BellaStrega
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Posts
2397 -
Joined
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This thread is heartening. I semi-retired my SS/Inv brute a couple of years ago because of many of the issues that this thread indicates are no longer issues.
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At launch, powersets were:
Melee Defense:
Dark Armor (Scrapper)
Fiery Aura (Tanker)
Ice Armor (Tanker)
Invulnerability (Tanker, Scrapper)
Regeneration (Scrapper)
Stone Armor (Tanker)
Super Reflexes (Scrapper)
Melee Offense:
Battle Axe (Tanker)
Broadsword (Scrapper)
Dark Melee (Scrapper)
Fiery Melee (Tanker)
Ice Melee (Tanker)
Katana (Scrapper)
Martial Arts (Scrapper)
Stone Melee (Tanker)
Super Strength (Tanker)
War Mace (Tanker)
Ranged:
Dark Blast (Defender)
Electric Blast (Blaster, Defender)
Energy Blast (Blaster, Defender)
Fire Blast (Blaster)
Ice Blast (Blaster)
Psychic Blast (Defender)
Radiation Blast (Defender)
Buff/Debuff:
Dark Miasma (Defender)
Empathy (Controller, Defender)
Force Field (Controller, Defender)
Kinetics (Controller, Defender)
Radiation Emission (Controller, Defender)
Storm Summoning (Controller, Defender)
Blaster Secondaries (What are these officially called?):
Devices
Electricity Manipulation
Energy Manipulation
Fire Manipulation
Ice Manipulation
Control:
Earth Control
Fire Control
Gravity Control
Ice Control
Illusion Control
Mind Control -
Quote:Absolutely.Originally Posted by SlickRiptide
Undeniably sinister, though. -
Quote:They're not "swart," they're white.Originally Posted by SlickRiptide
The models have changed to eliminate any african-american or any other non-slavic-appearing people from the ranks. Nobody but swart, sinister men in the new Skulls.
On the flip-side, there are women in the gang now. Maybe the two changes balance out... -
So much unnecessary tsuris and/or agita over a relatively minor gang.
The loss of diversity in the gang is annoying, though. -
I prefer the model where we constantly get a stream of new costumes, powersets, and other fun things to the model where things stay mostly the same with incremental changes a couple of times a year.
I do end up spending more to get a lot of those things, but that's better than not having the option at all. -
Quote:I wish I'd thought to use the French.Originally Posted by Tenzhi
More likely a portmandeux or portmantrois.
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Quote:But it is a catastrophe, and has been for some time. A catastrophe that was essentially ignored when it came to light because it was perceived as a "gay disease."Originally Posted by Hopeling
I don't want to diminish the horrible-ness of horrible RL diseases, but Feinberg's first example of a "gross discontinuity" was nuclear war. As horrible as AIDS is, it hasn't wiped out the bulk of our species; it's not a catastrophe of the scale he's talking about.
I also do not understand why the prediction is upsetting to Mr_True_Shot, though. -
Quote:The AIDS virus already caused "gross discontinuities in human life" by killing so many people.Originally Posted by Mandu
And why would that anger you? It was a genuine concern back then since the ability of the aids virus to mutate was what made it so difficult to treat and what made it so scary.
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Quote:So true.Originally Posted by Nethergoat
next time you're working on a costume, try putting together some of the old pieces with some of the new higher resolution ones.
You can occasionally get away with it, but it usually looks pretty crummy.
Anyway, I don't have any issue with the Skulls revamp, nor with adding female members to the gang. -
If he posted on the forum as Lucas, then I do remember him. I don't remember a lot of specifics, but I do remember him.
Many sympathies to yourself, his other friends, and his family.
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Quote:True. I still have characters in Outbreak. But the zone itself is no longer accessible to anyone who's not already living there.Originally Posted by SynakulOne
I wouldnt say its long gone, I still have a character logged in paragon dance party on justice.
The yellow loading zone screen still pops up when i choose the character. Just wish i knew how to get ppl in the same zone.
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Quote:I sincerely hope so. A poison/anything defender would have two secondaries.Originally Posted by Tater Todd
There's quite a few thread discussing some changes that the set needs. Maybe it will get another looking at when it's proliferated to Defenders?
Oh God I sure hope so.
