Feralyn

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You know me, I don't generally like to complain

but

This was just slightly ridiculous for a toon barely out of single figures with the mission on the easiest setting. Either someone out there seriously doesn't like me and sent the entire council army after me or I had all the mobs for the entire map in once place...I didn't bother to try to find out. I abandoned the mission.

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WOAH!! Have you been bragging about your supervillain prowess in the bars, young lady? That's where all the 'grasses' hang out, y'know...

That looks like the 'stealing supplies from the boat' mission from Dr. Creed to me. Is that right? I didn't have a welcoming committee quite THAT big when I did it, but I did find using teleport to pick 'em off one at a time until the numbers got manageable worked for me.

(What? Hey, there's NOTHING in the Bad Guys Handbook that says a villain has to be BRAVE...! )

A-haaaa..! I see. Thanks for the info.

Oh well, in that case I haven't stuffed up in that fashion yet, since I've never heard anyone in a team say anything like that. Just as well really, as I'd probably just have thought they were declaring their faith to some obscure religious figure or something: "Frostfire is my anchor" - "Oh... okay then, um... praise Frostfire! Now let's kill the glowy guy!"

Oh blimey... I wasn't going to do this, since it shows my newbie (or perhaps just ignorance) colours in all their technicolour glory, but...

Since this seems to be A Big Thing in the game and I don't want to unwittingly mess up some future team I might be in...

What's an 'anchor'?

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I found all these funny, and I'm one of those who still makes these sort of mistakes on a semi-regular basis. I still occasionally manage to teleport into trees by accident - very heroic.

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4 - If something hits you hard enough to knock your health down by 50% in one shot, don't bother turning round to see who did it or where they are. Just chuffin' run, you fool!

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- Just don't be surprised if you accidentally run deeper in to the mob of doom by mistake!

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Ahem... Did that last night, actually.

Took on three yellows in Steel Canyon with my new (level 13)Grav/Rad Controller, forgetting that they were Outcast Chiller, Outcast Shocker and the One That Chucks Big Rocks respectively. (Could be described as a somewhat over-optimistic target for a squishy controller, but hey, that never stopped me before.. ) Anyway, as I watched my health bar plummet I thought "Blow this for a game of soldiers" and ran like heck along the main street and around a corner...

...Straight into two purples and a red. It all ended pretty quickly after that.

I have to say, Steel Canyon has a pretty varied mix of mobs, even on one street. Everything from grey to purple... makes it very hard for a gung-ho hero with no 'stop and think' switch on her brain to survive...

Happy Birthday, Tyger! Have fun, eat cake!

(How DO you remember all these birthdays, Mothers_Love? You must have a brain the size of a planet! I mean that in a good way, of course. )

I've seen this implemented in a now rather old offline game (namely Bethesda's Morrowind) and it worked beautifully in that. Not sure how technically difficult it would be to work it into an online one though, but here goes...

Targeted Teleporting would involve the use of 2 powers; Set Mark and Recall Mark. Set Mark would mark the position the player was currently standing as a place to be teleported to at any point in the future, and it remains in place until the player uses Set Mark in another place, at which point the new marker overrides the old one. Recall Mark can then be used to teleport to that position at any point in the game.

Example: You're doing the Seer Marino chain of quests, which involve flying/leaping/jetpacking in and out of that chuffin' fort for each quest.* So instead, you cast Set Mark whilst you're standing in front of Seer Marino. You go off and do her quests - and then each time you want to return to her, you just hit Recall Mark and you are instantly teleported to your Set Mark position in front of her. Then, when you want to set a different place for your Recall Mark, you just use Set Mark somewhere else, which overwrites the Seer Marino mark and instead recalls you to the new target location.

*Okay, I have just realised this is a bad example, since after a while you can just call the woman on the phone so it's not that much of an issue anyway... but I still think it could be useful. You could set a location for the Tailor/Facemaker for instance, without having to trawl through the relevant city every time you wanted a costume change. And being only able to set one point at a time would not make it too much of a game exploit for, say, vamoosing out of tough missions or something (no more so than the Pocket D VIP Pass anyway.)

