Galactor

I think the easier solution to all of this is one of the following:

1) Write off the AE-only players and don't team with them.

2) Write off the AE-only players but team with them with a grain of salt.

3) Team with the AE-only players but be prepared to teach them how to play. Afterall, the difference between a suckie player and a good player is only 2-3 weeks of teaming on some good teams.

4) Team with them and expect them to suck. Prepare for lotsa quitting and some team wipes.

5) Team with them and be suprised if they are any good. If they are good, add them to friends and team with them regularly.

I don't remember Twixt, however, I did happen to notice him on my ignore list for whatever reason, so he had to have been a jerk to me at some point.

[ QUOTE ]
And since we're sharing some horror stories here, two from last night:

1) I get on a team there, as I'm trying to do some story-oriented AE stuff to no avail on my Defender. Team consists of two Blasters, a Scrapper, two Controllers, a Tanker, and myself, a Dark/Psy Defender. The two Controllers are a Kin and an Empath.

Team leader: we need a healer

Me: We've got myself and two controllers, I think we'll be okay.

Team leader: well, you're not a real healer, and the two controllers won't help that much

Me: We've got three people with heals. That won't be enough?

Team leader: I doubt it

Me: What are we going to be fighting?

Team leader: We're doing the Hami farm

Me: ...

Me: I think we'll be okay

At this point, while I would normally leave, I want to see how this train wreck will go. I convince the leader that we'll be okay, and we enter the mission. I summon Fluffy, and we start fighting.

Team leader: Wow, great heals! I guess I was wrong about you guys. My health bar barely even moves!

Me: None of us are healing you. Fluffy is, because he's an idiot and can't help it. You're not taking any damage.

Team leader: Really?

Me: Yes, these guys don't shoot you. You're at 100% health the entire time. Heals do nothing for you here.

Team leader: Just because they don't shoot you doesn't mean that you're not taking damage.

Me: ... <quit>




2) After that team, I go back out into the AE area, and broadcast that I'm looking for a team doing stuff where enemies shoot back. I get invite to the following team, with none of them over level 12, except for one blaster, who is level 34.

Me: So, what are we doing?

Leader: PP farm

Me (to self): fine, at least this takes some skill

Me: Okay. We may need a Tanker for this one (the one we have is level 9 and won't survive long).

Leader: He should be okay

Me: Are you sure? These guys hurt, and the Tanker isn't exactly sturdy at level 9.

Leader: He'll auto-sk and be alright.

We enter the mission, and before everyone is even in, the Tanker goes crashing into the first spawn, and promptly dies. The rest of us enter the fray, and I rez the Tanker. We fight off the first spawn alright.

Me: I don't think that the Tanker should take point here.

Leader: No, now that everyone is in, he'll be okay.

Me (to self): sigh

We go to the second spawn, and the Tanker goes in first, and dies, quickly.

Tanker: WTH? Why do I die so fast?

Leader: I'm not sure. You guys healing him?

Me: He's level 9! We can only heal him if he doesn't die before we get to him.

Me: Mind if I take point on a spawn? We can herd and it might be a little bit easier?

Leader: I guess so.

Me: Okay, I'm going to herd to here. Just wait for the enemies to come to us, and then we can fight them. Everyone got that?

Everyone: okay!

So, I lay down a tar patch, summon Fluffy, target a Mob, and hit him with Darkest Night, then retreat around the corner. As the enemies are coming to us, I see the entire team go careening around the corner charging at the enemy, at which point they all die one after another.

Me: Why didn't you guys let them come to us?

Team: What?

Me: I was herding them to us, why didn't you wait?

Team: Want to go fight Hamis? They don't hurt at all.

Me: sigh...<logs for dinner>

[/ QUOTE ]

ROFLMAO!!!!

I got one of each AT (except WS) to 50 heroside, the hard way. I'm never doing AE unless a friend asks me.

Right now, I'm soloing a fire/em blaster...got her to 25 so far. Someone actually gave me a shout out for 'doing regular missions'.

[ QUOTE ]
Since I don't offer up my MArc for reviews, I logged in to see if anyone had played it recently -- and was stunned to see THREE COMPLAINTS!!!

Now, I don't pretend to be the best writer in the world. But Wicked, Wicked Wonderland (#1224) has been played by 192 people and has a 4 star rating ... and I couldn't imagine what anyone had to complain about.

All three "complaints" were exactly the same.

I used the word ... S.E.X.

Now mind you, the context was in the course of someone's name: The Sex of Diamonds (in my mind it was a silly pun in a silly story regarding the card "the Six of Diamonds"). This custom critter wasn't HAVING s.e.x.; she just had this three letter word in her name.

MIND YOU ... THIS IN A GAME WHERE ANYONE CAN - AND OFTEN DOES! - CREATE WOMEN WITH BARELY ANY CLOTHES ON ...

... WOMEN WHOSE BREASTS SO HUGE THAT THEY WOULD EVEN BREAK THE INVULNERABLE BACK OF "My Super X Girlfriend"!!!

