Aliana Blue

Legend
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  1. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Mad Grim View Post
    I dislike the idea that the Coming Storm beat us. I prefer the idea that Paragon was saved/the villain took over the world. Their work finished, they moved on.
    In my version of it, the Coming Storm beat us... And we beat it. Mutual Destruction for the sake of the countless other dimensions that wouldn't have had a chance to stand up to it. An astronomical number of lives will go on, blessedly unaware that one single City of Heroes and a collection of Rogue Isles silently, and anonymously, paid the ultimate price for their future.
  2. Aliana Blue

    Confessions

    Back when the tailor was first released, there was a bug where it was possible to get the Freedom Corps (later Longbow) tights costume with it. Back then there were no shops in King's row at all. I put two and two together and made a character in that costume called "Field Trainer" so that I could hang out in King's Row by the trainer to confuse the newbies.

    Many lols were had until a GM changed my character's name - but he let me keep the costume!
  3. What jumps to mind is...

    1) Getting MoSTF with my BS/Regen scrapper, who has been sporting the same plain SO build since... Issue 5 or so. Pushing through every piece of content with her has to count too, keeping up with the Joneses with an old school SO build (including incarnate content!) is very satisfying.

    2) Ending up as the "tank" against Rommy in the ITF with my Martial Arts/Energy Armor stalker. Same stalker that made it through the RWZ Challenge, too. So. Awesome.

    3) Anything and everything I ever did with Actin: http://www.walkiry.com/CoH/ . Solo ITF, double RWZ challenge, over-the-cap x8+4 ambush pileup in the Dark Watcher Arc's end mission, 7 AVs at once (before incarnate powers, I remember breaking the sanity of a few people in the Scrapper forum at the time with this ), the works. She became my most badass character after the initial Rikti invasion release, when she performed less than admirably with a plain IOs/SOs old build at level 35-ish at the time (I had come back from a break and hadn't really looked into the Invention System yet). I really, really got into character with her after the dust settled and I picked the pieces of my ego back. Backstory, character development, weeks of taking the Invention IO system apart...

    ...

    *Sigh*, this is actually depressing me now. I'm going to miss Actin and her crazy antics. And I'm going to miss the rest of my squad too. So many new characters I haven't had a chance to play.
  4. Thank you very much for the plays and the nice feedback! =)
  5. As long as you can roll Scrappers for free, winning will be free.
  6. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Clouded View Post
    I click 'Claim All.' Confirm a few power selections (blackwand, Sands of Mu, etc) and done.

    Where's the issue?
    Wait a minute, I thought you could only have one veteran respec "banked", so to speak, at any given time. Can one actually claim them all and keep them banked now?
  7. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Roderick View Post
    Some good stuff in there. I think I'm gonna wait until I see what the rest of my build provides before deciding which option to use. *Taps foot impatiently waiting for Mids' update*

    Thanks for all the help!
    One thing to remember is that the recharge you "need" is going to depend on the attack chain. With some good global recharge, you can get away with less than "red" on it and still run the best chains seamlessly.
  8. Cool thanks for the price check.

    DarkWalker, you can get that kind of money with two hero merits (and with only one if you're lucky). That's 4 days of tips (because you can only do 5 of them a day), but the total running time should be... An hour? Two maybe?

    If that amount of "earning time" per respec is OK with you, then there's two things I want you to do:

    1. Head to the market forum and check on the usage of Hero/Villain merits. The chaps there are quite helpful and typically willing to help people on their way to self-sufficiency. I don't know your feelings about marketeering, but H/V Merit -> Inf. is the easiest, most straightforward path.

    2. PM me your global, since I assume you don't have a higher level character that can run tips easily yet (have you even made it to 20?). You and I are going to run a little experiment.

    You're making this more of a deal than it is. You can respec often and easily, we just need to give you inf-earning traction so you realize that, time-wise, it's no more expensive than other games offering unlimited respecs with in-game currency.
  9. I don't have the game in front of me, so I'll ask: How much do respec recipes go for these days?
  10. Quote:
    Originally Posted by PleaseRecycle View Post
    Good point. Or, maybe they could look at other games in the same genre, many of which were recently added to steam, and see what $5 gets them in those. Hint: It's about one or two arcs' worth of content, if the F2P game is one that sells content packs. And those games do not all even offer a subscription option that is a far better deal, as CoH does. Seems to be working out pretty well for them!
    Most of the genre makes the money from baubles and systems, not content. Notice how it's been already suggested that buying one of the "arcs" may be worth it for Freemium just to have access to the rewards table. And that's how it goes, selling mangy content like this at premium prices in F2P is basically a roundabout way of selling the shinies at the end of it.

