Fanservice

I've found I can defuse a good bit of angst and mopiness merely by calling people on their bull pucky with Horizon or just getting out an uncomfortable truth or miscommunication people are dancing around. She's no nonsense like that.

Of course it only works if people actually listen to her, but that's an entirely different gripe!

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As for the "uber" characters - sometimes that's an issue, sometimes it's not. My own issue with "uber" characters would come from things like forum RP, maybe like the recent Attack on Unity Plaza thread: Liberty Girl seems pretty useless in situations like that when the best she can do is occupy a few bad guys by engaging in painful and bloody fisticuffs while the assorted controller/defender/blaster types were disintegrating whole battalions with a flick of an eyelash.

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Pretty much my point! There does seem to have been fairly big power creep on the player side of RP and I've no idea where I come in to have a character who's fun to RP as a bit of a scrapper. it's hard to do when the fights either over in a second, or way beyond you!

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This comes out a fair bit in social situations - I know that a number of people have commented, IC & OOC, that Richard cares about people. Stupidly so, in a large number of cases. Heck, in my current plotline he has a group of ladies of questionable ethical standing living in his house.

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Hee! I know what you mean, but that's just "A nice guy" Superman is a little mortal, if he fights the non world ending types you can bet Kryptonite will turn up at some point!

Selfless acts like rescuing people from burning buildings and plane crashes also count, but CoH we don't seem to do that much.

Wierdly that you say that people say Richard' a nice guy, Horizon recently has pretty much come to the conclusion recently that Richard's far from it! Not sure how it came about (Although his alter ego and Cass' didn't help!)

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I agree, Fans.

My take on it is that everyone is roughly on a par, as far as power is concerned. Richard certainly makes no assumptions about how powerful other people are compared to him, with the sole exception that he is very confident that no one can actually kill him (ooh, look, I use a game-mechanic (no permanent death) but an alternative explanation for it).

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Well I wouldn't want that to pass over to everyone though! People having no real fear of their own mortality would make for some fairly dull RP. After all if there's no personal risk, it's not really all that Heroic!

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There is NO good reason for this. There is NO good reason that a Tsoo warrior can annihilate a L1 character, but a L50 hero can do the reverse in the blink of an eye. An AK47 is an AK47, and will cause the same trauma to a single person, yet a L50 enemy with one does more damage than a L1 enemy. You can say something about the skill of the person firing the gun, but you can only take that so far.


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The Punisher would disagree! He's the model of a level 50 AR Blaster, he's used them to take down some pretty big names after all that normal mooks with AK's wouldn't stand a ghost of a chance.

Although as said, I like to think everyone is roughly the same level range wise. (Rikti invasions after all are the great equalizer and pass by GG a lot!)

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Also: Fans, with that it means that in order to be able to resist mind-raep I'd have to have Zortel take three powers (Combat Jumping, Super Jump and Acrobatics) which doesn't make any sense.

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I said it worked for me! I don't try impose it on other characters as it wouldn't work.

I allow Blaster a little wiggle room myself, due to Defiance but it'll never be complete immunity. Also a blaster with Psi Manipulation i'd allow myself to have it because it'd make sense thematically!

Well Malta Pistols (The only ones with them at 50 that I can recall) do have different Ammo! Cryo Bullets, incendiary and so on as well as being near the top range on weapons systems!

Meanwhile low level pistols seems to be snub nosed revolvers. Which you would be lucky to kill normal people with.

I'd say they're better shots, more experienced (Shoot them in the weakspots!) and equipped with finer weapons. The difference between a generic mook and John Preston

I like to tie my IC powers to powers I have and I take hold resistance to be protection from invasive things like that (It's my system, i'm not saying this is the right way!)

It does mean the only character who doesn't have it to any real extent is Emily One. But she's got things to figure out who'd doing it and will not be best pleased!

Actually Horizon does ding IC. Her bracers absorb a little knowledge and experience from people she fights (Knowledgfe being power after all!) and give off an audible dinging sound when they've pieced together enough to weave and pass a new enchantment to Horizon's body.

A lot of effort just to make some bad puns, but worth it!

Funnily, Toxic Widow my Thugs/Poison has beaten practically every AV villain you can face on CoV all by her lonesome including all of the ones in Recluse's victory and Recluse himself (Even Biff!). She's also a pretty mean demon in PvP, i've beaten 3 Spine/Regen scrappers at the same time solo and can even take Heroes who have an AV suit as back up! (Or could, I think i'd need to update to IO's before I try this again!)

