Doctor Roswell

Wow. Just... just wow. This is a much more enthusiastic response than I was expecting (and on a weekend, no less!). Thanks, everyone.

You've all given me a huge list of names to consider. And while I haven't nailed down anything for sure yet, I have made a couple of decisions:

1. I'm going to let this thread run until at least 5pm (Pacific) on Monday before I choose anything for certain. I kind of had it in the back of my head when I started this that it might take a few days or even a few weeks to get anything I really liked from this (especially given my specificity), but it looks like I underestimated the community here. Still, I don't want to jump to any conclusions -- you never buy a car from the first lot you visit and all that. That's not a promise I'll make decisions regarding all three characters by then, but it is a promise i won't make any before then.
2. There's no way I can address each suggestion individually like I'd planned. Instead, I'll try to single out the ones I have detailed responses to, since I feel like that's the most helpful, and otherwise provide more guidelines as I go.

To everyone who's complimented the designs, thank you. I really mean it. Costume design, and more to the point, creating something I see as an "iconic" character, is a big deal to me, and knowing I'm not the only one who likes a particular design is pretty validating. It makes all those hours (sometimes literally!) messing with the character generator instead of actually playing the game worthwhile.

To those of you with the tin-foil hats, calm down. There isn't some conspiracy at work here. My only angle is to get names I like so I can finally play these characters I've been sitting on for so long. And anyone who provides me with one of those names will be paid, just as I've promised.

I admit my standards for what constitutes a "good name" are high -- probably higher than most, and maybe prohibitively high. But my character select screen -- forty-plus characters on Virtue, all of whom have names I like and thirty or so with names I absolutely love -- proves, if nothing else, that it is in fact quite possible to satisfy me. It happens all the time, most recently about two weeks ago. I don't feel any of the requirements on my list back in the original post are out of line or unreasonable in the slightest, even if they do slow me down a bit sometimes.

Wow; good response so far. Thanks, everyone!

I typically delete characters for one of two reasons:

1. To "refine" a concept -- usually that means making the same character again, but with a different AT or powerset.
2. To make room because I'm out of slots. This one always makes me sad. But this suggestion would help that.

Edited, 26 July

Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons and Futurama, once said that the hallmark of a well-designed cartoon character is that they be identifiable in silhouette. Back when Wizard magazine was both an actual publication and a publication actually worth reading, their editorial staff observed that the hallmark of a well-designed superhero is that an observer would be able to pick the character out on a poster like this one without hesitation even if all they knew about the character was his name.

Names are important for superheroes, moreso than characters in other genres. If Aragorn or Buck Rogers or Sherlock Holmes or John McClane had a different name, the character himself would be largely unchanged. If Spider-Man or the Flash had a different name, the character would be fundamentally different, possibly requiring a different costume or suite of superpowers in order to make any sense. For superheroes, names matter.

And for some reason, it seems that any time someone mentions it being tough to find a decent name around here (outside this thread, anyway), they're immediately set upon by a crowd of people telling them how easy it is, that they just need to be "more creative," that they should learn to use a thesaurus, et cetera. Well, if you're one of those people, then this is your lucky day. Assuming it's as easy as you say it is, anyway.

Now, I'm not exactly loaded, but I'm willing to offer up a sizable chunk of what influence I do have to anyone who can deliver on this. Think of it as a reward, a finder's fee, or a prize; the point is, if naming a character is so easy, I'll pay you to do it for me. The rules are simple:

I have a character I desperately want to play, but he doesn't have a name. He's been sitting, unused, for about five years now. If you provide me with a name for this guy that I like enough to take and use, I'll send you in-game currency to the tune of half a billion influence. There's no cutoff date; the money remains up for grabs until it's given away. There's no limit to how many names you can suggest. But there are rules, and there are standards. To qualify, a name must be:

