Major Deej

Use him as a perpetual stand-in zombie for the "Walking Dead" TV series.

*Sits staring at trailer with eyes as big as saucers muttering 'wowwowowowowowowwoomgwowowowowowomg!*

Edit: loved the line, "they need a time out"

Color me impressed, Dink! Well done!

Likes:

• the glow on the costume pieces is well done; not over the top, nor underused.
• The chest and pants details have a great look and feel about them
• belts look great! Loving the style!
• the glow rings really make the costume stand out; are the rings available for males as well?
• Good design on the bubble helmet

Concerns:

• The style/shape of the rocket packs are spot on, but I'll have to jump on the same train as others though, the single engine rocket pack seems a bit too big. My humble suggestion is to scale it down to around the size range of the rocket bodies from the twin rocket pack shown in the third image, but maybe just a bit (10-20%) larger than the rocket bodies of the twin rocket pack.

Thank you for posting this Dink and allowing us to see and interact with the progressive development of this set. It speaks greatly to this game's ability to engage with its customers by allowing our feedback/input to help steer the design of this set.



Major Kudos!

Yep just respec'd my 'Crimemaster' character on Guardian red side; see the results...

I did play the hero one first, but since I was on a team, I'm clueless as to what that was all about (no access to all the cool texties other than the super quick pop-up-for-a-second external comms/mindtalk text boxes).

*hangs head in confusion*

After doing the red side SSA6, color me confused.

It seems that some part of 'Aurora Borealis' psyche was hidden (locked?) away in Sister Psyche's mind, got tossed into a previously unseen urn deep in a ritual spot deep down in Orange Bagel Land, and after being told by her/it to weaken some unknown EB so that this AB psyche/fragment or whatever it is can take over the menacing EB's body, bailing, and then calling me, a villain, her friend...

Ya.

Ummm.

What the hell just happened?

I thought AB was a live, breathing hero? Since when did Sister Psyche have any fragments of AB hanging in her mind and why did SP deem it necessary to pop her/it into an urn while she was losing control/killing half the planet with her mind? Why would this AB psyche/fragment that shouldacoulda been from AB, the hero, call 'me', a villain, a friend? ARGH.

I know the Paragonwiki story of AB and SP, but nowhere have I read anything about some anomalous evil/twisted/whatever AB fragment residing in SP's head, especially with AB supposedly alive and well as is...

Can any of you scholars of the Paragon branch of a CoH Lore University (CLU) shed light upon the whatwhywtfomghuh of all of this? What am I missing here?

Calgon take me away!

EDIT: looks like some posts on this matter just formed while I was writing this. I see I'm not the only one asking these questions! Good!

EDIT 2: Why does P. Yin need to be the next Freedom Phalanx resident replacement psychic for Sister Psyche when Aurora B is, I'm guessing, still alive and, well...being a psychic?

OK. Did SSA#6 hero and villain side.

SPOILER ALERT TO SSAs AHEAD......







Thusfar, before the SSAs, I've never had an issue with a character's developmental timeline; all seemed relative and within a common-sense based time frame. There were a few quirks with the Praetorian interactions/invasion missions/arcs/storyline that I was able to easily overlook (for example, Preatorians flooding (ok, dribbling lately) into Talos at level 20+ without so much as a mention of what a 'Praetorian' is up to this point in any main/mandatory story thread).

Then the SSAs were made.

If I do SSA #1 at say level 10, then the Hollows is now suddenly filled with lava. If I go to the Hollows zone after I do this SSA, its not.

Continuity disconnect #1 for me.

Even though I know Statesman dies in SSA 5 (as was highly advertised) and Sister Psyche in SSA 6, it still all occurs as early as level 40. I know future issues will 'change' things to allow for their deaths, but for all our new players 'now' there's a huge continuity disconnect. Anyone that does SSA 5 at level 40+ and then go to do Statesman's Task Force at level 50 (or any other Level 40+ missions that mention Statesman, Sister Psyche, etc), there is a huge disconnect, whether the missions are hero or villains side (LRSF...). I know it'll be fixed soon(tm) but...

Continuity disconnect #2 for me.

THEN I see the new Penelope Yin. A young teen I remember from Faultline that I MAY have helped (not everyone is forced to do her story!) in the past 20 or so levels that miraculously blossoms into a young adult ... in whatever imagined timeframe I've devised for my characters thusfar (as I'm sure most have). I now HAVE to either suspend belief and move on, or somehow CHANGE whatever perceived timeframe by hero/villain is running in to alter for her sudden 5 year development.

Massive continuity disconnect #3 for me.

