Dollhouse

Hey, I know! We could have a melee set with absurd, enormous weapons.

Oh, wait...

I've been subscribed since about two weeks after launch (don't let the forum date fool you...I usually avoid game forums for obvious reasons; this one's way better than most). Only have one account now, but for much of that time, I had two. Scaled back a couple years ago to immerse myself in another MMO (with a "real" targeting system, not tab- or click-targeting), but CoX turned back into my main game when that one started to spin 'round the bowl. I think my "addict" bona fides are pretty solid!

That said, while I'll never have anything other than a VIP account, I may well be coming to the end of my CoX era. Not because of anti-Incarnate feelings (I don't really care for most of the trials: grindy and horribly RP-unfriendly, but the system has added interesting powers and more). No, it's more a matter of finding the gameplay itself more than a little stale and having the overall "feel" of the game world moving in a direction that's considerably less immersive for me.

The former factor is pretty easily understood: any combat/gameplay system eventually becomes "old hat" for a long-term player. While CoX is still the leader in smoothness of character movement and "kinetic immersion" (the sense of feeling like you're really inside the character, moving in a world subject to plausible Newtonian physics, etc. - CoX is as good as most shooter games in this regard, and better than any other MMO I've tried), the rest of the combat (etc.) system has grown a bit dull for me. Not that it's bad (it isn't), just that I've played it for so long that it's probably time for a change.

The second factor is a bit more complicated. First off, I'm not really much of a comics fan, but the ones I do like tend to be those in which a relatively realistic world is posited, one pretty close to our own. More of a "gritty graphic novel" than a "cartoonish comic." CoX is movinng ever farther from a gameworld in which that approach is nurtured, and more towards an anime-influenced, over-the-top sort of world. I give you the (ridiculous) Titan Weapons powerset as an example. It's getting to be more "Final Fantasy" than "Batman." Again, this isn't a bad thing, as it's the direction the larger group of players seem to desire (and pleasing the majority of your customers is just plain smart). It's just not really something I'm into.

Moreover, while I really like most of the direction(s) that mission building has gone in, I'm not at all happy about the preponderance of tightly timed missions (or in-mission goals). While they can add a bit of much-needed challenge, they're also intensely RP-unfriendly for "RP-on-the-fly" roleplayers like me. If you stop to type out even a few fleeting bits of character conversation, you're falling behind and harming the team's chances. Timers enfourage Leeeeeeeroy-ish zerg rushes, and while I can handle (and even thrive in) that sort of combat environment, I prefer to do so only on occasion. It I wanted non-stop frantic action, I'd be playing a shooter; they're better at it. A better (to me) balance of pace is something I've wanted for a while now, but I realize I'm not likely to get it.

I don't want this to sound more negative than I intend (which is "not very"). I've loved this game for over seven years now, and if I leave soon, it won't be a matter of anything much beyond an "all good things must come to an end" situation. This game has given me countless hours of pleasure, many very dear online friends, and more. Clearly one of the best development teams in all of video gaming, too!

tl;dr version: Maybe...but probably not.

Well done! A true milestone for any hero!

I've been enjoying taking down a string of AVs solo* with my fully level-shifted Incarnate Stalker, and while all the Incarnate stuff makes at least some of them fairly easy, she's still a Stalker: one miscue and it's hospital time! Still, she's a damage avalanche: Build Up + Lightning Rod (from Hide) + Thunderstrike + Jacob's Ladder + GabbyHammer, etc...plus her "sister" (she's a Praet Clockwork) Victoria Lore pet puts out a ton of damage, too...for as long as I can keep her alive, anyway. A big help for lowering the AV's Regen is the Envenomed Dagger temp, too.

But you kids these days, you have it easy! Why, back when my Illusion/Kinetics Controller was hunting AVs by herself, we didn't have those fancy Incarnate powers! And we had to walk to school...uphill...both ways!

Now get off my lawn...

*I should clarify that I'm going by the old pre-Incarnate standard of "solo," meaning most temp powers are okay, but no Warburg nukes or Shivans. The Lore pet may be cheating, too...haven't made up my mind on that.

Oh, look, we're in TriChan /b/...

((EDIT: snipped the quoted pic, since it was buggering up the page formatting due to absurdly enormous size))

Clear back in the early part of 2005, I created a Carnival of Light SG on Triumph, based on the idea of refugees from Praetorian Earth's group of that name, from the canon CoH story line. We kind of riffed on and expanded on the few tidbits from the mission(s) text. I think it's fair to say it was a fairly prominent RP SG on Triumph for a few years. It still exists, although it's not busy these days, and there are several spin-offs to other servers (the Pinnacle group is quite active).

While the much-expanded canon Carnival of Light story is different from the one we dreamed up in several ways, it's still close enough that we haven't had to make big shifts in our characters' backstories to get them back in line with canon. If anything, it just gave us a whole lot more to riff on. Which is really cool...as is the fact that the dvs haven't made us change the name.

But the main reason IO'm posting this is the above costumes. I'll snag a screenie when the servers are back up, but about three or so years ago, I made a very similar costume for the Triumph Carnival of Light's founding character (Festival) that looks almost identical to those. The exact same theme, anyway (jester pattern, white and shiny gold, etc...). While I very much doubt the devs peeked at that costume (LOL...), I have to say I'm feeling a bit like a prophet right now.

Anyone want to buy some lottery numbers or sports scores...?

I'd have to join the start-from-scratch crowd. I'm down to "only" about 75 characters since I let my second account lapse, but picking two out of the most-played 20 or so would be almost impossible.

Not that this is likely to be a problem,: I intend to remain subbed (at least until it's finally time to call it quits entirely). Like I'm sure it is for most roleplayers, my characters have a certain degree of life of their own, and losing the majority of them would be upsetting!

Steampunk is so 90's...










...1890's.

Wow! Very happy 7th to you and the gang, Em!

Last night, I was on both Lambda and BAF trials. The one Lambda I was on was at 16 league members, and was basically lag-free (although the infuriating "randomly disappearing Ninja Run" bug was still there). The BAFs were better than before...about at pre-patch lag levels in the prisoner escape phase. Unfortunately, that's still bad enough to make that potentially excellent part of the trial un-fun.