Dr_Mechano

I do believe that aura is the 'Storm' aura that for a while was only available to VEATs during the same time period that Firefly and Snow were unlocked on live.

Hopefully this doesn't mean that the Storm aura is now an NPC only effect...that would sucketh majorly but the Storm aura wasn't mentioned in the 'lookie new auras in issue 19' post so it seems likely.

Edit: Also he really does showcase how damn awful the monstrous robotic legs look...they just don't go well with the rest of the outfit.

The other option is to keep the Giant Arachnos Spider alive (Jade Spider?) it does almost purely Psi damage if I remember correctly. Try to ditch it somewhere when fighting the other Heroes (so it doesn't get killed) then bring it back in for Statesmen.

I know the thing is a BEAST for the heroside version, especially when it goes into Mark II mode and can pretty much wipe the Freedom Phalanx all on its own.

In all serious what I actually meant in my tin foil hat post was that now that the pressure is off from DCUO for the moment it means they can relax a bit and marketting will let them get away with a tad more than normal.

Expect everything to become very hush hush once more when DCUO is closer to release next year.

You see killing off Statesman...

Eh...it isn't a huge deal, you'd need someone to replace him, a few arcs would need a rework, nothing a standard Issue couldn't fix.

But by killing off Statesman you also have to kill off Lord Recluse (otherwise what is to stop him just romping around and generally being a goit).

Now killing off Lord Recluse THAT is a major issue.

The problem being that Arachnos would fall into infighting between the four Patrons and probably Dr Aeon which means 90% of the CoV content needs either a complete rewrite or vast tweaking, heck just the four patron arcs alone (the full ones, from lackey to equal to Lord Recluse) are an amazingly mental over 100 missions alone (Each 40-50 Patron Destined one storyline is over 20 mission IIRC) and they would need to be completely rewritten.

This means that the Isles themselves need to be redesigned, which faction of Arachnos holds what? The tower in Grandville would certainly not be left standing. It also leaves a rather large power vacumn for other villain groups to move in during the chaos caused by the 'Arachnos War'.

The problem is that the Destined one schtick is so ingrained into CoV that without it, there really isn't a hell of a lot of story backbone.

In short, killing Statesman, work but not a bucketload of work, Killing Recluse is an almost Going Rogue level amount of work.

I have the feeling that perhaps this was more a 'amicable parting' than a 'you're laid off, clear your desk' kind of vibe.

BaB is a talented individual and I'm sure there are many job offers waiting in the wings, it seems like he might have just got tired working on CoH, he did shut himself off from the community long before this happened.

Arcanaville, since you usually have better access to them than we do, could you pass on our messages of 'Good bye and Good luck, we'll miss you' to him, I'm hopeful that you would have kept in contact with him.

It is quite strange now that the other Superhero MMO has been delayed we've suddenly seen a rather large upswing in communication...

Hmmm...

*puts on tin foil hat*

By Invulnerability aura...I mean that it is the 'standard' effect one of the powers in invulnerability gives off when turned on, can't remember which it is since I haven't seen the original invulnerability option used since Power Customisation came in but it is one of the toggles.

Edit: It's Unyeilding which gives that glow, check it outs for yaselves if ya danne believe me.

Now the original thread was lost in the great purge of the culture forums but let it rise again.

Having been listening/Watching the PvP/Will Wheaton play though their campaign it brings back memories of my old DnD days.

So let tell you a story of the days of High Adventure (all respect to the late Mako, may he rest in peace).

The first story, it was myself, the manager of the night club we were playing in after hours (The Black Sheep Bar in Croydon incase anyone is wondering) and my friend, it was late but we settled down for a few hours of Dungeons and Dragons, my friend was GM.

We were using the Redbox edition, so I was a Fighter and my friend a Thief.

The setup was that we had been paid to break into a house and explore the catacombs below it by two seperate guilds (Myself the Merchants guild and the Thief was operating at request of the Mages guild for a basic Thieves guild contract). Both guilds had suggest that some great evil lurked in the catacombs.

Spending our money in secret (as request by the GM, so no confering on gear choices) we begun our adventure. Both of us opting to first spend a day casing the house, still completely unaware of the other. There was no sign of movement from within the house that we could see and nobody arrived.

Arriving at the house, after a few tense moments explaining ourselves we decide to operate together.

"Well this ought to be easy, I mean, lights off, doesn't look like anybody is home, just use them fancy lock picking things of yours and we can go in the front door."

"Yeah sure...erm..."

"What?"

GM: Can I have a look at your character sheet please.

Thief: Oh bugger...

GM: Ohhh that is great...carry on.

Thief: "Looks like I..kind..of forgot to pick them up..."

Me: "well that's just bloody great...sod it I could just smash the door down!"

Thief: "No, you'll wake up half the street doing that, posh neighbourhood and all, we've got to find another way in..."

There was several moments of discussion when the Thief realised we could get in by removing roof tiles and descending down into the attic of the house.

Thief: "well I'm alright, I've got climbing claws."

Me: "yeah...nice...how the bloody hell am I meant to get up there?"

Thief: "I'll climb up, you wrap your rope around that tin of meat rations and hurl it up to me, I'll tie it off around the chimney."

