Kiken

Jake Anderson shook his head as he watched the action from across the road. He was especially impressed by the hero crashing through the roof. He assumed it was a hero anyway, it was hard to tell the difference between half of them and the villains these days.

He had been sitting in a bar when the latest madness had come onto the TV screen. And as it was in his neighbourhood, he headed out to see what was going on. He hadn't needed to try and work out where this latest madman was hiding; it was simpler just to wait and see where the white capes congregated. And congregate they had, although on performance so far, these weren't exactly the cities finest. The way things were going, it was all going to end in tears.

But what really annoyed Jake was that these people seemed determined to make a ruckus in his neighbourhood. First that Mechano guy, though Jake wasn't too worried about him. He'd worked with plenty of mad scientist types in the past; most of them would have used that Chronodyne stuff to make an army of minions and try to take over the world. This guy seemed more the sort who viewed the world as his own playground and took joy out of stirring things up purely to see what happened. Which might bring about chaos, but that type generally didn't want to see too much damage done to their toy.

The crazy that had turned up and flamed a whole bunch of people a while back, now he was a different story. Same as this new guy causing the fuss today. Both sick puppies, and there was only one way to deal with a rabid dog.

The trouble was, Jake reflected, that he had been out of the game too long. With most of the heroes he'd fought dead in the Rikti war, there weren't many around who remembered his reputation. He'd made some progress with the local rats; the Skulls knew better than to bother anyone from his building, the Circle mooks slipped back into the shadows when he was around. The building super even said that the Clockwork had stopped trying to steal the air-con units; though he'd had to smash dozens of them before they got the picture.

No, the real trouble was the big guns, coming in from outside the Row. It wasn't where he would have chosen to live, but honest wages didn't buy the kind of luxury he had enjoyed in the old days. And since he'd settled here, for whatever reason, that made it his neighbourhood. And people were going to have to start learning that Iron Anderson liked his neighbourhood to be quiet. Could be people were thinking he'd gone soft since he'd gone straight.

Very soon it was going to be time to put people right about that...

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Nemesis Chain

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He probably meant Legacy chain.

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Yeah I guessed that.

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Unless, of course, he knows something about the Legacy Chain we don't...

Don't know about my dumbest, but my most persistant stupidity comes from my habit of double-clicking an attack to select my next target so that it fires off as soon as I run into range. Great for my many Scrappers...

Not so great when I'm playing a Blaster

Are people who are leaving allowed to post in other peoples leaving threads, or do we run the risk of some sort of mobius loop occuring?

Ta-ta Tygrr. Whoever you are

The fight hadn't lasted very long, his opponents had had some power but not a great deal of skill. Now Jake was having to deal with the third degree from the cops who had finally arrived on the scene.

"I swear Anderson, you are pushing the bounds of your parole to the limits." the sargeant said, consulting his PDA. "This is the fifth case of 'legitimate self-defence' this week. Plus, you are out way after your curfew."

"What can I say," Jake replied, "I'm a popular kinda guy. And I get insomnia some nights."

"Frankly, I don't want to have to deal with the paperwork on you, not with everything else going on. Here, I'm officially authorising you to intervene in any street crimes you come across for twelve hours. Backed to midnight, so it'll take care of the curfew violation."

"That's pretty generous of you" Jake said suspiciously.

"Hell, at least you leave the perps breathing. We've got reports of some crazy flaming crowds indescriminately over in Kings Row."

"It's guys like that give villains a bad name."

"Worse than that, the guy seems to think he's some kind of hero. Okay, we got this site now. Get out of here, go find some trouble."

Jake grinned and sauntered off to do just that. Trouble was what he was good at...

Jake leaned back nonchalantly aginst the wall of the blown open shop, his fedora tipped forward slightly. Without appearing to pay them any attention, he eyed the group of Outcasts who had gathered opposite the store. They were still hesitating to move, but he could tell they were working themselves up to it. In Kings Row, where he had his apartment, word was getting round that the Iron Anderson was to be kept clear of. Here, maybe these punks had some half-remembered idea of who he was (or had been) but he could tell that it was more his attitude that had them worried.

