Ishtar

I love this idea - I have been wondering what server to roll my sonic/arch defender on - I guess I just found out!

Ill join your globla channel tonight

Thanks for the GREAT contribution, Space_Goat! Awesome addition

Solo controller project complete! Guide here:

A guide for solo controllers

A guide for soloing controllers

Part 1: The basics

There is a basic mindset that a soloing controller must attain. Many who play controllers focus strongly upon control and defense. This is only a prt of the equation for a soloing controller. If you wish to go it alone, you must not only be able to control the battlefield around you but you must be able to effectively and efficiently arrest the villains you are fighting against. In order to accomplish this, you must have the ability to deal out sufficient damage to arrest vilains in a timely fashoin. There are a few choices:

Power Pools

Air Superiority – this is a primary melee attack. It is far and away my personal favorite for damaging villains while solo. Combined with perm hasten, you will be able to keep one foe off of his feet for the duration provided you do not miss an attack. It also has the advantage of being a short animation, short recharge attack.

Boxing – this is another excellent attack. It is very fast animation and recharge combined with reasonable damage. It also has a low chance to disorient for a short duration.

Kick – very similar to boxing in terms of damage, animation and recharge, but it has a chance to knock back your foe.

Jump Kick – this power has similar properties to Air Superiority, but it has a longer animation time for the same damage, and it does knock back rather than knock down. It is still a good power.

Flurry – This is a good damage, very enduranceefficient attack. It cycles nearly in it's own animation time with perma hasten running.

These are the tools that you will use to add damage to your controller for soloing purposes. Some primaries – illusion most notably – have attack powers built in. They are generally useful, and viable, but they can be endurance inefficient.

Part 2 - The levels:

levels 1-8

These levels are critical. They are far and away the easiest of all of them to solo, but you are also laying the foundation for your controller to be able to solo until they receive their pet summon later in the game. You should carefully think ahead and know what powers you will select for at least the first 22 levels. Before you even make your character.

levels 9-11
These levels start to feel a touch “grindy” as the mob difficulty ramps up in anticipation of dual origin enhancers. Fortunately they are not terribly tough as by now you should have your attacks chosen and at least partly slotted.

levels 12-14
Dual origin enhancers make these levesl breeze by. Stick to small groups of even to +1 foes and you should move through quickly, exspecially when doing missions.

levels 15-18
These levels are tough. As you pick up more powers and proceed through the first “yellow enhancer” stage with your controller.

levels 19-22
I call this the “pre-SO stretch”. You are annoyingly close tyo having several of your powers really start to shine from single origin enhancement, but you are not quite there yet. Stick to missions, work on strategies that work for you and dont give up. This is the first truly trying time during a soloing controller's career.

levels 23-28
I refer to this section of levels as the “pre pet golden age”. You have SO enhancers, you are moving through mobs at a relatively good clip. Things should proceed smoothly for a soloing controller during these levels. If you are playing exclusively solo, do not forget to move your difficulty up to the rugged setting when you reach level 26. This will prevent you running out of contact missions before reaching level 30.

levels 29-31
things become a real grind especially level 31. Controller damage scaling flattens out almost completely starting around level 19. Do not expect to do higher damage with your attacks after you train level 29 even when you update your enhancers. The only thing that will increase your damage is buffs and additional damage enhancers. For example: Air Superiority continued to do about 50 damage from level 27 through level 34.

levels 32-39
Ahh pets.. finnally you are able to solo efficiently. Some powersets see their final bloom in this level range as well. Level 39 is about the height of a controllers power relative to the foes they face. Mob difficulty ramps up sharply all the way through the 40's.

levels 40-50
A soloing controller during these levels will contiunally be forced to seek assistance more and more due to the preponderance of arch villains and huge numbers of mezzing mobs. Even with the psionic power pool, do not expect any of these levels to be a breeze.

Part 3 - powers:

power pool overview

Concealment
this is a good power pool to use for fast experience. Post level 25 or so, when you have your holds heavily slotted you can set your mission difficulty to the rugged setting for +1 and +2 mobs which will only slightly slow you down but nearly double the experience per mission. This will eliminate a VERY trying time I had from level 29 when I ran out of missions. Stealthing missions is fast, easy and reaps great rewards. Phase shift is also useful as a panic button. I highly recommend this power pool especially after stamina is in your build.

