High Beam

Greetings! Most of the new badges in Issue 11 are awarded for re-doing Story Arcs and applying certain restrictions (aka challenges) to your selection prior to engaging the missions. Also note that these missions will autoexemplar/automalefactor you to the top level spectrum of the Arc. Also you are in what equates to being in Task/Strike Force mode which means you cant add additional team mates after starting.

For a full walkthrough of the Flashback functions, I highly recommend Infamous Brad’s "Welcome to Ouroboros" guide.

First are the “one-time” badges. These are the badges that do NOT require you to do at each level tier. Meaning if you do them once, at any level tier, you don’t have to do it again.
The First Group are the ones that set a time limit required to complete the Arc (Time Limit Challenge Setting). These are:

Gold Medalist – Completing an Entire Arc in 30 Minutes or less
Silver Medalist – Completing an Entire Arc in 60 Minutes or less
Bronze Medalist – Completing an Entire Arc in 120 Minutes or less

Next are the ones for total defeats (Limited Lives Challenge Setting). Now weather you are solo or in a team this setting determines the number of total defeats you (or the team) can take before you fail the challenge setting and get no badge. They are:

All For One, One for All – Zero Defeats
Divided Mastery – 1 Defeat
Proportional Supremacy – 3 Defeats
Shared Victory – 5 Defeats

So ends the One Time Groupings. Now are the ones that are grouped by level ranges. You can get a badge for each of the Challenge Settings in each level range, this means a lot of badges.

The Power Limits section allows you to set one of the following limits per Arc. You cannot set multiple power limits from this group per Arc. These limits and their badges are:

No Travel Powers
Refrained 1-14
Shut Down 15-19
Desisted 20-24
Barred 25-29
Still 30-24
Stalled 35-39
Stemmed 40-44
Suspended 45-50

No Ancillary/Patron Powers
Cut-Off 40-44
Marginalized 45-50

Only AT Powers
Contributor 1-14
Vocational 15-19
Professional 20-24
All Business 25-29
Archetypical 30-34
Obligated 35-39
Missionary 40-44
Undertaker 45-50

No Temporary Powers
Diminished 1-14
Curtailed 15-19
Capped 20-24
Inhibited 25-29
Hindered 20-24
Bound 35-39
Limited 40-44
Demarcated 45-50

The final section is additional Challenge Settings, all or none of which can be selected at the same time (unlike the other three sections). They are:

Players Are Under Constant Debuff
Venturous 1-14
Headstrong 15-19
Adventurous 20-24
Daredevil 25-29
Rash 30-34
Venturesome 35-39
Reckless 40-44
Temerarious 45-50

Enemies in Mission Are Buffed
Audacious 1-14
Courageous 15-19
Bold 20-24
Valorious 25-29
Valiant 30-34
Stalwart 35-39
Lionhearted 40-44
Intrepid 45-50

Enhancements Have No Effect
Lessened 1-14
Debilitated 25-19
Anemic 20-24
Weakened 25-29
Deflated 30-34
Decreased 35-39
Devalued 40-44
Unenhanced 45-50

Inspirations Cannot Be Used
Cliché 1-14
Unimaginative 15-19
Flat 20-24
Unoriginal 25-29
Dull 30-34
Phoned It In 35-39
Indifferent 40-44
Uninspired 45-50

Finally there are badges awarded for completing a set number of Ouroboros Issues Story Arcs (No matter how you do them, Challenge settings or not). They are:

Troubleshooter – Complete 5 Flashback Missions
Adjuster – Complete 10 Flashback Missions
Calibrator – Complete 15 Flashback Missions
Alterist – Complete 20 Flashback Missions
Balancer – Complete 25 Flashback Missions
Correctionist – Complete 30 Flashback Missions
Repairman/Repairwoman – Complete 35 Flashback Missions
Overhauler – Complete 40 Flashback Missions
Time Fixer – Complete 45 Flashback Missions
Ouroboros Mender – Complete 50 Flashback Missions

A couple of notes before you go further!

First is that this is for solo work, if you are teamed a lot of this is moot. EB’s are not a real issue with a small team. Missions go faster with a team. Team buffing offsets some of the challenge setting hits. The only downside is that currently there is a bug where only the team mission holder gets the credit towards the “Complete X Flashbacks” badges. The other challenge setting badges do award to all team members. The devs say the fix is already on internal testing.