Finally a signal was given, and two of the punks moved towards him. Jake couldn't help smiling. If they had just gone into the store and started lifting stuff, there wouldn't be a thing he could do about it. The terms of his parole were quite clear about him not being able to fight without permission from specified persons. Except, unfortunately for these guys, in cases of legitimate self-defence...

"What you doing here, grandpa?" one of the punks asked.

"Just minding the store, kid. Now why don't you head on home to your momma?"

As he'd expected, this provided the last push and the punks came at him. The one on the right swung a sledgehammer directly at Jake's head. The look of surprise on his face when Jake caught it with one hand was quickly replaced by the slackness of unconsciousness as Jake's other hand came round in a vicious haymaker. The second punk had moved quickly, and was in position to slip a knife right between Jake's ribs....if the blade hadn't stopped moving as soon as it hit Jake's skin. An uppercut lifted this one straight off his feet and he came crashing down to the pavement out cold.

Having seen the fate of the junior members, and knowing now they were dealing with a powered individual, the remaining five gangers began firing up their own powers. The crackle of lightning, whoosh of fire and the grinding of stone filled the air as they stepped towards Jake as a group.

Who strode forward to meet them, cracking his knuckles. Time the punks in Steel Canyon learnt their place as well...

Jake Anderson had finally managed to find an oldies channel (those new digital radios were something else) and was settling down to enjoy a Glenn Miller medley when the awful racket started up outside. At first he was hugely annoyed, but as he began to make out what sounded like chanted slogans amidst the noise, he became intrigued. .

From his apartment window he could just make out the Troll parade as it moved past. Jake remembered the Million Man March, and the idea of huge green thugs most known for property damage being a repressed minority was kind of amusing. With nothing better to do, he decided to go see what was shaking. By the time he got to the street the parade was out of sight. But with the noise they were making, it wasn't hard to follow. Lighting up a cigarette, he strolled along in the direction they seemed to be going.

Most of the noise stopped before Jake had caught up, but he was close enough to hear the female Trolls little speech to the police. And the gunshot. And the thump as the truck was flipped over. As he finally reached a position to see what was going on he quickly took in the Trolls huddling behind their makeshift barrier, and the nervous looking cops facing them.

"I give it five minutes, tops" Jake muttered to himself, looking up to the rooftops and sky.

It wasn't even close to that before a winged form came flying down to the police lines. Jake's mouth formed a tight grin around his cigarette.

"Can always rely on the white capes to make things more interesting..."

I give you The Shining Knight .

Edit
And they aren't Jar-Jar shields. They are Ulysses31 shields!

Kiken, my very first character. It means risk or danger in Japanese; it's not so much a name as a warning... (Except he didn't take into account that few of Paragon's villains speak Japanese )

Dr Beat, a scientist turned Sonic villain. (Was going to have him come from Florida and call him The Miami Sound Machine, but came to my senses.)

Mustang Sally a large, Inv/SS Tanker lady, who effects a very bad Texan/Southern/cowgirl accent, despite being from Ohio.

Tinker Belle . Belle Sebastian is a genius when it comes to tinkering with other peoples technology. A Bots/FF MM.

Night Shaft A TA/A Defender. I wanted something that sounded classically superheroic, yet also slightly pornographic...

And many more, though these are probably my favourites.

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No, it'd look like something retarded out of Final Fantasy or Bleach or something, where gigantic swords are weightless.

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big swords in one hand isn't good, but knocking someone a mile away is perfectly reasonable.....riiight.

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Sorry, but what are you on about? o_O


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Have to agree with Sorudo on this (which may be a first ). In a world where people are strong enough to punch through tank armour, the weight of a giant sword isn't necessarily going to be a factor in being able to weild it one-handed.

Balance, on the other hand...

Congratulations! You have found the one Council unit that actually has some tactical sense!

