'd at that.

Very nice. Want to see more. Thanks for this!

Mike

-(/jranger)

+1

aka 'Yes. Yes I would.'

Mike

Of course, if I have to choose, I choose that the people who made/enhanced/fixed/maintained this game would be employed. Naturally. NOBODY would or should choose the game over real lives, I mean, honestly. That's a real *** move to say you want the game first.

BUT... they kind of go hand in hand, in one respect: If Paragon Studios survives, then the game survives.

The other side of that argument isn't true, however: the game could survive without the Studio. It would also be the Final Revision of the game. And the people of Paragon Studios would not have work.

I say the only answer is to save them both. But if one can't be saved... then the obvious is to save the game, if possible, so that the legacy of both their and OUR works can be continued, and played, even if development is, in effect, done, and the game is what it is from here on out.

From a purely pragmatic point of view, of course.

For my part, I want them both back to where they were August 29, 2012: Working and moving forward. And none of this shutdown idea is even an inkling of a thought.

Mike

They can come after me all they want. I will damn well make Brawling Humilator, Thing of Bigness, The Dawn Sisters, and any other beloved creations with their backstories and costumes... Bring it. Bring it all you got. Because as long as Co* doesn't live, that whole agreement/ownership means *squat* to me. Those characters are MINE.

That's not to be mean and callous to NCSoft or the now defunct Paragon Stuidos, per se... no, that's to say what colossal jerks they'd be for trying to sue me or something stupid because I put BH or ToB in SWTOR or CO or DCUO or (the game what's name shall not be mentioned)(*).

I won't profit from it. I therefore can do whatever tribute I want, and they can... well, enjoy the effort I put into it, thanks muchly.

The very second I receive any *profit* from these characters, however, is the very moment that they have every right to come after me, hard, with cease and desist orders and/or suits to recoup revenue. Which means I can't write a novel or make action figures or any of that *and sell them*.

Beyond that? Nope. They would be very stupid indeed to try to stop me from doing it, because they will fail, hard, on that action. Parody and tributes are allowed in the United States Code, and that is where I'm protected.

So... yeah. Bring it, I'mma make a BH on CO(*).

Mike

/ (*) - This is, of course, I do any other MMO in the first place. Not real sure I will. This is a life lesson going on here for me.

Me no beez board rashed!

Mike

/wut

The links you wanted are here, I think.
http://global.ncsoft.com/global/support/request.aspx
http://global.ncsoft.com/global/support/contact.aspx

In case that helps.

Mike

I'm sure I speak for all us techies who have wandered through these forums trying to help others with their computers... even if it was to be the black hats and tell them with, in my case, a heavy heart... "your poor computer... it just... can't. "

It was (and still is!) a pleasure to help anyone who wanted to play this game with us. And an honor. Glad to have been of some service, and still on call for y'all if I can help some more.

Mike

I was tryin' to find a decently lit place for to snap my pictures of my characters.

I wanted a sunset... I found it... but I had to make it.

So I did.

AE Arc #553891, "Picture time."

It's the Forest 02 map, and it has *no* enemies. There is a clickable glowy desk around there, which will end the 'mission', but there is no mission.

It's just a place for you to have a well lit daytime picture taking session... and if you wait for the sunset, it will happen to the right/west of the map. If you go to the little island, you can see the sun set over the ocean, which is want I wanted.

In case that helps anyone. It'll help me anyway.

Mike

Only 3, huh? Hm.

Brawling Humiliator. One of my current two mains. Thing of Bigness is the other, and he's fun... but not my all time favorite. Just the logical Main for me.

But this is about BH. I read about these 'MAN builds'... and I got the idea wrong on what that means. But.. I had my twisted up version... and I did it.

BH is a character who eschews the forced-upon-him choice of a 'super' power for offense (the Mace set is what he chooses, for looks only) and goes about with sheer Willpower, determined to beat the faces in of all the bad people... Solo. In the streets. With just Brawl. And I got him to 50 like that, dinged him in DA. Soloed the Alpha slot missions... That's right, he brawled Honoree and that other dude in that chamber at the end...and Soloed the Chimera EB +3. That was a Crowning Achievement, took a LONG time to get him defeated. Can stand toe to toe with a Pylon. He now teams and is one heck of a "tank", I think. Yes, I'm nuts. But I did it anyway. Brawl/WP Brute, 50+, Pinnacle.

What he means to me? Anything is possible in this game. Even the *dumbest* of ideas... can be come completely, utterly awesome.

