Gorbaz

A fine idea, and quickly implamented, too. It occurs to me that alot of MMO's are going free-to-play these days, or partially, at least.

However, I don't think I'll be using my premium account any time soon. I left not because of money worries or subscription fees, but for a very different reason - boredom. After being an almost continual subscriber since the COV beta right up to the Praetorian invasion stuff, it just stopped holding my interest

Awww! Poor kid! Zaisha would appear as Sabrina San to comfort the boy until he falls asleeep, but... she's still a little detatched from humnity and nad next to no experience of children. So she's far more likley to sit in meditation

Of course, nothing's stopping anyone form asking her to look after him for a while

Bozeman stood by the access hatch next to Pious, watching all the others evacuate the Arachnos flyer. Although it was annoying to admit, the preist had a good point. "Standard patrol craft don't have access to such pinpoint transport devices, no. Maybe personal carriers, but not this. And, if such tech had been rolled out organisation-wide, I woulda heard about it. One thing I can say for sure, is that very few groups I've worked with in the past could get their hands on this stuff"

Taking a step back, he pulled out a submachine gun from a concieled armour compartment. He would probably be needing it before he reached the Isles again. "But make no mistake here, pal. I ain't rescuin' you. Just got pulled up 'cos of bad timing, is all. An' I don't intend to stick arnound an' find out who'se really behind alla this!" He barged past Pious and dived out of the hatch, his packpack opening into a jetpack. "Ain't no cash in it fer me!"

Bozeman grumbled as he pulled himself back to his feet. Why did everyone have to be so heroic all the time? One thing he knew for sure whas thet, if the roles have been reversed, he'd have let the guy in the suit fall.

His HUD flashed up as he did a survey of his suit's systems. Stealth was fried, and he'd dropped his mace, but armour integraty was good, ghostslayer gear stil attached, and at least an hour's worth of fuel in his backpack. Something told him that he would need every once before the day was out just to get back to his barracks

Bozeman grunted once. Pious definatly was a strange one. Even when told the only reason he didn't attak was because it was pointless (and unprofitable), he sill found time to thank Bozeman.

He was about to press the emergency release, when Suraya screamed, and the hold was filled with spectral soldiers. Releasing his mace from it's holding compartment, he managed two swipes at the attacking spectres, cleaving through one before another connected with him. The impact knocked Bozeman back, and the emergency release switch was triggered.

It took him a couple of seconds to figure out exactly what had just happened. One moment he was swinging at an immeterial, but dangerous enemy, and the next he was watching from the outside as the flier streaked off, an open hatch in it's side already starting to close

"Crud"

Bozeman gave a dry chuckle as Pious shook his hand. Obviously he had little idea of what was going on, even though Bozeman himself had only a marginally bigger idea. Breaking tha handshake, he crosed his arms across his chest "Wouldn't go thankin' me too much pal. I was ready to brain ya from behind. Teleport fried the stealth shield. Still, no sence continuing to fight. Bathoy's clearly gone off the deep end, and she ain't payin' me enough to tackle you lot up here"

He moved through the assembled group toward one of the two access doors. "Besides, I'm not even assigned to this fight, officially. Better to dive out than get Mako pissed" His hand moved to the emergency release switch. "I'd advise you lot to hold on to somethin' "

April nodded to Mascha as the door was opened for her. "Hey". She casually strolled into the house and slapped her hand on Pious' back in a friendly way as he let her pass. "Hey Padre"

Walking straight over to a mirror, she looked at herself in the dress and gave it another good tug. 'No chance I'm ever going to get used to this' she thaught to herself, and gave up trying to adjust it

Steel Canyon

A rush of displaced air signalled the arrival of April Winters at the door of Suraya. Gone was her traditional grungy torn leathers, jeans and shades, and in it's place was a low-cut peach dress. Her hair was tied back in a braid, a pair of metal skewers holding the style, and a rose tied into the hair. Looking at the way she constantly fidgeted, it was clear she wasn't confortable wearing the outfit.

Walking up the steps, she knocked loudly on Suraya's door.

