Really_Big_Bang

And I had to edit that post, for some reason I kept typing hours instead of days.

Adding to my last comment, an example:

For Physician (red side), you need to earn professor and Pain specialist to get an accolade that let's you resurrect allies.

10 days of Professor credit earns you the temp power of
Random tech salvage drop upon mission complete.

10 days of Pain Specialist credit earns you the temp power of
Out of combat regeneration bonus.

30 days of credit on both gives you the Accolade. That means from then on, you only need 8 days of credit to get the Temp Power. And if you log off at either site, you get your Accolade power recharged.

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A lot of people seem to be saying, "60 days is fair to earn an Accolade because you get a power at the end of it."

You may have failed to read that you can only use the power a set number of times, and then you have to log out at one of the two job locations that led to that Accolade for 8 days to fully recharge it.

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You are misrepresenting things. The Temp Powers are temp, the accolades are not...you log back at those sites to recharge the powers, but there is no clock involved.

All of the benefits granted from Day Jobs, other than badges and accolades (see below) are temporary or have a certain number of uses before they expire. However, each time a character logs out from the same area, the corresponding benefits are replenished. Most rewards take 10 days of logged out time to reach the maximum benefit.

---------------

Once you own both the Professor and Caregiver badges you will unlock the Physician Accolade. With this Accolade you will be able to earn ‘charges’ for a power that revives defeated allies by logging out from (and back in to) either a University or a Hospital. You will gain the Day Job benefits for both this Accolade and the Day Job benefit associated with the area. Nice benefits!

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It's one thing to say, "I'm going to grandma's for a week, so I'll park Super Buffalo Man in the hospital to get some Medical Specialist credit." It's another entirely to say, "I'd rather play Super Buffalo Man, but he's gotta work on that badge (or whatever reward you're going for), so to maximize his earnings, I'll play a different character that I'm really not as much in the mood to play."


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Anyone who does this needs serious help.

Wow, tons of things to digest here. Looks great as always, guys. CoX 4 life

Thank you guys for using my fan fics I agree with everyone else, this was the best issue yet!

Life Outside the Big City Issue 3
By Kid Bang

<<Note: This contains spoilers to Slot Machine's story arcs>>

So, I was in the Golden Giza casino in St. Martial a few days ago. I was heading to the big rollers room, and I heard one of the slot machines talking to me. Now, I just figured it was Dr. Infinite and one of his ridiculous pranks but, nope. Turns out this Slot Machine actually had some hot tips for me. Only on Rogue Isles…

The first bunch went down great and brought the Bone Snappers some major scores. Snatched up some artifacts and a list of people who owed money to the Tsoo, both of which brought in some nice ransoms let me tell you. Then I paid the Freakshow a visit. Not only did I score some sweet bank account access codes, but also a pretty…unique…DVD! You've never seen anything ‘til you've seen some Freakshow on CoS action! And just to round things off, I went after the Carnival of Shadows and racked up some Bearer Bonds. I think this was all tied together by a twisted tale of blackmail, but I was too busy counting pictures of Ben Franklin to keep track.

After being able to finally pay off that Plasma screen that Kral Raiden smashed when Dawson's Creek was cancelled, I got Kral to come back to the Giza with me to get some more tips from the wise and powerful Slot Machine. And that is when things got a little wonky. First it sent me and Kral to steal some weapons from the Council. The weapons were worthless, but we ran across some joker in trouble called High Roller. Roller turned out to be a former villain who was trying to rack up a big score of his own.

The Slot Machine hadn't let me down before, so I figured this was just a fluke. But, I have to tell you, Kral was getting a little annoyed. I think he was ready to put me through the Slot Machine for wasting his time. So then the Slot Machine told us where we could find some massive gemstones guarded by Devouring Earth. Plants and rocks guarding gemstones? We had to check that out!

This job. didn't go so well. Not only did Kral and I both got knocked out at one point, but also no gemstones. What we did find was High Roller in over his head again!

After escaping from the sticks and stones (and yes, they really can break your bones. Really glad we finally got that Medical Bay up and running), we returned to the Giza and were ready to commit some property damage, when the Slot Machine started saying some strange things. It begged us to help High Roller before the Circle of Thorns got him. Kral thinks I'm nuts, but how could I say no to a poor innocent Slot Machine. Plus, I still owe the CoT.

Once High Roller was free and clear, we were able to piece together the whole story. He had built that Slot Machine as part of a plan to rob the Casino, and it was loyal to him. Thankfully, High Roller decided to retire for good. I got a letter from him yesterday, he's now a shop teacher in Poughkeepsie, NY.

As for the Slot Machine, it was so happy that we saved High Roller, it gave me and Kral a huge payout, so all in all, it was well worth the bruises. Oh, don't look at me like that Kral, you had fun, too.

