Du Hast

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  1. Source article:


    On Patrol With Phoenix Jones: Guardian of Seattle
    By Jonah Spangenthal-Lee


    “I’m Phoenix Jones. I’m from the Seattle area. And I fight crime.”
    That’s how local masked man Phoenix Jones introduced himself to a group of boisterous college students sitting outside of the Chipotle restaurant in the University District Friday night, as I accompanied him on his nightly patrol.
    Jones—not his real name—is the latest masked avenger to gain notoriety as part of a growing Real Life Super Hero movement: people who dress up in costumes and do good deeds, or at least say they do.
    Last week, the Seattle Police Department’s Robbery unit sent out an internal memo to officers, warning them that they may soon encounter Jones or his fellow costumed do-gooders—"Thorn," Buster Doe," "Green Reaper," "Gemini," "No Name," "Catastrophe," "Thunder 88," and "Penelope,” according to the memo—who have popped up on Seattle’s increasingly weird streets over the last year.
    SPD had a run in with Jones earlier this month when a concerned citizen called police and reported a potential robbery after they spotted two masked men pull their Kia Forte in to a Capitol Hill gas station with its headlights off in the middle of the night.
    The masked men were gone by the time officers arrived, but robbery detectives tracked Jones to his secret lair outside of Seattle and spoke with Jones’ Godmother, who told police he "dresses up like a superhero and goes out with his friends at night and does good deeds," according to an internal police document.
    Police later contacted the masked avenger, who told police "there are some nuts out there engaged in this same type of behavior” and “wanted to make it clear that they were not part of his group." Jones then agreed to come down to police headquarters and be photographed in-costume.
    After learning Jones’ secret identity early Friday (a proud moment for a reporter, if there ever was one), I contacted him for an interview.
    Jones agreed to meet in front of a University District comic store after dark. I expected he’d show up in civilian clothes, and I’d buy him a beer at a nearby bar while we talked superheroics and comic books.