****

The Worn Cover

The holographic form belonging to the unit S-AI floated soundlessly through the shop. The latest customer had left the store nearly a half-hour ago, and S-AI tentented itsself by accessing the bookstore's inventory, and cross-referencing with online reviews, summeries, and e-books. It was a perfect time for research into the human mind, given that everything was quiet, even those few Nighthunters who call the building their home

((I'll see about joining you all out there, too. Just might take a little longer than just nightfall 8) ))

The policecar sped through the streets of Steel Canyon, Veroinca concentrating on the road while driving, and April cradling her hand and whimpering in the passenger seat. The journey was quite short, having been mostly limited to one long road, but before they could reach their destination Veronica drew the car to a stop. "I'm sorry, but I need to get out for a second. I can see someone trying to break through a door over there. I'll just scare them off, then be right back"

April nodded, and Veronica stepped out of the car, jogging toward a hunched figure in a nearby doorway.

"Ninites back to full"
[i]'Confirmed'[/u]

She felt the tiny machines get to work, knitting the flesh of her hand back together. It only took a few seconds, and was complete by the time Veroinca got back into the car. The officer looked over at April. "Sorry about that. Are you still ok?"

April nodded. "Perfectly". Her elbow shot up, connecting with Veronica's neck, crushing her windpipe. The other woman's eyes went wide in shock as she grasped at her throat, desperatly trying to draw breath. Reaching over, April grabbed Veronica's head and gave it a violent twist, hearing the vertebrae snap. The officer slumped forward, lifeless.

"Computer. New identity. Officer Veronica Chambers. Utilise visual data and begin operation"
'Confirmed'
Skin cells started to darken, and a thin waxy flim formed on her scalp. Soon she would have the same skin tone and hair colour as the deceased woman. Not a perfect disguise, but enough to pass at a glance

Standing near the front of the crowd, the liche called Karamat kept his cloak wrapped tight around himself. He had heard the words now being said by the Countess Bathory many times before, and they all meant the same thing - an inquisition. Some would have called it a crusade of blood, or perhaps even a war, but he knew better. This was going to be a hunt of those elements of the population that would activly aim to destroy those deemed evil, corrupt, and unholy.

Just like he had been doing for a good many months in his role as cheif librarian to the Countess, Karamat kept his own counsel, and kept silent. Money was meaningless to him, and the only reward for his labours he saught could not be baught with mere coins. His contact list as slim as his dessicated arms, he turned and slinked out of the great chamber as the Countess finished her decree.

**

Blatently paying little interest in the gathering of demons, monsters and freaks, one of the chamber's few non-mystical occupants reclined against the table apon which stood the Blood Journals. With his full armour kit on, none in the room could see where his gaze went, nor could they see the sneer of contempt on his lips as he looked from one occupant to another.

Scum. All of them, nothing more than the dirt of creation, scraped off and given a name. If it were up to him, he would pull an entire legion of soldiers, assasins and mystics down through the building's halls and wipe the lot of them out. It would certainly give him some more elbow room to operate more freely. He grunted as Elizabeth finished delivering her speach.

Scum they may be, but their money was good, and he was going to claim his share. If others wanted in too, that was fine. Wouldn't be the first time someone working with him had an accident on the way to claim the reward...

The woman knelt, out of sight of the two officers that were outside of the clothing store. Obviously, they were there to find out who, or indeed what, had broken the doors of the shop. This one would require some fine acting on her part.

'Observation: Two officers outside, probable two to four inside given the presence of two police vehicles'
"Noted. Chances of killing all six before the alarm is raised?"
'18%'

Not good odds. Have to go with plan B then. Lure one of them away. Pulling her hand out of the coat's pocket, she noted that some of it was still fresh enough to pass for her own wound, but not nearly enough. She would need a far more convincing cut.

'Distraction plan requires additional information to formulate chances of success'
"Simple. I'm gonna cut myself, go over there and request assistance. Keep nanite levels as low as possable"
'Understood. Chances of success at 71%. Will the plan repeat?'
"Nope. Gonna take her clothes" The woman looked toward one of the two officers, a young woman with a curvey figure and long black hair
'We are shedding the April persona. Confirm?'
"Confirm"

With a swift motion, April slammed her hand down on a sharp piece of rock, and felt it tear through her skin, rupture blood vessels, and scrape against bone. She gritted her teeth, cursing the fact that painkillers wern't included in her genetic reconfiguration. Staggaring out from behind her hiding place, she stumbled toward the two officers.

