Anomynous

...man. No pun war? I am disappoint.

I never got a single character past level 44. Most of my characters sort of petered out in the mid-high 30's.

Last time I came back, I deleted ALL my characters to try to get a fresh start. Didn't work.

I hated AE, so much so that I quit for over a year after it was released. I still shudder at the thought of it.

I sold crafted IOs to make money for SOs. I liked how IOs worked in general - just could never be arsed to actually use 'em.

I absolutely hated when people would post character builds complete with enancements. Felt like that simply made the "character" a bag of numbers.

I absolutely hated DfB. It's like the devs gave up and said, "Wanna power-level? Sure, here you go - beat up on these beanbags, get leveled SOs, and repeat ad nauseum."

I liked the old Blaster inherent - you know, the one that greatly increased your Acc and Damage when you got really low on health. Not a fan of the wimpy-arsed new inherent.

My Kinetics Defender withheld Speed Boost until somebody noticed - which, barring Earth Tanks, could be a surprisingly long time.

My Tanks regularly stole aggro from Brutes on purpose.

I never played Kheldians or Arachnos, even when they became available at level 20. Just had absolutely zero interest in 'em.

After playing CO and DCUO, I've sort of been waiting for CoH to die. Don't get me wrong, I love the game, but boy does it feel old.

And not a confession, but fun fact I just discovered: The word "arsed" isn't censored, but if you remove the "d," it is.

All I remember about MA was that everything outside AE was a ghost town for a good long while after it launched. Hardly any non-AE farm teams to be had - not even good ol' sewer runs -and since casual teaming was the reason I played, my interest quickly fizzled.

I don't know if enough people felt the same way to have a significant impact, but it is the reason I took an extended break.

My first character ever didn't last a minute in Outbreak. Looked cool in the character creator, but I deleted him as soon as I saw him in the real world.

So I'm presenting the first one to actually escape the tutorial. Dash Marlowe, a '40s era private eye who had been tapped by the FBI to help ferret out German elements in Paragon City while all the heroes were busy abroad. Stumbled into some Manhattan Project-like thing, and didn't wake up until 65 years later.

Didn't actually play him much, as I couldn't settle on a powerset combo for the longest time - and by the time I did (SJ / WP), I was kind of bored of scrappers. Anyway, here's an approximation of how he originally looked (left), and how he looks now...



Granted, not terribly original, but that was kind of the point.

Tough call. CoH was my first pay-to-play MMO, and I only picked it because it looked different from what I'd been playing (free hobbyist "M"MOs and a couple of horrible Korean grindfests). I didn't realize how different it was with regards to other sub-based MMORPGs until much later. I've had a hard time adapting to any other MMO, as none of 'em have the range of customization or the opportunities for teaming that CoH offers.

DCUO is probably the front-runner, but I know it won't last. I love the combat mechanics, the environmental graphics, and the ambient music - but the game hurtles you through the leveling process and slams you into the brick wall that is endgame. YMMV, of course.

CO seems like a logical choice, but it seems like for almost any powerset at almost any given tier, there's one "no-brainer" power that outshines everything else availabe to you; there's no point in not spamming that one thing (unless you just take it off your hotbar and deal with being relatively gimp). I hate when that happens. Plus, while I really like the idea of freeform power selection, there's no way I'm paying PWE one red cent, so I'm stuck with the basic archetypes.

WoW, LotRO, SWTOR, TSW, GW (1 and 2), Rift, EvE, STO, etc. are pretty much off the table. Either they have nothing to offer me, or I've saturated on them already, or they piss me off (looking at you, STO...), or the relative lack of teaming options kills me.

Kind of at the point where MMOs in general are looking like single-player games, so why not just play single-player games? No sub cost, better craftsmanship, larger potential range of mechanics, healthy modding communities - what's not to love?

