Filipino Super Hero

If the reason to kill a product (ie the CoH franchise) is all about realigning corporate focus,
then perhaps NCSoft can look at its corporate mission vision again,
and keep the game alive for what it is and the community it stands for.

The idea:
Turn CoH from a "hybrid-business model" mmo game franchise...
... into the "world's first charity-sponsorship based" mmo game.
CoH is not just a game: it's a community.
And its been a community that has actually done things that extend beyond just a merely playing a game.
From individual players that hold impromptu costume contests (with reasons such as: "im just happy i recieved word as a
friend just opened his eyes and is recovering well in the hospital"), to community groups that organize in-game/rl events to
commemorate things (such as tributes on Memorial Day), to actually having an official charity donation organization like
Real World Hero, perhaps what we've been doing all these years is something we can explore and make it an actual integral
part of the game itself.

There is no such thing as a "charity-sponsorhip" model for an mmo game.
There will be, if we become the first. (Dunno if the name is appropriate or not)

The goal:
CoH/Paragon Studios becomes an umbrella sponsor to various charities.
Where the previous goal was the corporate plan to improve profitablity, by becoming charity-based, the new goal now switches
to generating awareness of and actual charity help to socio-civic endeavors.
The money you (previously spent) on the game, now becomes "donations" used not for profit but for maintaining the costs in
operation/development of the game so it can be able to handle the logistics of charity sponsorships and develop other ways
to help the generate more awareness for the charities/causes it sponsors.

Ways to go about/explore this:
1. If still with NCSoft:
In most parts of the world, governments require or give tax deduction/exemption incentives to corporations that do charity
work. All big corporations have a charity/social-services department.
If NCSoft chooses to reintegrate CoH/Paragon studios back, Paragon Studios can become NCSoft's offcial charity and social
services department (either global hq or maybe just the combined NA/EU division). Paragon Studios will be a self-maintaining
branch of the company, that subsists on itself through donations to cover operating/maintenance/development costs to provide
continued and better improved logistics into actually helping the charities NCSoft sponsors -- and all that done through
City of Heroes. What better way of applying their core values of Integrity, Passion, and Never-ending Change than by having
an actual "charity-based" mmo (a super hero game that does real world charities, that constantly develops as a community and
have actual growing game features and innovation) do actual charity drives for the company.
2. If not with NCSoft:
a. If NCSoft decides not to pursue this option, and doesn't want an actual sale reflected on their financial books (as they
have never sold any game they have developed/acquired), they can actually "donate" CoH to a charitable organization. This
organization may be an actual existing one (such as Real World Hero or Make a Wish, for example).. or maybe even other non-
profit social interest groups such as Titan Network (the guys behind Mids) or Real Life Superheroes.org for example.
b. Well, if it does get sold, maybe another company can get CoH and then use it as their charities and socio-civic division?
c. Perhaps a Co-Op Charity Interest group?
Maybe somehow if Paragon Studios can be reintegrated somehow and become independent, it can be the head/chair of an umbrella
group of similar interests, so that several organizations can be part of this charity-drive game. It can be linked to such
organizations that normally arent classified or feasable such as Real World Hero with World Wildlife Fund and Make a Wish.

How it works:
From "billing charges" for profit, changed to donations for charity.
Taking cue from the hybrid-business model, CoH will continue its free-to-play, premium and VIP program, as we've accustomed
to. There is no change to what we're currently accustomed to. The change is basically the "why".
The money you spend in the game goes to cover operating/maintenance/development costs to provide continued and better
improved logistics into actually helping the charities that CoH sponsors.
The game is still free -- part of the awareness campaign. The free-to-play players wil be exposed to the game itself and
eventually get to learn about the charities CoH sponsors.
The game gives thanks to those that have donated (ie premiums and account tiers). As a token of appreciation to donors, accumulated paragon point package
donation (ie the roughly accumulated $14.99 - 1200pps) will recieve a literal ingame token of appreciation to advance their
donation appreciation (account) tier. Each tier wil have ingame perks equivalent to the paragon reward tier system we're
used to.
Active subscriptions will enjoy the vip perks we're accustomed to. The subscriptions are there to maintain continued support
of the charity(ies)

The charities:
Charities can either be set when an account is made, and each account can change which charities they want to sponsor
anytime they make a donation or renew a subscription-donation. Alternatively, you can set to "let CoH choose which charity
my donation goes to".