Fighting
This pool has two good fast cycling attacks. This pool is an excellent choice pre-level 22. Post perma hasten I recommend that you drop this pool for concealment.

Fitness
Mandatory – 'Nuff Said.

Flight
This pool contains what is in my opinion the very best power pool attack for a soloing controller – Air Superiority. Good damage, fast animation and some added control in the form of a highly reliable knockdown. This pool also gives you access to Fly which is nice for vertical movement. Not mandatory as such, but very highly recommended.

Leadership
Good buffs from this pool, if you have the power pool pick free (and you probably won't) I would recommend this as the first “optional” pool. Maneuvers and tactics are both highly worthwhile and 6 slotters if you can work them into your build.

Leaping
Not a lot to recommend this pool for a soloer. Acrobatics is nice I'm sure with it's KD resistance, and superleap is a fine power for getting around, but jump kick is not better than AS for fighting. This is a viable replacement for the flight pool, but is a style sacrifice. Flight pool is superior in my opinion.

Medicine
This pool would be useful if you have the power pool pick free (and you almost certainly won't) especially for sets that lack a self heal (storm and force fields).

Presence
This pool could add some really nice added control to a control weak set such as gravity. Unfortunately there are too many other pools that will take precedence. It is highly unlikely that this pool can be fit in without some serious sacrifice to the viability of your soloing build.

Speed
Mandatory. 6 slotted hasten is needed for many of your soloing efforts. Perma hasten makes air superiority really shine, it makes your pets come up faster, it makes your “primary buff” more available.

Teleportation
It would be nice to be able to drag your pets around through elevators. This could be a reasonably late game replacement to the flight pool if you can handle using it (I can't) to get around. This pool can replace flight post 32. Not before in my opinion.

Part 4 - the template

I have generated a “generic template” that allows you to perform a fill in the blank style of build planning for a solo controller.


level 1: primary power pool control/first power from secondary set

level 2: single target hold

level 4: primary buff

level 6: first melee attack

level 8: second melee attack

level 10: hasten

level 12: hurdle or swift

level 14: superspeed

level 16: primary buff or health

level 18: AOE hold or health

level 20: stamina

level 22: secondary control or secondary buff or AOE hold

level 24: secondary buff or secondary control or optional power pool pick

level 26: buff or pet support or AOE hold

level 28: grant invisibility

level 30: phase shift

level 32: pet power

As you can see there is not a lot of wiggle room for just about any powerset combonation. You will be locked in to what you need in order to solo effectively pretty much all the way to 32. This is why it is important to plan ahead and know exactly what you are going to use. picking up your single target hold by level 4 is critical, better if you can get it at level 2, and if available, your primary buff at level 4 is a real advantage. Power pool melee attacks at levels 6 and 8 are also critical as they need to be well slotted to be effective and as such must be taken early.

Some definitions of important powers by secondary powerset:

Empathy
Healing Aura
Recovery Aura (Primary Buff)
Regeneration Aura
Fortitude (post pet only)
Adrenaline Boost (post pet only)

Force Fields
Dispersion Bubble (Primary Buff)
Detention Bubble
Force Bolt
Deflection Shield (post pet only)
Insulation Shield (post pet only)

Kinetics
Siphon Power
Transference
Fulcrum Shift (Primary Buff)
Transfusion
Speed Boost (post pets only)

Radiation Emission
Radiant Aura
Accelerate Metabolism (Primary Buff)
Radiation Infection
Envenerating Field (post stamina only)
Lingering Radiation (if you need tertiary control only)

Storm Summoning
Steamy Mist
Freezing Rain (Primary Buff)
Tornado (for added damage only)
Lightening Storm

Another important note to mention is that slotting is just as critical to your soloing career as a controller as power picks.

By level 22 you must have:
Your melee attacks 5 or 6 slotted
hasten 6 slotted
stamina 3 slotted
your single target hold at least 4 slotted
your AOE hold (if available) 3 slotteed minimum
your primary buff gets all spares, preferrably 6 slotted.