Yet IC i've always said she's not all that powerful, she certainly wouldn't have been able to do most of that!

As a niggle, wouldn't a single psychic be able to spot Azure Arrow?

Side kicking for example allows a level 1 to become more powerful than say... a level 30 as long as a level 50 is there to give tips!

Horizon clicks her teeth irritably as she sheaths her weapon, crossing her arms and tilting her head back to think.

"Got to be a way to block that, he's making a fool of us here..."

She noticed people were filtering away and Cass had already left in a huff. Hopefully a shop was still left open.

"Nicely done all. Hey, anyone know where I can get a notebook around here?"

Richard would hire her for her considerable assets.

She'd fit perfectly into Richard's lifestyle as long as she keeps abreast of the situation.

Richard's flirting with danger means he could really use some big, nice girl to lean on when things go badly.

Richard would hire her in a flash, if he gets a good feel of her.

Richard would love to take Sarah Thompson back to his place for some hot and sweaty activities.






SHE'S A WOMAN! HO HO HO!

The only reason it bugs me is because when IC plot runs, unless you're at said characters power level (Or we do it as a mission instead of a free-form) your a bit useless.

Fans feels a bit like Aquaman when she goes along with people like this! (And not the badass JLU on) Being fairly tough and able to set things on fire with a touch is pretty pathetic in comparison to being able to beat most things in one hit with amazing ranged powers, while also being far tougher, quicker and smarter than Fans herself. What's crazier is if you can't beat it in one hit, then I've go no chance at all!

So the threats ever become laughably easy to beat or determinedly impossible for my characters to have much effect on relegating me to the good ol' cheer leading squad.

It's actually why i'm starting to prefer IC missions to actually be done on maps with mobs in than freeform. At least then I seem to actually be helping!

They're fairly powerful compared to Marvel (Sure there's a few like Thor and Dr Strange, but for the most part Marvel Heroes are a bit below CoH characters) but not DC i'd say as DC has a lot stronger heroes.

Come to think of it, I wonder if people who claim the more powerful heroes prefer DC to Marvel and vice versa. Just an idle thought.

I'll admit breaking the power level of the system does bug me. The Freedom Phalanx are meant to be the worlds première heroes and none of them are world shatteringly powerful, it can be a big lame to realise that playing it straight makes your character a bit of a lead weight (Or at best a spectator) in RP. Being able to project fire or wield a magic sword is pretty useless when your teammates can beat a whole host of enemies with a merely a sideways thought.

And don't get me started on people playing blasters/controllers/whatever and being IC claimed as far tougher than even a top level Tank!

Horizon looked up as the glowing orb descended, trying to judge where it was going to land. Dashing back she was surprised to see it curl in the air to follow and at a dead run she tried to make it to a door knocked ajar by the fight.

Even with her enhanced reflexes and speed she wasn't fast enough, the ball of radioactive energy crashing into the ground and throwing up the pavement underneath her. Tossed into the air like a rag doll Horizon reaches out and grabs a nearby lamppost, swinging round it and then sliding down to her feet, sword held out to her side, looking a little dishevelled and out of breath.

"Living goo, if you had eyes maybe you'd have hit me ugly!" she cried out to the Shivian.

Bringing her sword up defensively, Horizon starts to manoeuvre back towards the green monstrosity. She'd not found a thing this sword couldn't hurt yet and she didn't expect to find it here.

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"so..six on one..hardly heroic..."

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Horizon grimaces, looking at the two new arrivals and holding herself in line with an effort of will.

"Like you'd even know the meaning of the word. What now then Edward? You've losing your friends, you've lost your principles and you're about to lose this fight. Going to run from me again? Not so powerful after all are you..."

Probably worth pointing out again that he doesn't plan to actually play this character, just write an "Alternate universe" storyline and wanted to know what people would do if it did happen out of curiosity.

So without further ado!

Fanservice would likely wish for everyone to get along and get very annoyed if they just brought violence.instead.

Emily One wouldn't trust them an inch, spending time to try find a way to counter them. Likely a lack of options would cause her to break down and go crazy in the end, feeling too trapped.

Soaring Horizon wouldn't trust them as a god. The only one she really trusts doesn't come with promises of power. That's actually a much, much different person. She's fight it and lose of course!