Ingame:
- You can have permanent badges or gold titles that show which which charities you have helped in the past and which you
continue to support. You can opt to just be "anonymous" to not reveal which charities you support(ed).
- You can view how much in total City of Heroes was able to give these charities from a special ingame donations tracker.
- Special incentives: billboards and similar media ingame can feature the charties.
- Alternatively we can have companies that make substancial donations have their own ad space for "x" amount of time (ex: GE Cars: because incarnates arent the only
one that has hybrids. *and in smaller print: GE Inc. supports Greenpeace and the Clean Air act of the UN.)

So how do we save our game world (City of Heroes and Paragon Studios from being permanently shut down) and be able to
continue with saving our real world (in our own unique super-hero-style way)?
Well, someone once said: "There must be something about playing City of Heroes that makes this community so great!"



Anyway I hope this is all feasable, or actually made sense.
Sleep deprivation, stress and depression while writing on-the-fly is not a good "eureka" moment.


*Apolgies if I rambled on this TLDR post, since the idea just popped up and just had to write and post on the spot before I forget.
Also, I'm not a lawyer or a socio-civic worker so I may not have/know the proper terminologies for things nor proper
proceedures for turning over/"gifting"/converting corporate assests (such as the case with CoH and Paragon Studios Inc) as
"donations", so again apologies if I got all those technicalities messed up. Hopefully, if its feasable, some players who are
lawyers or socio-civic workers can help make sense of what i just said if its confusing, and can help further expand or make this more concrete/possible/clear/effective.*

What follows is a compilation (from CoH forums and several other sources) of some of the theories and supposed/alleged reasons for NCSoft shutting down City of Heroes:

Stable profits From City of Heroes, but far from projected expectations:
* While not as large as other games, CoH retained a strong and very loyal fan base, having 120,000 subscribers in the US and Europe and a hybrid cash shop. Despite its age, the game still was winning awards.
* While City of Heroes was not the largest of NC Soft’s assets, it was a cash cow bringing in what has been $10-13 million net profits per.
* An examination of NCsoft's IR (Investor Relations) report for August 2012, visible on the thirteenth page of the report, sales related to City of Heroes have remained fairly constant, slightly increasing per quarter.
* Presumably, CoH profits were not upto projected expectations, and therefore, was not aligned with the profit goals of the mother company (NCSoft) for the year.
Translation: CoH is profitable, but it was still tying up a fair amount of resources, and it wasn't a huge return of investment as expected.