(sidenote: I'm sorry if I'm offending you David N, but Miss Yin's new costume and looks are horrid. It's too busy and freakish. Although I can truly say I've never 'seen' a look like this before, there is NO WAY I'd ever consider this as anything that should be related to an older Penelope Yin that is soon to be a major player in the game. Yuck.)

Even though Cryptic (and later Paragon Studios) has had a few bugs in their continuity, I've been able to get around it, because the mistakes were either a text-focused mistake, say in a historical plaque, or context from a mission's contact. Text has a value of interpretation, that for the most part, can allow different interpretations or understandings, but now, I have a living, breathing (game-wise) Penelope Yin who is (perceptually) 5 years older literally standing before me in the span of 20+ levels. How can I allow a 'different interpretation or understanding' to that? I have a huge issue even believing she was 18 at the time of her Faultline missions. 13-14 yes; 18 no.

My point being, as much as the SSAs have been 'interesting' to conduct/perform, they have installed (in my opinion) a big continuity disconnect that a player cannot ignore if they do SSA 5 and 6 as they currently are as of Issue 21/22.

I know continuity development and management is a major pain in the backside to maintain, but c'mon folks. After some of the best storylines I've seen/read in a long time all coming from the Going Rogue release, we are now subject to this level of storytelling? For something that has such a HUGE impact on the focus of the overall game, I'd EXPECT continuity to NOT be such a disconnect as it is now to zones, missions, and TFs/SFs.

I'm not a professional writer or have written many stories, but from this side of the window, looking in, you seemed to have lost the game's continuity focus. This continuity disconnect is going to require a backwash of story/zone cleanup to make it compatible to anything going forward from the SSAs.

If continuity in the game (after the SSAs) were a spill in a supermarket aisle, I'd expect to hear over the loudspeaker...

"Cleanup on aisles 1 though 50"

or in associative words...

"Cleanup the content and continuity between levels 1 and 50"

Get the mop out. There be come serious cleanin' up to be done.

Just my 2 Inf.

Thanks Steel!

It took about a week to do, from concept to publish, and that's while I was still working my regular job's 40 hour work week (with 3 hours on the road to get there each day).

The stories come to me easily; the plots, even more so. The toughest part was the text and word balloons; that was the longest evolution of this.

I've received some incredible feedback from my global friends, Major Deej Universe friends, and of course the incredible folks that bring us the City of Comic Creators who were gracious enough to allow me to post my issue to their site!

There's still a lot for me to learn, but I'm looking forward to getting more published for all to see and enjoy!

Even though Saturday's midnight early preview with Radio Paragon was an incredibly awesome kick-off, I'm looking forward to seeing it posted here on the CoH Forums under the CCC thread by Frietag for all to see!



(or you can sneak a peak at The New Allied Fighters #1 right here!)

Thanks again, Steel!

100% agree with Steel!

Radio Paragon is outstanding!

Enjoyed the evening hanging with DJ Wyld and showing off our SG's premiere digital comic, "The New Allied Fighters"!!!

Thanks for the shoutouts and and great music!

Keep on rockin, Radio Paragon!

I'm going to have to side with Zortel.

When I'd heard of the Roman pack, I expected the weapons. I have several characters that would benefit from this and it would have been an easy, automatic purchase for me.

Now, I don't think I'm going to get it, especially if the shields are borked on their first day on the market.

C'mon PS/BP. Stop nickel and diming us with smaller sets like this. You know what we want. Just get ALL the roman gear to us; not with some goofy cupid's bow.

Z, Any plans for Paragon Studios to attend PAXEast 2012?

Want to get in our reservations, but only if CoH/Paragon Studios is showing.

These are great changes to the powerset!

I'd also like to add an 'agee with' on teflonshugenja's suggestion regarding the knockback.

I use wormhole quite a lot on my characters, but have to be very careful in its use as a direct result of the knockback feture, ergo, 1/2 the time I don't use it when I'd like to.

Please continue reviewing powersets like this that need attention and updates, ...such as assault rifle....

Von Krieger, thank you once again for being the textmaster of the CoH UStream!

Greatly appreciated for what you do!

Yep. I've had this problem as well recently. I've never had a problem with any graphics on my computer, and have not changed anything, settings or otherwise since Going Rogue initially came out.

I'll be able to run the game for 2-3 hours, and the screen flashing will start up. If I DARE to edit one of my SG bases though, it starts up within several to 15 minutes thereafter. Only way to resolve the flashing is to exit the game and restart it.