I didn't put this in the Suggestions category because... well, as the title says, they'd be unlikely to be taken up by the devs for including in-game. It's just a bit of fun.

My suggestion is:

DRUNKEN NIGHT
Smite your foes with the awesome power of cheap alcohol! This powerset uses disorientation, stuns and confusion associated with a typical Saturday night out on the razz - although creatures without minds, such as Clockwork, may have more resistance to its effects.

HAPPY HOUR
Disorients a single target with a minor blast of cheap lager. Damage:Minor. Recharge: Fast.

IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY
Blasts a single target with a volley of dubiously-named cocktails, causing damage over time with a chance to cause Confusion. Damage: Moderate (DoT) Recharge: Moderate.

FALSE BRAVADO
An AoE attack that Confuses all foes in a small radius, causing them to pick fights with allies for no apparent reason. Damage: Moderate (DoT) Recharge: Long.

BEER GOGGLES
A single target is Stunned by your beauty and sparkling personality. Damage: Moderate. Recharge: Fast.

3AM PHONE CALL
Holds a single target, rendering them unable to take action as they sob a chorus of 'Without You' down their cellphone to a recent ex. Damage: Moderate. Recharge: Moderate.

MAJOR LETDOWN
Causes a single target to sleep for a long duration, rendering them unable to perform. This power also has a chance to cause Confusion on waking. Damage: Moderate. Recharge: Long.

DODGY KEBAB
An AoE attack that envelops all foes in a medium radius in a cloud of noxious gas, immoblilising them and causing damage over time. Damage: High (DoT) Recharge: Very Long.

FLAMBE
A massive-damage AoE attack that douses all foes in a medium radius in strong alcohol and then sets them aflame, causing heavy damage over time. Damage: Extreme(DoT). Recharge: Very Long.


So... what Powersets would YOU like to see in a parallel universe where even the silliest goes?

I second that; GM_Darren sorted my woes out at lightning speed when I bugged him at least a couple of times on one villain mission - like the whiny little girl my toon was (I was role-playing at the time, of course... )

Kudos to GM_Darren!

Happy Birthday, Infinitron! I'll eat some cake in your honour - here, have a piece...

*passes big chunk of cake through cyberspace*

Bye bye Rockjaw ,and thanks for all your hard work. May your future be bright and shiny - and we'll see you on The Dark Side with us from time to time, yeah?

Depends how much of a fashionista you are, I guess.

Speaking for myself, I've only been playing for 15 months and at least three of my characters have only got 1 token left. It's kind of like this, y'see... you've had a hard day, you log on late at night, you've eaten cheese... you're looking at the new toon you've created and you're thinking "Wow, that is one HOT costume. I've outdone meself there!"

...And then, in the cold light of day, when you've had a night's sleep and the effects of the cheese have worn off, you dial up the character again - and you think "Dear GOD, what the HELL has she come as?!!"

(Speaking as someone who was responsible for 'C-UJimE' and a toon who looked like she was on her way to The Colourblind Cowgirl's Fetish Club. )

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.. I have to make my 'little lady' wave at him at least ten times before he goes off to bed.* I think she's now second favourite to In The Night Garden for his viewing of choice.

*Not whilst in the middle of a mission/killing spree, obviously. I wait until he's gone to bed for that - can't really picture myself doing the "What's the little lady doing? Oh, she's blasting the little man's head with a machine-gun, darling" talk just yet...!

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Ha! All you need to do now is make a toon that looks like Igglepiggle and then, “Why is Igglepiggle lying on the floor mummy?” “Because Igglepiggle got blown up by a zombie suicide bomber.” Funny, yes. Tears all night, yes. Then you could do the same with a Santa character and one for the tooth fairy.

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ROFL!

And funnily enough, two of my minions on one of my MMs are called 'Attackapakka' and 'UpsyDeathray'

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But think how much children cost and they won’t let you dress them up in cyborg outfits – well not all the time anyway.

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So true... unless the Cyborg outfit's from Gap Kids or something.