Second it is not trying to do as many challenges as possible to lessen the number of repetitions you have to do. After all since you are wanting all of the badges, the number of repetitions gets you the “Complete X Flashbacks” badges as well. REMEMBER, the missions that award Accomplishment badges, which are usually only one mission long, do not award any challenge setting badges, only the “Complete X Flashback” progress. If you want those quick, just cycle the shorties.

Thirdly, in the information below I will repeatedly show is my aversion to arcs with EB’s in them. For the most part, yes, many EB’s can be solo’d by most AT’s (Except maybe Defenders) with the use of purple defense Inspirations. However the challenge setting where you don’t have them means you cannot secure that set. Also it is near impossible when the No Enhancements, Player Under Constant Debuff and Foes Buffed settings are selected as well. Most of the time, the EB fight is the last mission of the arc, so it can get frustrating running an arc almost all the way through then get stalled. Since you are operating in a “Task Force” mode, you cannot drop missions. Additionally if you FAIL a final mission, you technically don’t get the souvenier and therefore the Orborus system will not credit you with success. This applies to the Benjamin Deckar Arc and if you did the 45-50 Malta Arc. I tested this with a Blaster who is heavily slotted with IO’s and Set IO’s.

Yes you can mix and match arcs, that is purely your call, but when you repeat the same Arcs, you will know generally what to expect and what tricks to use (when you can bypass, best places to hunt). Do this if you want.

I will almost always suggest four (4) repetitions. The first Pass should be with “No Inspirations” and “No Travel Powers”. You will need the inspirations later and you might as well get the painful slow zone movement out of the way early. Pass 2 should set “AT Only” and “No Enhancements”. Again you will lose a lot but you got your Inspirations back. Pass 3 should be “Player Under Constant Debuff” and “No Temp Powers”. Face it, with the debuff applied to you, you are not going to hit anything with any regularity with unslotted temp powers. Finally the fourth and last pass should have “Foes Are Buffed” set. You have all of your tools available to you. If you are doing a 40-44 or a 45-50 Arc, also select “No Epic/Patron

Finally let’s talk mission strategy.

First off you have to know your limits and know the AT of your toon you are going to do these in. You have to know certain benchmark levels for your characters. When did you get your travel power? When did you get your Mez Protection (if you have any)? When do you get your BEST damaging power? When did you get your Major team support power? You will autoexemplar/Malefactor to the highest level allowed for that arc. That range is told to you when you select the Flashback Mission, so by knowing what you do and do not have, all the better.

Next is Know Your Missions. I cannot stress the value of Red Tomax’s Web Site to get an idea of the Story Arcs, especially how many missions are in them. This knowledge will help you avoid certain pitfalls that will prevent you from getting a badge. Forgot there was an AV? Didn’t realize that the Arc would take so long? Forgot that the Arc dragged you to six different zones? See?

For Villains Bookmark:

http://cov.redtomax.com/

For Heroes Bookmark:

http://coh.redtomax.com/

Make them your best friends for planning.

Finally, Set to Heroic/Villainous. Yes I know you may be used to running them at the highest difficulty, but some of the challenge settings can be brutal, even to really great builds. The player debuff is brutal for hitting and you getting hit, I was getting a 50 percent or greater whiff rate against a lot of foes. If you chose the Only AT powers, you lose a lot of your comfort tools, like Stamina and Hasten or Leadership or Aid Self. And then there is the No Enhancements setting, which is by far the hardest (IMO).

With those core rules set, here's the drill. You can maximize your badge earning by selecting multiple challenge settings. Knowing which and when is a key. Don’t take a 30 minute time limit and also no Travel Powers. Don’t do long arcs with no travel powers. Definitely do not take Enemies Buffed or Players debuffed in missions with AV’s or EB’s or generally less-resisted damage types (fire, cold, energy, negative, toxic), especially against the Circle of Thorns, the Rikti, Longbow or Arachnos. Never take Enemies buffed and Players Debuffed at the same time and never take either with the no inspirations option selected.