I have a Windows XP with GTX260 and had downloaded the new nVidia drivers two days ago; it seemed to help a bit but, I'm still getting the flashing at around the 3-4 hour mark, which seems to correspond to the average time I can stay logged in before the game crashes on me as it routinely does every 4 hours or so or steady game play (usually crashes in a trial, zone invasion, or during base editing).

I truly hope this gets resolved soon; if this is an issue for veteran players/forumites, imagine the effect this is having on the F2P folks that don't have a voice here in the forums or are uninformed/unwilling to posting a support ticket; I'm sure they're not inclined to continue to play a game that starts going to epilectic screen flashes after a few hours of gameplay.

Ok, according to the OP, its expected for players joining a TF/SF to ask if the TF/SF is a speed or full (XP) run.

IMHO, Bull.

As the leader of any TF/SG/arc/mish/raid etc, the parameters of the play should be made up front by the leader or the one who organizes the team. I ALWAYS do this, even for the smallest team, even with vets.

Why? Because I don't make the assumption that each of the players is a veteran hard-running player, or that they want speed runs, or that they know exactly what timeframe the TF/SF/Arc/Raid etc will go for, or what major obstacles they may encounter for the duration.

If you have a core group of folks you run with, and everyone agrees and understands the team leader's playstyle, that's great -go for it; if you have even ONE person who hasn't played/teamed with you before (nor knows of your playstyle), the leader should inform the team of the intentions, plans, length of the team's efforts (i.e., "I need to get this done in 2 hours, ergo, we may have to stealth a couple missions", or "we're going to do the first 3 missions of this TF, take 1/2 break for dinner here, and then do the rest") right off the bat. To do otherwise potentially sets your team up for failure, disappointment and disillusionment of the team's goals.

Some may want to RP through the activity; some may want to get absorbed into the story; some may want to see if they can break the record for the fastest time the TF/SF/arc can be done. Without all team members knowing that up front, you're creating an issue for the team before you even start the first fight.

As a leader, take repsonsibility and lead properly.

Leadership in CoH doesn't just mean administratively putting the team together and running headlong into it, expecting everyone to read your mind on what to do. Leadership means you need to watch your team's coordination and set conditions at the outset as well as when in a mission if there is a tactical or strategic falacy in the team's combat (how many times have we seen: "Leerooooooy Jennnnkins!"). Communicate to AND with the team, thus aiding in making decisions for the good of the team, all to reach the team's goal (not just yours). If you don't feel comfortable with that, and would rather create the team rather than lead, then you better have a leader to pass the star to that is willing and capable of being a leader for the team.

Think back to when YOU started this game. I'm sure there was a helpful vet who helped mold your understanding and enjoyment of the game by communicating what needs to be done to do well for the team and/or TF/SF/Arc/Raid completion.

You need to think of your team's experience everytime you form a team, because these players your expecting to know how to play the game mostly don't have your plethora of CoH knoweldge...or necessarily a desire to perform your unstated playstyle.

It's not as hard as it sounds. Several typed/Ventrilo'd comments before the start of the team's activities may be all you need to make for a good experience for everyone...or you can continue to bemoan your leadership shortcomings and post public service announcments on the forums of elitist veteran mandates to new/inexperienced players.

tl;dr - An effective leader takes responsibility in communicating, establishing and following through with the team's parameters prior to the start of a TF/SF/Arc/Raid etc of whether the team will do stealth or XP runs, pulling a boss or mobbing a boss, buff reminders prior to a big battle, etc. The invited team member should NOT be expected to ask/read the mind of the leader about this.

I spent some time this weekend helping out a friend or two and some new/returning players in acheiving some unique if not outdated arcs and activities in various zones. One of these, unfortunately, was the near-forgotten 'Cavern of Transcendence Trial'.

I won't get into the painful details of what ensued during the Cavern's Trial, suffice to say it got me thinking of why it hasn't been updated, especially for such a unique and zone-befitting trial that it is.

As such here are a few issues that I believe need to be resolved/changed by the devs/powers-that-be to get this low-level trial more available and desirous to the lower level and newer population (of course, YMMV).

Issue #1: The trial is normally unlocked via a NPC and story arc. This prevents fast leveling characters in the lower levels who routinely out-level the contact or arc or prevent those from not even getting to the end of the contact's arc to be able to unlock this Trial. I know the arc is available via Flashback, but to be honest, it's still a highly hidden and severely sequestered commodity that (I'd imagine) most people mentally file away as 'yea, the trial's available there but it's too much work to get one going with eight people', which leads me to the next issue...

