Lucretia_MacEvil

Just FYI, there's a new bug now that causes MM minions to become uncontrollable. They con the same as friendly NPCs, and they still follow the MM, but the MM has no control over them whatsoever. Sometimes rezoning will fix this, but it tends to happen the most in open areas, especially areas where there are several other players (at least for me). So if you politely ask a MM by the Black Market to dismiss his/her minions and s/he says that s/he can't, this may the reason.

Would this be something that you could change after character creation? I'm thinking especially of the Mysterious personae here, since you might decide that you want your character to start out that way, but eventually reveal themselves or something. Also, how would these work with Going Rogue coming? Would you get to change your persona when you switch sides? Would there be new personae such as "former hero" and "former villain" just for those who switched?

<------ Female who has a female forum name and makes female characters. I would say "dudette" if you paid me, but I prefer "chick".

note to others: saying "dudette" is the only thing I will do for money, so stop asking.

note to self: erase "note to others"; get pic for forum avatar

I thought this up while I was taking a looong shower this morning (don't ask), since I had just finished watching the "behind the scenes" from the extended edition of Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. Basically, you state one character and the movie/tv show they're from, and then another character from another movie/tv show who is not only really different from the first, but is played by the same actor. If you think you need to explain one of the characters (i.e. if the character/movie or tv show is not well known), or state who the actor is please do so. Reactions are also welcomed.

Examples:

Captain Jean-Luc Picard (from Star Trek: The Next Generation)

IS

King Richard I (from Mel Brooks' Robin Hood: Men in Tights)

This just killed me when I saw it. So, it's good to be the...Captain...? (Patrick Stewart played both of these characters)

**

Professor Charles Xavier (from the X-Men movies)

IS

Sejanus, Commander of the Imperial Guard (from I, Claudius)

FYI, I, Claudius is an old BBC production about the roman emperors Augustus through Claudius. Sejanus, as the Commander of the Guard, is a lusty, power-hungry, conniving, murderous ***hole, which makes him quite the opposite of Xavier. (Patrick Stewart played both of these characters, too)

**

the gyrocopter pilot (from The Road Warrior)

IS

the Mouth of Sauron (from Lord of the Rings: Return of the King)

You can't tell from the movies, but just watch the Return of the King special features. Unfortunately, I've forgotten the actor's name.

**

Bruce Wayne/Batman (from Batman Begins and The Dark Knight)

IS

Patrick Bateman (from American Psycho)

FYI, Bateman is the title character of that movie. He's a crazy, indescriminant killer with a day job as a corporate executive. He has a major case of OCD and is probably the most nonsensical character I've ever seen. Is it just me, or do these two roles not seem that different? [j/k, kinda] (Christian Bale played both of these characters)

**

That's all I've got for the moment. The international movie database helps a lot (www.imdb.com), so have fun with it!

*is relieved that D_R didn't freak out at her last post*

Yeah, I'll have to try that. Anything to keep the video goodness coming.

*uses remote as a lever to flip popcorn across the room*


*accidentally flips it too hard and C-SPAN 2 comes on while remote flies into a previously unexplored region behind the couch*

NOOOOOO! WHAT HAVE I DONE!!!!!!! IT'S SO BORING THAT THEY WOULDN'T EVEN PUT IT ON REGULAR C-SPAN!!! HELP!!!

*passes out from the inanity of the few seconds of politics that she saw*

Yeah, yeah, I'm double posting, but this couldn't really wait. I waited for a while to see Sam's latest video. It took the better part of an hour to download, so now I'm feeling rather ripped-off. Yes, I said that. I swear, for something like that to take so long to download... nothing can describe the rage I feel right now. Paragon Studio's trailer was better than usual, but only took about 2 mins to download. For one of Sam's vids to have such a long download time... I tell ya, someone's gonna get a real nasty e-mail from me.













I thought my internet service was better than that.

I want the uber-awesomeness of Samuraiko vids streaming into my computer as fast as possible. I want to be so overwhelmed by the continual coolness of her vids that I won't say anything dorky for a year. Having to wait for so long for a video to download, especially one of Sam's videos totally ruins my mindset. I go from sheer joy and wonder at the fantasticness of the video to foaming-at-the-mouth irritation that I have to wait forever for another one to download. I currenty have SBC Global as my ISP, so if anyone knows of a way to make it faster (I can't change it due to the whole family being on this plan) please let me know!

I, along with legions of other forum-goers, enthusiastically request more vids from the best CoH/CoV video artist that I've ever come across (FYI, 42 month game vet and counting). Keep up the good work Sam!