This will give you maximum effectivepower by the time you reach SO enhancers. This is critical because you will nee every ounce of OOMPH you can muster to make it through the laste 20's and early 30's.

Well, I sure hope that everyone finds this guide to be useful. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask!

“You are Grav Lance, a mutant with fire blasting abilities according to his files. A damned good one too. Something has blocked your latent abilities, and I suspect that it has something to do with these gauntlets that the Circle of Thorns put on you.”

“Gauntlets?” Grav Lance raised her hands. Her hands and forearms were covered in a hot pink and white pair of gauntlets. They felt strangely cold and annoying against her skin. “Where did these come from?”

“I do not know yet, but a substantial portion of MAGI resources are going into searching for their origin and properties. When you are well enough, I would like you to come to my office in City Hall. I have some tests I would like to run that cannot be done safely here.”

“Okay, I will. Hopefully that will be soon.”

“Excellent. Antonio is planning on stopping by soon to make sure that you are feeling better. Also, the heroes that rescued you will want to see that you are okay.”

“Sherman something.. and a woman who floated. Yes I remember them.”

“Super-Sherman, Ishtar, Fey Wrath and Wicked Blade were the heroes who rescued you. I have heard tell that Statesman himself has awarded them with special recognition for saving you from the Circle's clutches.”

“It sure was nice of them. I will make sure to thank them when I see them.”

“Good.” Azuria smiled. “I will ask them to come in. Don;t forget to come to my offices when you are released, please.”

“I will. Thanks for talking to me.”

“Of course. I will see you in a few days.”

Azuria walked out. Grav Lance heard muffled voices from outside the door. Shortly after, the door opened and in walked the four heroes who had rescued her.

“Heya Grav! I am glad to see you are feeling better!” The largeish man said.

“Hi Sherman. Thank you, all of you for rescuing me. I don't know how you knew to come there, but I sure appreciate it.”

“Um... yes, well, you called me on your cell phone, actually,” Sherman replied.

“I am glad I was able to help,” Ishtar said.

“She has amnesia?” The sword wielder asked. “Like she cant remember ANYTHING?”

“Yes, I'm sorry, but I cannot remember anything from before you guys fighting. I am really glad you came though. According to Azuria, something is wrong with my abilities now, too. She is going to run some tests on me to see if she can fix it though.”

“Must be some sort of mystical bindings,” Said Fey Wrath. “I have heard of them using powerful rituals to turn folk to their way of thinking. Evil to the core, those guys.”

The others nodded solemnly. “Yeah they are definantly no good,” Ishtar said. “They should all be rounded up and imprisoned somewhere. Hopefully we can take the darkness from them and return them to society someday though.”

“I doubt it, those guys are just bad. All they really need is a good taste of my blade,” Said Wicked Blade.

“Easy, Wicked. They can be rehabilitated. We have done it before,” Sherman said quietly.

Grav Lance looked around the room helplessly. She felt trapped by the walls, her hands... something was holding her down. All she wanted to do was escape and be alone. “I'm sorry guys, but I need to get some sleep. I hope I will run into you all again soon though.”

“Oh! Yeah, sorry, Grav, we will let ya get some shuteye. See you soon I hope,” Sherman said.

The heroes filed out the door talking quietly among themselves. “Hey I have a question... After you are out of here and all better, We four have started a supergroup. You are welcome to join us if you want. You might want a team to help you out sometimes. We work really well together and we could use a good blaster. Let me know if you are interested.”

Something flared up inside of Grav Lance. “No... I am always... alone. I'm sorry, Sherman, I really, really appreciate the help you and your friends gave me, but I fight alone. It has always been that way.” Grav Lance shrugged helplessly.

“Okay, well you have my cellular if you change your mind. We will always be happy to lend you a hand. Get well soon.”

“Thanks. Take care of yourselves out there, guys.”

Several days passed before the doctors felt that Grav Lance was well enough to leave the hospital. Once she was discharged, she headed straight to City Hall to talk to Azuria.

Knocking on the office door, Grav Lance heard Azuria's voice calling for her to come in.

“Hello, Grav Lance. I am very pleased to see you feeling better. Now, come in and step into this protective circle so that we can take a look at those gauntlets.”