Life Outside the Big City Number 2

<<Note: this contains spoilers to Vivacious Verandi's story arc in City of Villains.>>

Dear City Scoop,

I am writing this letter to address some rumors that have been floating around about me.

Yes, it is true, last weekend, renowned villain sidekick and Bone Snapper junior member Kid Bang actually managed to do something heroic. He stormed across the island of St. Martial and stopped complete chaos from tearing about this fragile island. For reasons unknown, fighting had broken out in the area between several different factions. The Family were getting fried by Freakshow. Ancestor spirits were locked in combat with Nerva Spectres high above the city. And something had gotten the Devouring Earth worked up into a frenzy! I actually saw a Tree of Life running right down Recluse Avenue!

Now, ordinarily, the Little Banger wouldn’t have cared. The more chaos in the Isles, the more spoils I can claim, Thénardier-style. For those who have no idea who that is, you should sue your high school English teacher.

But, everyone knows you don't go and have an out and out street brawl in St. Martial. The island is already a hot bed of supernatural activity, and those big obelisks you see around the Golden Giza? They ain't just for decoration. The obelisks are the only things keeping the demons from chowing down on John and Jane Q. St. Martial. And these thugs weren't paying all that much attention to what was being caught in the crossfire.

Now, me personally? I've had enough problems with demons over the years, so I single-handedly went out and stopped the war myself. I risked life and limb to save the good people of St. Martial! The whole island owes the safety of their souls and plasma TVs to me! I'm expecting a check in the mail any day from the ungrateful bums who live there.

Now that you know the truth, I need to address those ugly rumors I mentioned earlier.

1) I was not the one who caused this situation in the first place. I don’t know where the media gets this kind of thing. Doesn’t anyone do research any more? I wasn’t even around St. Martial last week.

2) I didn’t step in because that jerk Hardcase threatened to rip my limbs off unless I fixed the mess I started.

I have no idea how these ridiculous lies got started! I am in talks with my lawyers about suing your publication for contributing to these baseless rumors!

Before I close this letter, I just wanted to leave a little completely unrelated note for some of our younger readers: when a hot chick asks you to cause some Isles spanning gang war just to liven up a dull weekend, it’s probably a good idea to pass. No matter how cute she is under all that crazy clown makeup. Oh, Vivacious Verandi…someday, you will be mine.

Thank you for your time!

Kid Bang

<<Note: Over the last few weeks, I have been inspired to write some in character blogs, basically my character's take on Paragon City and Rogue Isles. As you can tell from the title, the idea was inspired by Astro City.

Please feel free to post any feedback. I'm curious what people think of these.>>

Life Outside the Big City Issue 1
By Kid Bang

They say there are over a million stories in the big city. You know what I say? No one wants to read those stories. What does Paragon City have? Freedom Phalanx? Ha! More like Fascist Phalanx. When your team’s leaders should be collecting social security, it’s time to hang up the capes. Vindicators? This is the group that accepted WOODSMAN!!! Obviously their standards are a little low. And those are the top of the pile!! There are tons of smaller heroes running around in tights and capes getting in each other’s way in their efforts to save the world and get on the 6’O Clock Nightly News.

BORING!!

My name’s Kid Bang. Growing up in King’s Row, all the other kids wanted to be Statesman or Back Alley Brawler. Me? I wanted to be the bad guy. I even had a homemade Hamidon costume. Just a little tip to anyone thinking of trying this at home, colored cellophane does not breathe well. My parents kept hoping I would grow out of it, but it never quite happened.

When I was 16 years old, that’s when I saw him! Dressed in the most amazing black and green costume, it was Really Big Bang. He landed right in front of King’s Row First National Bank, tore right through the police and Longbow and robbed the place in broad daylight. It would have been the most impressive thing I’d ever seen if some punk hero didn’t hit him from behind. It’s just shameful that they can call themselves heroes, but they always have to resort to cheap shots like that.

That was when I realized, I wanted to be just like him. Now, unfortunately, I’m not a genius like RBB. He invented all his sonic devices himself. I couldn’t even pass high school physics. So I asked around, trying to find the best way to “get an origin.” I ended up making contact with a few Circle of Thorn acolytes. The deal was the Circle of Thorns would help me gain super powers, and I would work for them to pay it off. Seemed simple enough at the time. As you can tell, I was a real dumb teenager.

The cool part? I was more than a pale imitation of the Original Banger. Not only did I get sonics, I also have some control over hellfire. This tends to be a little unpredictable. Sometimes I can heal people, sometimes I can turn invisible, and for one strange week, I sprouted some wicked-looking dragon wings. I kind of miss those!

The not-so-cool part? Working for the Circle of Thorns was a bit of a nightmare. Soul repossession and demonic rituals were definitely not what I was expecting from life as a super villain. So after a year of this, I decided to get the hell out of there. No pun intended.