Asian business strategy culture: successfully saving face while building-up investor confidence
(by ensuring hype Guild Wars 2 is an overwhelming success during launch weekend).
* Investors are leery of mmos after SWTOR took a nose dive.
* Funcom’s latest MMO, the Secret World, hasn’t performed as well as the company had hoped, with the latest sales figures looking very bleak. Despite the The Secret World having over half a million beta players, the game itself has only sold around 200,000 copies since it’s launch on June 29.
* If GuildWars 2 was the title that failed them, GW2 is still their baby, and CoH is an old, acquired title. They’re going to cut ties with the game they didn’t create, not something they built from the ground up; realocating resources from old franchise for the new one was a solution.
* NC Soft’s new major stockholder, Nexon, is putting pressure on them as a result of (development) cost overruns on the new games, Guild Wars 2 and Blade & Soul, producing a $6m loss in the second quarter of this year.
* Although preorders, pre-purchases and pre-buys of Guild Wars 2 reached 1 million in sales, after beta weekend there was a sharp decline in demand and player anticipation, complicated by hacked accounts, bugs and server instability even during the headstart (which is the norm for any new gaming product on launch phase). Investors were concerned about the situation and had worries that players will defect from GW2 and go (back) to WoW on Sept 25 when Mists of Pandaria launches.
* On the last days of the month, GW2 was 6th in runing, behind other game titles (such as a Madden NFL l3, CoD: Black OPS 3, with WoW: MoP closely folowing) in North America, but topped sales charts this week in the UK, but still sold less at retail than Star Wars: The Old Republic did at launch. August 28 launch, GW2 sales wasnt moving until Aug 31 - when City Of Heroes was shut down. GW2 units were sold out on September 1, holiday weekend. A self-imposed digital sales suspension was enacted By ArenaNet, which was not initially in accordance with NCSoft. The self-imposed digital sales suspension was done to preserve player experience. Player experience = balancing fair server loads, for cs support to be able to address player petitions, as well as preventive measures against phising and hacking.
Translation: kill off a (slightly) profitable product line to replace it with one that gives a higher return on investment (or has better long term sustainability. No dead weight = Financial Reports will show that all products show big profit.

Getting rid of baggage:
*Less maintenance overhead + fused concentrated playerbase + no licensing issues = more profit.
*Perfect World owns the rights to CoH’s engine and kept the renewal cost too high for NCSoft. Hitting several birds with one stone, shutting down CoH will be a win-win situation for NCSoft (Guild Wars 2) and Perfect World (Champions Online) as troublesome licensing issues will never be dealt with again, and the CoH player base is projected to migrate over to those games. While the active player base of City of Heroes (120,000 active subscribers - premium and f2p players excluded in computation) isnt supposedly enough to actually affect/have much impact on those game upon migration, its more about getting rid of the hassles associated with re-negotiating licenses every "x" amount of years (which lessens player/investor confidence during renewal dates)
* Laying-off 80+ personel from Paragon Studios, some who will be entitled to increased benefits after several years employment, solves increased expenses for the final quarter of the year.

History repeating itself:
* NCsoft West director of corporate communications Lincoln Davies explains: "the continued support of the franchise no longer fits with our long-term goals for the company."
Translation: you can make money from killing off a (slightly) profitable product line if it's replaced by one with a higher return on investment (or has better long term sustainability).
* 2009: Tabula Rasa shutdown; corporate restructuring, realignment and focus on Aion.
* 2012: City of Heroes shutdown; corporate restructuring, realignment and focus on Guild Wars 2.


TLDR version: Reason --> Hassle-free Profits.


*um, wondering if we're allowd to (cross-)post the links to the other coh forum posts as well as links to some other sites so i can show where all these copy pasted stuff is from. i noticed the other posts dont have refference links (just like links to pics)... just made me wonder if thats the case why i dont see cross-post links*

I just recieved word a dear friend passed away...
Our friend Duncan Campbell passed away on friday, August 31, at UMC in Las Vegas.

We got an email from his dad:
". Please understand we knew this was bound to happen. It still does not make it any easier. No parent should out live their child. I am proud of my son and the road he had to travel. I was the one blessed to call him my boy. You all will never know the strength and joy you gave to him, for that I am humbled to know that there are such people out there and I hope that what ever your faith you will be blessed."

I am still stunned and shocked by all this.
All thats happening right now is a flood of memories..
It is numbingly heartwrenching as all I have are nice memories to remember him by. Times with him were always filled with
fun and surprises. He is one of those people that you can't really find anything at fault with and all I can remember and
all of those memories are always him being so nice to me and everyone, being so cheerful, despite his brain cancer.

It's also doubly heartwrenching because you see, I got to be friends with Duncan in City of Heroes. His global was @Lord Vile.
And also on the same day, friday, August 31, the same game that brought us together as friends, was shut down.