In fact let me walk you through what High Beam did to get all of the level 1-14 range badges, all of the Time Limit Badges, all of the Defeat Limit badges and all of the Power Limit Badges.

First off I stuck with the same mission and repeated it X times. David Wincott, in the Hollows. The mission itself is only three missions long (Red Tomax says 4 but its three). One of those was a street hunt and since I was autoexemped at 14, I blew those 10 kills away quick. I had my Flight at 14 so I didn’t lose it. Here was the first run.

Run 1 - Challenges Set: 30 Minutes, Zero Defeats. The fact of the matter was, if I got defeated I would be sent out of zone and I would lose precious time humping it back from Atlas into the zone and back to the door, so since I couldn’t afford to be defeated I added that challenge. Completed it in 21 minutes. Earned – Gold Medalist, All For One One For all.

Run 2 – Challenges Set: 60 Minutes, 1 Defeat, No Travel, Foes Buffed. With the foes buffed I did not want to lose any of my neat toys (Nemesis Staff, Sands of Mu). I didn’t die but I came close a couple of times. Completed in 39 minutes. Earned – Silver Medalist, Divided Mastery, Refrained, Audacious.

Run 3 – Challenges Set: 120 Minutes, 3 Defeats, No Temp, Player Debuffed. With the debuff applied to me, previous tests had shown that I was missing a ton with the temp powers because they cant be slotted with enhancements. Completed in 53 minutes. Earned – Bronze Medalist, Venturous, Diminished and Proportional Victory.

Run 4 – Challenges Set: AT Only, 5 Defeats, No Inspirations. I went with AT only here because in reality, I didn’t have that many combat necessary powers anyways at level 14. The only Pool power I had that helped me in a fight was Hasten. Swift, Hover and Fly were not really needed anyways once in mission and again, I used temp powers to get there. Completed in 58 minutes, but I was afk for like 5 minutes. Earned – Cliché, Contributor and Shared Victory.

Run 5 – Challenges Set: No Enhancements. Actually tougher than most of the other runs because it was like being debuffed and the enemies being buffed. I chewed through a lot of inspirations . . . a LOT, especially yellows and reds. Completed in 75 minutes, but it was only because I had to restock inspirations a lot. Earned – Lessened.

Now there you go. All of the one time badges and all of the 1-14 range badges are cleared. From this point forward, you don’t have to worry about the one timers which allows you to stack more challenges in fewer missions.

Personal suggestions once past this frame.

1. Never Set Foe Buff and Player Debuff in same mission.
2. Never Set No Enhancements with No Inspirations in same mission.
3. No Temporary Powers is the Easiest set to collect.
4. Do the 30 minutes badge on short Arcs, which means low levels.

From this point forward your strategy is about getting the badges at the various levels. Yet you can take your time and not sweat dying because you got them out of the way. Using this system you will get all of the badges for each of the level tiers is a fairly reasonable timeframe (solo).

15-19 – I Lost My Daddy – It is a total of 5 missions but one is a “Talk to” and one is a “Defeat X” mission. So in reality only 3 that involve fighting. The street hunt allows you to pop foes several levels below your exemped level, making it go faster. All of the missions are in the same zone, but there will be times when you have to be wary of travelling without travel powers as there are sections where your outdoor foes are above your level.

Why Not:

2. The Mind of a King – 5 Missions (2 Defeat X). If you don’t like Faultline, this is your second choice. No real threats, its just running around.
3. The Tsoo Shenanigans – 8 Missions (3 Delivery, 1 Defeat X). The problem is the mezzers, the healing Sorcerers and the Ancient Spirits. And the fact that you are jogging all over Skyway.
4. Rumblings of the Past – Yes it only has three missions but #’s 2 and 3 both have EB’s in them. Both with Psi damage. You have allies against the one in mission 2 (Kurse) but not against the one in mission 3 (Nocturne).
5. The Vahzilok Plague – 5 Missions (1 Defeat X, 1 Delivery). It’s not that there is an EB at the end because you can succeed without actually fighting Doctor V. The issue is the Vahzilok Wasting Disease, especially when coupled with several of the challenge settings. Plus the Toxic damage is lethal enough when you have all of your tools.