Sex... as in "Please check one:" Sex: [ ] Male [ ] Female

People have asked me about this in-game, and that's fair. But to COMPLAIN ABOUT IT???? I mean, complaints to devs are for grievances that should get an arc banned, aren't they?

Frankly, I don't know if the complaints made were recent because I never checked for complaints before. Yesterday, when I updated my arc for I15 status, I saw the comment bar for the first time and figured - great - they list all the great comments I've received since this was released. But Nooooo! None of those get listed. Only these 3 braindead complaints.

What is wrong with people?

I only hope that whoever complained about the word S.E.X. never gets any in RL.

And for the rest of you who have played my arc and have left such positive and supportive comments for me, I APPRECIATE YOU NOW MORE THAN EVER ... because you guys are what makes authoring these things worthwhile.

If you HAVEN'T yet played "Wicked, Wicked Wonderland" (#1224) yet, I hope you will NOW ... just as a show of solidarity.

But if the word S.E.X. offends you, please DON'T play my arc. You'll save us both some aggrevation.

[/ QUOTE ]

So?
Big deal.
The whiners are MA-trolls.
Probably conservative fundamentalist christians to boot.
Only 3 complaints? Average 4 star rating? Your mish sounds like a raging success. Qa Plah'!!!

I have an E3 build on pinnacle and gaurdian...I love the build.

They can solo well but they shine on teams.

I use stamina in my build too.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Last night I saw a tanker tell the defender not to Fort him, he said " Don't fort me, cause it doesn't help me much "....

I mean buffs are buffs right?

[/ QUOTE ]

If he's already softcapped, then all he's getting is a most likely unneeded +tohit buff (he's probably already dancing at the 95% chance to hit mark) and a small +dam buff. The tank was more likely politely recommending that you give it to someone else that could put the buff to greater use, especially that phat +def buff that everyone should know and love. Annoyingly enough, I've had a number of Tankers (and Scrappers) that, even knowing that they're deeply over the def softcap and have more than adequate tohit to maintain 95% chance to hit, insist on getting Fortitude over other members of the team because they insist it makes a difference (even though the actual +dam effect they would experience is roughly equivalent to getting another SO in their attacks).

[/ QUOTE ]

When I'm tanking with an emp, or any buff build, I just let them do their thing.

Personally, though, I'd rather the emp fort the blaster or controller or a SK, esp. a SK. If a controller is having trouble hitting mobs with holds for some reason, the fort helps them hit. I know how fast a controller can go through endurance if they have to throw holds multiple times because of a miss.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
If you actully believe your responses to the paraphrased post by myself I feel sorry for you. You and many other players like you missed out on alot of fun simply because you are lazy, crybaby, whiners. The fallout is the lazy,crybaby,whiners got their way. The people that actually played hard and had fun even with uneven odds got the shaft.


[/ QUOTE ]
Patronizing, insulting, and arrogant all at once. Yup, a PvPer.

[ QUOTE ]
Not some pissant crybabies that give up at lvl 50 after they realize this great "buff" makes the late game dom potential fullout gimped as compaired to dominators prior to the revamp.

[/ QUOTE ]
In other words, you have some over expensive build that lost a few percentage points and you think it's 'gimped'. Most of the game is BELOW 50 in case you didn't notice.

[ QUOTE ]
As a vet dom I no longer enjoy the feel of the archetype. I am sorry that I do not like it. It's ok if others do. I am one player . Sacrificing one is certainly worth making 10 happy .

[/ QUOTE ]
If the "one" in question is you, then yes it is. Us whining crybabies will just have to stagger along without you.

[ QUOTE ]
As to your remarks on pvp........ plenty of people pvp'ed before the developers decided to "revamp" that portion of the game to entice the "casual" player.

[/ QUOTE ]
It's more like a minuscule number of people played PvP, and the devs decided to roll the dice and change things in hopes of attracting more. There's never been "plenty" of people playing it. In no small part because PvPers tend to be people like you, who call everyone crybabies, whiners, pissant, carebears, and similar insults and can't quite grasp why most people don't want to associate with you.

[/ QUOTE ]

Amen, ObscureGuy, Amen.

AE itself isn't to blame for crappy teammates...blame the players.

If the quality of teaming has declined since AE has come out, we have no one to blame but ourselves.

I got on a good KR radio team last night and went from 8 - 12.

[ QUOTE ]
Negative ratings sound good, thanks--edited previous post to include them.


HOT DATE (GUYS ONLY)
Playthrough Cohorts: @Crasical, @El D, @Crimson Ripfang
Arc ID: 229681
Morality: Neutral
Description: go ask Ashley on a date
Characters used: Laevinus (Broadsword/Shield), Argorath (Elec Melee/Energy Aura)



Right, then.
Sit down, boys.
It's time we have...the talk.

This is a T-rated game, for Teens (and not for Ta-tas as some chest-sliders would have you believe), and so some of you are probably around that age already.
You may notice strange feelings when you look at the fairer sex, with fair beings known only as "women". Feelings that you've never experienced before. Feelings that you like experiencing, and want to expand further on. Feelings that make you want to make a girl character with the aforementioned chest-slider all the way to the right.