(Sorry if that first bit had anyone worried {especially you, Sam }, but, if you've seen Sam's stuff and heard my other fan-rants about her, then you'd have known that this was kind-of a practical joke. If it was too offensive, I apologize and promise that this was a one-time thing as far as I can tell. I'm a rather whimsical person with a demented sense of humor, so I never know when I'm going to do something like this. After dealing with myself for almost 20 years, you'd think that I'd have better self-control.)

The kind of dilemma presented in the OP is staggering. I agree with many other posters in this thread that a suppression of one emotional aspect of humanity (or all of them) would be extremely disastrous. If someone were to, say, get rid of all hate in the universe, then you might as well get rid of love too, since it's hate's opposite. There's two sides to every coin, here, and it's impossible to have one side without the other. Even a Mobius strip has an inside and an outside (the empty space surrounded by the "ring" it creates, and the empty space which surrounds the "ring" itself).

I also believe that trying to "program thoughts out" wouldn't really work, since your mind would ultimately realize that something was wrong and actively fight against it (whether that fight is consicous or subconscious depends on if the individual knows what the "programmer" is doing). Such a fight would lead to either the overthrow of the programming (if the fight was sucessful), mass insanity (if the program couldn't be overwhelmed, and minds destroyed themselves), or no thought whatsoever (if the programmer tried this to prevent failure/resistance).

This leads to another question; if a person was born within a mentally programmed society, would they have the same issues as those who were not? All it takes to realize that something isn't normal is to compare it to that mind's definition of "normal". For a child born into a programmed society, the programming would be normal and familiar. They would probably be afraid of not having it, since people generally fear the unfamiliar. This is a good point in Facade's favor, since he would only have to maintain the program long enough for those who were born without it to die (probably not even that long, since those who were very young when it started would forget that things were ever different).

I'll probably spend a considerable amount of time in the next few days thinking of a counter for this point. The simplest one I can currently think of is that imposing such a system is morally ambiguous at best, and downright evil and self-serving at worst. That's a big range, and it depends on the reaction of the society that such programming was imposed upon.

I just realized that I left out those who wouldn't be affected by the psychic program that Facade has in mind. Due to their high potential for disruption, they would eventually have to be eliminated completely, unless Facade found a way to control them as well. In such a system, an individual would have to be controlled or eliminated in order to protect the system. Without such protocols in place, the system would ultimately fail.

I know this post is already super long, but I have one more question: Besides having discussions like this one, what does someone do with a degree in philosophy? What kind of jobs are out there for a philosophy major? I'm just wondering.

[complain]

I recently received the 42 month vet badge. I have a horrible case of alt-itis, and I've had many alts that I got bored of simply because they didn't progress to the reported level of awesomeness quickly enough. Also, due to starting so many characters over the years, I've gotten quite bored with the beginning content.

AE seemed to be a fix for all of this. I now have many alts which are entering the higher levels (for me, this means over lvl 16, which rarely happened to me pre-AE), and I thoroughly enjoy them, as well as skipping the inevitable standard content every time I make a new character (although I still had to do some of this Villainside, it was tolerable because I knew that I would eventually get to a populated AE building).

Much of the beginning content, especially heroside, seems rather inane, as you spend quite a bit of time running around talking to various people, and telling your contact what they said (couldn't they have just e-mailed it to the contact? It would've been much easier...). Villainside is a little better, but I'm still tired of it. What do I do when a character ends up sucking after a few levels due to lack of endurance/being to squishy/not having a decent attack chain/whatever else may go wrong?

Before i16, it was easy; I'd just go to the AE building and farm a bit until I got to a decent level where said character was much more playable. The big question for me now is this; what do I do if I'm in a similar situation? Before, I would just delete the character and roll a new one, but that was before I was completely bored with the beginning content, too.

I can't help but think that this is the beginning of the end for me, which is unfortunate. Hopefully, Going Rogue will add some new beginning content which will keep me here for a while. In the meantime, I'll just cross my fingers that this is "a temporary fix" and keep logging in occasionally.

[/complain]

I also agree that there should be a reasonable amount of flexibility when it comes to playing this game the way you want to play it (as long as your playstyle isn't harmful to others in any way).

As for the OP's issue with actual MA stories, I agree that the farmers will just tweak their farms a bit and keep on going, where as the actual stories will get burned out completely due to not being able to make custom critters as weak as you want them to be without xp penalties (believe it or not, sometimes a custom character is supposed to be wimpy for story reasons). So, in other words, the changes that come with i16 will actually do the opposite of what the devs intended, if my prediction comes true.

Either way, I might not be around much longer. I recently paid for another year, so I've got a ways to go before I'm completely gone. Hopefully, "a ways" means a longer time than I think.