But look at it this way - it can be a cheap form of entertainment for them too! Noooo, not what you're thinking... when my two-year-old comes over to say goodnight now (Daddy does the bathtime bit, which allows me to jump on CoX ) I have to make my 'little lady' wave at him at least ten times before he goes off to bed.* I think she's now second favourite to In The Night Garden for his viewing of choice.


*Not whilst in the middle of a mission/killing spree, obviously. I wait until he's gone to bed for that - can't really picture myself doing the "What's the little lady doing? Oh, she's blasting the little man's head with a machine-gun, darling" talk just yet...!

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Following some positive responses to a suggestion that I made here: http://uk.boards.cityofheroes.com/showfl...&PHPSESSID=

My post:

I'd be interested to see what kind of a response NC would get, if they opened up a 'donation' section, and advertised some kind of charity event?

For instance - something really simple? How about a ribbon emblem? You can wear it on your chest, or on your jacket, and obviously colour it accordinly (pink for breast cancer, red for aids).

They could, say, ask for donations of £1 (GBP) from characters, and all who donate can access this tiny 'extra'. Then you can show your support online.

Development-wise, I'd imagine it would be a tiny thing, and a great gesture from the company. Then the proceeds (or 'most of them', if development will cost) can go to the charity in question, and suddenly, everyone wins:

1) NC come out as a caring developer
2) People can donate, and show their support in game
3) The charity is supported

I actually really think that this is a grand idea. One tiny emblem/logo, a small price (hell, I'd actually go as far as paying £5-10 but only because I feel so strongly for certain charities, so I'd certainly use it! - but £1-2 seems good enough) for something this 'small' in-game.

Opinions?

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I think it's totally brilliant idea! Heck, if people are willing to fork over some quids/euros/dollars to change their character name or shift servers, I'm pretty sure they'd happily donate a small sum like that, particularly when it could be done so easily. I know I would.

GenDiscussUK-ML-1206767-ML-

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When I have to street hunt for normal thugs, I only go for the mobs that are actually doing something criminal - I leave the loiterers alone
But for any self-styled army factions groups - Council, Nemesis, Arachnos, I take them all out, no matter how inactive they might be - this also applies to any obviously evil groups like CoT

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Ohhh.... I take the loiterers too. Even if they're just sitting on walls discussing the movie they saw last night. Oh noooooooo, something else to feel guilty about now..!!

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I console myself on the first point that it must be okay to ignore these street crimes. After all, members of the Freedom Phalanx stand around various parts of the city doing just that all the time!

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If the Freedom Phalanx can do it, we can too!

Anything you can do, I can do better. I can ignore a woman being mugged better than you.

No you can't!

Yes I can!

No you can't!

... yeah.

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ROFL! Yeah - with musical-theatre-stylee dancing! Hey devs - we need some new in-game emotes...!

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I'd be interested to see what kind of a response NC would get, if they opened up a 'donation' section, and advertised some kind of charity event?

For instance - something really simple? How about a ribbon emblem? You can wear it on your chest, or on your jacket, and obviously colour it accordinly (pink for breast cancer, red for aids).

They could, say, ask for donations of £1 (GBP) from characters, and all who donate can access this tiny 'extra'. Then you can show your support online.

Development-wise, I'd imagine it would be a tiny thing, and a great gesture from the company. Then the proceeds (or 'most of them', if development will cost) can go to the charity in question, and suddenly, everyone wins:

1) NC come out as a caring developer
2) People can donate, and show their support in game
3) The charity is supported

I actually really think that this is a grand idea. One tiny emblem/logo, a small price (hell, I'd actually go as far as paying £5-10 but only because I feel so strongly for certain charities, so I'd certainly use it! - but £1-2 seems good enough) for something this 'small' in-game.

Opinions?

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I think it's totally brilliant idea! Heck, if people are willing to fork over some quids/euros/dollars to change their character name or shift servers, I'm pretty sure they'd happily donate a small sum like that, particularly when it could be done so easily.

