MissInformed

1) You coming?
--Yes
1a) If yes, banquet menu ok?
--Yes
1a1) If yes, which banquet items appeal?
--I'd feel more comfortable knowing the cost per person before deciding. I know your own generosity seemingly knows no bounds, but I also know that for some people, the ability to take advantage of such generosity knows no limits. I'd like the cost to be within reason for everyone, even if some people need help covering. Some people don't like to let anyone else cover their costs, especially if they think something is expensive. Keeping the cost per person down would help people feel more comfortable with allowing someone else to cover them if they need it.

1a2) If no, what do you propose we do instead?
--N/A
1b) If no, are you weenie-ing out because you THINK you can't afford it?
--Nope, but I don't like the idea of one or several people getting shafted by people with no feeling of any accountability.
1b1) Does the wording of my question above change your answer?
--Nope.
1d) If no, what the heck is wrong with you?
--Ha!
2) Anything we MUST have (even if not on the banquet menu)?
--No, but I will totally chip in for an Apple Gorgonzola salad with Arwen if we can't get it added!
(I figure we might have some leeway in this regard as omissions cost the same as some included items.)
3) Preferred dining date/time? My planned default is Friday Oct 23, 5:30pm which will hopefully allow us to dine without rushing to get to whatever Niv might be putting together on Friday
--Sounds good to me.

What can I do to help?

I think if you're really looking at three years to complete the series and it's based on CoH graphics, you may run into trouble. Three years from now the game may not be around or may have a completely different look to it if they release a CoH2. (Regular comics get new artists doing old characters though, yeah? It shouldn't be unacceptable to people.)

If you want to do this only for you, take as long as you need. If you want to get actual readers who follow along, I think you'll need to speed things up, especially if the story line gets complex. There's a reason comics and TV serials have specific timeframes and deadlines for completion: when they stretch things out, they lose the audience. People can't remember details of things that are too spread out and may have to go back and re-read, which they may get tired of or not have enough time for. Lost and Battle Star Gallactica both lost viewers when plots got very complex and the shows had too much time between episodes. Comics are going to be a little easier because people will be able to access old issues and re-read them more quickly, but you should still expect a loss.

Of course, some authors are able to carry long delays off. J.K. Rowling sometimes had very long gaps between Harry Potter books and it didn't seem to hurt her. Stephen King took what seemed like forever to finish the Dark Tower series. But authors like Rowling and King are pretty unique with super devoted followers.

In the other thread, someone suggested getting the works out, then spending time later to refine them. This is done all the time by director's and people who do "anniversay additions," etc. (Heck, I feel like BladeRunner had half a dozen director's cut/final cut versions, though I think it was more like 3.) People were outraged, but I think we all know about George Lucas' rework of the original Star Wars films.

Consider something else all creators have to think about when trying to decide between speed versus quality: is this something everyone will notice or only you will really know about? I think all creators have to sacrifice quality in some regards for various reasons: time, money, technology, ability (self or others), unexpected setbacks, etc. I don't think anyone who works in a creative field ever really feels anything is ever truly finished. I've talked about this with lots of people who have to create things and we all tend to agree about that. ("All" being the people I talked to. I'm not going to presume to speak for every person involved in creative endeavors.) Even if we think something is brilliant and we couldn't possible have done it better, the moment after we delcare it finished, we think of 10 things we want to change or should have done differently, even for works that are highly praised by others. Here's another trait I've come across in people who work in creative fields: There is nothing I've done that I don't think I could go back and improve, but it's simply not possible. Nothing new would get done and I'd spend all my time forever "improving" my old works. And as we've seen from Lucas, what we consider improvements may not always be welcome by others.

Do what feels right for you, but consider the waiting audience and don't drive them away by making them wait too long. Remember that you should always do you best, but if you wait until you feel like something is perfect, it may never happen. Even if it does, you'll likely feel differently afterward. Do your best and get it to a point where you feel proud of it, even if it's not what you'd consider perfect. If you can't live with it or don't want to sign your name to it, it's probably not ready yet. If you're using the game and limited software capability for your comic graphics, I think this is especially important. You won't be able to control everything exactly as you see it in your head and that's already going to have some "built in" sacrifice. But if you feel like it's something you'd be proud to have you name on, it may be time to let it go even if it's not exactly as you'd hoped.

Good luck.

If you don't get a response here, try posting this on the Tech & Bugs forum. The people who answer questions there are generally very knowledgeable about tech/spec issues. Many of them answer questions here too, but the majority of the questions in this section are game-related, not tech related.

And remember to check in with your PB contact every time you level. The Epic ATs all have their own story arcs and as you level up, they will offer you new missions.

You didn't include the level of your character, so it's hard to be specific. On the villains side I found that, aside from the unlockable content, there's not a load of "extra" content beyond level 10 or 12. It's easy to outlevel the second level contacts in Mercy or the first few contacts in Port Oakes, but after that I think I pretty much did nearly every contact and every mission on any character I played mostly solo. If you have your difficulty up higher at a lower level or do end up teaming more often, you can outlevel them faster, but I didn't. (Note: this was before "XP Smoothing" came along and boosted the rate of XP.) More often than not, I would have to hold myself back from leveling in order to do things like get the Bling badge and unlock Doc Buzzsaw before I outleveled her.

Unless you turn off the XP gain, you can do anything and level. Pick the arcs you enjoy most or even go try some AE arcs, since they're new content. You can PL in the AE missions if you want, but you don't have to. I like doing AE missions to see what kinds of stories the other players are making up. Some of them are really very good.

Yes, this feature seems to be buggy or, at the very least, not automated.

Here's the workaround I've been using:

Once I'm satisfied I've read everything I want to, I go to the top menu and select "Quick Links" and "Mark Forums Read." That will mark all threads as read and give you a better indicator of what's actually new. After that, you can use the "First new post" link at the top of any thread.

It's a hassle, but it does work.

You my want to consider adding some sort of executive summary at the beginning here.

Make sure you're using all your resources to find people, too.

If you aren't a member of any global channels on your server, join some. (Check the Freedom server page for a list of global channels and start asking around for others.) That's a great way to access people who may not even be playing villains your level at the same time you are but who might be interested in changing if they find out someone else is putting a team together.

Post someting on the Freedom forums. Tell people what you plan on doing and when, then see if anyone wants to show up and join you. If you're only broadcasting or only searching for who's your level and in your zone/game at the same time you are, you're cutting yourself and your teaming options off from all the other players who may be on and looking for something to do. I know that in my global channels people will often switch characters or sides as soon as they hear someone has something going on that they can join, even if it's not with the character they have logged in at the moment.