Grav Lance stepped where Azuria indicated. Several people came in and started laying out arcane artifacts. “We are trying to determine the nature of the gauntlets that are on your hands. Can you remove them at all?”

“No, I tried in the hospital. All that happens when I try is shooting pain leaps up my arms. As soon as I release them, the pain stops. I feel like some sort of weight is pressing down on the inside of me, but I cannot say more clearly than that what they are doing to me,” Grav Lance replied.

“Okay, that's not as bad as it may sound. Myself and my associates here may be able to remove them through arcane means. Please just sit there on the floor and relax. This will most probably take a while.”

With that, Azuria and the others all knelt around Grav Lance and began chanting and doing arcane things beyond Grav Lance's understanding. Several hours passed as they chanted and worked around her. finally after several of the others had left, Azuria called a stop to the rituals.

“Grav Lance, the situation may be fairly grave. Those gauntlets may appear to be simple armor, but they are much, much more. They very nearly completely suppress your latent mutant abilities. They do have some inherent power themselves though. We are of a divided mind as to weather using those powers is safe for you or not. The gauntlets have instilled you with the ability to control gravitational fields. You can use these powers in a wide variety of ways. Once we have determined that they are at least relatively safe, we will instruct you in their basic use.”

“Okay, but.. What does this mean.. Will I ever regain my latent abilities?”

“Perhaps to some degree, but you will never be able to hurl fire as you once did. Unless we can find some way of removing them. We have been completely unsuccessful in that, however. I will consult with the mystical spirits on this matter in the hopes that we can find a way though.”

“Well, that is a real bummer. But I hope that they are at least safe to use. I feel so.. empty.. helpless somehow. Like a part of me is missing.”

“Quite so actually. You have used your inherent abilities for several years. Even if you have no memory of it, your body remembers. It is telling you that something is wrong. I will contact you in the morning. Here are directions and the keys to your apartment. I suggest that you get some sleep as it is quite late.”

“Okay then, I will see you in the morning.”

“Take care, Grav Lance.”

After a restless night, Grav Lance awoke to the sound of her telephone ringing. She picked up the receiver. “Hello?”

“Grav Lance, this is Azuria. How did you sleep?”

“Pretty poorly, actually. But I'm okay. Whats the news?”

“Not good, I'm afraid. The spirits were unable to shed any further light on your situation. But we have determined that the gauntlets pose no immediate thread to you, so we will instruct you in their use. There is another piece of information you will need. I'm afraid that this has also called into question your current security rating of 48. Statesman has been advised and will most probably be calling you for a meeting this afternoon.”

“Okay. Well, I will head down to your office then.”

“See you soon.”

Grav Lance hung up the phone. This was just perfect. All of her abilities thwarted, stuck with some damned Circle of Thorns doodads on her hands and now Statesman himself was going to revoke her security rating. At least she could use the gauntlets, however useful they were.

Grav Lance walked into Azuria's office a few minutes later. Azuria turned when she walked in. “Hi Grav Lance. I am going to give you instruction on how to summon up the power of the gauntlets. It is actually quite simple. First you must concentrate on focusing your energies through the gauntlets. They will react in varying ways depending upon what you want.” She pointed at a hanging dummy on the wall. “This is a practice mock-up. You can use your powers safely on this. Try to focus your energies on the mock-up.”

Grav Lance raised her hands, mentally ordering the gauntlets do so something.. anything. A whooshing sound burst around her, and the mock-up was lifted off of the wall, floating.

“Excellent, Grav Lance. Keep practicing.”

“What was that? It doesn't look like any of the attacks I saw before when Sherman and the others were fighting. It barely looks like it did anything at all.”

“The gauntlets focus very differently from your latent abilities, Grav Lance. You will have a very different role in combat once you master their basic functions. Please keep practicing.”

Grav Lance worked for several hours in Azuria's office on the mock-up. None of the effects she was able to have impressed her very much. The mock-up never blew up, never was flung more than a few feet up into the air, never was ripped limb from limb. “This is useless. I can barely do anything at all now!” Grav Lance exclaimed in frustration.