"Sir, we have word that Hero X is on the way here to disrupt our plans. Shall I deploy the men in small groups throughout the location, in standard formation?"

"Hmm, nooooo, I think we'll try something different this time. Have ALL the men assemble at the entrance, where we can attack en masse."

".......High Command won't like this......."

Jake was starting to get annoyed. His initial assessment of his opponent had been right, the bozo fought like an accountant. After that first blow, which Jake had let hit full on so he could gauge his foes strength, the uber-Troll had been completely out-classed. Sure, the few blows it managed to land were powerful, Jake was going to be sore the next day, but if the fight was being judged on points Jake would walk it.

What he hadn't figured on was his opponent being a regenerator. Jake hated fighting regenerators. Under the circumstances he couldn't do any serious damage to the guy; the police tended to look funny at pleas of self-defence when you pulled the other guys arms off. So it had become a war of attrition, the fight weaving through the streets until they were far from where they had started. Jake thought he had put the guy down once, but he had managed to bounce straight back and start swinging again.

So now Jake was annoyed. He'd wasted far more of his morning on this bozo than he'd planned. His tie was pulled so loose it was almost undone. The left sleeve of his shirt was ripped almost completely off at the seam. And worse, he'd left his hat and jacket back where the fight had started, and somebody had probably stolen them by now.

This last thought was enough to wipe any last vestige of fun Jake had been having from the fight. A solid punch sent his opponent flying from the side-street they were currently in out into the main road. Jake quickly followed and hammered a one-two combo to the jaw as it slowly stood back up. Then a left that spread it's nose across it's face with a sickening sound of smashing cartilage. An upper-cut had the uber-Troll reeling and Jake half-skipped to the side before putting everything into a right that hit squarely behind it's left ear. The uber-Troll went down like he had been pole-axed.

"And this time stay down, if you know what's good for you."

With his opponent, hopefully, finally down for the count Jake took the time to calmly look about. He took in the wrecked police vehicles, the several unconcious uber-Trolls, a number of obvious hero-types. And one uber-Troll still standing, looking even more POed than the one he had fought, getting into it heavily with some kind of robot guy.

"I don't know what's going on, but you guys throw a helluva party!"

You know, looking at that list, what GG describes sounds a lot like Historical Fantasy. Which contains Medieval Fantasy as a sub-heading. Which doesn't mention barbarians...

Jake Anderson stepped out onto the street, paused to light up a Camel, then headed off in the direction of the station. The area was a bad one and his apartment was a rat-hole. It was all a long way off from the sort of luxury he'd used to enjoy. But that was when Iron Anderson had been the muscle-for-hire of choice for the discerning criminal genius. As an ex-con finally trying to go straight, this was the best he could do. For now. He hadn't had his radio on that morning, and so hadn't heard the news, but as he walked he began to pick up an odd feeling of tension to the day. What seemed to be sounds of battle were beginning to drift towards him, but that was nothing unusual in this city. But still, things seemed on edge...

He got some idea why as he turned the corner and saw three huge green figures stamping their way down the street, causing everyone in their path to hurridly flee. They were ugly as sin, and obviously looking to cause trouble. But the terms of his parole were clear, he wasn't to 'utilise his meta-abilities in any way without express direction from designated personnel'. After being in and out of the joint for the past 50 years, he wasn't going to risk his current freedom for low-rent punks like this.

Even as he was thinking this, a woman stepped out of a building directly into the path of the trio, one of whom barged her aside so roughly she was sent flying to the floor. Now that was just too much!

''Hey, didn't your Momma ever teach you to treat ladies right? Guess I'll just have to give you the spanking your Daddy should've!''

The three stopped and turned to watch the middle-aged man who sauntered towards them, flicking his cigarette into the curb. The one who had knocked down the woman stepped forward and launched a punch which sent Jake flying through the air to smash into a wall with the sound of cracking bricks.