• spelled properly unless it's an obvious, purposeful misspelling.
  This includes punctuation; superfluous periods or apostrophes, replacing a capital I with a lowercase L or vice-versa, inserting a space after every letter, or "XX Name XX" are all disqualifying offenses. I will be the sole arbiter of whether a purposeful misspelling is acceptible, but generally, I'd stay away from just adding a Y after any given long A, replacing an I with a Y, or sticking an E on the end of a word that doesn't normally have one. You may have more luck with consonants; X's and Z's are both pretty cool. No promises there, though.
• in English, unless it being in another language suits the character.
  I will be the sole arbiter of whether a non-English language name "suits the character," but generally, if it has a direct translation in English, I want it in English, primarily because of the next item on this list. If it's a word in another language that doesn't exist in English (or has been appropriated as-is from that language -- Baccarat, for example), that might be okay.
• obviously meaningful in some way to the character's theme, costume and/or powers without having to be explained.
  I say again, without having to be explained. I will be the sole arbiter of whether a name is obvious enough that it doesn't have to be explained. Note that this also means "fantasy" names (by which I mean, gibberish that "sounds about right") won't fly here. If it doesn't actually mean something, you can keep it.
• a single word or short phrase as opposed to a complete sentence.
  If a phrase, it would be helpful if it were a real, common set of words people actually use together (and in that order) from time to time, though it doesn't necessarily have to be -- I'm pretty sure "Green Lantern" wasn't a commonly-used phrase before the superhero first appeared. Clever wordplay is good, too, as long as it doesn't get too silly. He isn't intended to be a "joke" character.
• something you might see on the cover of a real superhero comic book.
  I will be the sole arbiter of whether a name is "superhero" and "comic book-y" enough. Titles like "Doctor" or "Captain" or "(whatever)-Man" are acceptable, but less desirable than names without them. Also less-desirable but not expressly forbidden: "mashup" names, i.e, just taking two otherwise-disparate words vaguely related to the character and putting them together: "he uses fire, and carries swords, so he'll be, um... Scorchblade! No, wait -- Burning Edge! No, Stabflare!" Those kinds of things typically generate a response somewhere between "eh" and "meh" from me, but you're welcome to try.
• an actual superhero codename.
  I'm not looking for their real name or secret identity here. I want Wolverine, not James Howlett. I want the Flash, not Barry Allen. I want Black Widow, not Natasha Romanov. Codenames are evocative and informative; real names are lazy and boring. Real names that are also part of a codename (Black Jacques) are cheesy and lame, and will generally be seen as a "misspelling." So, you know, see above for the rules on that.
• Available (or, for safety, taken by you) on the Virtue server. I don't care what's free on other servers. I don't play on those.

Plus, I have to like it enough to take it and play a character with that name. Even if it fits all the other criteria, if I just plain don't like it, then I just plain don't want it. And I'll warn you now, I have some pretty high naming standards. High enough that I've sat on this guy for five years because I couldn't find something I liked, if that tells you anything. I'm not looking for something "pretty good" here, I'm looking for something truly great, something I see and say to myself, "that's the one -- I have to have it because it's perfect." I've waited half a decade, and I'm not about to start jumping at the first thing that's offered now. It's nothing personal, it's just that I'm looking for something truly amazing here.

Basically, "good enough" is not good enough.

Also, I won't be altering the character in any way from what's shown here (aside from possible weapon or power customization); no "this name would make sense if you changed his chest detail to x or added hat y or used aura z." Make the name fit the character.

In an effort to help you take my money (because I legitimately want to give this inf away), I'll try to come back to this thread periodically and explain precisely why I'm shooting down some of the things that I don't deem "winners." This is not done to start fights, insult anyone, or otherwise be a jerk -- it's done to assist everybody participating (or thinking about participating) to better understand exactly what it is I'm looking for, and get everyone that much closer to payday. It's called "constructive criticism," and I hope anyone who wants to jump into the thread without suggesting a name or discussing a given submission will keep that phrase in mind before posting.

Anyway, here he is:



First, let me point out the complete absence of a clown/jester theme.

Ultimately I'm willing to let this guy's powers be determined by his name. For example, if "Ace of Blades" were free (it's not), he'd become a Dual Blades character. If a name I like suggests guns or fire or darkness or whatever else, I'll change his powersets and AT accordingly. If the name he ends up with allows it (i.e, doesn't call out a specific suit), I'd like to give him four costumes that are identical except for the suit on his chest: one for spades, one for hearts, and so on. But I'm not dead-set on that. I do know that if he only gets one suit, it's spades.