    Games that have to sell actual content (DLC) have to put noticeably more effort to entice customers to pay for it.
  11. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Mr. DJ View Post
    It's your choice, $5 for two arcs isn't that bad imo.
    It's downright terrible, actually.

    Think about it, the chaps paying for the arcs are the "Freemiums", right? Those of us who keep subscribing just get the content anyway. You want to entice those who wouldn't pay the subscription to put some cash in your game, as opposed to some other game.

    Now, it's going to come in seven parts, at 5 bucks each. That's 35 total.

    Open the Steam shop and see what you can get in the 5-35 bucks range.

    Charging 5 bucks for having an extra three missions for your toons to run through when they level up is... Just no. If you want to make in appealing for the freemiums to put cash in your game, you're gonna have to offer a lot better value.
  12. You know that thing Rowling does with Voldemort being referred to as "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named"? She got the idea from the Council/5th retcon. Some of the text floating around is downright hilarious if you know the retcon happened and can spot what they did.

    But I still think my favourite was Atlas. Someone described the first retcon on the plaque under his statue as "he went from being a badazz who held back the entire invasion force of the Axis by himself, at the cost of his life, to some chump who couldn't solo one of his missions".
  13. Just gonna say that....

    a. I don't mind exemplaring.

    b. I have lowbie arcs in my Architect work too. Lowbies can use content.

    c. But, I don't think these "pay to get", hyped-OMG-SIGNATURE-RELEASE THE KRAKEN!!! arcs are the place to do exemplaring like this.

    That is all.
  14. I treat Exalted the same I treat the rest of the servers: 12 brand-new slots to create new alts!

    I haven't even checked if any of the... Uh... 100 or so names I've already used are taken. Quite a few are probably common enough to be taken anyway.

    Hmmmm, new alts. *Drools*
  15. Quote:
    Originally Posted by LordAethar View Post
    I've not seen a lot of chatter yet on the new Tier V Travel Powers - Afterburner, Long-Range Teleport, Burnout, Spring Attack, and the Kheldian equivalents - Shadowslip and Quantum Acceleration.

    So far, I've only used LRT, and I'm rather disappointed with it. It doesn't permit teleport to Hazard Zones (except for The Hollows and First Ward), or any co-op zones. Nor does it permit crossing the Hero/Villain/Praetorian line even if you're a Vigilante/Rogue and capable of doing so normally. Implementing the latter I think is difficult with how they coded Hero/Villain crossovers, but I'm confused at the former. Bluezone characters especially have a large number of Hazard Zones, afterall.

    Thoughts anybody?
    LRT is the embodiment of disappointment. As you said, no hazard zones, co-op, it'd be barely above the Ouroboros portal if it weren't for the fact that it's got a loooooooooooong animation, long recharge, can't be used from inside missions, and it's INTERRUPTIBLE (I mean, seriously folks, wtf!). As it is, it's less than Ouroboros, or even having a freaking base with teleporters installed.

    I took it on a character that needs to respec into Inherent Stamina anyway. Good thing, that.
  16. It only took me two months to get back into the game!

    ---

    *Cue slow and beautiful Orchestral Classical Music piece*

    *Camera pans to the AE interface*

    Iron Architect is offering three missions.

    *Camera flips through a selection of shots from the missions*

    First mission, a classic faceoff. As a light starter for the arc, the Iron Architect is offering a touch of lighthearted comedy, with a no fuss classic heroic face off against a well known enemy. The light sprinkly of fourth wall awareness adds a wonderful accent to this excellent opener.

    Second mission, the reveal! Playing with some timeless Fusionette moments, the Iron Architect delights her audience with a mix of light comedy and misplaced dread, placing an escort with a balanced difficulty balance to ensure the joke is not overplayed. A nod to one of the classic conspiracy theories of the playerbase rounds up an excellent and well paced mission.