    An earlier version of Jones' costume
    Instead, Jones arrived decked out in mask, cape, and black and gold rubbery suit—which he claims is “bulletproof from the neck down to the kneecaps,” including a ballistic vest, arm and leg trauma plates, a ballistic cup, and sculpted plastic abs—and we headed off down University Way for his nightly patrol.
    As we walk down the Ave, Jones—who’s in his early 20s—tells me how he got into the crimefighting game.
    About a year ago, he read a quote from one of the Guardian Angels in a comic book which, along with a lifetime of reading comics—especially those of his favorite heroes, Nightwing and Green Lantern—apparently inspired him to take up a life of crimefighting.
    “People don’t take care of people,” he says, as we walk past a crowded bus stop on the Ave.
    Jones’ get-up looks quite a bit like Batman’s costume and, just like the Dark Knight, he’s a trained, title-winning amateur martial artist, and carries a utility belt stocked with a hefty-looking cattle prod-like stun gun and pepper spray, but never a gun.
    He’s still working on his elaborate costume, and is developing an iconic logo for himself—possibly the silhouette of him standing atop the Space Needle, he says.
    Some people on the Ave walk up to shake his hand. Someone jokingly asks Jones if “lost a bet.” One woman tells Jones he’s “creepy looking.”
    Jones is an amazingly affable guy. There’s earnestness in his interactions with people on the street, and while he seems to enjoy the attention, and you get a sense he genuinely believes he can make a difference, as he gives out handshakes like they were going out of style.
    But it’s clear some of the harsh words and disbelief from people on the street get to him. As we walk down the Ave, a group of young men crack wise about his costume and ask if he really thinks he’s going to do any good.
    Jones’ hackles go up after one of the college-age men asks him “how well he knows his body” and tells Phoenix he’s “going to need more than luck” to fight crime.
    As we walk away, Jones mumbles that people who say things like that to him ‘typically aren’t in very good shape.”
    Jones says he’s been on the receiving end from wisecracks and jeers from the late-night crowd since he went out on his first patrol about a year ago.
    “I walked around downtown and didn’t see any crime,” he says. “It was pretty embarrassing actually.”
    Several weeks later, Jones had his first big break of sorts when he stopped a late-night knife fight under a bridge, and had his first run-in with police.
    “They told me to take my mask off,” he says. “I told them I’m a superhero and I don’t take my mask off. I’ve been fighting real crimes ever since.”
    Now, Jones says he goes out on patrol every night, always in a different location.
    Jones certainly talks a big game, and claims in the last year he’s been involved in about 30 different incidents, including four violent confrontations.
    He says he’s made several citizen’s arrests—including a takedown of a “Peckerwood gang” member on Capitol Hill, and a suspect who was threatening someone with a golf club near the International District.
    While Jones proudly talks about his good deeds, he wasn’t able to provide many details —like names of suspects or dates of incidents—to corroborate his stories.
    Jones also claims he’s been stabbed—a picture of the supposed wound is posted on his Facebook page—and says he was shot in Tacoma last year. But again, he declined to provide further details about the incidents.
    When asked where he receives medical treatment—as hospital staff typically report gunshot wounds and other serious assaults to police—Jones simply said he knows a doctor who fixes him up when he’s injured in the line of duty.
    Jones doesn’t seem to be worried about being killed or maimed while playing superhero, but the cops sure think that's how he'll end up.
    Several SPD officers chuckled or groaned when we asked them about Jones. None were specifically familiar with him, but all questioned the saneness of his vigilantism. One officer jokingly (sort of) asked how long Jones would last at the corner of Rainier and Henderson. Another called him “crazy.”
    Again, this is nothing new for Jones.
    “I’m not crazy. Eccentric maybe. But I really am here to help,” Jones says, adding that he also isn’t trying to get attention for himself.
    “If I wanted attention, I’d take the mask off,” he says.
    While Jones seems like a genuine enough guy, it’s still a bit tough to buy into his costumed altruism.
    Aside from being unable to provide hard evidence of any of his good deeds, he’s clearly not equipped to do more than react to crime, rather than deal with the root causes.
    While he may be able to chase down a purse snatcher or break up a bar fight, it seems highly unlikely that he has the ability to, say, get a 14-year-old girl out of a life of prostitution and into therapy and a stable home life.
    Jones’ costumed heroics are ultimately rooted in comic book morality where crime is all about black and white/good and evil, with no gray areas or contributing socioeconomic factors.
    When asked whether he’d try to arrest someone he caught smoking marijuana, he said he follows police guidelines and considers it a low priority. Then he says he doesn’t have a problem with people using drugs, but wants drug dealers to “sell somewhere else.”
    That’s the kind of circular logic that makes Jones’ alleged costumed do-goodery great on paper, but impractical in real life.
    Jones has the right idea—as he says, people don’t take care of people—but putting on a costume doesn’t make one a hero. Hopefully he and Seattle’s new crew of costumed crimefighters can do some good without getting killed.
  2. I did the protester event on my MM and using no personal attacks I used only my pets. I was the only one who participated in the event and I got the reward table but the badge was not listed nor did I receive one.

    In the middle of the event I was insta-killed (still not sure how as I was a 50) I assume I got caught in the blast of an exploding car.

    Is this a bug or WAI?
  3. I like doing this kind of contest but I am not sure if this one is worth it since everything they are giving away I already have.
  4. LMAO I posted this last night and look what they posted just a few hours ago...


    Get Bonus Game Time!
    Take advantage of the City of Heroes Holiday Bonus Subscription offer. When you purchase game account time between November 29th 2010 and December 19tht 2010, you will receive additional rewards. Sign up for 6 months, get a 7th month free. Sign up for 12 months, get a 13th and 14th month free! (12-month promotion is only available for customers with North American accounts.) This is a limited time offer, so sign up while you still can

    This promotion begins at 9:00AM EST on Monday, November 29th, and ends at 11:59PM EST, December 13th, 2010.

    If you cancel the subscription prior to the end of the payment period you signed up for, you forfeit the free month or months. You cannot stack multiple promotions.
  5. has any one heard any word on them doing this again? I don't want to pay for a year in advance again and jump the gun on any yearly rate specials they might throw out like they did last year.
  6. you should try to apply for a marketing job with CoX
  7. I noted that the Halloween tip drop rate seemed to be a little long. it took me over an hour of solid ToTing to get one (and yes I was in costume the whole time)

    on a personal note I LOVE seeing the glowing eyes of the CoT in the underground tunnels. it reminded me of those cartoons of something spooky in the woods and all you could see were eyes. seeing the fiery auras on the demons in the dark was also a nice touch.
  8. I know there are some arcs that won't appear in the flashback lists unless they are unlocked by another arc first. I am thinking this is the reason I am not seeing some arcs I need for badges. Is there a list some where of unlockable arcs and what I need to do to unlock them?