“Grav Lance, It is a very different focus from blasting. The gauntlets allow you to do things totally beyond what a blaster can do. You are much more a controller now. You may feel weak, but controllers are at once the weakest and the most powerful heroes. In time if you are able to fully master the powers of those gauntlets, you will be able to do things that will make blasters green with envy, but you will never be able to explode with flame again. Unless we can find away to remove them that is.”

“I see,” Grav Lance said unenthusiastically.

The phone in Azuria's office rang. Azuria went into her office and spoke into it for a couple of moments. “Statesman is ready to see you. He is waiting in his office here in City Hall. Please follow me.”

Grav Lance followed Azuria through the hallways to a door that was adorned with a simple star emblazoned across red and blue stripes. Azuria opened the door after knocking and motioned Grav Lance to follow her in.

Sitting behind a huge desk, Statesman regarded her levelly. “Grav Lance, I understand you have been through a horrible experience. I have consulted with both Azuria and Antonio Nash. They assure me that you are not dangerous, but that you have lost all access to your previous abilities. I have carefully looked over your case and it is with the greatest regret that I must suspend your security rating of forty-eight. I am very sorry, Grav Lance, but until you prove that you have mastered your new abilities I cannot grant you a new security rating. If your old abilities are restored, of you prove yourself with your new abilities I will be happy to restore some or all of your old security rating.” With that, Statesman held out a security I.D. Card. It was stamped level one.

Grav Lance looked at the card with a heavy heart and took it. “Thank you for your time, Statesman. Azuria has told me that you are very busy. I appreciate the vigilance you took to seeing into my case.”

“Grav Lance, every single hero in this city is very important to me. I am sorry, very sorry, that you have had to take such a large backwards step. I hope very much that you will be willing to go on defending the citizens of this city.”

“You can count on me Statesman. I will not let you down.”

“Good, and I thank you for that. Good luck out there, and be careful.”

Azuria escorted Grav Lance back to her office. Once there, Azuria turned and said, “I am sorry that you have to start over, but best to get on with it, hum?” She said with a sly smile. “If you are ready, I have a problem I need taken care of. The hellions have taken over a warehouse and are ransacking the place looking for something.....



AND THE ADVENTURE CONTINUES!

Warning: This post is extremely long! I hope you enjoy it


A Hero on the Edge of a Fall

Grav Lance paused, savoring the sound of the targeting drone humming near her head. Gazing down from the balcony from the safety of her cloaking device she selected her target carefully. Taking a deep breath, she felt the swelling heat building within her, nearly pummeling her apart with it's potency. An audible shriek of superheated air burst out as the bolt of pure flame pummeled the Rularuu watcher to the ground with no warning. Grav Lance darted back around the corner as the remaining Rularuu started in her direction, shrieking battle cries. The Rularuu failed to realize that a cloak was far from her only trick. From a safe distance, Grav Lance watched as the entire group of Rularuu were thrown heavily against the lab's walls from her hidden mines.

With a weary sigh, Grav Lance tagged each incapacitated Rularuu for teleportation to holding cells. Rularuu were fearfully powerful enemies, especially to a lone blaster. Grav Lance had always fought alone, others were simply a liability. Every time Grav Lance teamed up, invariably some member of her team would make a critical error that was beyond Grav Lance's ability to rectify.

Grav Lance darted out of the lab that the Rularuu had set up near Point Echo in the shadow shard. As with every time before, her breath caught at the stunning beauty of this realm. Ever since Statesman had felt she was ready to carry a security rating to enter this zone, she had always marveled at the awesome vistas of floating islands against an almost nebula like background. Reactivating her cloaking device, Grav Lance flipped the switch on her belt to activate high speed flight. She set her course for the mole point in the chantry.

Back in Paragon City, Grav Lance headed for the underground dance club, intent upon having a few drinks with some of her fellow heroes. With the day's work behind her, the relaxing thump of the subwoofers and the flashing lights were exactly what she needed to unwind...

That and a few drinks she thought as she settled into a rickety chair. The pounding beat, the flashing lights and the smoky air felt more like home than anyplace outside of a pitched battle to Grav Lance. She had always been a violent woman, even in her youth. Schoolyard scraps and street brawls had been a common occurance in her earlier years before her power manifested itself. The day her ability to manifest fire had first appeared she put a boy in the hospital with severe burns over most of his body.