    Thir and final mission, the shocking truth. The Iron Architect brings the arc to a fitting conclussion only Fusionette can deliver, perfectly capturing the spirit of the theme element of the day. The well timed delivery of the seasoning of extra elements to keep the pace of the mission is simply superb.

    =^..^=

  17. What keeps me from playing AE? The fact that I have bought a house, moved in, got everything set up... AND THEY HAVEN'T CONNECTED MY BROADBAND YET. IT'S BEEN THREE WEEKS FFS!!

    Which is specially embarrassing as there's an arc I really need to play involving Fusionette.

    DAMN YOU VODAFONE!!

    *Ahem*

    Carry on.
  18. Quote:
    Originally Posted by AmazingMOO View Post
    Have you changed your difficulty level in response to the new powers? Are you running any TFs at higher difficulty levels?
    Nah, I just decided to skip anything incarnate past the Alpha instead.
  19. Aliana Blue

    Scrapper Envy?

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Ultra_Violence View Post
    Do you find playing Trials to be more fun with a Tank/Brute/Scrapper?
    I find everything to be more fun when one has effective mez protection.
  20. Aliana Blue

    New zone?!

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AzureSkyCiel View Post
    Meh, I just wanted a chance to ham it up on the forums
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Matthew
    Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.
    Oh yeah, almost forgot:

  21. I mean, really:

    http://www.walkiry.com/CoH/Random%20...0-21-11-31.jpg

    If anyone has a clue WTF is going on there, I'm all ears.
  22. I love you lot so much <3

    <This space reserved for the pre-judging "individual dish" commentary of the arcs>

    If you know Iron Chef, you know what I'm talking about

    If you don't... You can wait, or spoil it by looking in YouTube.
  23. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Saul_Invictus View Post
    L: Wrong Number!
    WN: Go ahead, big fellow!
    L: Twoflower has just completed building the first mission, which is made of Council, Circle of Thorns, Nemesis, Tsoo, Freakshow, Crey, Warriors, Fifth Column, Devouring Earth, Banished Pantheon, and Arachnos! Back to you....
    WN: Man alive! What a mix of factions! Doc?
    BW: Yeah, if you remember the assistant looking for a map before...
    WN: An outdoors one?
    BW: Yeah... Ah there it is on camera. I'm guessing this will be for a large scale battle.
    AV: Really?
    BW: Yeah, if the battles are big enough then the aggro should spill over across battles, so it should go really well with Fusionette.
    WN: Factions and battles, oh my! Sounds like a strong start for the Challenger...

    L: Wrong Number!
    WN: Take it!
    L: The Iron Architect just sent one of her assistants into the first mission for testing! When I asked her about it, she said "I have to make the difficulty right for any given player, not just the person making it, so I can only rely on my assistants if I want to adjust it in only one hour!"
  24. My mind worries me sometimes, but I can't stop grinning at this idea, even though I know it's completely infeasible. The contest to end all contests.

    *Fade in Music*

    "Tell me how you play,
    and I'll tell you what you are."
    - Ancient MMO Proverb.

    *Fade out*

    *Dramatic pause*

    *Fade in to a hero dressed in a fabulous and over the top costume, named The Chairman*

    Today a man's fantasy becomes reality in a form never seen before.

    Arc Build Stadium, a giant Architect Arena.

    The motivation for spending his fortune to create Arc Build Stadium was to encounter new original story arcs, which could be called true Artistic Creations.

    The Chairman: Allez Buildin'!

    *Dramatic chorus*

    To realize his dream, he secretly started choosing the top players for various styles of Arc Building, and he named his players... The Iron Architects, the invincible players of Arc Creation skills!

    ((Note: Here comes personal preference ^_^))

    Iron Architect Heroic, Police Woman.
    Iron Architect Villanous, Fredrik Svanberg.
    Iron Architect Dramatic, Fearghas.
    And Tubbius is Iron Architect Comedic.

    Arc Build Stadium is the Arena where Iron Architects await the challenges of Master Architects from all over the world. Both the Iron Architect and Challenger have one hour to tackle the theme plot element of the day, using all their senses, skills, creativity, there to prepare unique arcs never played before.