These feelings are perfectly natural. These feelings are understandable, and occur in many young lads as they grow up. This is called "sexual attraction". You're noting that girls do not, in fact, have cooties.
The age-old ritual of "circle, circle; dot, dot; now you've got the cootie shot"? Yeah, that actually gave you cancer instead.
It's a strange and a brand new world out there! With its own individual rules and rituals, with codes of conduct in foreign languages that scholars have been debating back and forth for years!

Now go talk to your parents about the rest.

There's a reason I started off with that spiel, which I'll go into later. As for now, let's cut the unfunny documentary crap and get straight into the arc.



The contact identifies himself right away as "Ashley's Dad", a diminuitive sort of man who, much like the contact in the previous arc, dresses himself in all black. Except it's almost all black, because we all know that fathers are the fogey sorts that simply can't be cool--he wears his badges of shame in both a white tie and white hair, which permanently brand him along with the "un-hip" and "anti-dope" crowds.
Why? SHUT YOUR MOUTH is why. Black is EDGY, white is DREDGY. Learn it, love it, live it.

Ashley's Dad, however, has clearly been on a drinking binge. He comes to me lamenting that his little daughter has been going out with a boy that he doesn't like. This is all well and fascinating, good sir, but I'm afraid you've confused me with your wife. Or perhaps someone with an actual interest in your daughter. Or perhaps someone that's interested in your daughter if she was single and not going out with a boyfriend.
...
Sha-wing! Consider me interested!

Ashley's father continues his heartwrenching tale, all summed up in the span of a single sentence: "my little girl is going out with a boy i dont like i need you to scare him off".
Punctuation? Capital letters? Who needs those in a world where you move fast, fast, fast! Nevermind that Ashley's dad is just standing there as an AE concept--his HEART and his MIND move faster! He's worried about his little baby girl, damn you! How could you be so heartless as to question his grammar in such trying situations?!
His heart is heavy and his eyes weary with all the tears he ever could cry in his lifetime, and he sobs out his final request before sinking back into his drunken haze. I need to scare him off! Normal fathers would simply give their daughters a stern talking-to, or would show up with a gun to the boyfriend's house, or pass around the baby pictures. But this man is so desperate that he relies on someone just right off the street in order to rescue his beautiful baby girl.
I'm assuming she's named Alice, he never told me anything.

How can I do anything else other than accept?

So I accept.

"kick Ashleys boyfriends butt" the nav text pipes in helpfully.
A-BUH-BUH-BUH-WHAAAA? Sir, I object to this! Now I'm hesitant! I was just told to scare him off! You take me for some sort of barbaric barbarian, who would just charge around and swing my foot around like a magnet attracted by metal in the rear? That would be very inconvenient for walking!
And immoral, since people usually don't ask for boots up the bum.
Regardless, I have no choice but to continue and try to save Athena, since otherwise I would have to quit the mission. And I'm not going to do that because screw you, I have better things to do than just lounge around in the AE lobby, wondering what happened if I didn't quit.



Entering the mission, I find myself in the wide-open area of Perez Park. No complaints here, it's a pretty under-used map. The map itself is crawling with baddies, though, as per every other map with every other arc. Every single one of these enemies are simply one enemy, "Punk" of the faction "Ex Boyfriend's Mob".
Ohhhhhh, now I see why Ashley's Dad was so concerned about Alysha hooking up with this man. He's a part of the MAFIA! A mafia where everyone is about four feet tall, looks like a young kid, and weilds invisible guns!
All of the enemies are AR, of some indeterminate secondary--interestingly enough, they seem to just plain stop attacking whenever I get into melee range. Clearly, my character is so awesome that they emit an aura of funk and pimp. Whoever is unlucky enough to step into the range of this aura promptly gets overwhelmed as I stand there, jamming to an invisible tune. Maybe Kamelot or something.
Here's a hypothetical scenario:

Me: [walking around, jamming to an invisible tune that may be Kamelot or something]
Punk: HOLY CRAP WHAT ARE YOU DOING. [pull out invisible guns and shoot invisible bullets]
Me: [gets hit and takes invisible wounds] Aw hell naw. [steps, like, one inch closer]
Punk: OH WHAT THE HELL IS THAT ABOUT. [drop their guns and just stand there]
Me: [/em dance4]
Punk: WE CAN'T HIT HIM. HE MUST HAVE SUPERHUMAN REFLEXES.

I hereby declare to Castle that we need a new power in the game, called Aura of Funk.



Trekking through the map quickly becomes repetitive, as every single group in the map is composed of the same batch of Punks--there's not a single difference in fighting styles, powersets, tactics, or whatever. No LTs or bosses, simply the same single minion spread across in a wide vast cloning conspiracy that would put Dolly's little sheepy heart to shame.
What DOES break up the repetition, however, are several barrels strewn about the map as destructable objets. Except, no, they're apparently not barrels--info says "a big rock that looks fun to destroy". I wasn't aware that rocks were metal, cylindrical, and rusted, but who am I to argue with the laws of nature? And if it's fun to destroy, then let's get to destroyin'!
Except, no. If you are at all existant in the world of reality, then you know that punching a rock until it breaks is not too feasable an idea. This is apparently on the mind of the author as well, as the quote-unquote "Barrel" cons friendly. And why shouldn't it be? Me and Barrel have gone through so much together! We hit the bars on Fridays, pick up chicks on Saturday, head to church on Sunday, and then drive home together. Barrel's a pretty horrible driver, though--I've been trying to teach him, but he just...he just doesn't learn. It's like he doesn't even want to listen.