So the 'Spamhook' (a Spam weighted grappling hook) comes into creation.

GM: You know if you critically fail this you're going to brain him with the can of Spam right?

Me: Yeah I know but the odds are good that I won't (cursed words).

I proceed to critically fail the first throw as is dictated by that cursed utterance, braining the Thief for 1D4 damage (rolled a 1, Thief passed a dexterity check to remain on the roof).

Thief: "Next time aim you great lumpy oaf!"

Me: "Alright, alright...here..."

A succes! The thief ties the rope off round the chimney and I Adam West Batman up the side of the house, we quietly remove roof tiles and lowly climb into the attic.

Holding the Thief by his ankles I lower him down the hole for access to the attic from the main house (there was no ladder to climb down out of it) to take a quick peek...so far nothing.

The thief makes a nimble landing...me being the big musclely oaf that I am lands with a rather loud thud.

A voice comes from behind me, "Who are you, what are you doing in the masters house?!" the corridor suddenly illuminated by candlelight.

Without hesistating I spin round and punch whoever is there...it turns out to be the elderly butler who was looking after the house while the owner was on vacation.

Yes...I punched out an elderly old man.

No he wasn't worth any XP (the GM gave me a look of disdain for even jokingly asking this).

So using the bedsheets from a nearby room fashioned into bindings, we tie up the unconscious old man and stuff him into the closet, continuing down through the house without incident and into the catacombs...having yoink the candle from the old man and an oil lantern from the house because both of us forgot to bring any source of illumination.

We continue exploring, not finding much, by now about two hours have passed.

At this point our late arrival finally turns up, a lass playing a female elf who had been hired by the Merchants guild because they didn't 'trust me enough to get into the house, let alone deal with the problem'.

She mentions finding an rather old, scared elderly man upstairs who had been hogtied who she let out, apologised for what had happened and paid off with what little gold she had to keep quiet.

She was understandably peeved at our bungling.

Anyway...eventually we fight some Undead...set fire to a mummified corpse (not an actual Mummy) just incase it WAS a Mummy when we opened the coffin. The entire place filled with the smell of burnt mummified corpse.

Turns out the owner was an aspiring Necromancer, as were several other noble families who were all at a meeting according to the Necromancer's journal along with some mad ramblings about raising the dead to lead to a 'new order'.

During out travels I had found a rather nifty looking sword with a blade that looked to be crafted from Obsidian but maintained an unnaturally sharp edge that I'd snatched from the burning corpse before it could be lost to the fire. The elf had found some very low level Clerical spell tomes which were of no use to her due to her alignment and the Thief had ransacked anything shiny he could get his hands on.

Now none of this would have been a problem except...I'm working for the Merchant guild which means they can only give me a value estimate of the item, not if it is magical, the same with the spell tomes for the Elf. The Mages guild can only tell the Thief if the items are magical, not give a value estimation.

So begun two bunglers and their 'boss' on the adventure to stop the Undead threat against the city.

Since that point I always made sure to carry a can of Spam (as the tinned rations are called in my groups games) and a Length of rope, it had a lot of usages. Improv weapon, Improv climbing aid, beast bait...

Further adventures...that is story that will also be told...

Will Wheaton!

I may not have liked Wesely but I do enjoy the man himself, he seems to revel in being geeky and enjoys it to the max.

I do love how he tries to create a proper serious DnD character...and the rest are...as mentioned above, not taking it too seriously.

Hmm perhaps it is a 'meet the Incarnates' thing where each one tells you their story.

Hmm...got Reichsman, Imperious and Augustus.

The figure by the far side I swear is Statesman, I think I can make out red and blue colours of the outfit but not sure if that is just my head messing with me BUT it also has the same Invulnerability aura that both Imperious and Reichsman are using.

The one next to possible Statesman though I have no idea.

I figure the Crystal Titan is there as Hamidon's Representative.

Perhaps something about time and space colliding, which if left to happen will bring about the destruction of all realities.

One of my favorites is for my 'Alien Goo from outer space' Goo girl character (Think humanoid Gelatinous Cube, in that it can devour everything but metal) called Gelatinous Ruse.

She is known simply as 'Goo' because that is one of the few words she can speak, which was taken after These adverts we had in the UK

Since they will be available from Level 1 my guess on the Inherent Stamina issss...

At Character creation you get to simply pick what, out of the powers, you want from there fitness pool, so you could just take stamina, you could pick stamina and swiftness or you could take the whole kit and kaboodle.

Ah yeah...you are correct, there wasn't a toxic one, that was me being hopeful and there was a -regen one.

Still, outfit four of your team with the stacking damage res debuff one and four with -regen one and any normal AVs or GMs are going to be in serious trouble.

True my softcapped Invuln/SS tanker is pretty godlike at the moment, the only thing she lacks is damage which I think the Alpha slot would give her a 12% overall damage increase, not much but it is there.

It's when you get into the further slots that the balancing problem is going to become a big issue*.

An IO'd out Tanker with attacks that cause a stacking damage resistance debuff, can summon a buffing ally pet, has an extreme damage ranged/Player based AoE and does more damage.

Yeah it is going to take a hell of a lot of work to get there but once you're there...dang...

*If they remain the same as they were when we last saw them.