After only a few minutes, a young man, still in his costume walked over to her table and sat down, gazing at her with the almost feral desire that young men often had.

“Hey there, I'm Super-Sherman, whats your name?” He asked, his voice giving away his apparent youth and inexperience. Grav Lance looked him over for a moment and considered weather blowing the table up would make him leave her in peace.

“I'm Grav Lance, and I would like to be left along if you don't mind,” She replied a but tartly.

“Oh, well, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bother you,” He said as he got up to leave.

“Sit down, I don't mind the company as long as you don't jabber on. I prefer to be quiet after a long day in the field,” She said in a somewhat consilliatory tone.

“Um...” he looked uncomfortable, but he did sit down. “What are you drinking?”

“Scotch, Glenfiddich actually,” Grav Lance replied, “neat.”

“I'm having a Mountain Dew myself, its loaded with caffeine,” he offered. “So what's your security rating anyways?”

“I'm rated at security level 48. Nearly the top security rating on the scale,” Grav Lance replied.

“Oh! Well, I am only a security rating of 28 right now, but I am doing pretty well I think. My contact sent me after some guy named Maestro a couple of days ago. He was a real pain, but my and a friend of mine were able to knock him out pretty fast.”

“I see. Well, thats well done. Here have a drink of scotch by way of congratulation for such a momentous arrest. From what I have heard he is not someone to be trifled with.”

“Yeah, well he was barely able to hurt me really, I'm a tanker. I use mental concentration to harden my skin to near imperviability. It sure comes in handy a lot,” He said rather smugly.

“I have seen tankers with similar techniques on several occasions. You guys sure are hard to beat. I am a blaster myself. Blowing things up is my real specialty.”

“Really? What kind?”

“Fire. Every since I was about sixteen, I could just make fire burst from my hands. A friend of mine at Cooke's Electronics helped me out with some gadgetry to compliment my blasting abilities though.”

“Thats pretty neat. What kind of gadgets?”

“Oh just some standard stuff really. A targeting drone to compensate for targeting errors, a flight belt and a mine dispenser. I also can carry a limited number of field deployable auto turrets, but I have not been able to find a way to carry as many as I would like so I rarely deploy them. I also recently got a medium duration adrenal injector that gives me a lot more hang time in a fight and an invulnerability field that protects me against some physical attacks.”

“Wow thats a nice assortment. He must be a pretty nice guy to help you out like that. I don't have any superpowers really. I just carry my axe and use my zen techniques to keep me from hard.”

“A natural huh? Rare thing around here. Most of us heroes are mutants or something. I bet that meditation technique was hard to learn.”

“Not really, I was raised to it, so it comes pretty naturally. Being in a fight I just fall into it and make sure that the villains are concentrating on me. I yell a lot and bash some heads with my axe a lot.”

Grav Lance looked down and noticed that her bottle was empty. “Well, Nice talking to you, but I gotta catch some sleep. I have a full plate tomorrow. Nice meeting you, Super-Sherman.”

“Sure thing. Hey! Take my cell number, if you ever need a tanker, let me know. I will be happy to help you out.”

“Thanks. I will remember that. Good luck out there.”

“See ya.”

Grav Lance headed out of the dance club to head home. The pounding of the subwoofer still echoing in her ears as she flew towards her apartment. Suddenly, there was no warning, a bolt of mystical energy struck her from somewhere near the street and shorted out her flight belt. Grav Lance plummeted to the hard asphalt.

Shaking her head, she felt the burning within her very strongly. Glancing left and right, she saw the cloaked figures of mystics of the Circle of Thorns closing in on her from both sides. Trying to contain the rage she felt and the agony along her left side from the impact with the street, she bounded to her feet. Seeing that the mages moving in with their wicked looking daggers she let out a piercing cry and the world exploded around her. Flames burst on all directions with a deafening roar, knocking the mages to the ground.

Grav Lance gasped for air feeling near exhaustion from unleashing all of her power in a single focused attack. She saw a glowing, robed figure getting back to his feet. His robe was charred, but a mystical madness glowed is his eyes as he stalked towards Grav Lance. Raising his hand, he encased her in a stony wall that crushed the air from her lungs. Grav Lance raised her hands and shot bolts of fire at him, but he seemed barely hurt. Trying again, She fling a huge ball of fire at him, staggering him backwards.