(For the record, this is what a proper rock looks like. Get learned)

Because "Barrel" cons friendly, it's going to be difficult to actually defeat him. Every attack to meet it head-on with a melee only replies with "INVALID TARGET". So I get around it and Lightning Rod the stupid thing to death, and my reward for the endeavor?
[NPC] Barrel: you destroied a rock you must ne dumb
...
God DAMN IT.

Oh, and fun times to be had by all, because the rock wasn't a required objective. It was just something extra (I use that term very loosely) to destroy to entertain the mission-player. Because, also existant in the world of reality, punching rocks is something done for fun and extra credit.
What IS a required objective is for me to buy a rose for Annabel, which is done in a glowie of...an ancient Circle of Thorns obelisk. Because who needs vendors for getting a rose, or even a pot, or a garden in Perez Park! Perez is known for many things, but none of which is flowers. The only answer? An ancient forbidden Circle of Thorns ceremony to access a Hell far beyond even Dante's own comprehension!
He could only WISH he could include a Hell of Pretty Flowers in the Divine Comedy.

Buying a rose promptly spawns two other required objectives, identified on the Nav as "Ashley" and "Danny".
WAIT, ASHLEY?
WHAT?
WHAT?
WHAT?
WHAAAAAATTTTT? Since when has the girl had a name?! I am shocked and FLOORED by this twist of expectations that nobody could ever have foreseen even if they had foreseeing abilities!
Yes, it turns out that Ashley is the girl that we're supposed to rescue, and she ends up as a buxom blonde in leather with large breasts, thighhigh heeled boots, and the Eden top underneath the coat so it looks like she's absolutely topless. Rescuing her gets her following you in grand parade of manliness, assuming your character is a man, as you have this **** chasing you around without any pity for her previous situation or that she was getting ganged up on by her boyfriend's buddies.
Danny, on the other hand, is a generic Elite Boss with Thugs, and a plethora of generic one-liners that talk about how you're strong but he's stronger, or that you're stronger than you look, or how you still won't win despite your stronger strength. His mutilations of the English language at the start and end of each combat are something to note, though:

[NPC] Danny : Hay Ashley Wuna go out?
[NPC] Danny : Hay back off my girl loser.
[NPC] Danny : Bring it
[defeat Danny]
[NPC] Danny : Ashley y are you going out with this loser

Yes, before you actually combat him, Danny is deliriously talking to the air in the vain hopes that his girlfriend is nearby, composed of magic pixie dust straight from Disney movies that take his words and fly them straight to her on fairy wings. And what he says when you beat him is the same whether or not you actually have Ashley with you, so he may as well be talking to your groin--whether or not you name your dong Ashley is something I've really no interest in learning, though I'd be a little concerned at his own fascination with it.



The kicker, though? You can't deliver Ashley to the exit, so that the mission can end. All that work, all that effort, all that time spent, and all for nothing--because of some sort of glitch or malicious game design, the actual marker that you need to deliver Ashley to is BELOW the map...and more specifically, BELOW the exit zone! There is no way to deliver Ashley to the exit, no way to finish the mission, and having tried it three different times with different people all provides the same result.
Thus, we'll never know the final results of how this plays out. Ashley's Dad will be doomed to forever standing in a single place with that blank look on his face, begging a passerby as to rescuing his daughter. Danny will be constantly talking to the air as he slips slower and slower into madness, constantly at sexual highs and lows from being in the same room with a topless girl and getting punched in the face from players. And Ashley will get diabetes or something, I dunno.
It's a mystery that will never be closed, and the world suffers for it.
A tragedy on the level of Romeo and Juliet, to be sure. Shakespeare, your tears are wasted.



JERK MOVES: -1 (The destructable objects flag as friendly and berate you once you actually defeat them. Regardless, they're not actually required objectives, which rank this jerk move pretty low)
INCOHERENCY: -4 (Not a single sentence is without mangled letters, admirably performing with all that remains of their spirit despite their abuse at the hands of a thoughtless master)
IRRITATION: -3 (There're only two types of enemies, minions and a single EB. Neither of them are really "cheap" at all, though the Gang War on the EB may cause troubles for non-melee ATs. The open map and the lengthy-as-crap hunts will be your bane, though)
COMPLETEABLE: -5 (Incompletable, plain as day. Unless you have a stroke of godly divinity or access to the dev tools right in front of you, you just can't complete this)

FINAL ANGRY METER: 5

This actually got me a smidge angry. The fact that it's incompletable by itself is enough to get me pretty riled, but it's also apparently an objective fantasy for whoever the author was. The sexually idealized girl, combined with how Danny is in absolute shock that he's bested, combined with Ashley's swooning over your power, combined with how you're apparently the only person Ashley's Dad trusts enough to get to do this, all points to a single result.
Whoever the author is, Ashley is someone in his life that he lusts after. Danny is someone that has her, and he doesn't. This is an obvious power fantasy, something that allows him to feel the aforementioned jollies of his first girl encounter, so that he can have the girl and deny "Danny" of what's his own.
It's horrible. Horrible, horrible, horrible, horrible. And I feel angry and dirty for having played it.





