Big_Lunk_NA

I never really got into RP heavily untill i switched from US to the EU servers a few years ago, so i missed out on a lot of virtue's plots when i was here origionaly. I plan to change that now im back.
Meaningfull RP is allways around, but the best way of finding it is finding an SG or even a group of friends who specificaly write their own plotlines. With a good group, you should have a regualer pick of small and moderate plots to stick your nose in, and perhaps the occasional "OMG The WORLD IS ENDING!" plot to make you want to tear your hair out.

From finding good groups of friends, i've had 3 versions of my main char in different universes, a huge ammount of character growth, and some of the following plots.

on union version
Fall into villainy (Former hero forceably removed from jail, and left to fend for self, working as a merc on the isles.)
Bloodless coup (after rising through the ranks of a mercenary guild (vg), the branch administrator is confonted by a small group, forced to relinquish command, and the branch split from head office.)
Demonic outbreak (a demonic guild member is possesed by a greater demon, causing excessive DRAMAH, becomes a catalyst for multiple demon problems in other members, and nearly tears the guild appart before being trapped)
African merc Work (during a break from the game, i kept in contact with the remnants of the now shattering guild, with IC information interaction from a revolution in africa. Plotline culminates in a double cross by the employer, spuring a raid on the national reserve, and a faked death in order to smuggle a large number of stolen conflict diamonds)
Laundering(a purely non-action plotline, laundering money from the isles to a legitimate construction company in Kings row. Eventual outcome of owning an arms factory in the isles, bought as a front, and the Hero who owned the construction company being investigated by the IRS, who find no legal grounds to prosecute.)
Kidnap of a hero (a hero portal jump is hijacked, in order to perform a bit of high tech highway robbery. Upon hearing that the jump team is possibly infected with a virus, realising ransom is likely out of the question, the team is let free, but their squad leader kept as collaterol. When the virus warning is cleared, the leader, who had been kept in solitary, is air dropped into the middle of a crowded civilian area without knowledge that he not infected, resulting in local hysteria.)
Council of war (a collective effort between heroes and villains to help fight off the rikti war)
Reformation (after his girlfriend, a fugitive from a framed crime, recieves a pardon, he is put under pressure to go straight. A psychological analysis, character referances from heroes, a report into his previous work as a hero before conviction, and a provisional hero license later, and He's moved back to paragon city.)
Industrial espionage (a mini plot partly to create a back story for a friend, and partly to thumb my nose at someone who had attempted something similar. An android unit is stolen from an asociate in order to repurpose it as a heavy combat droid. Concept was dropped by my friend, and the combat droid has now ended up as my second favourite char)

while waiting on champions
The blob (a tongue in cheek forum RP involving aggressive amorphos blob creatures being scattered around the globe)
Death stone (forum rp. a group of fanatic christians steal a highly unstable meteorite to turn it into an orbital death ray. plot abandoned half way by GM)

Since returning to Virtue
Company expansion (On-going minor. A foriegn company trying to make foothold in paragon, laying groundwork for future plotage)
and other things planned for the future, including research outbreaks, activism and riots, dimensional incursions, etc.


To reiterate: Get friends who plot, and start scheming plots yourself.

Agreed. Kudos, NC team.
I've not been on during one of the events yet, but the com-reps are still awesome for going out of their way to do this.
I can almost picture them saying "hey, the devs are all busy with going rogue, and not posting as much, what can we do to make the community not feel left out?"

I dont mind drive by buffing, sometimes it can help, especialy if im in the middle of mob.

What i find stupid, however, is driveby buffing if im at the market, or just standing around.
Wow great, with that speed boost, i can now BUY THINGS FASTER!

Theres also a type of driveby buffing that i actively hate: Increased density randomly thrown on pre-travel power chars.

I may not be on union, but i guessed you'd be taking a break when i heard about the latest plot update.
Some times you just need to get away from the drama.

Congrats to paragon studios on the increased workforce and promotions. Once again it shows NCsoft are confident enough in their product to put the attention into it.

And big props to posi for choosing to hand over reigns to concentrate on something the game is really in need of. Make us proud, and give us something of such epic awesomeness, that no one will complain of lack of end game content ever again! Then make some more!

I like mine a fair bit, and am slowly grasping towards 38 for that storm cloud.

I'm happily taking on spawns for 6 on my own, using vines to stop them firing back, roots and freezing rain for a bit of AOE damage and the -res off rain, slap on the carrion creepers, then tornado and strangler (slotted for damage) and the pet to pick off what the creepers leave behind.

only problem is getting hit with the occasional alpha and dropping faster than a tonne of bricks.

In teams i get a few instances of kicking out so much aoe that i pull aggro, but that same aoe damage, and the rather pathetic heal, make you a good support for a tank later on.

Remembering your typing speed, i'd say the reason you took a break was to write all that up.

Welcom back, Britney.

I have a lvl47 lec/ss tank, and had a lvl50 em/lec brute.
Anyone who thinks a lec tank has poor survivability hasnt seen one go against rikti.

you've got good all round resistance, heavy energy resist, and with tough: a fairly high chunk of smashing/lethal resist, and a hell of a self heal since the recent changes.
Sure, its no granite tank, but you you dont have to be followed by a kin everywhere for a start... in fact chances are you'll be one of the fastest moving on the team with the +speed/rech power, which is good for getting into a mob before an overenthusiastic scrapper.

I moved to the US servers from the EU last year. i'd say its worth the cost of the switch, although you may be paying a few extra pence on the current exchange rate.

The loss of the vetran rewards wasn't so bad, as i still had 8 months or so of vet time on my US account from pre-EU days, and i rarely use any of the ones beyond trenchcoats outside of the AE arcs.

dual box RPed mastermind army!
14 people rped in one.
(i'll be shocked if anyone can actualy manage it)

The RP that came out of the rikti war.
The invasion council, hero villain cease fire, SGs setting up bunkers and relief centers, massive IC rikti hunts, loads of stories, and Big Game being woke up at 4am by a circuler saw.

except the entire community doesn't all recognise the major "cross community" plots. there are always pockets who will refuse to aknowledge a particuler storyline, or in game event. Hell, there were even some who ignored the rikti invasion.
There IS no magical full server accepted lore, just what is accepted by the majority.

Union is however a much smaller server, and now domminated by a handfull of cliques, there is some common ground between them, but would you count what is cannon for the GGers to be cannon for, say, the Gaijin's who are newer to the game and probably dont even know certain community events happened? Is Corps lore fully accepted by the Court?
It seems unlikely.

Virtue on the other hand is a far more populated server, with a lot higher percentage of roleplayers. Trying to keep every roleplayer in concensus would be nigh on impossible.
Trying to get 100 roleplayers to agree on something is hard, imagine trying that with 4 or 5 times as many, all on at different time zones from LA to Australia.

Now, taking that into account, if Union and Virtue were to be merged, Union's accepted majority view lore now becomes a minority, and no different than any line of lore accepted by any other of Virtue's cliques.

NCsoft still see CoH as (successful enough)/(has enough potention) to throw money at it left right and center, so i don't think it's going anywhere soon.

Subscription numbers are fairly healthy, considering it's a niche game, which has just had a major competitor released, and will probably peak again come going rogue.
WoW's numbers are generaly considered by the gaming comunity to be slightly exagerated, including accounts that are inactive, or have previously been banned.

One of the key's to CoH's success, imo, has been the free content updates. Where as many MMOs release new content as paid-for-expansions, that content is released in CoH throughout the year at intervals, keeping it atleast a bit fresher.