Turns out the Circle of Thorns weren’t okay with me tendering my resignation. They quickly recaptured me, and it looked like I was gonna be next on the “human sacrifice” list. And that’s how I met the Bone Snappers.

The Bone Snappers are a small group that operates around the islands. The name is pretty lame, but after Kingpin of Crime took the group over, they decided to keep the name. I guess if you can make the name “The Bone Snappers” sound threatening, then you really are a force to be feared. I guess.

When I met them, the team’s leadership consisted of Kingpin of Crime, Kral-Raiden, Doctor Infinite, and REALLY BIG BANG!! I’ll probably talk more about these great guys in future blogs. For now, all you need to know is that they saved me from the Circle of Thorns. They happened to be raiding the cave I was being held in, and brought me along with them.

Immediately, they saw just how much potential I had as a villain and asked me to join. Well, okay, at first they were just trying to ransom me back to my parents, but they didn’t want me either. Really Big Bang convinced them to keep me around, and he even mentored me for a few months before he decided to go into semi-retirement.

So, that’s the beginning of my story. Over the next few weeks, I’m gonna show you what it’s like to live on the Isles. Paragon City gets too much press as is, and it’s time to show the world that Rogue Isles is really the place to be. And maybe someday, you’ll be ready to pattern your life after me. I think Kid Kid Bang has a nice ring to it.

Holy ****! I actually screamed IRL when I saw this announcement. This is real exciting!! I can't wait to give that a try!!

[ QUOTE ]
I would say just have a special contact made available to military personnel and via email, allow them to simply be exempted form the name policy. I don't see why we need to creating sliding rules for names being freed up; let the GI's keep their names, and everyone else has to abide by the rules...

[/ QUOTE ]

And how exactly are you supposed to prove that you are a GI? What's to stop non-GI's from using the contact? I really don't see a reason to make this exception. High level characters are still protected. Worst case scenario, the guy or gal has to rename his character when they do get back and playing again.

These characters are their babies and yet they have had their accounts closed for months?

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You keep confusing inactive subscriptions with inactive characters. No one is arguing for the sniping of names from active subscriptions, period.

edit- Active subscription = account still being paid for, regardless of actual log-ins.

[/ QUOTE ]

Exactly. These are paying customers. If they want to sit on X amount of unused characters just to keep those names for when they do want to use them, they are paying for the spots and I have no problem with that at all.

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As I see it, by holding these names for non playing - non paying former customers, current players are being penalized on some level. WEhy would we hold the name of a level 50, just for hitting 50? My main alt is on Freedom. Though I'm well known in certain groups I'm not so self absorbed to believe if I left, a year down the road if someone took up the mantle they would be harassed for taking the name. It's just a new hero under an old name. In comics character names are regularly recycled, in DC alone consider: Wildcat(4), Sandman (6), the question(2), Mr. Terrific(2),Batgirl(4), Black Condor(3), Air Wave(3), Batman(4), Robin (5), Black Canary(2), Dove (3)and Wonder Woman(6) just to name a few - see link:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...ret_identities

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Exactly.

And those who keep making this "so many possible letter combinations" arguement, those returning vets also have a wide variety of letter combinations to choose from. I'm a consistent paying customer, they've been gone 6 months, why should they be able to sit on their names?

Hell, I'd be in favor of if someone is gone 12 months, their characters should stop taking up server space.

Again, that is just combinations of letters. I am not calling my character asdfdsepk.

Ack, sorry. My head is all over the place this morning. Deleting it!

Loved it as always!

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Perhaps it would help to know just what all his fuss is about.

Could you list, oh, say 10 "good names [you've] come across" that you think, thanks to your dedicated yet totally disinterested sleuthing methods, are being kept out of circulation by inactive players?

--CH

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Oh, I agree with this fully. I've never really had a problem naming one of my characters anyway. I just don't think the developers should be protecting the rights of inactive players over active players. Give them a reasonable time frame to come back, and if they don't, put them names back into circulation.

[ QUOTE ]
QR

42,391,158,275,216,203,514,294,433,220 possible character names. Nobody with 132 names taken is preventing you with getting a good name.

[/ QUOTE ]

Now that is just absurd. Subtract from that number any name that would be a copyright violation, and any name that violates the TOS, and also combinations of letters that are just unreadable. Yes, there are lots of possible combinations, that is not the same as 42,391,158,275,216,203,514,294,433,220 good names.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
The large inspirations are cast on your character, not put in the tray.

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Ah, makes a lot more sense. Thanks!

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I actually had read it the same way. It was when you quoted it I noticed my mistake

The large inspirations are cast on your character, not put in the tray.

Seems tied in with Roman stuff which is for both, so I think this will be accessible to both.

Seems tied in with Roman stuff which is for both, so I think this will be accessible to both.

And I remember when they were talking about EXP smoothing seeing something about some kind of prestige/inf fix in the next issue.

Is the City Vault going to be part of this? Just curious. This is more than enough without it.