NOTE:
Please send @Crasical well-wishes again:

[Tell] @Crasical: Hey, don't ever let me proofread something for you again.
[Tell] --> @Crasical: Hrn? Why?
[Tell] @Crasical: Me: "Hmm, The team's doing pretty good. Let me alt tab out and read this."
[Tell] @Crasical: Me: "Hahah, This is pretty funny. Cootie shots. Hah. Wait, what's this." *tabs back*
[Tell] @Crasical: Team: *Burning and dying* D: OH GOD, THE ARCHON IS A WARWOLF AND THE MARKSMEN ARE LEGION. ABANDON HOPE.

[/ QUOTE ]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

"(For the record, this is what a proper rock looks like. Get learned)" ---> LOVE THE 'ROCK'!!!!

This review is freakin amazing!!!

[ QUOTE ]
SAVE THE STRIPPER
Playthrough Cohorts: @Crasical (please send him well-wishes, he's been traumatized by it)
Arc ID: 5199
Morality: Neutral
Description: The Order of Death have hatched a sinister plot to try to take the world's most valued stripper and horde her for themselves. You must stop them.
Characters used: Henteko Shinzui (Katana/Super Reflexes Scrapper), Argorath (Elec Melee/Energy Aura Brute)



And already this gets to a promising start! The world's most-valued stripper! Man, what a title. What. A. Title. Such prestige!
I mean, sure, there's money and food and clothing and all that stuff, but a stripper? Top priority, man, you just haven't lived until you've seen some jigglies get shaken! Who needs drink when you've got a miniskirt and thighhighs rubbing across your lap?
It's the WORLD'S most-valued stripper, too! Third-world relief? War torn countries? Screwthat! She gets sent in to Etheopia and Afghanistan, that'll raise their hopes!

My God, our military are strategic GENIUSES.
Whoever thought breasts could hold such power.
Someone get president Obama on the line, I've got some better weapons of mass destruction than his namby-pansy nukes!

I'm gettin' pumped up for this! I'm ready! I'm willing!
So I fire up WinAmp and load my theme song, and saunter up to the contact. Yeah, he's smirkin', he knows how badass I am. Decked out in black leather, with black hair, a black trenchcoat, black pants, a black belt, black shoes, black eyes OH MAN OH MAN OH MAN HE REALLY MEANS BUSINESS WITH SO MUCH BLACK. Maybe I should stop being so badass, he'll think...he'll think...I'm trying to UPSTAGE him!
He goes on about how the world needs me to take care of The Order of Chaos... They've kidnapped the world's most-valued stripper... They're hoarding her for themselves... And I must stop them..........
WHOAH-HOAH-HOAH THERE, BUDDY-BOY. I think your OVERFLOW OF PERIODS is just too much EXTREME for my brain to handle. In fact, one more period and I think I'll explode! Wait, I already used two. Make that thre--BOOOOOOOOOOOOM










Hah hah don't worry that was just me saying boom.

Anyway, of course I have time to rescue a stripper. What do you take me for, a NON-hero? Psssh.
I'm told that the boss of the Order is named The Boss, and that he is known to hang out in abandoned office buildings. Wait. Wait wait wait. The Order is named...The Order...and the boss is named The Boss?
Wait.
Wait.
Wait.
WAIT.
WAIT.
Okay, I don't get it.
I suppose I'll just miss out on the genius, but I am but a lowly bit player paying $15 a month to play craptacular arcs. Who cares what I miss out on?



So I enter the mission and round the corner, and...oh. There she is.
Right at the start of the mission.
Well, okay. I rescue her, mission should be over, right? Except, no, she isn't, because of the crazy laws of the planet world that requested my assistance. For some reason, finding the stripper and escorting her to the door doesn't actually count as "saving" her. Turns out this mission is a Kill-All, clearly because every single bit of them has a part of her stripper essence on them and must be exterminated before they either:
A: Make clones of her.
B: Pass around interaction with her as signs of divinity.
C: Kidnap her again with the information they currently have learned.
D: Fap.

So I go further into the mission, and eventually I come face to face with The Order itself. And as soon as I see their terrifying visage, I get an epiphany. Now I realize the problem with this arc.
This arc isn't the author's fault at all. No, no.
In fact, I think the author is a perfectly normal and natural human being, and this was made by his puppy.