    And if ever a Challenger wins over the Iron Architect, he or she will gain the people's ovation and fame forever. Every Battle, reputations are on the line in Arc Build Stadium, where Master Architects pitch their artistic creations against each other. What inspiration will today's challenger win? And how will the Iron Architect fight back? The heat will be on!!

    ...

    I can't be the only one who thinks this would be hilarious.

    Chariman: IFFFFFFF my memory serves me right, today signals the first battle in our Arc Build arena.

    *The Chairman blasts a random mob and one-shots it while smiling and looking fabulous*

    For today'sssss challenge! I have chosen a challenger worthy of the occasion. Having tested the Architect system since early beta, and having been chosen in the Dev's choice as well. Today's challenger, an early adopter and a well known name for all Architect players in the game.

    @Twoflower!

    ((I was going to add the random bit here where trivia on the origins of the player and whatnot are added, but as I know nothing about it, rather than making something silly up I'll skip ahead.))

    *Camera pans out to the Architect Building*

    *Change to three players sitting behind a desk*

    Footnote reads:


    Bubbawheat...............Wrong Number
    Commentator.............Commentator

    WN: Today we have the first challenger, for what ill be the opening battle of Arc Build Stadium, a prolific arc creator and well known name among the players. And... Joining us for the opening battle we have well known theory crafter and mathematician extraordinaire, Arcanaville.
    AV (In an extremely badly dub with a complete airhead voiceover): Hello, nice to be here!
    WN: Arcanaville-san? You have dabbed in the Architect Entertainment system before, haven't you?
    AV: Why yes I have. (Fake giggle that doesn't match the onscreen lip movement of the actual player). I have four arcs up, but the most popular one is my challenge arc.
    WN: I see! So you are into torturing players, are you?
    AV: Oh no! (more fake giggling) It's really labelled as such, anyone can play it but they know what they're in for.
    WN: Of course, and thank you for coming.
    AV: I'm looking forward to today's arcs!
    WN: And as usual, our commentator, Dr. Bubbawheat.
    BW: *Bows* Always a pleasure.
    WN: All right, let's bring on The Chairman!

    *Fake clapping from nonexistant audience*

    *Fabulous hero walks in on the scene at the very top of the AE building stairs.

    Caption:

    The Chairman
    Chairman of the Architect Academy

    CH: How many players... Have more than one arc rated five stars. Not many, of course. And among them... This player... This Master Architect... Has also.... A Dev's choice.

    One of the most prolific arc creators in the game. Let's all wellcome... Twoflower!!

    *Clapping and dramatic music, as Twoflower walks into view and stands next to the chairman at the bottom of the stairs*

    CH: Welcome to my Arc Build Arena.
    TF: Thank you, it is an honor.
    CH: I heard you had several Dev's Choice arcs at one point during beta.
    TF: Yes, that is correct.
    CH: What happened?
    TF: I'd rather not talk about it.
    CH: I see. Are you confident you can win today?
    TF: I came here to do my best, I am here to win.
    CH: Of course. Thank you... And now, let me summon the pride of the Architect Academy. I summon! THE IRON ARCHITECTS!!!!!!

    *Chorus music*

    WN: Ascending in the Arc Build Arena, the players that lead the Architect scene in Paragon, YOUR Iron Architects.

    Iron Architect Heroic, Police Woman.
    Iron Architect Villanous, Fredrik Svanberg.
    Iron Architect Dramatic, Fearghas.

    Here they stand! The invincible players of Arc Building Skills!

    CH: Well then... WHO WILL IT BE???!!!
    TF: Police Woman, please!!

    WN: All right, it's a Heroic battle then!

    Police Woman, one of the top Architects when it comes to build arcs with a heroic feeling, her works touch many themes from classic Television series and adventures, with the right flavour for Paragon City, author of the much acclaimed Teen Phalanx Forever arc!

    *Cue the Challenger and Iron Architect getting ready in front of the architect terminal, surrounded by two assistants each*

    CH: What could be the right theme for the opening battle of my Arc Build Stadium. I thought about it for a long time. It had to be iconic, it had to be passionate... Ah, passion! That gave me an idea. Something that has flared so much passion across the playerbase. Yes, THAT character...