The mage shook himself and made a snatching motion with his hands. Grav Lance felt the very earth encasing her immobile and helpless.

“I'm a goner,” Grav Lance thought as he closed in on her. The mage stood before her for a moment, as though savoring her appearance as he reached out with his dagger and cut into her shoulder. “NO! “ Grav Lance thought, “Not my transponder!” Without her transponder, she would not be teleported to a hospital if she was incapacitated. The mage cut into her shoulder and with no regard for the pain that Grav Lance felt, he roughly reached into the wound and pulled out the small blinking node. Grav Lance watched in horror as he raised his knife again and struck her across the head with the hilt of his dagger.

Darkness closed in around her.......


Heartbeat...

Heartbeat...

“I'm alive.. I think...”

Voices... muttering and chanting around her... Circle of Thorns... maybe...

“Apply the artifact, quickly” A rasping voice ordered from somewhere off to her left. “She must be taken before the Master returns.”

Grav Lance felt something.. a strange numbness around her hands and wrists. She felt someone lifting her arms. A sudden burning pain crept up her arms. “I cannot let them do this to me,” she thought suddenly. Her head was clearing now, and she knew she was probably in mortal danger of becoming a Circle of Thorns puppet if she allowed them to continue.

Cracking her eyes open she spied two guards and a mage of some sort moving around her. She was lying on something hard and cold. The surroundings made it clear that she was lying in a chamber in the Oranbega. She tried to summon up the fire from within her, but it was dulled, suppressed somehow. Desperately, she tried to make sense of her situation. Captive and apparently helpless she was frantic for a way out of this situation. Opening her eyes fully, she glanced around. She spied her clothes in a heap on the floor only ten feet away.

Grav Lance lurched to her feet and dashed towards her things, grabbing her cell phone up as the mages cried out in surprise. She stabbed at the dial button frantically. The phone connected instantly, a clear youthful voice coming out.

“Super-Sherman here, whats up?”

“HELP!” Grav Lance shouted. Just as the mage brought his dagger down in a double-handed blow across the top of her head. Darkness closed in once again.


Shouting...

She heard the sounds of a battle. Somehow that sounded familiar. Pain. She hurt from the tips of her toes to the top of her head. “Where am I,” she wondered. Opening her eyes, she made out the forms of several people fighting with some other people. Bright lights flashed and bolts of energy sprang from the hands of one of them. Another carried a monstrous sword as he laid into the robed figures with blood curdling screams. A third figure was hovering on the fringe of battle casually tossing out healing energies and throwing some sort of mental energies at the robed men.

As the last of the robed figures crumbled to the ground, the large man, glowing with some sort of energy turned towards her.

“Grav Lance! It's me Super-Sherman. Are you okay?”

“Who... What....?”

“Oh man they really did you bad. Lets get you out of here. Ishtar! Port us out whenever you are ready, please.”

“Okay, just a sec, Sherman,” The floating woman responded.”

The hovering woman suddenly glowed and all of them simply appeared at a sagging wooden door. “We'll get you to the hospital and get these things off of you soon, Grav. Just hang in there,” Sherman said.

They carried her through the door to a hillside overlooking a sprawling city. The scene looked somewhat familiar to her, but she did not know how or why. “Who... what... did you call me?” She said.

“Grav Lance? Are you okay? What did they do to you?” Sherman said again, looking over her bruised figure. “They sure rouged you up. I am sure that the folks at the hospital can help you out though, Ishtar... can you do anything for her at all?”

“She is very badly wounded. I can ease her pain some, but she needs specialized medical attention. This is probably beyond my immediate abilities,” the woman said. “Hang on I am teleporting us to the hospital.”

In a couple of blinks, the whole team was in front of a large building. The sword wielding man and Sherman carried her inside. Nurses and doctors, seeing the terrible state she was in rushed her to emergency surgery.

The next several days were a blur. She could not remember much of anything what had happened before now. Her next clear memory was of a shortish unimposing looking woman walking into her room and looking at her... or rather at her hands.