    So far I have run into this problem with two badges, (arc not listed) Origin of Power badge and The Doctor's Ally badge. any help would be great as I am going after them all. thanks!
  9. the only problem with auto exemping for bank jobs is how would we be able to get the bank job in the first place being too high for the zone?
  10. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Nericus View Post
    Still would be nice if the mayhems and safeguards could be added to the ouroborus crystal.
    thats what I have been saying
  11. so are these badges some of the "have to be villain only to get but can still work on" badges? because i have no progress bars for any of it.
  12. the badges from side missions and killing the hero and destroying the bank vault, all those badges; are they like the accolades and simply convert to the opposing faction version?

    the reason I ask is because I took my hero to vigilante and did some mayhems. I already have all the badges from the hero bank jobs but there is no badge progress bars for anything for me when I try to do all that stuff in mayhems.

    thoughts?
  13. ok so fitness is inherent now, how does swift and hurdle factor in?
  14. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Mandu View Post
    So here is what I think of their appearance at PAX. I think that NCSoft is planning on one of three things.

    1. Sell or split off Paragon Studios and leave them on their lonesome along with the city of properties.

    2. Fold the studio and the game.

    3. Give up on the game as a money maker and just let it survive on it's own for as long as it can by trying to keep current subscribers on board and paying for expansions.

    I'm pretty convinced that option 3 is what they are doing. When I heard that City of would have no presence at the NCSoft booth I figured that they wouldn't have it playing on any screens but they would at least have a representative there with some literature and game codes. But that would be zero, zilch, zip, nada. Other than the panel you wouldn't even know the game is still around. No advertisements, no buttons, and not even in game codes at the booths. They are acting as if the property doesn't even exist.
    Actually the game isnt run by NC Soft any more, its run by Paragon Studios a sub branch of NC Soft, NC Soft customer service cant even help you with anything CoH related, thats all Paragon Studios domain. So why would you think CoH would make an appearance at a NC Soft booth?
  15. yup I do have that "major patch" file, but how did I get it with out realizing it? I didn't get any long download any time before or after the download announcement.
  16. First I am talking about the updater for the regular game where the GR files are supposed to update AFTER a play session.

    I have tried logging out to log in screen and then to desk top, I have tried logging directly from game to desk top and even chose to click the close window (windowed mode) to exit the game and the GR files WILL NOT DOWNLOAD.

    Now I already have the beta server up and running, is this why I can't get the GR update? Do I have to delete the beta server first?
  17. Du Hast

    flag list?

    thanks, that was exactly what I was looking for!
  18. Du Hast

    flag list?

    my searchfu must be really weak because I have been trying to find some of the different flags (or tags) for the updater and come up with jack.

    maybe they are called something else all together. I am talking about the extensions at the end of the updater properties target such as -test -beta -cov

    is there a list of which ones are out there and what they do? I know there is one for forcing the game into windowed mode with out going into the game to change the resolution. can any one point me in the right direction? this should be made a sticky in the tech forums
  19. any one else having trouble downloading the US beta client? I have tried 3 times (third time has 16 hours to download as of now.) the first try was as they mentioned an empty zip file... well sort of, it had 1 file called "data1.cab" the second time i got the same thing plus "data2.cab" but still can't do a thing with it (says the files are broken) so I am trying a third time.

    I also updated my test client last night and now it has a huge file manifest.should I only worry about the test client and not the US GR beta client (ie same thing?)?
  20. this isnt a building per say but I was thinking about the traffic we have and it would be nice to see some more things on the road than we have now such as motorcycles, cop cars, ambulance, fire truck, those funny little 3 wheeled cars that meter maids use, maybe some construction oriented vehicles or a semi truck.

    while on the subject some sidewalk bicyclists would break up the monotony of what we already have.
  21. Du Hast

    Noble Savage

    the cyborg foot part looks like resistance tech. does that point to Noble Savage as being leader of the resistance?
  22. I too am in great need of this badge, as well as the other tournament ones. just let me know the info and ill bring my tank (my badger) and what any other AT you need.
  23. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Amerikatt View Post
    I take it that means you'll swap out States for Emperor Cole ... right?!
    I doubt it, David is far too public pleasing to be depicted by a tyrant
  24. not sure if this is the right place for it but for blasters using sets life fire, ice, energy and electric how about a cannon glove (think Barret from Final Fantasy VII)?
  25. Du Hast

    NC Store

    well then Dev's, why aren't there any? This is such an easy area to get more money from. I know there are T-shirts at least, I seen pictures of people wearing them so why can't we buy them?