jwbullfrog

I'm running a pretty vanilla computer with 64 bit win 7 and I haven't had a single problem with City.

I'd go more for animated hair of the "moves sort of naturally" variety.
Instead of being fixed in place I would like to see some motion relative to how the character is moving . Like we have now with capes.

"Two to the right. Keep on it."

"Three more left, who has grenades?"

If it hadn't been for her airborne scouts, Captain Kane's team would have been torn apart by a Shivan ambush less than a half mile from the safe zone. As it was, they were being pressed hard on three sides but were holding their own. At Sergeant Reyes shouted warning, the ground team had just enough time to put a concrete wall at their backs and form up into a 3 sided box. It was a variation of a tactic that armies had been using since the time of Rome and, although it was a bit outmoded against a modern force, it seemed to be working just fine against ambulatory alien blobs.

Master Sergeant Woodley focused on keeping her breathing even and regular. Firefights were never her favorite place to be, but she had gotten used to them over the years. The Captain and herself were in the center of the square acting as spotters and directing fire. They were also acting as grenadiers, using their rifle mounted launchers to break up any large groups of Shivans before they could advance.

"Left side, fire on my spot in three.. two... one" Sergeant Woodley called out as she pulled the trigger on her on her under mount grenade launcher. She held the weapon tightly as it fired with a dull thump of sound sending a simple, high explosive grenade arcing out over her people's heads and into the three Shivans. The troopers on that side of the formation held their fire until the grenade exploded, then they opened up with a fully automatic wall of steel coated bullets.

The Shivans didn't die so much as explode from the damage. It seemed that whatever was holding them together failed if you hit them hard enough. Actually, thought Sergeant Woodley, that was the case with everything but most things didn't pop like a giant blister. In a way, it was fairly disturbing, but there would be plenty of time to think about that later on.

"They're pulling back!" someone on the right side of the formation shouted.

"Clear to the front."

"Left clear."

"It looks like the Shivans have had enough of you," came Sergeant Reyes' voice over the radio, "they've dropped back a block on all sides and look like they have somewhere else to be."

"Can you tell where they're going Benny?" asked Captain Kane.

"No way to be certain Ma'am, but they're generally pointed toward downtown. Shall I have someone follow them to be sure?"

Captain Kane thought for a moment before replying. "Only long enough to make sure they're not coming back for us. No more than a mile I'd say. Also, give me an orbital pattern around our current position for a few minutes, we need a chance to catch our breath down here."

"Can do ma'am. Just let us know when you're ready to move."

Captain Kane cut the connection before addressing her ground units. "Ok, gang, lets take ten minutes. Medics, check everyone over just in case. Anyone trying to bravely suffer to keep me from worrying will find themselves on medical leave from one too many kicks to the side of the head."

She heard the laughter from her team. Susan Kane had found that a light bit of humor kept her team functioning well. She had worked hard to keep the glory hounds and heroic martyrs that tended to flock to Longbow out of her command. She had a team of professional soldiers and it never hurt, particularly in a lighthearted way, to remind them of that from time to time.

Susan Kane motioned to her Sergeant and kneeled down next to the wall. Becky Woodley joined her a moment later and the two watched the team.

"What do you think, Becky?"

"We lost a bit of time there Ma'am but we're still in good shape. I'm a bit concerned about ammunition after that but we should be ok as long as we don't have another big fight."

"How are the team feeling?"

"Pretty good. Although there was some quiet talk on the flight in about whether or not this was all pointless."

Susan Kane grinned and slowly shook her head before answering. "Becky, it is pointless. I know it, you know it, they know it. We've been given an almost impossible mission with a ridiculously short time limit for accomplishing it. We're meant to fail at this."

"Then why did you agree to the mission?"

"Well, it was an order for one thing and, there are some legitimate reasons for bringing these people in. At the very least we have charges of breaking and entering, assault with a deadly weapon, trespassing, illegal use of Longbow property, and one murder. Although I'm pretty certain that last one could be interpreted as accidental death during an act of self defense. I personally would like to ask them how they did it so we can tighten base security. But more importantly, there's just way too much that doesn't make sense about all of this."

Captain Kane held up a hand and continued.

"Lets take a look at what we know about our suspects.
One: according to the video, all of them were dressed in civilian clothing. That makes no sense at all. If they were intended to be a raid, then why so few of them? If they were meant as infiltrators, why make as much noise as they did? None of the major organizations are that inept.

Two: They made no attempts to steal, destroy, or sabotage anything. They had all of the time in the world but what did they do? They simply took the shortest route they could to the nearest teleporter and left the base. Also, they used the teleporter to come here? Why here? They had most of the Eastern Seaboard to chose from. What was so important here that they had to put themselves at that much of a risk?

Three: Yes someone did get killed but every other person they encountered was subdued non-lethally. That's a sign to me that they would have been perfectly willing to avoid fighting if they could have. The only reason Colher died is because he had the weapon most likely to kill someone accidentally.