*yes, i know; another long post. as always, feel free to disintegrate my opinions at your leisure.*

Sorry for the double post, but I just checked my rep again, and it's even higher than before the -rep I got. Thank you!

(By the way, whoever said that they didn't find anything objectionable in my posts apparently missed a certain thread, which is understandable, since it's been deleted. My post there was basically me exploding at someone who was trying to tell everyone how to play the game "the right way". I get extremely irritated by people like that, and I'm pretty sure that saying so will come back to haunt me later.)

I usually don't care what people think, but getting that -rep is making me think twice about what I post. For some people, this is a good thing, but I don't like having to metaphorically look over my shoulder every time I want to post something. I'm generally polite on these forums (at least, I think I am), so there's really no reason for someone to -rep me anyway.

What I can't get over is people who -rep someone else just because they disagree with them. People have different opinions. That's how life is. If you don't agree with someone, talk to them and try to understand their point of view, don't leave an anonymous hateful note at their desk (which is essentially what -rep is). If someone is being deliberately aggravating, then -rep them. Trolls should get all the -rep they can eat. Most of this goes for people who /ignore someone on the forums, too.

*As always, the above is my opinion, which you may dissect at your leisure.*

Thank you for the +rep, it was much appreciated .

Okay, I'm confused. Someone left me negative rep from this thread with the comment "meh", and I want to know who it was. That was the first negative rep I've ever gotten and, since I haven't even posted in this thread in a long time, I don't really get why whoever did that did that (yes, this sentence makes sense, read it again).

For the record, this incident has given me cause to agree with those who dislike the reputation system. I can't even tell who did it, which is extremely frustrating, since I would like to know what they found offensive and respond politely to clear up any issues that either of us may have. Just saying "meh" isn't helpful in the slightest, so now I'm really irritated. I'm even more irritated than I was by the "hey sexy" comments, because at least I could deal with that (after reading this thread and Steelclaw's hilarious comebacks). Besides, I could at least ignore whoever was hitting on me, since their name would appear in front of the comment. Getting negative rep is like getting punched in the dark; you know someone did it 'cause it hurts, but you can't tell who, which leads to a lot of lashing out randomly, which causes the escalation of this issue when others respond as you did.

That's my overly sensetive rant for today. What do you think about the whole forum rep issue? Well, besides that I should've started a new thread on it instead of hijacking this one.

Can't resist this one:

Have you ever taken a character from 1-50 in a single zone?

Have you ever made a character who ended up staying in AE from 1-50 except to lvl?

Have you ever seen a character who looks like they're lvl 50 when they're targeted, but, when you get their info, is actually a single-digit level?

In case you're wondering, my answers to these are no, I'm working on it, and yes (in that order).

Well, at least once we finish we'll know how to get into Widow's Tower...

LOL Steelclaw, that was great!

Okay, after all this excitement about D_R's story, I wanted to read more (I only read the bit in The City Scoop, and that was a while ago). At first, I wasn't quite sure what it would be about. It seemed like an interesting title, to say the least, but, since I've never read fan fiction before, I wasn't sure what it would be like, exactly.

However, I feel that I must now join D_R's vast legion of fans, and express this statement:


MORE!!!!! NOW!!!! I'M IN SUSPENSE, HERE!!!!


I'm glad that the first story in the series was done when I first started reading it, since I don't like cliffhangers that go for too long, and that one had some really excellent ones. It was so good once I started that I never once wondered how much longer it would take to finish it. I routinely wonder this about good movies and books, even if they're reasonably engaging so far. Heck, I'm a near-obsessed trekkie and I wondered that about the latest Star Trek movie about an hour or so into it (I LOVED IT!).

D_R's stories are so intense that they leave no room for such distractions. Readers just have to know what happens next. I've never been so entertained. Ever. I laughed ("HOLY CRAP!! SHE'S HOT!!" omg! hilarious!!). A lot. I was so tense towards the end that I almost passed out from hyperventilation (not an exaggeration). I cheered for the main characters' triumphs, and sympathized with them for them for their losses.

I do a little story writing in RL (although I've never done fan fiction of any kind, or even finished anything for that matter...), so I know that it can be quite difficult engaging the reader. D_R makes it look easy the way a professional dancer makes dancing look graceful, or the way a professional musician makes music sound beautiful. I wish that I were so talented, and I want a copy of this story in print (let me know if it will be published or for sale on your website, since I'd hate to make an illegal copy from the boards).

My bro, who has played this game longer than I have, was dismissive of my interest in your story, D_R. I wish I could get him involved somehow. He likes mostly military Sci-Fi, so the battle scenes should be of great interest to him. Plus, that would give me someone to share my enthusiasm with in RL.