I mean, it needs some buffing and fine tuning the same way many single-target buffs became aoe buffs (bubbles, speed boost, etc). -
There was one person who was quite irritable with me for not liking Poison a few years ago. She felt it was a great set, but was speaking from a PVP perspective. And I think even then everything else does it better.
Anyway, I really want to like poison. I want to make it work, but I am not going to play it until it gets a serious looking at. -
Quote:If you take two portmanteaus and make a third portmanteau would that be a portmantwice or a portmanthrice?Originally Posted by Tenzhi
Form, schmorm - portmanteaus are where it's at.
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This is a shot of Icon in Steel Canyon on the Test Server when issue 1 debuted.
http://img707.imageshack.us/img707/3074/iconparty.jpg
And yes, my PC at the time was pretty shabby. No shaders, little or no anti-aliasing. And my character's costume sucked. I still play that character, but I do not have any variation of that look in any of her costume slots.
The guy in the bottom right of this one is The Confessor, who was during launch and issues 1-2 a pretty vocal regular on the forum. He showed me how to build my characters so they do not suck and also how to herd, which was really hysterical to watch. I took this shot for sheer trademark violation value, as The Confessor's character was a decent rendition of the Astro City character, and the guy right in front of me is Raziel of Soul Reaver. I think that may have been his name, too.
http://img585.imageshack.us/img585/2272/confessor.jpg
This one is Confessor again, and my character is defeated and underfoot. I was playing Dark Melee/Dark Armor in issue 1. Unstackable resist shields (do I want smash/lethal resists or do I want psi resist + status protection). Given how terrible a choice this was, I spent a lot of time like this before stacking shields became available. And Body Mastery, for the Conserve Power.
Confessor is actually targeting and attacking Shadowhunter, but in those days Unyielding Stance (rather than Unyielding) immobilized you. You also wouldn't change your facing when attacking, so you'd get this experience of punching in front of you to hit the guy behind you.
Also, he had perma-unstoppable on that character (Dark Melee/Invulnerability scrapper) which made him virtually unkillable (taking 10% damage, dodging 90% or more of all attacks thanks to capped resists plus Invincibility's fairly high +def per target in melee with no target cap).
http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/9058/unyielding.jpg
I like this shot for sheer value of punching an old-style (pre-updated look) Rikti chief soldier in the face.
http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/7...ktisoldier.jpg
Since then, Dark Armor's been buffed a little bit, I've upgraded my computer, and Rikti actually wear clothes:
http://img542.imageshack.us/img542/1994/rikti2.jpg - this is actually from one of the missions you get in Ouroboros to unlock the alpha slot. It took me about five minutes to kill everything.
The old style Rikti facing the 5th Column in Founder's Falls:
http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/6...5thcolumn2.jpg
I'm only half sure that's the 5th Column and not the Council.
Around this point I got a new video card of some sort. All I remember is it did shaders. Anyway, I think someone asked for a shot during the Rularuu invasion event? This was taken in Independence Port, so it's not like King's Row or anything. And only one big eyeball:
http://img812.imageshack.us/img812/4...uuobserver.jpg
This one of a pack of Rularuu in Brickstown:
http://img688.imageshack.us/img688/4...uuinvasion.jpg
Here's Terra Volta's exterior on the test server. Things got a bit busy:
http://img542.imageshack.us/img542/6276/respectrial.jpg
Someone mentioned the doors opening and entire teams dropping dead right outside? There was a lot of that. The original respec trial on test was significantly harder than the one that ultimately went live. I remember how great it was on test when the team I was on finally won. Even on live, a lot of people had trouble with it.
And here's my first supergroup (Sparkle Motion, Champion Server) doing a group shot in the long gone Paragon Dance Party:
http://img641.imageshack.us/img641/2...danceparty.jpg
The 5th Column back in the days before the Council:
http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/4941/5thcolumn.jpg
Here's a shot from the ending event for CoV beta, which featured Longbow and the Freedom Phalanx violating the Rogue Isles' sovereign soil in a full-fledged military invasion.
http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/831/endofcovbeta.jpg
Also, I seem to recall Manticore threatening people with his "new enema arrow" during said event.
The main thing I remember is getting my toggles randomly shut off by Longbow Ballistae and getting hurled around Mercy Island like a rag doll getting kicked by Godzilla.