---

Total Dependent, Virtue... 37, I think? Been a while, not loggin' in to check at the moment... Rad/Ice defender.
This one was another concept... the weakest offensive character, but built to buff and help the team as much as possible. I had thoughts of rerolling her with perhaps a better buff/team defense set, as I'd learned a lot with BH up there, but still be completely helpless without a team.

What she means to me and why she's a favorite: That there were teams willing to let her take a slot on the team, that she got up to 37 that way? You people are awesome, that's all. That's what she means.

I told people up front the idea, and they seemed to embrace it in the game. And I did my level best to help the team be a better team... backwards as it sounds having a non-offensive slot, when the mobs are going to add a member or two... I really wanted to get back on this one. Ah well.

---

The third isn't one character, and never could be. They are the Dawn sisters:
Ruby Dawn, Heroine, Mind/Emp Controller, 50, Pinnacle.
Cerise Dawn, Villainess, Mind/Psi Dominator, 50, Pinnacle.
Rose Dawn, Vigilante, Mind/Kin Controller, 50, Pinnacle.

These three are all similar... the all share the same looks, about the same body type, red hair, red/black costume colors... and they couldn't be any more different.

They all shared a pet iguana, named Rodney, who was also a rare shared Familiar. The three loved Rodney. But they were young... and while naturally gifted towards magic, Ruby and Cerise moreso than Rose, they were still experimenting with it.

Ruby found a spell to teleport things that she tried, to unfortunate results, on Rodney, and long story short, Rodney was lost to the girls. They were all devastated, of course.

Ruby vowed to take this lesson to heart, and vowed to use her Magic for the betterment of people... and wound up becoming the Hero she was. Healing people, or stopping people from hurting others. Her story is a little simpler in that respect.

Cerise, though... the loss of Rodney messed her up. Bad. She went... well, a little insane, and became a heartless, cold blooded villain, ready to scramble-egg your brain as quickly as she'd just chat with you. She thinks the world needs to die, to suffer as much as she is over the loss of Rodney, and is still striving to this day to achieve that goal, where she is literally the last standing person on this Earth. Which is why she's not terribly thrilled with this whole Mot business, and Recluse needs to go down... how dare they steal what's righfully hers, the suffering of all of mankind?

She's messed up, I tell ya.

Then there's Rose... the little sorceress that could... She wasn't as talented as the other two, but she tried really hard. She hated that Cerise got so messed up as she did. She begged Ruby to try to fix Cerise, or at least, get her back from those nasty Rogue Isles... but Ruby had tried... and Cerise wanted nothing to do with Ruby, except to end her.

Rose then decided she'd use a new spell to transport herself to Cerise's whereabouts, where they might talk... maybe she would have better luck... But... whatever went wrong, she wound up in Praetoria... and had to fight to get back to Paragon City.

The experience changed her... her single minded desire to do one thing... get back home... meant she had to make decisions that were... shady, if not downright appalling. Decisions that before, she would never have made...

She did the things the loyalists wanted, just to get to the portal to come home. She came back a Vigilante. She helps others, but... well, some people just don't need to be saved, for the greater good, and some villains don't need to be... defeated, if you will.

And that's the not quite completely detailed Saga of the Sisters Dawn. It's for their background story they are my favorites, and what they mean to me is this: The creativity that this game allowed... the fantasy play out.. the fact that the Devs figured out how to let these characters almost come alive with their interactions... with their bios... MY creativity got to be expressed through these three (and the others)... and I'm not sure I would have had the experience with this sort of thing without City of Heroes to fuel it.

Which means... Thanks Devs. You guys are full of Awesome and Win.

---

So. There we go. My fav three of all time. Hope y'all enjoyed the tales.

Mike

Indeed, glad I was able to contribute!

What a team we is...

Big damn grin installed itself. Those were AWESOME.

I kinda remember seeing them before sometime... but it's just good stuff to see, especially now.

Thanks!

Mike

+1 on "This!", and what Darth said too.

Mike

Frankly? Yep. They're in bed with traitors. Sorry guys and gals of ArenaNet. You should totally buy yourselves out of their grasp.

Mike

/maybe a teensy bit harsh... but then, we're bein' treated a lot worse harse, IMO.

Putting in my two cents on the blue caves... or the small twisty passage caves in general.

I *never* minded them. Ever.

Until I made Thing of Bigness.... And now I get it.

Those who don't know... take the biggest single item in the character generator for every category.. shoes, gloves, wings... and apply them. Heck, even the biggest Wolf tail is on this monstrosity. I got the punkin' head on him too, and it's all flamey.

I love that character. Except in the caves.

I made an alternate... after the Swimsuit invasion of Mako, where this 8 foot tall giant was revealed to be... a 5 foot or so skinny kid in a power suit (who did NOT take off his punkin' head, by the way) I changed that again to a sleeker costume... just for the caves.