20-24 – The Sky Raider Secret – Yes, you heard me. Granted you are looking at a lot of long runs to your contact who is in Independence Port, but essentially it IS your best bet. Five (5) missions with one being a “Talk To”. The foes are low risk, quick kills with no mezzers or healers and don’t deal exotic damage.

Why Not:

2. A Hand of Iron – 8 Missions (1 Patrol, 1 Defeat X, 3 Delivery). Not too bad except their rezzing and the Freakshow Stunners. However when the buff or debuff options are selected they can devastate you.
3. The Wheel of Destruction – 7 Missions (2 Deliveries, 1 Patrol). Again many mezzers and freaky debuffs.
4. The Tsoo Coup – 9 Missions (2 Defeat X and 1 Delivery). Mezzers, healers, stunners and in general a lot of missions.
5. The Buried Past – 5 Missions (2 Talk To). You face two (2) EB’s in this Arc. What more is there to say.
6. Ring of Peebles – 8 Missions (1 Defeat X and one Delivery). The Arc culminates in an EB.
7. Hear and Now – 8 Missions (4 Defeat X). The Arc culminates in an EB.
8. A Faultline in the Sands of Time – 10 Missions (and they are all Defeat All). Three EB’s faced individually and later as a trio (though they will generally kill each other off).

25-29 – A Madman’s Council – Here’s why, first off, the level you are exemplared at allows you to roam Striga fairly safely so that you aren’t getting pounded when you have no travel powers. Second; Of the 7 missions, one is a “Talk To” and 2 are “Defeat X” missions (so really only 4 missions). Plus in the end you unlock Ernesto Hess Task Force and you don’t have to fight EB’s or enormous amounts of Vampyri.

Why Not:

2. Return to Vampyr Mountain – 8 Missions (2 Defeat X, 1 Delivery). First off there will be Vampyres and you have some BP to fight as well with their Shaman which for some reason spawn at +2 set on Heroic. It is a close second to the recommended.
3. Piercing the Veil – 9 Missions (2 Defeat X, 2 Delivery). Yes less missions, but unlike Striga you are running around at or near the zone lower end. You’re are gonna get hit. And the Tuatha are nasty melee damage punks with Champions spawning +2 to you and having a heal and a hard hitting ranged attack.
4. The Mysterious General Z – 8 Missions. They are all fighting, no deliveries and no street hunts. The foes are plain though.
5. Ubelmann the Unknown – 8 Missions. Another one that is all missions. Yes the foes are not as much of a pain.
6. The Scroll of Tielekku – 9 Missions (2 Deliveries). But in addition to facing the BP, you also have to face CoT in one mission. And in general you have to hump it through Dark Astoria at least twice. A lot of pain here.
7. The Freaklympics – 8 Missions. All missions. Freakshow Stunners and the large melee damage and rezzing will cause you some strife.
8. An Unnatural Order – 8 Missions. Yet again, nothing but missions. This time you are looking at mezzers and several types of debuffs. I simply ask you this. A Granite puts out his little Cairn, coupled with the challenge setting of Foes are Buffed, or Player is Debuffed. Will you deal damage? This is poison! Second Worst Arc to attempt badging with.
9. War of the Fir Bolg – 7 Missions (2 Defeat X, 1 Delivery). The problem with this is the last mission which if you fail gives you no badges. This is the Stop 30 Fir Bolg from passing through the portal mission and it’s a pain to prevent them solo, even with every tool in your inventory. This is the worst one to attempt badging with. You will FAIL!

30-34 – Rise of the Vampyri. This Arc has a total of 9 missions but three of them are “Defeat X”. You are above the level of the zones you are travelling through plus your foes, less the vamps themselves aren’t too hard. Watch the last mission, the Vamps, even though Lieutenants have a fairly reliable (like 90%) chance of spawning into a Boss classed Warwolf that will be either +2 or +3 to you on Heroic setting.