"Help.... help me... Please..."

She deliberatly staggared toward the woman, cradling her hand, from which her blood dribbled. The two officers rushed up to her and the woman reached out, holding April's shoulder. "What happened? Are you alright?"

April held her hand even more tightly. "A man... attacked me. Stabbed my hand.... Oh god it hurts! I need.... a doctor"

The male officer looked to the female and nodded. "It's alright Veronica. Take her to Bell Medical. We should be fine on our own." Veronica nodded back and helped April into the passenger seat of one of the police cars, climbed into the drivers seat herself, and started the engine.

So far so good...

Steel Canyon, Patches

The woman moved swiftly through the streets. She knew her disguise wouldn't hold up too long, and needed to find an alternate source of clothing. With luck, the cash in her pocket would be enough to buy what she needed, but if not, well, there was always the violent way.

Off in the distance, she saw a sign. Icon. Her enhanced eyes cold make out the mannequins outside that were sporting bright, colourful costumes. There were only two things that caused her to stop in her tracks an dobserve the shop. First was the door, hanging off it's hinges. The second was the cordon of local police who were, no doubt, investigating the shop.

'Chance of detection at target location too high. Suggest alternate location
"I know. Maybe, though, this is a greater oppotunity..."

Steel Canyon, Paragon City, Patches

It was quiet outside. Not silent, but quiet. The odd person would walk by, the breif sound of acar would ecco off the buildings...

... and there was a different sound. An althogether more unexpected sound. The was a pop.

'Alert! Recharge station not detected. Sensor diagnostic in progress'
Where before there had been a mostly empty sidewalk, now there was a young woman, laying on her back, dressed in a form-fitting black leather onepiece outfit, a pair of simple boots on her feet, and, oddest of all, a transparent respirator strapped on her face. Slowly she opened her eyes to look straight up at the night sky.
'Diagnostic complete. No malfunctions detected. Current elevation and facing inconsistant with previous readings'
Reaching up, she pulled the repirator down, and took in a lungful of air.
"Hm. Not recycled. Strange..."
Sitting up, she looked around herself, taking in her surroundings. Large, concrete buildings lined both sides of a two-way road, paths on both sides. Thankfully, no people close enough to be a potential witness to her arrival.
"Outside? How did I get here?"
'Insufficient data'
"I see."
'Priority One. Blend into environment'
The woman jumped to her feet and, after another glance at her surroundings, dissappeared into a nearby alley. There was someone down there, someone who could help

***

Ralph Hoggar was having one of his better days. Granted, when you've lost your job, your home, and all your money, good days are relative. He had been out all day, plying the people of Paragon with his sad, unwashed and scraggly-bearded features, and gotten quite a bit of cash fro their generosity. Plenty for a fast food meal and a coffee, the leftovers should at least be enough for breakfast and lunch the following day!
Now he had retired to his alley, and his bundles of clothes and cardboard to sleep and dream of a better tomorrow. But sleep has escaped him the moment a shapley woman had come striding down his alley. Maybe tonight was going to be extra lucky? Company was coming!
She stopped right opposite him, and looked straight down at him. Sha had beutiful eyes. Was she thinking what he was thinking?
"Heey... Spare some ti-" Ralph found himself unable to finish his sentance. The fact his brain was decorating the wall, and a fist was inside his skull probably had something to do with it

***

The woman withdrew her hand and wiped some of the blood off on the man's shirt. Pulling him foward, she swiftly semoved his battered old long coat, and donning it herself. She ran her free hand through her shoulderlength purple hair so it fell on the outside of the coat. Probably less suspicious looking. Most of what the man had left would look ot of place on her, as his waistline was at least twice the size of hers, and there wasn't anything to hand to hold them up with.
Priority Two: Locate information source'
"First things first"
Laying the man down on his side, she gatheres the various clothes and other assorted junk around and ontop of the man. With any luck, anyone glancing this way from the alley enterance would just see the slumped form of a man, and assume he's asleep. At least, it would be long enough before the man's unfortunatle accident was discovered that she would be able to be far enough away from the scene.
Putting both hands in the coat's pockets, she turned on her heel and walked out of the alley, picking a random direction to walk off in. Inside those pockets were a collection of small, metal disks. Casually taking one out and examining it as she walked, she smiled to herself. Local currency.
"Result."