Horizon didn't want to get in close without really knowing the situation but it was becoming all too apparent that this was Ed again and this time he wasn't going to tuck tail and run. She raised her blade pointing it at Ed's chest from across the street.

"Edward Johnson, i've fought demons and other creatures of evil but i've never disliked them. It was their nature. You disgust me though, surrender now. While you still can"

Watching the two fighting carefully, Horizon paces towards the melee, mumbling a small protective litany under her breath as she studied the fight. Working out how best to interpose herself.

As the billows obscuring the thugs aim Horizon skids to a halt knocking over a small stand filled with various tv peripherals.

"Great idea! Now let's show them who they're dealing with."

Sword trailing on the ground behind her as she charges towards the blind melee, the first Skull to stumble out getting impaled through the chest by a quick thrust, barely able to let out a surprised gasp. With a spin Horizon pulls the Claymore free, a faint crackle as it passes through the skin of the Skull who seems completely unharmed with not a single mark left behind, but he still falls lifelessly to the ground.

Swing the sword more like a baseball bat than with any real finesse Horizon wades into the smoke, relying on her super sensitive ears to guide her she quickly picks out that Seven's movements are a lot heavier sounding and so keeps her distance delivering quick slashes to any skulls she can get within in her long reach.

"Anyone keeping count?"

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"Alright," she said as she slowly pushed herself back to an upright posture, "Which of you numbnuts were going for the Buy Now Pay Never option?" Crash then immediately clenched her fists, forcing a long whine from her gloves that increased in pitch over the space of a second, signalling that all systems were go. She didn't really care much that her own jokes were... sucky. "Because the offer's just got withdrawn!"

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Clad in her black and gold dagger patterned spandex, Horizon had been drawn to the sounds of chaos. It sounded a lot more fun than picking out a new notepad for her lessons. Claymore drawn, a light blue sheen trailing the runes engraved along it's length, she turned a corner to be greeted by the sight of the mass of thugs bearing down on the three heroes.

Her sharp reflexes had her springing into action, sailing dramatically through the air, sword raised to cut at the Skulls ranks. A bellowing war cry issued from her lips.

The effect was quickly spoiled by the realization that it's not very easy to dodge gunfire while in the air. The triumphant scream turned into a small cry for help, luck carrying her through the first volley of fire and landing with a roll she started to pace a circle around the thugs. Horizon's large strides keeping her ahead of the wave of exploding scenery, little chunks raining around her as automatic weapons were fired at the big easy target.

"Help!"

(( if you want people to join in, you kinda have to provide a plot hook!))

Tuesday 23rd September 2008, 12:30, Paragon City

Emily wasn't having the best of days, most of the morning she'd be testing her new equipment in a quickly borrowed firing range and finding several frustrating flaws. When she found the armour wasn't holding up to magnetic rounds she gave in, wrote a summary for Dynamo Corporation and mailed it to them with a terse reminder of why they should be making all efforts to keep Emily happy.

Hooking the test rifle onto a wall rack she lent back and rubbed her eyes. Seven's email hadn't made her feel any better. A quick testing kit for the substance now sat next to her sink and it made the water taste a little unusual even after it was filtered.

Still, it had ruled out a good few suspects in Emily's eyes. Malta were out, with such an international presence they could have tested this somewhere much more low profile along with any other global spanning organisations. Emily often thought that for a different upbringing she could have well be found among their ranks today, they had a certain professionalism and determination she had to admire. Also an amateur job was out too it was obviously too well prepared for that.

So the culprit was somewhere in the middle as threats go and possibly scaling up the tests. This looked like it was going to get serious, especially when they start messing with a cities water supply and with no motive, or even a solid lead, it was posing a real problem. She'd passed her small assessment onto Seven, with a note that she hoped she could trace some of the materials and a further one asking if the Water Main attachment was in the building or underground.

Tapping the air in front of her, those not wearing her overlay couldn't see the keyboard hanging there, she queued some depleted uranium rounds for the rifle. Twenty four types of bullets to go and it had already failed sixteen, Dynamo couldn't be blamed for most though. No one really takes magic into account when making armour these days.

She'd have to meet up with Seven tomorrow, face to face was always her SOP. She still didn't trust the robot, but at least robots usually took themselves seriously.

Emily liked that.

Most of the White Cat had to bow out sadly. It got a little too grand scale when you brought up a giant invisible flying fortress.

And are we still thinking about the "Blow it up over Paragon" idea? I may not be the king of good ideas but even I can see how that'll end messily!