You see, there are no costumes for every single member of The Order. Everyone has a pre-made dev-designed preset costume. There are a few minor tweaks here and there, but otherwise every single costume is devoid of any and all human touch.
Oh, you poor man! I can only wonder how your head exploded when presented with all the different costume options! I can only wonder how you collapsed on the ground, gibbering and writhing as your baby puppy then trampled all over the keyboard, making all the rest of the mission! I hope your recovery is swift, sir! I know this arc isn't representative of your true potential, and I don't blame you a single bit for what your cute pet has wrought upon our unwitting human hordes!



Regardless, each of The Order is composed of completely random powersets chained together, which I suppose befits their Chaos nature. Not their Deathly nature, which was in the description and I assure you is completely ridden with false advertising.
Death? Them? I scoff at you! I SCOFF at you! They're not deadly at all! They're simply misunderstood young ruffians with questionable tastes in incredibly tight clothing and a misfortune of the stripper following them like lost puppies when all they wanted was just a companion for ice cream?
Oh-ho-ho-ho, they're actually really nice people once you get to know them. Death isn't at all in their desires!

At least, that's what I want to say until they pretty much killed me dead. I mentioned before that their powersets are completely random, without any semblence of rhyme or reason at all. They don't even have descriptions for it to chain it all together. They have Rad Blast/Rad Manip minions, Dual Blade/Ninjutsu minions, Grav Control/Ninjutsu LTs, Battle Axe/Fiery Aura LTs, Bots/Ninjutsu bosses, and that's just in one run-through! Ninjutsu is AWESOME! YEAH! 'Cause it was on Naruto, or something! YEAH!
And to further amp up the EXTREEEEEME factor, every single one of these powersets are set up to EXTREEEEEEME. Because nothing's more awesome than being Placated with Smoke Bomb, or having loads upon loads of Caltrops whittle you to death.
YEAH.
YEEEEEEEAH.
YEEEEEEEAAAAAAAH.
ow dammit my foot.

And what's the end of this fun romp guiding you throughout the chaos of this NOT-DEATH Order?
An Arch-Villain. Because everyone knows that's one of the best things a player could wish for. In fact, I know of several teams in which we were playing through arcs and they said "You know what would make this better? An ARCH-VILLAIN". Everyone loves Arch-Villains, and in fact, I think if there was an arc composed entirely of just Arch-Villain after Arch-Villain, people would be five-starring that sucker like no tomorrow. They're, like, the culmination of everything people love about the game.
Oh, and he's Plant Control/Martial Arts. Two of the COOLEST powersets ever.



In the end, what's to say about this arc? It's horrible. Horrible, horrible, horrible, horrible. Not a single bit of dialogue throughout the entire thing, none of the enemies have description, and your only reward at the end of it all is a "Whoo! You did it!"-esque message which provides no closure whatsoever.

If you had to choose between playing this arc and getting stabbed eightteen times with glass knives and then getting shot in the kneecaps while Rick Astley-playing boomboxes are shoved forcefully into your ear, then...uh...well, play this arc, I guess.
It doesn't really hurt you physically.

Just mentally.

And spiritually.



JERK MOVES: -3 (Surprisingly few, but they hurt. A couple Ninjutsu minions are bad enough, but the Ninjutsu lies in the majority. Unless you have +perception, you're going to be getting surprised a lot--and be hunting down the final mobs to satisfy the Kill All)
INCOHERENCY: -2 (Who is The Order? Who is The Boss? Why are the stripper's boobs known 'round the world? No glaring plot holes, but hundreds of questions are left unanswered)
IRRITATION: -4 (Nothing is given even remotely any thought as to balance, playability, or tact. Powersets are just crammed in and amped to extreme for the hell of it)
COMPLETABLE: -1 (A little patience goes a long way. Easily completable, though not for every build--non-melee ATs will have a hell of a time)

FINAL ANGER RATING: 2
Not very angry, honestly. The coolest thing about having an arc without any semblence of dialogue at all is that I can put my own words where descriptions and text balloons should be.

Radiated Killer: OH NO. WE ARE CURRENTLY IN A GREAT HEAPS BIG AMOUNT OF TROUBLE.
Chaos Robot: WHY IS THAT, MY SUSPICIOUSLY BLACK-AND-GREY-BUT-GREEN-GLOWING COMRADE?
Radiated Killer: IT IS BECAUSE OF THE TOTALLY WORLD-FAMOUS STRIPPER WE HAVE CURRENTLY BEEN IN HOLD OF.
Chaos Robot: YES, SHE IS A SIGNIFICANTLY STRIPPING WOMAN WITH A KNOWLEDGE OF STRIP. PLUS, SHE'S HOT.
Radiated Killer: NO, YOU HANDSOME AND MANLY FOOL OF FOOLISHNESS. SHE MEANS OUR DOOM!
Chaos Robot: I AM IN DISBELIEF OF THIS ACCUSATION YOU ARE PRESENTING.
Henteko Shinzui: I AM ENACTING GOLDEN DRAGONFLY, DONGHEADS!
Both: OH GOD IT BURNS IT BURNS BUT WITH STEEL BLADES!

[/ QUOTE ]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
ROFLMAOcopter!!!!