'Guys got some power', Jake thought 'but that's all he got. He didn't just telegraph that punch, he semaphored it! Even if I haven't got all that crud they fill you with in the Zigg out of my system, I'm not going to need to be at my best to teach these punks a lesson'

As he began stripping off his suit jacket a terrible howl filled the air. Two of the giant figures turned and made off in that direction, but the one that had punched Jake remained, eyeing him belligerently. Jake figured he could administer a little 'justified self-defence' on this one as a warm up, then go after the others if he still needed the exercise.

"So, you think you got the stones to waltz with me, cupcake?"

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IMO

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This is the important thing. It wasn't in the Devs opinion, it's not in my opinion, and judging from the posts in this thread, it's not in other Forum readers opinions.

Also, how is MA not fit for any kind of AT? My first character (and first 50) was a Mutant MA, and it fit perfectly.

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what i would like to see is actual melee attacks

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Um, but hitting somebody with a weapon is a melee attack...

Besides, I like being able to hit people with a sword of pure fire.

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im not stating a one sided opinion, i actually agree with the names thing to some extent, but have you any other ideas to improve server population?

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Wait for I13 and the people who will come in to see what's new?

I never look for a team, and I still get into one more often than not. (at least on Heroes, I rarely play Villains, so I can't comment on that.) This is on both servers. At all level ranges. So I'm just stating my 'facts' that a server merger isn't needed.

I tend to use anchors on my Rad/Rad (lvl38) far more solo than teamed. Solo, they let's me jump into the middle of the spawn and play like a Scrapper (which I tend to do on ALL my alts, regardless of AT...)

When teamed, I tend only to use them on EBs or higher. Or occasionally on particularly annoying mobs. -ACC debuff on mezzers if we are an all-aquishy team say. And even then it's far more of a gesture than a necessity.

When I was on the US servers, my SG ran a once-a-week all Corruptor team. We had only made it to the mid-20s when I left, but we were steamrollering through everything at that level.

The most important part of the synergy, of course, was the constant stream of wisecracks and rubbish being spouted off as we did it

Not weird, just bugged.

For me, I can order my characters on one server just fine, but if I go to the other, they get jumbled up again.

I'd like them to bring out the powersets needed to make my Section 8 SG. So let's see, we would need:

Broken bottle Melee
Phlegm Blast
Defenestration Melee
Perversion Control
Shaking Control
Dogwelding Melee
Frenchness Melee
And, of course, Ally Blast.

I don't play him much since he hit 50, but when Kiken was still active on the US servers I estimate he spent almost as much Inf on costume changes as he did on Enhancements. And that was with the dozens of free costume tokens he picked up. (In todays go-getting, forward-looking, jet-setting hero world, you can't go letting your image get stale!)

So, yes, I'd be very pleased if Icon decided to just waive their fees permanantly. Let's face it, with the auction houses and IO crafting now in game, it's hardly needed as an Inf sink anymore.

I'd say it would be highly unlikely that CoX could switch to a subs-free game unless it was already nearly dead. Annual income from a subscriber is 12 x £8.99 = £107.88. (Obviously I'm simplifying here, as some people use block payments and some use Timecards.)

So, if there was no increase in player numbers, a yearly expansion would have to cost £100 to maintain annual income at an equivilant level.

If they doubled the players, it would have to cost £50.

Only if they tripled the number of players could they release an annual update at a reasonable anount and still keep up the level of income. And as much as I like CoH, it's pretty much a niche game and I can't see even going free-to-play achieving that.

I console myself on the first point that it must be okay to ignore these street crimes. After all, members of the Freedom Phalanx stand around various parts of the city doing just that all the time!

Unfortunately, CoH crashed on me when I went to swap alts after the first match. By the time it had finished checking itself after restarting it, it just wasn't worth me logging back in just to say 'Time for bed now'

Do appreciate you running it for the week though Riff, and I thoroughly enjoyed the music. At least I got to carry on listening to that after I was booted out.


(Personally, I think Tinder sabotaged me, after all that whining last week about only losing to me because of a dropped connection )