Why Not:

2. The Freakshow War – 8 Missions. All missions. Pretty much what I mentioned regarding the Freakshow Arc in the 25-29 range applies here as well.
3. Hatred’s Hungry Heart – 6 Missions (3 Defeat X). Yes this may be an option but you do face Tuatha and Red Caps.
4. Crossing Over – 7 Missions (1 Defeat X, 1 Delivery). Not unreasonable because now you are exemped at the high end of the zones level range. The Henge protect final mission is what keeps it from being a serious contender because you are pretty likely to fail.
5. Corporate Culture – 8 Missions. They are all missions, but straight up, Crey Tanks, especially the Voltaic Tanks will rip your tail open on most of your challenge settings. When you are debuffed most of the Tank models and the Protectors are just horrid.
6. The Unity Plague – 14 Missions (8 Deliveries). So it’s really 6 missions. Again through I stand on facing the DE with the amount of debuffing they do and that you will incur with Challenge settings.
7. The Library of Souls – 12 Missions (4 Deliveries). Do you like Circle of Thorns? Do you like humping it through caves maps, and not the tolerable ones, but the Oranbegan ones? This is the poisoned one of this range.

35-39 – Mass Duplicity – With this Arc you are fighting just Nemesis, no EB’s and they don’t have mez in their arsenal. Eight (8) missions and all are missions. Yes other arcs are shorter with regards to missions, but there are mezzers in their mix.

Why Not:

2. Revenant Hero Project – 10 Missions (5 Delivery, 1 Defeat X). So in effect, 4 missions. And that’s why it is number 2 but the fact is the Crey Tanks and the Paragon Protectors will cause you a lot of grief. You could pull it.
3. A Path Into Darkness – 11 Missions (2 Delivery). I tried this one, what a freaking pain. Long is the problem and the +2/+3 Wolf Boss spawn from Lieutenant’s is here as well.
4. The Organ Grinders – 12 Missions (3 Delivery, 2 Defeat X). So in effect, 7 missions. Your foes are Rikti and they have mezzers, and they have stunners and they have those freaking drones with their insane defense. Imaging combating that debuffed, or with no yellows, or accuracy enhancements.
5. The Terra Conspiracy – 10 Missions (1 Delivery, 1 Defeat). In addition to my previously stated warnings about DE, there is a pretty tough EB at the end that most cannot solo even when having all their tools.
6. The Envoy of Shadow – 8 Missions. Again the CoT are poisonous for badging. All missions, and there is an EB in three missions. Yes you can avoid him in two but the final mission you have to take him out and he can rarely be solo’d with every tool in you arsenal.

40-44 – Division: Line – To be blunt it is the only one of two arcs in this range that don’t have EB’s in them. Yes it is long, and I would save this for last otherwise you will burn out, but it’s better than the alternatives. There are 13 missions, however 4 of the missions you can blast through by just clicking glowies and killing the mobs around them.

Why Not:

2. On The Run – 17 Missions (2 Defeat X, 4 Delivery). So you are looking at 10 missions, against the Crey and my previously mentioned warnings about Tanks. Plus there is an EB at the end (Countess Crey) who is extremely hard to solo due to her damage type (Psi).
3. Melvin and the Mysterious Malta Group – 20 Missions (7 Deliveries), so really 13 missions. But let’s be blunt . . . its Malta. MEZ CENTRAL! You will not be one-shotting Sappers and you will die, a lot! And even though there is no EB here, I would take an EB arc over this one.
4. To Save a Soul – 17 Missions (2 Defeat X, 7 Delivery). So with 8 Missions it doesn’t sound so bad. But in the final mission you are facing the Madame of Mystery EB and anyone who has done this knows it is damn near impossible to solo, no matter what your build.
5. The Eternal Nemesis – 16 Missions (1 Defeat X). OMG! Stay away. You have two (2) EB’s to fight. One is Nemesis at the end, but he is an ameature compared to running into Nosfuratu mid way through. He will destroy you.
6. The Praetorian War – 13 Missions. All missions and the following EB’s to face: Anti-Matter (Twice), Shadowhunter, Bobcat, Neuron.

45-50 – The Strange Case of Benjamin A. Decker – First off, the mission is short, only 4 missions long. Second of those four missions, one is simply a “Talk To” mission. Additionally, mission 2, “Rescue B’Nadek” has an interesting trick that allows you to avoid a lot of fighting. Normally, after a few minutes in mission, you will see the “escort” pip pop up on your nav map because the spawn guarding our boy got popped. 9 times out of 10 its right near the base. Plus the final mission is one that tells you NOT to fight, but rather gather information. The four glowies are almost always one in the square room with the orange walls, one in the 3 cone room and 2 in the largest room with the three catwalks. I have successfully rolled past the Rikti in there, clicked my glowies and rolled out. The only major issue is that every time the mission door is damn close to a Rikti Pylon and those things can whack you. Pop some purples when you have no travel powers challenges set. This leaves only the first mission where you actually have to fight.