While he did have villains, and be in character (and yes its not rp, just in *ahem* naughty character) he was a hero at heart,
and would join redside mishes/tfs just for us die-hard villains who couldn't do blue stuff.

When in real life he was bedridden and in pain, City of Heroes allowed him to go run and jump as fast and as far as he can,
be as strong and invulnerable as he dreamt to be... just like the super hero he wanted to be... be the hero that saved lives..
be the hero that brought smiles... the hero that inspired.

It also feels good when in some indirect way, ingame friendships and the game itself can be therapeutic.. such as when after
one of his operations, to check cognition and muscle-eye coordination, he'd get on one of his toons and its heartening to
see how he quickly can recover/remember.. he'd stil be in pain, but he plays with a smile. He's with friends after all,
sharing fun.

(Well... when among close friends, he was also known also to go Leeroy Jenkins and aggro as much mobs and not take a
scratch.. But hey, he can get away with it because he was being his super duncan self. And it was really hilarious what
happens to team chat with some profanities at times. We're all friends so during those times of crazy fun, team-wiping as we
were laughing so hard sometimes. It was all kewl.)

To us, his friends, he has been - and always wil be, a hero.
Just like in the game, he fought evil with strength and courage.
Just like in real life, he fought his condition with a strong heart, surviving as long as he can with a determined will.
(Maybe thats why at those times, in game, when hes doing his leeroy jenkins scrapperlock moments, he's all determind... set
mindlock.)
Just like in the game, when facing odds that were not in our favor, the important thing was that our teamwork, and doing what
we can -- while having fun -- was the thing that mattered for him.
Just like in real life, even with all the things he was going through, he was always there for us, and made us realize that
even when things go wrong or if we doubt ourselves, its not the "ending" that matters -- fail or succeed, it's how we got to
the end, by doing what we can, be determined, doing our best -- while having fun.

At the end of it all, we have people like Duncan to remind us that there is a hero in each and every one of us.

You wil be dearly missed and rememberd, my friend, my hero.



Rest in peace Duncan....
Rest in peace @Lord Vile: Obsidian Cure. Cool Breeze Man. Fission Gal. Burn Mistress. Tremor Lad. Thermal Anguish. Anti Gem.

ok.. hmm.. "option D: All of the above" must have been written in invisible ink somewhere...

hard to choose 1.
can we have all?

thanks everyone for a real fun event.

good turnout and nice toons/costumes/concepts and even nicer players

Had a fun time at the tourney, both in participating and also observing some of the matches. Looking forward to more of these ahead.

Grats to Hellmurke and Impure Adamantium.

I'll join as well.

had a blast using my toons raven veil and boyband on the mini baf marathons, teaming with you all

i'd like to join too if there's space.

@Filipino Super Hero

Grats to the winners!

Was a very fun event and nice to meet and mingle with players from other servers.

Just got the rikti codes too as part of the prizes for me and my bro and now we can do the rikti dance! See! even after the event, this kewl souvenier still brings in fun. heheeh.

Thanks again to everyone, from the participants and especially to the organizers. Was also awesome for Mod08/Ocho to make time for us and give us the gold titles even after work hours. All is much appreciated.

hi all.

tried getting in test for the finals..
tried the shortcut too.
but all i get is "Connecting .."
got to "Connecting.. #12" and restarted..
so now im back to "Connecting.. 1"

anyway will keep trying

Thanks everyone.

Wasnt really actually aware that there was a perc cc. I kinda go to log in and just saw somewhere in a channel that there was a cc in pocket d that was gonna happen in a few minutes. glad i joined.

It was a fun event and innovative too, as for the first time, toons were able to showcase their power customization stuff -- in action.

Everyone who attended had really nice costumes/themes/bios so i guess i just got lucky to be chosen.