Issue #2: Eight players mandatory to unlock eight obelisks simultaneously, period. The level of flexibility is nil. It's tough enough on some servers to get a team of 4-6, now demand an eight-person team and hope they come back if they happen to disconnect or bail on you.

I've done this trial a total of five times but only completed two of these due to someone bailing and not coming back (usually it's the same person(s) that got stealth TP'd to an obelisk and they couldn't stand still long enough and instead decides to agro nearby mobs, for which said teamate repeatedly dies, and has to be repeatedly stealth/rezzed, much to the chagrin of the rest of the impatient yet forwarned trial team).

The trial should be for teams of 4 or more, with the number of obelisks equating to how many in the trial team came into the lava room/map vice the mandatory eight, or maybe a new game mechanic to replace this.

If this went to an LFG type trial, the option of 'joining a trial already in session' might help in refilling any lost teamates for the Cavern Trial team...that is, IF it were part of LFG...

Issue #3: Stealth/Teleport work arounds are the 'norm'. Anyone not familiar with this trial (i.e., new 'Free'dom players) that are not adept at Paragonwikiing or having tribal knoweldge of this trial are in for a difficult slog to clear paths to the obelisks. Vet and experienced players learn of the stealth/teleport strategy to TP teamates to the obelisks, but here's the deal: you need a player with stealth/invisibility and recall friend teleport powers to do this strategy, severely limiting you to either this strategy or the slog. No middle ground.

This current feature DOES provide a challenge, but it should be changed from being a 'power'-related challenge, to a 'skill' or 'open strategy'-related challenge, thereby opening up all ATs, regardless of power pool choices, to enjoy the trial.

Issue #4: "I gotta go through that stupid maze that is the "Tunnel of the Trolls" map first? Why is this trial not available on LFG? With the new 'Death From Below" Sewer Trial on LFG, why can't this trial be 'updated' to be more accomodating, or placed in LFG with an auto team transport to just inside the mish door. My recommendations would be:

1) Do away with the useless and repetitive mob-smashing maze-like 'Tunnel of the Trolls' underground map completely (only folks I know that use it are those RPers looking for a RP storyline to run in there).

2) Incorporate the Tunnel of the Trolls (preferably a mapped segment thereof) with the 'take down 100 Trolls' or 'Disarm 10/15/20 (mob guarded) Explosives' as a "Part I" to the LFG Trial that has to be done prior to entering the "Part II" actual lava-map 8-obelisk section.

Issue #5: More challenging badges and better rewards. A single "Transcendent" Badge for trial completion and MAYBE "Volcanic" badge offered up in defeating 100 Magmite Lords. Try as I might, I have yet to get the "Volcanic" badge on any but ONE of hundreds of my characters, and that's not through a lack of trying in and around the Hollows. It's far easier to get all Praetorian defeat badges in 1-20 during regular Praetorian mission arc play than try to get the "Volcanic" one. Since Stealth/TP is the norm, it makes it more time consuming for badgers to get the Volcanic badge unless the badges/teamates go into the trial with the presumption of defeating lots of Igneous/Magmite Lords in-trial.

I know there are those that say "but it's a trial, what do you expect? Everything else is now easier in the game, why change this too?". My retort: since all the other lower level 'big' stuff have received updates (i.e., Positron TF I & II, sewers, easy access to Icons, etc), this seems to be a no-brainer to get this rarely used trial some long awaited attention and maybe get some folks talking about The Hollows again.

So, tl;dr for this is: IF you get the long-to-achieve Hollows NPC/arc completed to unlock the trial, and IF you can get a team of eight patient low-level teamates to stick together through this trial, and IF you have a Stealth/Recall Friend Teleportation-powered teamate to do the trial fast to prevent other teamates from slogging through an inordinant amount of tough mobs during a countdown of a timed trial, and IF you enjoy all this for a badge and 8 merits...you might enjoy this trial. Otherwise, I'm afraid most other (newer) folks will instead continue the new trend of farming the new Atlas/Mercy Sewer Trial for the Hydra Chemical Enhancers with less wasted play time, more badges/XP rather than even notice this hidden trial's existence.

Personally, I think it's time to update the Cavern of Transcendence Trial, devs (not discounting a few other TFs, SFs, zones, bases and PvP that also need some love and attention).

What do you, the forumites, think?

Is the trial ok as is and instead want to thow pumice-looking rocks at OP and tell him to suck it up?

or...do you agree with the some/all of the OP?

Done.

Friggin Taser earns 1 Internetz

Welcome back all!

Hey...wait...I can post again! I'm able to log into the forums again!

WAHOOO!

*Lights off massive fireworks display for all new Premium members*