Why Not:

2. Welcome to the Vanguard – 12 Missions (1 Defeat X, 6 Talks). Slow compared to the recommended. But an option.
3. Dreams of Peace and Acts of War – 9 Missions (2 Talk). You are facing a Rikti EB at the end.
4. The Horror of War – Can’t Remember the number of missions but my memories tell me there was an EB in there.
5. Ouroboros Initiation – Can’t remember the number of missions, though there aren’t that many. The problem is that the final mission has a Shivan EB
6. The Red and the Black – 6 Missions but all missions. Plus you face 2 EB’s. and both Vanguard and Longbow are brutal with their powers and you having challenge settings applied to you.
7. To Save A Thousand Worlds – 23 Missions (7 Talk To). Well other than being horribly long, you have to face an EB at the end and during that run you have wolves to deal with.
8. Upon the Psychic Plane – 20 Missions (2 Defeat X, 4 Delivery). But lets get to the real rat killing, and EB Carnie at the end that you are not going to be able to solo with challenge settings.
9. Project World Wide Red – 16 Missions (1 Delivery). Again the killer is that they are Malta. But to top it off the final mission has the Kronos Titan, which will spawn as a GM and you will not solo and if you fail the final mission you get no badges. It is timed so you will very likely fail.
10. A Heroes Hero – I am not even going to explain. Every Praetorian as an EB should be enough. If you take this, you really shouldn’t have been reading this.

I hope this guide helps you all out and please feel free to comment. Every bit of information helps us all.

I have to say, petless Masterminds needs to be on this list.

I think the RWZ isnt supposed to work because the level range now spans 35-50 vice what it did when it was the RCS.

More to add to the list of no art having badges.

I am excited that Closed Beta has started because the results we have seen over the last two issues (less bugs, big oopses caught, general good reception) were excellent and I hope that whoever got into beta keeps that same focus in mind.

Now where is my beta invite !

Okay I am excited! Flashback is the best news EVAR. Weapon Customization, excellent! New powers, groovy. More loot, meh, dont care. But overall this is excellent and I am stoked to see it in action!

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It mentions the Lost. The Lost only exist because they are created by Rikti stranded on Primal Earth after the first war.

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The Rikti didn't create homeless people. The mutated Lost are obviously Rikti-influenced, but the rag-tag sewer dwellers aren't mutated yet.


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they didn't create homeless people but they are responsible for the Lost. They aren't just mutating themselves down there.

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Do what Guilianni dod, secretly have all of the Homeless murdered.

The Circle of Thorns, though a villain group, have a semi uneasy truce with the Heroes. They were prime movers in taking the rikti down the first time. Really there are only three factions with an open knowledge and use of time travel. Arachnos, Nemesis and the 5th Council. The Arachnos missions are very publicly clear on that. In the "Ubelmann the Unknown" Arc, you prevent them from completing construction of a time travel device. As for Nemesis, his technology is mighty so I have no doubt he could do it.

Well normally I like the villain backgrounders but this one kind of left me flat. The Top Secret section was awefully weak and unlike so many other well crafted backgrounders does not give us any additional insight into the group. Take for example the Top Secret section of the Sky Raiders Backgrounder . Now there we got some good info.

Yes, whiners. For an event that was advertised as for a limited time only (the large multi zone versions) that would then only light off in one zone when someone completed the LGTF, these Red Alerts were a minor annoyance at best. Now, as green alerts that will only occasionally ever be seen because of the end of mass zone invasions, people will miss them and wonder, what happened to the zone event.

It was foolish catering to short sighted individuals.

See, everybody whined and cried about the red alerts being annoying, now the new alerts are damn near invisible. Personally I didnt mind the old alerts and wish they back the way they used to be.

Whiners once again win . . . a sad trend indeed.