“Hello, Grav Lance. I am Azuria. I am a representative of MAGI. Do you know who I am?”

“No, I do not. Should I?”

“We have met a few times. Antonio Nash asked me to come over and take a look at you. I understand that you have suffered from a memory loss?”

“Apparently. The doctor said that something bad happened to me, but I do not remember anything.”

[ QUOTE ]
What we know?

Stateman is a jerk.


[/ QUOTE ]

/gapes

That was rude...

You just KNOW you have a kickass dev team when they post at 7 A.M. on a saturday.

I'm gonna get worried when you start posting in pictograms

Several people on the forums have noted tie-in's with ancient mythology in a few occasions, I think it adds wonderful flavor and backstory to CoH. Keep up the great work

Happy belated birthday, Jack!

I hope that everything worked out well with the family - I know how stressful family relations can be

Take care of yourself over there, Vyvyanne! COngratulations on the promotion, and I hope that you will come back from time to time

[ QUOTE ]
Statesman:

I wanted to thank you for listening to our feedback and revising the idea. The refinements are a great improvement. I look forward to testing it.

[/ QUOTE ]

QFE - couldn't have said it better myself

Channel name: Control

Purpose: This channel was started for those who hang out on the controller forums regularly. There is a lot of chatter usually but some of the most knowledgable controllers I have ever met hang out in here so it is probably a great place to get some advice/info if you have questions as well.

This is a public channel and all servers are welcome!

I remember when Superspeed had sick defensive buffs

I remember when the purple patch went in and made herding +15's impossible

I remember when a dev PKed a player in beta

I remember when my beta invite came.. I was so excited that I ran in circles for about five minutes

I remember Ultrababe from beta who was so snotty and stuck up that I refused to heal her

I remember all three iterations fo the name reservation scheme

I remember meeting a level 38 character in beta who gave me a pile of influence... I couldn't blow it fast enough

I remember I remember groaning every time a member of Equinox posted about our accomplishments (yes we WERE super powergaming fiends) and the entire general discussion board erupting in flames

I remember when all of Equinox got bored and left

I remember a lot more but... I think thats enough

Thanks for the update, States! I am sure I speak for more than just myself when I say that I am eagerly awaiting your ideas on how to help the controller AT out, along with what specific sets are going to recieve attention.

I sincerely hope you will share this information with us when you have some concrete ideas!

[ QUOTE ]
This technically isn't possible with our engine. It would have to be a huge animated texture refreshing at 20+ frames per second.

We did think of it, but the engineers' eyeballs popped out of their sockets when we suggested it.

[/ QUOTE ]

I just got a new sig

I think it is a fine idea and have no problems with rebinding the default function to lctrl+# for the third power tray. Great idea and great addition Thanks guys!

Alliances, with an alliance chat.

More ranks... at least 5 would be nice.

Internal titles, such as raid master, or some such, user configurable.

Leader should be able to demote other leaders

Ability to reconfigure SG colors and symbols after the SG has been formed

be able to send emails to all of the SG and all of the SG alliance with a single command

woohoo looks awesome, States! Bravo!

[ QUOTE ]
Sorry I haven't been on the boards recently. I've was away for personal reasons for the past week. I'll be scouring the forums this weekend!

[/ QUOTE ]

I hope everything is okay and Welcome Back!

Spot on Kali - I agree totally

Sorry guys - been boycoting M*rvel material - never saw it

zzMDude - you really have your moments man... cracked me up, thanks

Now just tell me where your avatar is from, it sorta creeps me out

[ QUOTE ]
If anyone has ever played Star Wars Galaxies, they know how really great this game is. The devs here are amazing.

[/ QUOTE ]

That is so true it hurts...

Hi My name is Mike and I am a Star Wars Galaxies Survivor.

I am very happy with these changes. They reflect excellent thought and consideration of the player base. I must say though that this type of tuning should have been done on test. That is what it is there for. Although I personally did not see the boss changes as a deal breaker, I hope that such game altering changes will be more thoroughly tested prior to release to live from now on.

Other than that - Great changes, States Even if they are a touch late IMHO

Hey - it wouldn't be me if I didnt give ya a touch of a hard time, hm?

/em cheers for the developer team!