Wonder if any devs are 'listening' right now... ?

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It's a well thought out and elequently spoken argument to my suggestion. And it has stopped me in my tracks somewhat because I take your point.

But I work from a different angle to this.

To me I look at something knowing there will ALWAYS be a down side.

The first question I ask myself is: If I can achieve my goal and eliminate the downsides, will it be worth it?
If the answers yet, I take the concept, look at the downside and see if I can address that. If I can address the problems then we're on a winner.

So, in my mind, this idea works. (im only giving MY opinion.) ~Next I look at the brainstorming about what the negative side affects , such as you mentioned could be, then I try to find solutions.

So the fact that there could be negatives doesnt nessecarily prevent me from putting the idea on the table in the first place.

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Aaaah, now THAT's what I like - the person who takes hold of the problems put forward and works on solutions!

I'm going to put my neck on the block now (bearing in mind some of the posts I've seen here) and say you had every right to put your idea on the table in the first place, whether people like/agree with it or not. After all, that's what this General Discussion category is for. And you're right, for every change that's made there are going to be winners and losers. That's why debate about them is good. What's NOT good is everybody shouting and screaming "You're an idiot..." "No YOU'RE an idiot..." at each other ad infinitum. Then nothing gets done - having worked for a while in a software engineering environment I know this to be true from bitter experience. (And please don't think in saying this that I'm pointing a finger at you, Lionsbane, I'm not singling anyone out in particular. This thread is long enough to show that there are PLENTY of contenders for Best Mr/Mrs Angry out there. )

I'll be interested to hear what you come up with in regards to possible solutions to the concerns put forward. If they seem like they'd work then, hey, maybe your idea's worth a go.

(Funny, I've got this weird urge to yell "Group hug!" now. But I won't, 'cause I'm pretty sure I'd probably get multiple 'sidekicks.' Right up the jacksie. )

Okay then - I was going to avoid this scary thread but no, I shall Feel The Fear and Do It Anyway, as they say...

To answer the original post (and just remind myself what that was again, amongst all the shouting ) Lionsbane, I can see your point. If all possible mentors leave the team and there are no missions of lower level doable at that time, the sidekick loses out and that sucks for him/her.

However, with the system you've suggested in place - and hopefully I've got this right, which is that when a player of a much lower level joins a high-level team and enters a 'their-level' mission with them, the mission automatically mentors them - my concerns are this:

Theoretically, a person can create a new character, maybe do the tutorial if they like to get to level 2, run around and kill low-level stuff for a bit - and then think "Well, look at all these missions in the Baby Areas that I can do. Blow them for a game of soldiers - I'm gonna jump on some level 50 missions, woohoo!" And that's how they level up their character, for the rest of the game. Not only do they then miss out on, like, half the game, but if they're relative newcomers to CoX they might... let me see, how can I say this tactfully? Oh well... be pretty bloody useless to their level 50 buddies, because they won't have gone through the early-level process of feeling their way through their newly-acquired powers that the 'Baby Areas' offer. I mean, it's fine to stuff up a few times when you're in a team of same-level people who are just as likely to be making stuff-ups of their own, but by the time you've legitmately worked your way up to level 50 maybe you'd be looking for people who have a bit more idea of what they're doing. The existing Sidekick system ensures that the number of inexperienced players is proportionally balanced with experienced ones, but the system you're suggesting could theoretically allow 1 level 50 and 4 level 7s or something - so the level 50 could end up 'babysitting' a team of inexperienced lowbies through a mission. In a while, the level 50 players would get wise to that fact, tar all low-level players with the same 'newbie' brush and just refuse to take lowbies onto their teams - which kind of leaves them high and dry in much more of a sense than just being an abandoned sidekick.

That's just my opinion. I await your response with baited breath (and fear in my heart... )

Happy Cake Day, Cap'n! Hope it's a tasty one!

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Firstly welcome to the bed game in the known Universe (until October 21st at least)

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Why? What's happening on October 21st?

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Yes they are end heavy and don't belive the descriptive bit where it says "some of this endurance may be returned to you" (it might but the net effect is as useful as a rubber duck in the sahara.)