If I had any complaint at all about that story thread, it would be "too many comments in between sections" since I'm rather impatient (I blame gaming), and I hate having to scroll through all of that commentary to get to "the good stuff" (good is too mild a word here, but that's the cliche). I like that you started a separate thread for discussions. It was a wise choice.

I know this extensive praise might belong in your stories' discussion thread, but I wanted to post it here to let those who stumble across this thread know that Dark_Respite is truly a literary artist. If you haven't checked out her "Superhero Romance" story, set aside a day or two and read it. Make sure that it's an entire day, since this story is engaging from beginning to end, and you'll wonder where the time has gone when you finish. Like they say, time flies when you're having fun, and Dark_Respite's "Superhero Romance" was certainly a blast!

Hi, I'm @Lucretia MacEvil

I hang out almost exclusively on Infinity (except for about 1 character on Triumph) and I recently became the leader of the Rogue Isles Getaway Service on Infinity (we're basically anti-taxis in personality, but taxis in ability).

I started on villains, but I now play characters on both sides. I never had a mastermind I liked until Pain Domination came out. I have a lvl 50 dark/dark/soul corruptor, who is my signature character, and a lvl 50 ice/storm/ice controller named Femaelstrom (I got the name b4 GR was announced!! Yay me!). These are my only 50's, and I only got them so that I could make even more alts of the Epic AT variety.

You can find me on many of the more recent "AE sux" posts with a "tolerate other people's playstyles" message. I tend to be fairly easygoing, but I require a good amount of evidence before I change my opinion (yes, I am an older sibling, how did you guess?).

This is the only video/computer game that I play with any regularity, and I'm still not into the technical stuff (numbers, stats, etc.).

I'm a big fan of Dark_Respite's "Superhero Romance" fan fiction, but this is the only CoX fan fiction I've ever read, and I anxiously await the next development. I do a little writing of my own in RL, but I've never attempted a CoX fan fiction, since I'm not that into the history of the CoX universe.

I like classic rock, as long as it's not too heavy, and I'm a near-obsessive Star Trek fan (I don't collect stuff, though, since all the merchandising seems to be corrupting the series to me), even though I haven't seen anything past "Star Trek: The Next Generation" since that was the last series that Roddenberry participated in. The latest movie was AWESOME, though, and I want to see the next one, if there is one...

For the record, I also like Star Wars, especially the original trilogy (even though I'm too young to get some of the jokes). If someone could explain to me why there is such a feud between groups of trekkies and star wars fans, I would be very interested.

Yes, my posts are always this long. That's about it for now.

Yeah, I realize that the OP sounded too sensitive. It's just irritating sometimes when a team breaks up, and I get on another team where the same thing happens all over again. Granted, it's not fair of me to take my anger out on the new person, but sometimes my temper gets the better of me. My thoughts are along the line of, "If you want to pick up a girl, go to a dating site or something! Don't just hit on random people on the internet! I could be a ten-year-old boy for all you know!"

That's why I said I was gonna make an effort to relax a bit more, and wait to see if the commentor steps it up. If he does, then I'll say one of those ingenious comebacks that people came up with. If he doesn't, I'll assume it was a one-time comment and let it go (yes, I can actually do that).

Let's see...
In real life, I'm a bit of a control freak, who has to know what everyone around me is saying/doing at all times. I tend to be a bit of a pack rat (although not as much as my mom, thank god) who never bothers to clean very much. I'm a bit obsessive (at least with the forums). I'm an older sibling. I have a somewhat twisted sense of humor (like my dad). I'm a trekkie who didn't watch anything after "Star Trek: The Next Generation", since Roddenberry died during that, so anything else doesn't count (I did watch the movies, though, and the latest one was AWESOME!). I'm an adult teenager (almost 20, thank god!), so I'm still a little insecure about certain things, but too lazy to do anything about them.

As such, Masterminds and Controllers are my favorite ATs. I tend to preach a "tolerate other players" message, especially when it comes to AE. I tend to be a bit laid-back (yes, I still live with my parents) and I'm not easily enraged. I have way too many alts, and seldom roleplay. I'm in this for the fun, as well.

Wow, Steelclaw, that bio is intense. I almost cried at the end of the first part. It was really good! You and Dark_Respite should write a story together sometime.

People....

Please stop fighting....

There's enough of that going on over AE already.

By the way, I'm on The_Alt_oholic's ignore list! Yay!!!


Seriously, though, the transgender and hermaphrodite coments are inappropriate. I'm sorry I came up with the latter.

I still think the "I haven't shaved for a year" one is funny, though.