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How about varying the cost, depending on what server traveling to and from? Something like:

* classify each server as over-populated (OP), well-populated (WP), and under-populated (UP)
* OP -> OP: $9.99
* OP -> WP: $7.99
* OP -> UP: $1.99
* WP -> OP: $9.99
* WP -> WP: $5.99
* WP -> UP: $2.99
* UP -> OP: $9.99
* UP -> WP: $6.99
* UP -> UP: $4.99

A dynamic list of each server and its population category would be available at transfer time (and via the net). "Population" would be based on logged-in character hours per week, not simply how many characters exist on a given server. Actual cost would be displayed prior to the transfer request.

The goal, of course, is to use cost to help drive all servers to a well-populated state.

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I think that is a great idea.

Freedom has been my home for 3 years and will remain so because all of my friends are there and none intend to leave. However I have alt toons on other accounts and it worries me that I might not be able to free up a toon on freedom tand move one from another server to replace it. However I will wait and see when it actually gets active.

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At this point, you may as well just remove the heavies entirely. You can't use them for pillbox captures, you can't use them to help knock over the signature characters, and players generally ignore them when PvPing. What good are they now?

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Please, dont exagerate. I went into RV yesterday with my Blaster and using the same one heavy took out two pillboxes. And most if not all Blasters will atest to the fact that pillboxes will pummel a Blaster solo.

I enjoyed the invasions as well but the fact that the mass invasions are over leading to only TF/SF triggered means that there will still be a means to get some of the badges. It is like savoring the flavor.

I loved that band in Serial Mom . . . which was played by L7.

Silver, I love the theories you have regarding the 5th. The only part I am hoping for is that the 5th will not involve the Nictus, that they will have realized that they were part of their problem. I dont recall Reichsman having been infected with the Nictus in the story canon (I know the other famous 5th leaders were Vandal, Requium) but I would rather see their purge be a true purge of the old including the Nictus.

It looked, felt and sounded like a fan made video. But press is press.

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War...war never changes...

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Brought to you by the Robco Pipboy.

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No pvp?

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lol PvP

Holy Rikti Crap Monkies!

I will be using this opportunity to get my MM to a level higher than 45.

Commence Crazy Rant:

What if the 5th Column returns and they are good guys because of the hate for Nictus. I for one cheer their return and hope that they expunge Earth of the Nictus in all of their forms including the foul taint of the Kheldins!

Secure From Crazy. Restow all gear.

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numbers such as this: http://borkweb.com/story/007-of-the-...ld-of-warcraft

This: http://www.shadowsinmotion.com/news-...tion-revealed/

or this: http://www.mmogchart.com/





Then again, you may have meant comparitive anaylsis with sites such as this: http://www.mmorpg.com/index.cfm?fp=1024,768,993829437,20060129112952&bhcp=1


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You threw some stats up there to support your case. SO lets just work with those.

The mmorpg.com page. well when you click on the player posts on both CoH (1348 of them) and CoV (405) of them, they dont seem to wash for you. I read through 200 villain posts and found about 15 that even mentioned PvP while the majority mentioned fun, and character creations and costumes and power variety and ease of play. The same demographic trend broke out for the CoH posts. No hue and cry for PvP, not even a wimper of complaint about the existing system.

Now lets take the MMOGCHART: Good numbers. CoX experienced their startup spike, another in around the April May timeframe of 2005, and another on release of CoV. Each time it leveled back down, including the current trend to return back to the point before the release of CoV. So in essence the statistics you pointed out to support your case do not show that the CoX playerbase has an interest in PvP. Those stats do point out that some games that have PvP have large subsciber bases. It seems especially interesting that since CoX is the only superhero game in town (currently) that there would be this lack of upward trending if PvP was so important.

We shall see if this bears out when MUO comes online. Many CoX players PVE and PvP alike will roll over to see what its about. Some will stay some will come back. If they have PvP and it is "better" than in CoX and their subscribers blow through the roof, your point will have been made. If not, it will cement what the majority of the players of CoX, not the game magazines or the PvP minority say . . . CoX is PvE.

Peace and axle grease.

No.

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Wow, DDO got hammered.

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Cause DDO isnt that good. I beta'd it. I went live with it. I tried to like it . . . it didnt work out.