WrathStar

As a lifelong comic book fan, and a vet of CoH, I'm really saddened by the Aurora tragedy. I've read every post from the beginning, and I'm so relieved that Chazz and my fellow CoH players are alright. When I first heard about the story this morning, I thought of our community and I instantly started to wonder if everyone was okay.

My emotions are so conflicted right now though. I don't know where to start, really.

I'm sad for the families of those who were taken from them while simply trying to enjoy a story about a classic superhero. I think back to seeing Superman with Chris Reeves in a theater in '77, when I was a boy. The pure magic of seeing a man fly. Not just any man... one of my favorite superheroes. I think about how there are children that were in that theater that are alive tonight, but may never know that true innocence and pure joy of seeing your hero take on the bad guys and win like I did. They'll be scarred from the terror of last night.

I'm saddened that now there seems to be people out there already trying to blame the comic books and films I love so much for this senseless act when it's very apparent that the person who did this was just a very mentally ill individual. In "The Dark Knight", Alfred told Bruce, "Some men just want to see the world burn." This was that sort of person. May God have mercy on that kind of person. If it is found to be that he was ill, then he needs treatment. If not... well then... May God have mercy on his soul.

I think though, deep inside, I'm saddened the worst because I feel like this entire day has felt like someone basically trampled into my house, burned my comics, and spat in my face. I've seen comments from my comic book friends and fellow CoH gamers about how this could be a turning point for the comic industry and perhaps the comic book films. Will it turn into another PMRC from the late '80s? Will it be some sort of return to the Comics Book Code?

I don't know. I just know I feel sick about it. I did find solace though in this article I thought I would share. It really summed up about how I feel about my heroes in times of tragedy. I'll still have WrathStar out there in Paragon, protecting the innocent. Now more than ever.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2...world-violence

Same trouble here... anyone got any ideas or suggestions?

I've a ton of great memories, all of which are my favorites, and I'll probably post more of them when I get more time, but for right now...

- Capes. When I started on June 1, 2004, we didn't have capes. Nobody did. When Capes were introduced later that year, I lost it. I was so happy. I finally got to live out the dream of flying across town, that cape billowing in the wind...

- Meeting one of my all-time favorite friends, WarPaint, during a mission on Virtue server one night. We teamed up to take on a bunch of Rikti and went on to eventually found The Silencers - May they rest in History.

-City of Villains Beta -- Man, that was insane, but fun... and the last night when Statesman and the other heroes attacked the Rogue Isles and we all got to beat on them a little bit... great fun.

- First time I got to take on the Giant Octopus out there in Independance Port... the night he was first introduced. Talk about anticipation... he was making us wait... and wait... and wait...

Tons more, I'll get to them eventually. Gotta run for now!

Good to be back!

WrathStar

Well, sadly, you had me then lost me.

Reasons:

1. The character I roleplay with is already level 10. You have no acceptance for anyone above 4 at the start. I already remade the character once, and refined his powers and story to where I like it, so I'm not remaking him again.

2. The AMP thing on the name. It's too "clan-ish". I know you just backed out on it, but to suggest it in the first place... that's Diablo territory, or Half-Life. Can anyone who seriously role-plays a superhero ever imagine picking up an issue of X-Men or Spider-Man and seeing the names as "Wolverine_XMEN" or "Spider-Man_INDIE" behind the title? We're imagining characters in a comic-book world... it just doesn't fly. Once again, I know you backed out on it, but ouch. "The first impression is always the most imporatant", they always say.

3. Level restriction according to "weeks". This is just bothersome. I'm no "power-gamer" as a previous response said, but this raises some serious questions.

A. The game has proven that being one Archtype is often easier than another, I.E. a blaster compared to a defender. So if you don't make the specified level by said week, are you less a role-player, or are you "left behind" by the group for new players to deal with?

B. On the other side of the coin, what if you are a player who excells at solo missions or strategy (as I try to do, it doesn't always work, but I try...) and end up making a few levels in a week or two? What then, you just don't go and train to level up? Isn't that rather shutting down roleplay, rather than enhancing it? There are always those who are more stronger than others, more powerful, or more successful, in real life or others... should we be restrained if we excell alone as opposed to being "grouped"?