Ideally I'd be able to name this guy "Pokerface" or "Solitaire" or "Ace of Spades" or something similar, but, hey, the people who took those names nearly a decade ago and haven't logged on even a single time since then might come back and immediately buy a million Paragon Points, but only as long as they still have that name they've almost certainly forgotten, so....

Anyway, there you go, folks. Half a billion, up for grabs, and all you have to do is name him. Have at it.

I've seen a 45-mook count, too. Not sure exactly what caused it.

This is my typical setup. Tray 1 for attack powers, tray 2 for things that see a lot of use but that I want to be a little more deliberate about (mostly debuffs in this case, but I also use it for things like Build Up, Assassin's Strike, or Street Justice combo finishers) since I can use Alt+number for them easily. Tray 3 is miscellaneous other "basic" powers, but I usually put situational stuff like rezzes there, or anything that's going to make me drop a targeting reticle. Ctrl+number is a pain for me, so I figure if I want to use those powers, I'll just click the buttons, and putting things that are going to force me to reach for my mouse anyway there makes sense. Tray 4 is travel/mobility powers, mostly. Tray 5 is all my long-range teleports and other "out of combat" stuff. Tray 6 is a recent addition -- before I'd just stick my toggles and autopowers on the far end of trays 2 and 3, but this way just works better for me. (My masterminds take over tray 6 with pet summons and commands, so their toggles stay in the lower trays.)

I like having my health and endurance visible right in front of the character, so that's where my Combat Attributes window goes. I always display those at the top, XP to next and debt (or level shift for a 50) and inf at the bottom. In-between, it depends on the character. Melee types usually have defenses showing, blasters and brutes have damage bonus, etc.

You know how sometimes, depending on the book/writer/story, Batman can take down the entire rest of the Justice League single-handedly, but other times a single thug with a small-caliber handgun is a legitimate, credible threat to him?

You know how that's because the protagonist of any story is only as powerful as they need to be in order to make the story interesting, dramatic and exciting?

That.

The servers are all physically located in the same place.

When you log on, the list of servers you see is ordered from lowest population at the top to highest at the bottom (with the last one you actually played on at the very top).

The two highest-population servers are easily Freedom and Virtue.

EDIT: When I say the list is ordered from lowest population to highest, I mean current population/load -- the number of people actually playing on those servers at that moment. So it shuffles around a little at different times of day.

Also: This should help.

Just got mine! Thanks again to Zwill and Hit Streak and anyone else involved....

Also, and I know this part isn't the Community team's doing specifically, thanks to Paragon Studios for making this account-wide costume piece unlock just friggin' unlock instead of resorting to that asinine "claim it from your in-game mail" setup that prevents me (for no good reason) from using some auras when I create a new character until I finally zone into Atlas or Mercy. Not having to go through that chore is much appreciated.

Twelve minutes and counting since the window closed and I'm still waiting for my code!

This is a slap in the face!

(Sorry, I just realized that after all that... "spirited discussion" in the first 15 pages or so of this thread, I didn't remember seeing that phrase.)

There's a setting within Twitter where you can have it send you an email automatically whenever you get a DM. I don't know if that's enabled by default or not, but it might be worth looking into for everyone who doesn't plan to remain Twitter-active.

(Also, it possible to set it up so you get a text message on your phone every time a specific user -- say, CoH -- tweets.)

Oh, and about ten minutes ago, they tweeted that the next round (for Dark matter again) starts "in a few minutes."

EDIT: There it is. Only five minutes this time! Half as much work for Zwill and Hit Streak (in theory), I suppose.

Well. This has just been an absolute clusterpancake. But they're trying, folks. Cut them a little slack?

That said, I'm now seeing tweets saying "we'll be posting a different item later" in response to someone's question about whether Dark Matter will be the only thing given away today.

Am I to understand that the next batch of retweets today will get something other than Dark Matter? Because I missed the first chance today (stupid reality! I never liked you anyway), and pancake that. I want my Kirby dots!

(I think I've had to use our wonderful "pancake" euphemism more in this thread than in every other post I've ever made combined.)

I have two: Deep Blue Sea (time/water defender) and Super Big Gulp (water/ice blaster).