Well, thanks again and lets all have fun in the grand finale.

seems fun to join

@filipinosuperhero

toon: Damage Gears

@Filipino Super Hero

Comic-Book: psi/em blaster
Raven Veil: spines/wp stalker
Damage Gears: bots/pain mm

What are your in-game Globals?:
@FilipinoSuperHero

What are your PvP characters?:
psi/em blaster, spines/wp stalker, bots/pain mm, elec/therm corr, elec/kin corr, sonic/cold corr, elec/ss tank, spines/regen scrapper

(the following 50s are support/disruption, but works in progress: fire/pain corr, widow, illus/therm controller, illus/rad controller, illus/ff controller, demon/pain mm, bots/therm mm, necro/poison mm)

Which of these characters are on Freedom? (This may not be too important at first, if the ladder starts on Test):
all

Are you willing to respec into a better PvP build?:
yup (but some of the old toons have all used up the vetspecs/freespecs/trialspecs)

Are you willing to roll a new character if needed?:
maxed the 36 toon limit in freedom already but if we're allowed more than 36 (or if new toon at/powersets are something i might like, i could delete something), sure

Do you have a mic?:
yes

What is your general day/time availability?:
usually free afternoons/evenings

Briefly describe your PvP experience:
league (CIGAL), zone (rv mainly), arena



EDIT: got in a team already. =)

I'll join.

The other thread -- "Further Pvp/Ladder" -- talks mainly about the highly competitive 8v8 teams, with no team size limits, etc. That ladder is good for the established/vet pvp players. Since most of them have known each other for quite a long time, are most comfortable and play best with people/friends (and quite frankly, it is really fun to play with friends -- no drama), can have as a diverse or specialized lineup, etc. that ladder can have whatever complex/simple rules or have it done in test or freedom or what ever needs to be done for a formal, competitive 8v8 professional ladder. So maybe we can keep the 8v8 ladder discussed in that thread as a completely different ladder from this mini ladder.

Maybe this mini ladder can be used to help introduce/encourage pvp to (new to pvp) players; and keep it that way -- the mini ladder as the amateur division, completely different, more simple, autonomous from the professional division.

With this mini set-up to focus on new players, everyone new/fairly new to pvp, this could be a nice level playing field... no pressure from established/vet pvp'ers who are either in the team, or from opposing team. People wont be facing off against those who have been playing for several years, are heavily proc'd and pvp iod to the gills, know how to max builds in mids, etc. Likewise, there wont be any of these established pvp'ers in the team who would likely be chosen to play every game, simply because they are the best players in the team; with this, everyone gets a chance to play and not feel being left out.

Things can start off very clumsy, with the new players not knowing what even a "lock" or "evade" is, calling targets, heck maybe even its their first time to know what "vent" is, but eventually the team(mates) learns by themselves. Things can be competitive as this mini ladder goes through the latter stages, and maybe these team will self-impose stuff to get better. Eventually, they'll get to know arena chat, channels etc, learn about making optimal builds in mids, and learn to take advice from the pvp pros from the other (8v8) ladders, but are stil able to play in a league of their peers, in a fair gaming field.

This also takes care of complaints from the established/pro/vet pvp'ers about being stuck with newbies, not being able to team with their long time friends, not wanting to teach (lets face it -- most people pvp to play, not teach) new players since they would be in the competitive 8v8 ladder and not in the mini ladder.

The mini ladder may not be perfect for new players, but its one good way to have a level playing field, as mini steps towards being (later) better in pvp, without much pressure being with and playing against establised pvp'ers and especially established pvp groups/teams.

Hi all.

Whats better slotting for an attack power (ie a damage attack, not a mez-only attack):

a) 4 of a set for a 2.5%-3% damage bonus from the set + 2 damage procs

b) 3 of a set + 3 damage procs

c) 3 HO combos which give acc and or dam or rech + 3 dam procs

d) 3 frankenslot any io which give acc and/or dam and/or rech + 3 damage procs

or any other combos?

The fast attacks have about 1.8 secs - 4 secs (base) recharge.
The long recharge ones have 18 secs - 36 secs (base) recharge.