I'm very much in the "meh" category for most of the issue 17 announcement details.

New badges? Well, I stopped hunting them a good while ago...
New missions are cool. Hopefully they will be across the board, as, quite frankly, I've played through nearly all of the low level content available several times, and it's getting kinda dull now.
Don't really care about stances. Every game I've had them offered in, I normally go for the default one as looking the most "normal"
Barely use AE as it is, but additions. there might be nice, depending on what they are.
Curious to see the UI changes. Will decide for myself if they are "improvements" or not.

But. The thing that's got even a remotly strong reaction out of me is this Epic Archetype at 20 thing. Seems to me that it will be one less reason to get a character to 50. If they're being swapped out for this supposed "end game content", then I can see how some people would consider it a fair swap. I don't. I look at that and see hordes of Uncommon Archetypes (as I shall now call them ) swarming everywhere, and few people devoting any real time to getting a character up to 50 except to get mad skillz and uber l33t enhancements to make their mad skillz even more pwn-y.

.. but that's just me

Weatherfront has recently started looking for gainful employment. Although not exactly a monster hunter per se, she is of a semi-magical nature, and loves nothing more than smashing the heads off zombies. She was once quoted as saying: "Zombieworld again? Sweet! I love zombieworld!"

I offer her services to the group. Liz reccomended you, and I believe Weatherfront has had a degree of contact with Pious in the past. (She kept calling him Padre)

*Shunted this over from Technical Issues*

I just recently aquired the veteran buff pet reward for being subscribed for... a long time. However, I have noticed that they have, what some would describe as, a flaw. They attract enemy attacks beyond belief. Now, I don't mean PvP enemy attacks, those are warrented. What I refer to are the PvE Minions/Lutennant/Boss enemies. It would seem that, unless every single enemy you are going up against in any fight is hit at least once, then they will instantly target your buff pet (which has no attack power, and not enough Hp to survive a single hit). This results in a resummon for the next fight.

Now, I'm not suggesting that these pets should be immune to damage, just that they shouldn't be a priority target for NPC's as, with the aggro generation they have at the moment, hardly makes them worth having. I humbly suggest that their threat generation gets turned down.

Thank you

Ta for your comments of seeing/ not seeing what's happening to me. I'll go reslap this in the suggestions box 8)

Ok. Can't find a specific non-issue related feedback sections, so I'm putting this here. If anyone knows of a better place to post this, please say.

I just recently aquired the veteran buff pet reward for being subscribed for... a long time. However, I have noticed that they have, what some would describe as, a flaw. They attract enemy attacks beyond belief. Now, I don't mean PvP enemy attacks, those are warrented. What I refer to are the PvE Minions/Lutennant/Boss enemies. It would seem that, unless every single enemy you are going up against in any fight is hit at least once, then they will instantly target your buff pet (which has no attack power, and not enough Hp to survive a single hit). This results in a resummon for the next fight.

Now, I'm not suggesting that these pets should be immune to damage, just that they shouldn't be a priority target for NPC's as, with the aggro generation they have at the moment, hardly makes them worth having. I humbly suggest that their threat generation gets turned down.

Thank you

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when it gets to "checking updater"

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The actual updater itself gets updated with this update, so check that the new version of the updater is being allowed through your firewall.

Sheesh... Could that GET any more confusing?

If that's not the case, delete your checksum file in the CoH game folder.

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It appears to be working now! Cheers FFM! Have a gratitude cookie 8D

Now, all I need to do is wait for nearly two hours for the 3.5 meg download...

when it gets to "checking updater"

Updater still refuses to work for me 8(

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Might as well go and watch Dune...

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There's no need to get suicidal.

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But I am Optimism Man! Getting suicidal just isn't in my nature! However, I do got bored very easy and need constant entertainment or I miiiiii........ Ooh, wassat?

Might as well go and watch Dune...