That review is the funniest thing I've ever seen in my life. I can't wait for the next review.

[ QUOTE ]
ANOTHER unannounced, unwaranted, unusually 'early' total (all down) Server Maintenance, completely at odds with the PROMISE from some customer service mouthpiece we were to be given of 'more warnings, timely warnings'.

Seriously, GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER NCSOFT.

Monday evening, prime time, 8:30pm, and the servers are dead as a dodo. Nothing in announcements, nothing in News, nothing in Technical Issues. The EU forum has a few people complaining, and some lickspittles pointing to some 'free respecs coming for I15' post, as if that's the -answer-.

Japan, Australia, New Zealand, we're all completely affected by this rampant nonsense. If you sprang surpruse maintenance in US prime time, the screaming and 'I'm cancelling my account' posts would crash the ^%$#@ forum, there would be so much outrage.

Absolutely disgusting customer service.

Ex

[/ QUOTE ]

Sorry to hear about your server troubles. The servers have to come down for maintenance at some point, esp. if they are putting in an issue update. And no matter what time of day the folks at NCSoft decide to do maintenance, SOMEONE is not going to be able to log in and play at that time. It's a bummer, but it is only temporary.

GL

[ QUOTE ]
Up until six months ago, I hadn't done much red side playing. I was a blue blood and that was that. When I talked a few friends into playing they were far more interested in being evil and since I was the one that brought them on board, well, Midnight Preacher was born. As he climbed the ranks of villainy, I decided Captain Mako was going to be my mentor. It was the power set I saw the least of and pulling out another weapon (the Mace) didn't appeal to me.

Around level 45, I saw my first Mako summons. This massive coral monster with a huge freakin' hammer! I was so sold on the look, I didn't care what he did. I talked to the guy in my group who summoned him at length on his coolness. The next two levels felt like forever. I wanted my own coral beast so bad!

Finally, the day came... I hit my mark, leveled my character and my fingers twitched over the button. I wasn't sure if I wanted to summon him into a mass of low level flunkies or just off by myself to be amused. I decided to get a recharge enhancement in there first... I mean, 15 minutes is a long time and I want this mass of awesome out as much as possible! So as soon as he was slotted, I hit the button and then... and then...

Out popped a guppy...

I was so confused and angry I just sat there looking at my new abomination. Thin as a rail, ugly, no hammer, no weapon at all in fact... Something ran by and he shot a pink mind beam out of his head... I nearly cried.

For those who don't know, and I wouldn't expect you to before hand, Midnight Preacher is a Corruptor. Corruptors get 'Summon Coralax'. While that sounds cooler than the more obtained 'Summon Guardian', I assure you, it doesn't look as impressive. I died a little inside when I summoned that fish-thing.

[/ QUOTE ]

Poor guy...that does stink.
Make the AT that summons the actual pet ya want. Maybe your Preacher has an illegitimate son or something?

[ QUOTE ]
I shake my head every time I enter Atlas and Cap zones, so many "players" but so few Heroes and Villians. The content of the game now is just so much window dressing and wallpaper, nice to see it hangs around, but in function having no pressing effect.

[/ QUOTE ]

I feel ya.
I myself refuse to do AE Boss Farms, they just aren't my cup of tea.
However, those ''players'' have chosen to do boss farms like doing that kinda thing, more power to them.
When I-15 goes live, and the new Architect channel is operating, maybe broadcast won't be flooded with spams for an AE boss farms.
Just this past weekend I did Justin Augustine, the 1st respec TF, and sister psyche. Now my main has completed every TF in the entire game heroside.

I-15 could possibly go live today, due to the holiday weekend. If 4th of July wasn't Sat. they'd probably release it Tues.

Pulsar is really pretty visually.
I didn't slot mine, since its about worthless in pvp.
I put a Chance for KB proc in my one slot.
Use it the way others in this thread have suggested and you might enjoy it.
I like the power, I just wish it had more 'oomph' to it.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I'm one of the few the actually prefers playing redside, and it's true that the early levels are awful.

CoH at least has more options, depending on origin, or if you're tired of that, you can do some sewer runs.

Snakes and Infected? Bleh.

[/ QUOTE ]

No kidding. Especially snakes. Wayy too many snakes.

[/ QUOTE ]

Damned snakes are the reason why the first thing I do when leveling up a lowbie on Mercy is to broadcast LFT. Usually with a specific reference to how nobody likes hunting snakes alone.

I get plenty of responses for teaming. Looks like we're not alone in this regard.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, snakes suck. I do the Merc contact mish 'bug arachnos fliers' then hunt until level 6-8. Then I go to Port Oaks and start doing newspapers to get the travel packs. Then I actually start trying to team.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
But as a rule, I NEVER, EVER report ANYONE for potential copyright infringement.

[/ QUOTE ]

Me neither. I report them for ACTUAL copyright/trademark infringement.

Your character you described would have been fine. You let some dillhole bully you into deleting a character that couldn't have been genericed in the first place.

Had I seen that character I would have said: "Heh, nice, surprised you got that name."