Im not that interested in the set bonuses of the attack io sets, other than the +2.5% to +3% of damage (per set) it can give. But if sacrificing the damage bonus for proc damage sources is better, then im all for it.

-----------------------------

Note:
The (several) toons (from blasters, scrappers, stalkers, corrs etc) im thinking of re-slotting have adequate rech/recov/regen/hp etc from the other sets. Im more interested in maxing damage/possible damage per attack.

All the toons have complete (auto and clickable power) accolades
All the toons have capped/near-caped hp
All the toons have haste.
Most of the toons (except a certain non-fitness using scrapper and stalker) have fitness pool.

For example, on these toons there are several (set) sources of:

Recharge:
10% -- often have 0-2
7.5% (non lotg) -- often have 0-1
7.5% lotgs -- often have 3-5
6.25% -- often have 0-2
2.5%-3.5% - often have 0-2

Recovery:
4% -- often have 0-2
2.5% -- often have 3-5
2% -- none
1.5% -- often have 3-5

etc.


Thanks for reading and any input would be greatly appreciated.

I wish devs would allow us the option to have a new page of 12 more character slots (to buy or use up with vet rewards) when GR comes out.

grrrrr.. last few days of the free server transfers and im panicking which toons to exile to make space.. already maxed and filled 36 in freedom.. and also in virtue.. but i love em all...

now i know how a hamster parent feels when it has to choose which baby to eat...

What are your in-game Globals?: @Filipino Super Hero

I. What characters do you have on Freedom?:

BLUE

BLASTERS
50 psi/em
40 sonic/em (no pvp build yet)

SCRAPPERS
50 spines/regen (its pvp build has only ranged attacks - yes its weird but its fun to play)
50 spines/fire
50 broadsword/regen

TANKS
50 ss/invul
50 ss/elec
50 stone/dark (i dont pvp with this stoner)

CONTROLLERS (mainly used for team pvp for disruption and support - occationally i solo with them just to mess up camping)
50 illus/rad
50 illus/ff
50 illus/therm
40 illus/storm (doesnt have a solid pvp build yet but its current build can still be used for sc)
25 illus/cold (doesnt have a pvp build yet)

HEATS
50 PB
50 WS (the only time i use this is in zone to tp the droner to team)
40 PB (grooming this to specialize in sc)
50

RED

CORRS
50 elec/therm
50 conic/cold

STALKERS
50 spines/wp (shark-blaster wannabee with AS as only melee attack)
40 spines/elec (no pvp build yet)
28 elec/elec (no pvp build yet)
21 elec/wp (no pvp build yet)

BRUTES (i dont pvp with my brutes)
50 ss/invul (no pvp build)
50 wm/stone (no pvp build and dont intend to pvp on a stoner lol)

DOM
21 mind/earth

MASTERMINDS
50 bots/pain
50 bots/therm
50 necro/poison
50 necro/ff
50 thugs/dark

VEATS (since i14 ive only used my veats mainly for tfs; occationally use my widow for arena if team needs one to hunt down stalkers)
50 widow (a nw and fort build)
50 soa (a bane and crab build)

II. Are you willing to respec into a PvP build?: depends. most have a pvp build; some used up all respecs even vetspecs.

III. Are you willing to roll a new character if needed?: cant. i maxed the 36 character slots allowed per server already (3 reserved as name holders for dual pistols and demon summoning). and id rather not delete or move toons out of this server to make space

IV. Briefly describe your PvP experience: Started tail-end i12 arena and zones (sc and rv but mostly rv; i cycle playing through toons a lot and switch sides if the current side im on has too many/outnumbers the other).

I'm just a casual pvp player that pops in and out of zones and/or joins arena matches at least once a day for 30mins - 2hours; though i dont mind the trash talk, id rather just shut up and focus on kills. I enjoy playing my toons with the unusual builds rather than the ones ive got that use "pvp standard" builds.