And now, again, I don't mind them.

---

The layer cake was rather easy. I just ran around in a counter-clockwise circle, and the ramps would present themselves. As I was pretty much a 'NOTHING SURVIVES" kind of player... this worked well.

I thankfully figured that out pretty quickly on in a solo mission or two... the "Oh, that's how you do it" moment. (I'm sure you all did too.) Until I figured that out... yeah, THOSE rooms sucked a metric TON of <insert whatever foul material you need to here... I suspect 90% will be the same material, but there's always that 10% out there, right?>

...

.

---

I thought I could do it. Honest.

What a puss. :|

---

Friday: Shock. Disbelief. Anger. Sadness. Play anyway, dammit all, I was workin' on the TF Commander accolade and badge for Thing of Bigness, SS/WP Brute, Pinnacle, 50+, and I was GOING to achieve it.

Saturday: Still disbelieving. Sadness. Determination to go the distance with the game. More work on ToB.

Sunday: Motorcycle ride with my group in the morning. Still thinkin' about things. Get home, freshen up (It's HOT and HUMID down here...) log in, and attack the last three TFs needed... YAY!

And... I'm.. suddenly emotionally spent. I thank everyone in Pinnbadges for their help in my getting the accolade done. And... well up just a little. But fight it down. I have to exit, I just... can't anymore. Not now.

Cruise the forums. Read more stuff. Good stuff. Not so good stuff. Maybe reply here and there... Smile at some... get a little huffy, start to write a reply, then delete it, at others...

Then, I made this (where you can read why I came up with it...)
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=296542

And... after I posted it... And as I'm typing this...

My eyes water up. I'm not cryin'... no. I'm a MAN dammit. I will NOT DO IT.

But... they're there. The sadness of my eyes is a physical reality. Not streaming.. I can still see... but... there they are. Along with this huge *** lump in my throat.

Just....

Frack.

I am going to miss this place, the game, you people, even the ones I've never even talked with. Because we're all in this... and we're all bein' shot in the heart. I don't know how... or if... I'll be able to keep in touch with the lot of you. I'll try though.

Pinnacle represent.
City of Heroes represent.

There will never be another game like this for me, personally, ever again. Because it is more than the game... it's the entire shebang. The people on both sides of it, the creativity I got to play in for my little corner of the world... Making my OWN lore... the game is the glue. It's not about the game... it's about the rest of it. THAT is what I'm upset about.

The whole shebang. Thrown under a bus.

It shouldn't be this way.

And... well... so. There it is. I broke down a little. I'm sorry... and yet, I'm not. Defiant to the end, I will play on.

Brawling Humiliator, my Brawl Only Brute, will be my last logon. I will damn well take a freakin' day off to be here from Thursday night, through the night, and on into Friday and keep on going until the last damn gasp of electricity is coursing through the Pinnacle server, until, on Friday, BH will be frozen in time, hopefully in the middle of throwing his very last Brawl, with Build up just having been activated, and the penultimate strike against whatever foe he is battling, Mace in hand... defiantly NEVER USED ONCE.

NCSoft, you are some.... well. Nothing is ever gained from angrily typing against somebody. Fill in the dots, figure it out.

Mike

/And I just lost it. The tears... they sting.

I saw this post in the "Time for one last reveal... " thread:
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showp...&postcount=431

It was... inspiring... and ... well... here, something I whupped up:

---

Thing of Bigness: This game never gets old...

Brawling Humiliator: Nope!

Ruby Dawn: It kinda makes you wanna...

Homeslicer: ...break out in song?

Chillsea: Yep!

[To the tune of the Discovery Channel's "The World is Just Awesome"]

I love the powers
I love the costumes too.
I love the players
And all the things we do.

I love this whole game
And all it's sights and sounds

Boom De Yada
Boom De Yada
Boom De Yada
Boom De Yada


I love the missions
Even the ones in caves.
I love the stories
About this world we save.

I love the whole game
And all it's zanyness.

Boom De Yada
Boom De Yada
Boom De Yada
Boom De Yada

I love the Red Names
I love what they have done
From the beginning
to what it has become.

I love the whole game
It's such an awesome place.

Boom De Yada
Boom De Yada
Boom De Yada
Boom De Yada

(fading out of repeating "Boom De Yada"s)

---

The dialog was from my top 5 favorite Pinnacle characters, not in any order. I hope you'll pardon the self serving indulgence.

Mike

/Hey... Michelle?
//Well, no, you're plates full. Never mind.
///Still... if maybe... you know...