[ QUOTE ]
So, if you have had a toon generiched...believe me...it was NOT me that turned you in...I'm not a rat!

[/ QUOTE ]

No one accused you of being one. This isn't the mafia or a street gang where reporting something is a punishable offense.

But, your stance here implies that anyone who DOES report things is a rat/tattltale/snitch/whatever.

So, feel free to not report people. It doesn't matter to me in the slightest if you do or not. But please refrain from insulting people who do.

[/ QUOTE ]

A rat is a rat.

[ QUOTE ]
bluesting was there most the day getting farmed. He ended up calling me a dick and putting me on ignore. Oh and he called me supermax. Good times.

[/ QUOTE ]

I knew you were conflict...I said you were just as bad as supermax.

Oh yeah...and thanks villains for the Gladiator's Javelin.

Villains aren't the only toons in RV that farm for PvP IOs.

[ QUOTE ]
I transferred a mid 40's bane over to Freedom yesterday. You guys seem like a fun lot to goof off with. Now to hit 50 and slot, oh and beat the hell out of Bluesting just for [censored].

[/ QUOTE ]

Good luck with that.

Yes, only extra base damage.

[ QUOTE ]
I don't think they were really replying to you with those comments, but more people like Not Rhino, who likened people reporting petitionable characters to blackmail and extortion.


I honestly have no problem with people who don't want to petition other people. That's fine. So you're good. The people I do have a problem with are the ones who call people tattletales and the like because the person informed a GM that they were breaking a rule.

[/ QUOTE ]

A rat is a rat.

I remember a certain dark defenderr player sending me a tell about reporting me for copyright violation because I made a toon named HALO.

My toon didn't have anything to do with the halo game. My toon's name was Halo, her secret ID was Angela Winger. She was an angelic-themed character. I've never even played the Halo game. I couldn't tell ya the first thing about it...other than I am pretty sure it was a FPS.

So I deleted the toon, but I've NEVER, EVER forgotten that player did that to me, nor have I forgiven them. Forever, in my book, they are jerks. That character was originally a champions character I made back in 1989, way before the Halo game came out.

I might re-make the toon some day...but, heck, it wasn't all that great a champions character to begin with.

But as a rule, I NEVER, EVER report ANYONE for potential copyright infringement. Why? Because it doesn't give me xp or insp or IOs or influence. I have better things to do in-game than inspecting other players toons. I'm not a rat, I don't rat out people.

So, if you have had a toon generiched...believe me...it was NOT me that turned you in...I'm not a rat!

[ QUOTE ]
Or a ghost hunters spoof with malta sapper allies (Cookie for anyone who guesses why )


[/ QUOTE ]

Because their sapping backpack gun looks like a ghostbuster's backpack?

I find my fire/em tank a blast to play.
I'm not a big fan of barrage, but it does work and does OK damage.
I happen to like the new animation on ET.
I love total focus.
I find the animation on energy punch to be a bit slower than the blaster equivalent.
Bonesmasher is very nice.
Whirling hands might be considered a 'weak' AOE but I love that 'slam dunk' animation.
The combo of Fire/Energy works for me...I haven't been able to tank Lord Recluse successfully yet...but I can tank just about anything else just dandy.

[ QUOTE ]
Seriously.

Right now I'm on the forums instead of playing because my severe altitis and desire to play high level toons is conflicting. I really appreciate the variety of content we have for the journey from 1-50, but it's sucking the fun out of the game for me that in order to get a new toon to the point where it's as fun to play as my high level toons I have to invest 2-20 hours of gameplay. It really sucks.

I really enjoy being able to spend time with a character learning the ins and outs of powers and their interactions. However, linear level progression only feels like it's adding time to the process without much benefit. Every character I play at 50 eventually develops into an entirely different being than it was at 49. Intuitively it'd seem that adding powers one by one would teach me to use them effectively, but once I finally have the full tool box it's like starting the learning process all over.

I can't really explain it right now (trust me, I tried but none of the anecdotes I typed got the point across), but the point I want to make is that when you're missing tools from your tool box it's hard to improve as a player. Leveling just feels like a tutorial that introduces you to your powers slowly and it sucks.

[/ QUOTE ]

I feel ya.
I haven't leveled an alt for over 6 months.
I've been dabbling with my dominator on freedom some, but she's really poor, and getting level 20 IOs has been really difficult. So I play my dom once a week after building up some patrol xp. I go to bloody bay and hunt, the patrol bonus on top of the pvp NPC bonus means bosses are very lucrative, I've been getting about 3/4 bar per boss.

While on the other hand, my heroes are FAT with cash. All my main alts on the non-freedom servers have 10 million plus each, and I haven't even started doing their IOs yets.

I don't do AE boss farms, I find root canals more fun. But I find leveling the 'normal' way to be very tedious and slow.
I have 7 50's or so, so I'm not in a big hurry to get to 50 any longer.
I really want to get my level 40 nrg/dev blaster to 50, but it has been difficult to get onto a non-AE boss farm team.
I don't have a lot of patience to wait around for a team invite and I'm not much for making teams either...maybe I'll go try to get onto some ITFs.