This was during the end of CoV beta event, possibly before the attack. Maybe we wanted Statesman to play Freebird? I don't remember:
http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/4...etatorches.jpg
No, wait, I'm pretty sure this was the response to the introduction of enhancement diversification.
A shot from CuppaJo's going away party in Pocket D. Someone summoned up some bad guys. In this shot, the guy bottom center is Kuularth the Scavenger and the one targeted is Lanaruu the Crazed.
http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/5...rthlanaruu.jpg
Also, this was taken on July 2, 2005. I do not know what was going on:
http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/8123/statestram.jpg
It's not even my screenshot. Someone put some shots of Statesman hanging out with some people. Here's one that might help with recognition for anyone who was there.
The green guy seems to be the guy who was taking the screenshots:
http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/321...esmanparty.jpg -
I was talking to Cel about this last night, because I was having my quarterly buyer's remorse about my Dark/Dark and thought briefly about a Dark/Fire defender because I already have a Fire/Dark corruptor. Not going to reroll, though. Plus I have my Dark/Dark controller to level up.
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Quote:That's actually pretty cool, and consistent with the way the 5th Column does things.Originally Posted by Thirty-Seven
I have a sort of Tech/Sci "ghost." He is a former soldier who the Fifth Column experimented on. They removed his soul and through a combination of science and a technological device captured it in his arm prothesis so that it could be used as an energy source for his other powers. He's a Kinetic/Invuln Brute by the name of Geistlos.
So, in a way, he is a zombie and a ghost since he has both an inanimate but "alive" body as well as an insubstantial "essence" captured within him. -
I've been considering a tech or science origin ghost because of this thread. And because Venture is so insistent that Ghosts! Must! Be! Magic!
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I would love to have more stance options for all character models.
I would hate to have current stances replaced with different stances. -
Interesting article but the first line stopped me:
Quote:L. Ron Hubbard died on January 24, 1986. Be a bit rough to challenge other authors to predict what the world would be like in 25 years when he'd been cremated at least a year before.Back in 1987, L. Ron Hubbard created a time capsule of sorts.
Interesting article, though. -
Quote:I believe I stated that was up to you. I can't tell you whether the story has value to you or not.Originally Posted by SlickRiptide
The text clearly IS racist. The question is whether it has any redeeming value beyond that. Since I originally read this story as a young person and found value in it, I believe that it doeshave some value beyond being a rant by HPL on immigrants.
Unfortunately, the story is far more than that single paragraph, and includes several statements about immigrants and people of color wrecking the place because they're not part of the proper honorable Anglo-Saxon lineage. That paragraph could end a great many stories and still be applicable, but in this case it serves to end a fairly racist story.Quote:"There be those who say that things and places have souls, and there be those who say they have not; I dare not say, myself, but I have told you of The Street."
I disagree with your assessment. The story is contained in that final paragraph. -
Quote:It's always easy to say this sort of thing without looking. That quote is a citation from:Originally Posted by Blue_Centurion
Blue cries "Foul!" and wants a referee for a flag on the play.
You have here a quote from a wikipedia page. May be true, but also may be complete hogwash.
- ^ Lin Carter, Lovecraft: A Look Behind the Cthulhu Mythos, p. 45.
Or, you can look around. The quote is cited on goodreads in the top review, by Matthew W.:
However, you can always look for yourself. The quote gets 245 hits on google.Quote:When Lovecraft first visited New York City, he was disgusted by the influx of immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe. Despite his dislike of Jews, Lovecraft ended up marrying one. Lovecraft's wife Sonia Greene stated of her husband's (after they divorced) response to the inhabitants of the city, "Whenever we found ourselves in the racially mixed crowds which characterize New York, Howard would become livid with rage. He seemed almost to lose his mind." Adolf Hitler also responded in a similar manner when he first moved to Vienna, Austria and noticed the large Slavic and Jewish populations as recognized in Lovecraft's Book.
The thing about Wikipedia is that while it is not a primary source, it is not always an unreliable source. However, Lovecraft has a pretty loyal fanbase, and unsourced or difficult to confirm claims are likely to be disputed. Looking at the talk page for The Horror at Red Hook, the only comment is a dispute as to whether the story fits into the Cthulhu Mythos.
Perhaps H.P. Lovecraft's page will have a more lively discussion. And interesting, that paragraph about Lovecraft and race, class, and ethnicity has 10 separate citations (some of them cited multiple times for support).