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Dang it, that's why I chose Electric in the first place! Although I've since noticed you're dead right - duck in the sahara just about clinches it

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A Defender's job is to defend. S/he is principally a support character. Yes, you CAN solo, but this game is geared towards teaming and the clue is in MMO (ie lots) so if you take one of the squishiest ATs and try soloing, well hello. That might sound patronising (you seem to have Sands of Mu so I'm guessing you have some levels under your belt) but it's an easy lesson to forget.

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Not at all patronising In fact, after reading yours and others advice in this particular thread I've realised that, at least when I'm soloing, I've been trying to play my Defender more like a Controller, which was never gonna work. I got my Sands of Mu for having a veteran Mastermind (who I love to death. ) The poor old Defender was created later and just snaffled the power off the back of my MM's good (or rather, evil) work.

Thanks for the good advice and ego boost!

EDIT: So sorry, I didn't realise 'til I posted this that I was in the wrong category; it probably should go in the General Category. If any Moderator wants to move it that's fine - would've done it myself but I couldn't figure out how to

So here I am, controlling a bunch of snappily-dressed (well, with maybe a few fashion-crisis exceptions...) heroines, saving Paragon City and earning the adulation of the public. Because hey, they really are super, super heroes...

...Except they're not. Whiter than white? More like a muddy shade of grey - and I'm not talking dark and dingy pasts here. No, my heroes do bad bad things every day, and the guilt has become so bad that I have felt the need to confess my sins in the hope that I can save my soul (or something.)

So here goes... deep breath...

1 - My hero of choice is running down the street, when she hears the cry of a helpless little old lady. Her purse is being stolen by a big nasty Fallen Gunner, whilst his mate stands by with a chuffin' great baseball bat! Do I rush to save her? NO!!! Because they're conning grey to me and I'll get no xp and buggie-all influence for my trouble!

2 - My Grav/Emp Controller has just got the Propel power. Hoorah! It rocks! Now not only can I hurt the baddies very much, but I can have great moments of hilarity doing it as I watch random items of both office and street furniture appear and fly towards them! But... who's going to clean them all up afterwards? Not me, that's for sure - I just toddle off leaving the place looking like an explosion in IKEA. What about the Health and Safety aspects? One unsuspecting passer-by didn't see the giant office desk I conjured and quite obliviously booted it up the street for a good hundred yards! He could've killed a kid - or a cat! My god, I even left a giant globe thing in the middle of the road once... that could've caused a massive accident!

3 - I'm wandering around The Hollows, and I overhear sweet words of love from an innocent young girl. She talks to her big, tough, tattooed boyfriend about the two of them being 'star-crossed lovers.' So what do I do? Why, I smack the bejasus out of her lover-boy, right in front of her very eyes! just because he's a Outcast Slammer, and I'm trying to rack up some kills on them so's I can get my Badge!

Is this how Superman would behave - or Spiderman? I don't think so! Call myself a hero? I'm a menace to society!

Seriously though - does anyone else get these tiny twinges of guilt occasionally... or is this Nature's way of telling me I need to get out more?

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Basically, it's a character which has been twinked out with the (current) perfect build, all the right sets, all the right enhancements.

The term originally comes from PnP where you have many, many more stats to play with allowing you to do some serious maths to calculate exactly where to spend your time improving your character to the point where it fulfills its role to the best of its mathematically perfect ability.

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Uuuuurrrggghh.... think I'll give that a miss then. I believe I saw the word 'maths' TWICE in that paragraph.

I haven't really been on these forums long enough to know these quite obviously well-regarded people, but I too feel for them and wish them all the very best for the future, whatever that holds. If they are responsible for the wonderful sense of community and friendliness that abounds in this forum (and it's quite evident that they are) then their axing from NCSoft is a shocking waste of great talent and experience, which I'm sure will be easily recognised and demanded by other companies even in these belt-tightening times.

I hope they all at the very least get a flippin' good redundancy package out of it too. Wish you all well, guys.