All of this leads me to believe that these people were not agents of Arachnos or any other major organization. So, the question is, who were they and what did they want? "

Susan Kane took a sip of water before continuing. This was an old habit between her and her Master Sergeant. Captain Kane had always found it useful to verbalize her thoughts when presented with a problem. If there was a flaw in her thinking, Rebecca Woodley would probably spot it.

"More importantly, I recognized one of the people in the surveillance videos, Becky. She's a reporter, the one who broke that whole 'Golden Ace' thing last summer. If she's involved in this, then she thinks she's on to something big, and I'd really like to know what it is before it all blows up in our face.

Now here's the problem, We know that the teleport on this end was guarded so it's very likely that she's already dead or imprisoned. It would be helpful to know which. If she's dead, it'll be unfortunate in many different ways, but there isn't much we can do about it. If they're imprisoned, then we might have the opportunity to rescue them and find out what's going on."

Captain Kane stood up, followed by her Sergeant. Her team, which had been keeping half an eye on their Captain, climbed to their feet as well. Captain Kane looked at her team then at her Sergeant who, very respectfully, avoided meeting her Captain's eyes. Susan Kane knew that they were humoring her.

She shouldered her pack and casually leaned her rifle on her right shoulder. She wasn't that old and it was time to remind her team of that.

"Lets go Sergeant. I have questions for a reporter."

Ok, very nice. But why does Vandal Savage look like Sebastian Shaw?

As much as I like the idea of giving my defenders swords, I can't really see it being in the spirit of the AT.

The whole point of Defenders is not to dive into the center of a fight (except where needed to heal/buff an ally) but to hang back a bit and do their thing while being able to lay down some cover fire for the rest of the team. The ranged powersets thay have now fit nicely into that role.

Giving a defender a broadsword (or any other dedicated melee set, even a modified one) would just result in a lot of dead Defenders. I know from experience that Defenders are not the strongest when it comes to personal defense. Yes, they have some great tricks, but nothing that really would lend itself to the kind of 'stand and fight' that a melee set needs.

Sorry, as appealing as it sounds, I cannot support this idea.

Very nice to hear. Most of my favorites were the winners. Woo Hoo.

Since this seems to have gone so well, perhaps we can use the voting format on future additions to the game.


Keep up the good work, give us a shout when these are in the store.

Or perhaps the best memorial of all...


Open the doors and let us back in there to help clean up the mess.

And who is to say that all gods are all-mighty and all-powerful? Couldn't there be some rather small and specialized gods?

Your character could very well be a god, but a very specific one like say...

The god of paper jams (every time you curse, you invoke this god)

The god of central air and heating (aaah, truly a blessing on a hot day)

The goddess of really good steaks (that was heavenly)

The god of loaded baked potatoes (her consort)

The goddess of bullets (why do you think they curve like that?)

The god of things going boom (patron saint of Michael Bay)


you get the idea I think.

The size of the blade is directly proportional to the worthyness of the wielder?

Just a thought.

Very nice. I like the idea of Multi-generational heroes in Paragon City.

Thank you for taking the time to write this.

I suppose I'll have to jump in here. Don't worry, I'll try to keep it brief.



It is true that not everyone is a skilled writer. But I greatly appreciate anyone who makes any attempt at a backstory. This tells me that they see their character as something more than just a collection of numbers and statistics.

Choosing to complain about whether they borrow elements of canon or have less than refined writing skills or have an idea that takes up more than the relatively small space provided, is somewhat petty.

This is a game. People are here (I hope) to have fun. If part of their fun involves a complicated and convoluted backstory incorporating canon elements, then so be it. Bravo, show me more.

I invite anyone who wishes to tell their character's full story to do so. Feel free to start a thread in the roleplaying section and let fly. I try to read all of the ones I can find on the forums and, very often, I find ones that may not be literature, but they are worth the read.

Best way I know of is to ask in help or broadcast if anyone from that channel is on.


I'll give the floor to others on this. It's been a while.

1. Live and let live: Just because I think your 'Super Duper mann" is a truly dumb Idea, it's yours so I'll just let it slide.

2. Don't Be cruel: Just because I could make your in game life miserable, doesn't mean I have to. (no griefing)

3. Pay it forward: Help those who need it because someone helped you once.

4. The thumper rule: If you can't say something nice...

5. Assume everyone is a good player until proven otherwise: ...and then help improve those that can be.

6. Ignore is your friend: if the thumper rule fails, just switch the fool off so you don't have to deal with them.

I'd suggest that you start a new character just to get back up to speed. Then, once you're comfortable, dust off the old MM, respec them and let it rip.

It was a beautiful party with lace on the tables and a 60 piece orchestra playing favorite hits of the celebrant. And to top it all off, a 5 tier cake made of the finest ingrediants and prepared by the greatest of chefs....




Actually, it was a couple of beers and a round of 'Happy Birthday' over a plate of hot wings, but it's the thought that counts.


Happy Birthday.

Still the best population of players in the MMO world. And now, even more of them.

Even the 'low population' servers are busier than they have been before. It should not be much trouble for you to find teams.

Your biggest problem will be getting used to the new bells and whistles that have gone into effect since you've been away.


Welcome Back (sort of)