However, the talk page again has no one disputing that Lovecraft expressed these sentiments either in letters or in his writing. And this is something that, if it were remotely controversial, would be argued. The only comment about race was a quote of Joshi's that said race was an unfortunate theme in Lovecraft's writing, disputing that the statement in question is neutral point of view, not questioning its veracity.
"You're citing wikipedia, therefore your points are potentially invalid" doesn't strike me as a particularly interesting or useful counter-argument. Invoking the possibility that it might be false purely on the basis of it being wikipedia is not a compelling argument. It doesn't take much research to confirm whether it is true or false if you're really dedicated to refuting a claim such as the one Golden_Girl posted.
Also, try this link and search for "red hook."
Or you can read the excerpt here:
Quote:It is in "The Horror At Red Hook" that Lovecraft is perhaps at his racist worst. The two years Lovecraft spent in New York were the most miserable of his life for several reasons, but Lovecraft never failed to credit his unhappiness to the heterogeneous population of New York in the 1920s; the slum of Red Hook thus represented everything Lovecraft feared and loathed, and Lovecraft apparently saw little need to include much in the tale other than description in order to create what was, for him, a real life horror story. The descriptions of the immigrants in "The Horror At Red Hook" are virtually indistinguishable from those found in his letters from the same time. Lovecraft pads the lacking plot of "Red Hook" with reams of paranoid description. A brief excerpt: "From this tangle of material and spiritual putrescence the blasphemies of an hundred dialects assail the sky...occasional furtive hands suddenly extinguished lights and pull down curtains, and swarthy, sin-pitted faces disappear from windows when visitors pick their way through." (Dagon, 248) Actually, I don't find that notion at all difficult to consider. A racist can marry a black person just as easily as a misogynist can marry a woman. In fact, growing up in modern society, it is pretty hard to avoid absorbing at least some racist attitudes.Quote:Second, if true: Your argument seems to be "HPL is a racist against Eastern Europeans" coupled with "HPL married a woman with eastern european heritage and Jewish heritage" Seriously? That's like saying someone is prejudiced against Black people when they are married to a Black person. You get that, right?
And it is generally widely accepted that H.P. Lovecraft was anti-Semitic and prejudiced against Eastern Europeans and did marry a woman whose heritage was both Eastern European and Jewish. This is not a remarkable nor controversial fact for many who have studied Lovecraft's life.
The thing is that it is actually well established that Lovecraft was racist to a degree that was extreme even for his time. The Horror at Red Hook was a story about his real life reactions to immigrants in Red Hook (this is also cited in the thread).Quote:Lastly: This may have been raised in discussion already, but let me throw it out there. HPL may have been writing fiction and therefore taking on a tone as an author he did not carry in real life. I write vampire fiction. It can be gruesome. That does not mean I have a dungeon in my basement, blood in my refigerator, or stalk people. It is fiction. We recentlky ran a short campaign where the GM asked for us to play monstrous demons. After 5 gaming sessions the body count was about a hundred. That is not who any of us are in real life (3 copy editors and a bookkeeping mgr) It was FICTION.
And even if he was doing it for thematic purposes, I think that sort of thing done as a thematic thing the way Lovecraft did it would still be racist.
Now, none of this means anyone has to stop reading Lovecraft, hate Lovecraft, repudiate Lovecraft's work, or any other variation of the immediately preceding statements.
Finally, why does Lovecraft need to be defended in the first place? It's not as if any Lovecraftian scholars deny this. Joshi (quoted in this thread and on the page I linked - although Thessalia linked the same page and quoted the same text I just quoted) is a pretty well-known Lovecraftian scholar and is fairly explicit about the racism in Lovecraft's work. This really shouldn't be an issue, let alone provoking emotional response. -
I got a necro/poison moderately high a few years ago. I remember teaming a lot, then doing something solo in the mid-high 30s, and then deleting the character in frustration. I love the concept, but poison was far too micro-managey a secondary for too small a benefit.
As compared to my Necro/Poison, the Necro/Dark I played in CoV beta, and my Bots/Storm MM, I don't see any point to ever touch poison again. Unless it gets a pass and gets seriously revamped.
It needs more AoE, stronger single-target debuffing, and the heal needs something more than it already offers, like +regen for a time.
I thought I heard at some point it was good in PVP. -
Ah, right. I had forgotten.