C. Not all characters are "social". Look at the Hulk, for example. Banner can't control what happens, when it happens, or why. But the Hulk can go out and destroy tanks and half a battalion of soldiers whenever he is hunted. He is a lone soul, and wishes only to be left alone. By game standards, the Hulk would probably be played as a loner, non-social, and not the kind of guy you would want to take out to buy a drink! He would level rapidly, because face it, if you take out a battalion of 5th Column, you'd really be looking at a lot of XP! What happens to that sort of character? They can be roleplayed if done properly...but in this system... it's almost pointless.

Sorry to say it, but I'll be RP'ing with whoever wants, without the benefit of a "group", if this is what it is. Good luck with that, though.

Please think about my points, and I'll be curious for a response.


Take care.

((The following is the story of WrathStar's origin. He can be found on both Virtue and Gaurdian servers.))

While working at Paragon Power Nuclear Research Facility, Dylan Bradol was given the assignment of testing an experimental type of nuclear rod that could potentially revolutionize energy as the world knows it, in that the fusion they could create in theory would be similar to that of a harnessed solar flare.

The first few experiments that Dylan conducted were promising, with the radiation elements off the scale. No known radiation of such kind was known to man. His collegue, Dr. Simon Jones, dubbed the power contained in the rod "Radiation X", and placed it somewhere on the Atomic Chart as 75 Gigs past Plutonium.

When the day came for the Stress Overload Testing, Dylan and Dr. Jones were both amazed at the drain rate the rod could handle. However, the technology at hand had no way of telling them that while the output was phenominal, the stability of the rod was deteriorating at 3 times the normal rate...

An explosion occured, killing Dr. Jones and knocking Dylan into a coma. He lay for three months, his mind wheeling through his past, the future, time and space. He dreamt of a far star that had exploded millenia ago, flinging chunks of molten gas into space that cooled and were scattered across the universe...

When he awoke, he was approached by representatives of a company known only as "Dark Star Research Technologies." They threatened him to never speak of the experiment, and promised to make him a very rich man if he kept his mouth shut. He was confused and alone. Upon his recovery, he went back to Paragon Power in the dark of night and hacked into Dr. Jone's computer logs.

There he found a shocking discovery. While most of the files were deleted or blacked out, the personal journal of Dr. Jones was not. He read there of how the nuclear rod was brought to Paragon Power for testing as a part of a secret Military project, Code-Named Dark Star. Dark Star was an effort to harness the potential energies of a meteor that had fallen during the 1970's in the Yukon. The rod itself was a part of that meteor, and nothing was known of it's qualities... however, if it could be used as a weapon, or the power source for weapons, it would be a boon to the career of a certain General Chandler, head of Dark Star Research.

The same General Chandler who was in the headlines. He had been recently outted as a conspirator with the legendary 5th Column, the age old Nazi terrorist organization who were now causing havoc in the streets of Paragon City.

Dylan sat silent as the words glowed on the screen, his anger growing in him. He had been played as a pawn by the 5th Column. They had cost him three months of his life. He knew he had to have "compensation", as the men in black uniforms had told him. But nothing monetary...

It was while trying to hack into the 5th Column computer system several days later that Dylan shorted out his computer. Something in his hands ran through the keyboard, and blew the link.

That night, as he slept, he dreamt of space again. He was soaring past stars and planets, and then felt himself as light. He felt a burning in his chest, a burning so intense he awakened...

... only to find himself hovering against the ceiling of his bedroom.

Terrified, he went to Paragon Power in the dead of night and conducted the experiments that he had performed on the now-destroyed nuclear rod on a sample of his own blood. Sure enough, "Radiation X" had permeated every cell of his body, leaving him with the same unusual powers that the rod had contained. But one thing was different. When fused to human DNA, Radiation X became stable, and actually endowed him with strange powers.

He knew what to do. He returned home, and finding the leather pants and jacket that he had worn when he played guitar in a college metal band several years before, he set his sights on paying back the 5th Column. He emblazoned the jacket in stars, and took a name for himself.

That night, he left his apartment with one thought in mind...

Vengance on the 5th Column, and Chandler.

WrathStar was born.