Im not sure if theres room in the league for casual players like me who just want to have a fun time in (competitive) pvp, but im signing up just in case.

And if i dont get in the League, just wanna wish you all a nice fun time anyway. At least this League is a good way to promote mainstream pvp back.

gale is bugged in pvp zones right now?

Hi all.

Is there a particular AT/build that you seem to have difficulty surviving against or defeating (with the usual pvp toons you use)?

For example: If youre a stalker, are you worried more about the kiting blaster built to hunt stalkers down or do you view it as a challenge to play cat and mouse with them? Are you a tank or brute that has a weakness against psi blasters? Or are you one of the rare few defenders trying to make a difference and instead of being team buff bot, you actively take on other ATs?

Is there a particular power that really annoys you when you get hit by it? Or maybe its something that really messes up things for you in pvp.

Some people get annoyed being hit with benumb and heat loss, while some panic against heat exhaustion. Do you really hate being tp'd? Do you laugh at people still relying on evasion/pff/phase -- or just wait it out till it drops or just move on to the next target?

Do you think certain ATs should usually be able to survive and defeat another (dev's viewpoint of rock-paper-scissors)? Or are you more of an adherent to the "player>AT", and that it basically boils down not to AT rock-paper-scissors, but more on the player himself/herself?


As for me, i dont really mind a lot of stuff.
If i get droned, then at least no one gets rep/a chance at a drop; and if i get to be tp'd into a trap/a mob of other players, then id better be able to take someone down with me -- if i really cant get out fast or use a panic button. I kinda panic a bit though if i get hit with heat loss/exhaustion with no blues. My invul tank and brute still needs more work (need more psi res procs and those bonuses from sets heehe) against a swarm of psi blasters, but at least has to worry less about widows now due to i14; paired mind doms can stil be pretty tricky to go up against; a swarm of sonics also is a bit worrisome. When im on a squishy, like a blaster or corr, i just kinda leave all worries behind about surviving much, and just hope i kill more than i die more.


So feel free to vent out your frustrations against an AT/power(s)...
or tell us of a challenge you'd like to face (maybe for your main pvp toon)...
or maybe share your views what would trump a certain AT against another..
or tell us of a zone encounter or arena battle that you were able to go against a "nemesis" AT/power and was able to beat it

Hi all.

Been having fun on my non fotm toons that i use in pvp both arena and zones. I have all sorts of crazy toons that people kinda laugh at but hey, i dont care. I know theyre not all that competitive, but I have fun, and get my fair share of kills. Besides, i dont reallly like playing standard builds and be a clone of someone else's toon.

Most of the toons ive used has caused a bit of commotion - mostly heckles and a whole lot of teasing in broadcast in rv and sc. But the toon that's caused a lot of commotion in pvp (as well as in tfs in pve) are my flying full ranged scrappers.

Yes. Flying full ranged scrappers... as in all attacks are ranged, and are often mistaken as a blaster initially (which is actually part of the fun). In virtue, ive got my spines/regen/blaze named Noli Mi Tangere. For freedom, ive got 2: another spines/regen/blaze named Angelo Caduto and a spines/fire/blaze named Chromosome Z. All of them have a aggressive-kill build and a survival build -- yes, with phase.

Ive also got my flying phasing tanks (a wp/dm and a elec/ss -- and yes people shout i wont be able to "catch" anyone -- but its nice to hunt for flying squishies and use melee atacks on them inflight, and later on ground them with AS or land and use hurl then finish em off with some other attack; and yes, what kind of a tank has phase -- well something that can also catch other phase-ers, and if there arent any, its nice as another panic button.)

Ive also got "melee" MMs (on body guard of course, with a tray full of oranges against tp), "controlling" MMs/blasters/Corrs, etc.

So, am i the only one crazy enough to play with weird stuff that can survive and kill with?

Hope there are others who use unusual/unique builds.

Or maybe you've seen some unusual builds others use in zone and area... do share your encounters with those.