Heh, I remember the first time I tested the waters of Virtue - I'd been playing on another server and wanted to see what they meant by an "Unofficial RP Server." Rolled up a character and joined a team - and I swear everyone who joined that team afterwards opened with the phrase "Greetings, mortals!" Kinda spooked me out; I scampered back to my old server and stayed there a while before being coaxed back to Virtue by a couple of friends.

Since then, though, it's been a pleasure to be here. The creativity evident on the server prompted me to go on an experimental phase with character creation, which never really ended. Unfortunately, that character-hopping kind of kept me unsettled, so I never got into the community as much as I might have liked.

Nevertheless, I'd like to thank the folks at "S.C.O.R.P.I.O." for taking a chance and putting up with my wimpy, half-arsed RP. Had a ton of fun with you guys, and I was greatly impressed by the agility of your RP and the depths of your storytelling. In hindsight I regret jumping ship for the new, shiny games that were coming out back then.

A general thanks to everyone I've teamed with, everyone on the Help channel (not only for help, but also entertainment and for getting my blood all riled - good for the circulation, you know), and everyone here on the forums. It's been entertaining from up here in the lurkers' gallery.

Best of luck to all, and hoping everyone (dev and player alike) can find a welcoming port of call.

Ted (aka Derg, Nithi, Suzie Mae, Mister Continuum, Sal, Thantasia and her evil French double Thantaisie, Bergstrom, Neman, Jeanne Truc, Hlathgud, and a bunch of other equally obscure characters)

I hope you don't mind me piggybacking, but I didn't want to start another thread. I'm another Triumph emigre (moved to Virtue shortly before Mission Architect hit), and I remember its transition from "The Friendly Server" to "The Pantsless Server."

In retrospect, I feel like I made more friends here than I did on the more crowded Virtue - the population here was just about the right size for bumping into the same people repeatedly and getting to know them. A big thanks to anyone in or associated with "Hand of Glory," "The Protectorate Hermeticum," and all the people it's been my pleasure to team with during my stint on this server. Specific thanks to Kusanagi (sp?), Black Crow King, Kadon (sp?), Frost Iron, Anne Ominous (whose name I had to steal for my forum handle back when we could change forum handles), and a couple other people whose names I should remember but don't, but whom I hope will realize I'm talking about them from the context.

Anyway, good sailing all, and know that even if we never cross paths again, I'll remember you fondly. Ok, so maybe not your character names, but still...

Ted
(aka Dash Marlowe, Legia, Thantasia, Street Justice (looong before the powerset was even a twinkle in the milkman's eye), and a bajillion others)

Both Dark Miasma and Trick Arrow immediately came to mind as good AoE-heavy debuffer sets (Defender primaries; Controller, Corruptor, and Mastermind secondaries). It's been a while since I've played either, but I recall that Dark had greater survivability, as it has more "soft" controls than Trick Arrow.

...and, wow, shows you how long it's been since I've played. Illusion/Dark wasn't possible back in the day, and I didn't even make the connection until Lucky666's post. I'm kinda surprised it isn't FotM based on what I remember from either set...

The song is Holly Yarbrough's rendition of the original Fred Rogers song (rest in peace, Rev).

Awesome job to the OP, and I wish you the best with it! If I were a more active player, I'd definitely sign up for this.

How do I spend 2XP weekends?

Playing another game. Or reading a book. But then, I'm one of those weirdos who turns off XP frequently...

Heh, the show would probably stand a better chance if it kept the old ILC format but called it something else...

I wonder if ILC wasn't one of those shows where, if you weren't watching it from the start (or drunk, or with a roomful of buddies every week), you could never get into it...

The show's popularity took off shortly after I graduated college. It was kind of surreal to go back to visit my college buddies on weekends to hear them talking about the show and quipping one-liners at every opportunity. When I finally actually saw the show, my reaction was "Wow, this is crap" - which didn't sit too well with my old crowd...

Crap! Between this and Beavis & Butthead, it's clear that my generation is finally in position to inflict our nostalgia on everyone else. Sorry about that, kids.

Aren't they, like, 35 now?

Just curious if either of you have seen Bollywood dancing..?