    *The Chairman grins*

    I unveil... The THEME PLOT ELEMENT!!!!!

    *A teleport in animation plays as a character materializes next to The Chairman*

    CH: Today's theme issssss..... FUSIONETTE!!!

    *Police Woman shakes her head*

    *Twoflower facepalms*

    *Cue dramatic music*

    Dun DUDN DUN DUUNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!

    ..................FUSIONETTE BATTLE................
    Twoflower..............................Police Woman
    Dev choiced architect.....Iron Architect Heroic

    WN: The stage is set, the architects are ready, let's get it on!!

    The Chairman: Allez Buildin'!!!

    *Gong sound*

    WN: And the gong sounds, the architects rush to start working on the arc, and Bubbawheat-san? Today's theme is Fusionette...
    BW: Yeah, not an easy theme to work with! Very well known in the game, but she has been characterized anything from incompetent to a complete ditz, so it's going to be interesting to see how the Architects work the arcs to make her palatable and somewhat fresh.
    WN: What about you Arcanaville? Anything noteworthy about your encounters with Fusionette?
    AV: Not really, I'm one of the players who just lets her faceplant if she gets in trouble.
    WN: No way!
    AV: Yes! (Extremeply phony fake giggling from the dub) I do the same with regular players too, I call it Heroic Darwinism.
    WN: Okay, what about...

    *Interrupted*

    Wrong Number!

    WN: From the floor, commenter Lazarus, go!
    L: Thank you! As you can see, neither the challenger nor the Iron Architect seemed thrilled about the theme for today. I heard the Iron Architect mumbling to herself... "I can't believe he chose Fusionette, she's been done to death! Wait, that came out wrong..."
    WN: *Laughs* I see...
    L: And Wrong Number?
    WN: Yes Lazarus?
    L: I asked the Iron Architect how many missions was she planning today, and she said "Three, probably three, I couldn't stand her more than three..."
    WN: Haha, of course, and what about the challenger?
    L: Twoflower is going for a full set of FIVE missions!
    WN: Wow! Bubbawheat-san? Any comments on that? A whole five missions of Fusionette...
    BW: Yes, I'm hoping the challenger is not biting more than can reasonably be chewed by anyone, and... Let's take a look at the challenger here...
    WN: Okay, let's see...

    *Camera pans on the Challenger's interface*

    AV: What's that, Devouring Earth?
    BW: Yeah, Twoflower is picking out the enemies from the Devouring Earth one by one, my guess is that he's trying to avoid some of the less popular enemies.
    WN: Such as?
    BW: Well, the most commonly hated Devouring Earth enemy is the Quartz....
    AV: Oh yeah! You can say that again, I don't use this term lightly but they are downright game breaking.
    WN: Not your favourite enemy I take?
    AV: Not at all! They downright break defense so much worse than any other counter for defensive powers, it's just silly.
    BW: Yeah, and see? The challenger just finished creating that custom group without them.
    WN: One custom group just to remove a couple of enemies, goes to show the attention to detail these Architects...

    Lazarus: Wrong Number!
    WN: Go!
    L: One of the assistants of the Iron Architect seems to be scrambling like crazy flipping through available maps, the Iron Architect ordered him to find a map with a wide middle area for lots of objectives but not being a complex or bifurcating map, and he's scrambling to find one because every time he suggests one, Police Woman comes and finds somethig wrong with it.

    ...

    I think I better stop now, but the idea of having an epic televised battle of architects building an arc in one hour, with a "tasting and Judging", excuse me, "playing and judging" panel and all that... It's just hilarious

    (If you didn't get the reference by now: Iron Chef!)
  25. Quote:
    Originally Posted by ClawsandEffect View Post
    I'm trying to understand why 14% extra to-hit is such a HUGE deal.
    Going from 50% chance to be hit (assuming even level, for now) to 64% chance to be hit means you get 28% more damage in than usual. Going from 5% chance to be hit to 19% chance to be hit means you get 280% more damage in than usual.

    The other part of the equation is how much one would have to invest to mitigate that extra damage with a non-defense build (more healing/resistances/whatever) vs. how easy it is to come up with an extra 14% defense.

    And there's the fact that both SR and SD get some form of resistance (so they're not completely one-layered), but you get the point.