Richter_8_6

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Wasn't this on Family Guy or something?

One more vote for the Big Red Ball!!!

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I think this was actually a Saturday Night Live, or a Mad TV, skit.

That being said...

+1 vote for the BRB!

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It must be limited, solely and exclusively, wihtout exception, to those character who never had the opportunity to earn Isolator the "approved" way - meaning, those created before Issue 2

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Okay, that should be easy enough, but without having access to the back-end system, I would have to go with the assumption that somewhere the "createDate" for each character is recorded. Filter characters by a createDate prior to the date Issue 2 went live.

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It must require EFFORT to acquire - effort commensurate with the effort of killing 100 level-one Contaminated with (at best) a Security(1)/Combat(2)-levelled character

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Okay, so it must be earned through a mission that exemps you down to level 1, basically. Easy enough, the auto-exemp feature should feasibly be able to handle this.

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It must be a one chance only, no re-attempts allowed scenario; once you leave the "do-over" mission or whatever, you must not be allowed to return (ideally, there ould be a hospital IN the mission, of course)

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I believe there are at least a couple of missions that have a 'failure limit' to them - for instance, the "Stop 30 Fir Bolg" mission in Croatoa. Apply the same mechanics, but set the failure limit to 1.

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It must involve precisely zero alteration to the existing badge text.

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This is honestly the trickiest of the criteria. We'd have to either have a time travel gimmick mission, or an "Alternate Universe" gimmick mission. I'd actually prefer the latter. It would make it so that pre-I2 toons couldn't get this until they reached Peregrine Island level, however. Once there, the flagged accounts would receive a pop-up message, similar to the ones for the Christmas and Valentine's Day missions. It would basically say, "Dr. Soeandsoe needs to speak with you immediately!" When you speak with him, he would give you the following schpiel:

"HeroX, we've discovered something disturbing: One of the many worlds out there that we've found through our research is in danger of being overrun by the same virus you likely fought as your first service to Paragon City. Their strongest heroes all sacrificed themselves in the battle against the Rikti, and unfortunately the remaining heroes were nearly drained of all power in the battle; thus, they fight valiantly to stem the tides of the Contaminated, but they are about to lose the fight. We need you to go wipe out enough of those infected to halt the progress of the virus. The downside here is that this world never reverse-engineered the portal technology - and so we cannot let them know that we are there. Because of that, you'll have to use only your weakest powers so you don't stand out too much. We've only got one shot at this; if you fail, the Contaminated will surely break out before you can restore yourself and get back to that world."

Now, because you're technically a brand-new hero to this alternate universe, you could be rewarded the badge, since it is technically the "start of your career" in that dimension.

So... any thoughts?

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"Slippery slope" is not an inherently false premise. The fact is, the moment you give people a "way-back machine" for ONE badge, someone else willpop up and [censored], whine, moan, and complain about ANOTHER badge, until it TOO gets it's own "way-back machine" opportunity.

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Except that in order for the argument to be valid, you would have to have an environment where those claims don't already occur. And in this environment, they very definitely have in the past. When the Winter Lords came back, there were posts of, "Let us have the other badges from Frosty!" I'd bet when Halloween rolls around again, you'll have a good number of posts on gettting those badges again as well. And cries of, "Where's our Celebrant for the two-year anniversary?"

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It works like this, you see: once you set the precedent of doing something, it becomes that much harder to justify not doing so again. And each time you succumb to the demands that generated that sort of concession, it becomes even harder to justify finally saying "no more".

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And again, I say that invalidates the point of this forum. If "giving in" to our suggestions is such a dangerous situation that it will automatically make it that much harder to hold out against further similar suggestions, then they need to close this forum down immediately. You're assuming the developers have to justify saying, "No," and they don't. The claim you're making is that because the developers are going to add trenchcoats into the game makes them more susceptible to adding, say, neon green toupees into the game if forum goers wheedle about it enough. And that's where the slippery slope comes in.

To use a real-world example: If you ask me to bake you chocolate chip cookies, and I do so, it does not guarantee that I'll be more likely to give in to your request of, "Bake me a cake!". It doesn't even guarantee that I'll be more likely to do so. Now, what you are correct about is that if I don't bake you that cake, you might throw a fit and try to say, "But you baked me cookies!" In that situation, a halfway intelligent adult will say, "And your point is?" and send you packing. Which will lead to whining and moaning - but if precedent means anything at all, that's already going to happen in this case anyway. When the time rolls around for those time-specific events, people will already be on the boards puling about how they should bring them back so we can get the rewards and badges from them.

If it's something we need to agree to disagree on, then I suppose I'd be best to stop reading this thread, because frankly, the most common argument is a classically-invalid slippery slope, at the bottom of which are a false assumption and a fear that something will happen - when in fact it's already very likely to happen regardless of the outcome of this issue.

I wanted to comment on one thing here:

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It is an all-or-nothing affair; if you can go back for ONE badge you missed, then you should be able to get EVERY badge you missed - othing else is at all even remotely fair.

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This is a huge, personal, and in my opinion invalid assumption. Put on your skis, and watch out for the jump at the bottom of that slippery slope - it's a doozy.

There are several things that I agreed on in your previous post, but this argument's nigh-crystal clear representation of the classic slippery slope fallacy comes close to invalidating your other arguments to my eyes.

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What I wouldn't be adversed to, however, is Puretones suggestion. Setting up two "versions" of the badge, with alternative text. If you get one version, you wouldn't be able to get the other. While it would be defeating the purpouse of having Isolator as an "Easter Egg" of sorts, I think it would make for an acceptable compromise.

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Liquid, thank you for the compromise response. Although I don't knock the idea of the 'get back into Outbreak' idea, I do see your point - and unfortunately could see some unscrupulous 'heroes' blocking folks from leaving the zone. In retrospect, the idea of a second "Isolator" badge - one with possibly the same graphic but slightly altered text - might be the best way to go with this.

At first, I never had thought that this idea would be such a polarizing one. Then, of course, I read the other current 'oldie' thread, and wondered how people could post for 20+ pages on vomitting NPCs But at least in both cases a constructive compromise has been agreed=on, in both cases. Of course, that compromise, for what it's worth, ain't worth much Hopefully it'll give a bit more ammo and a solid idea to Cuppa to take to the devs.

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And I disagree. Part of the discussion on the merits of giving a second means of gaining isolator is that if you did so, you would have people using it as a basis for arguments of why every special event badge should also be awarded even if you were not here to obtain it.

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Except that, once again, that's a slippery slope argument. Additionally, people are already doing this. They already feel absolutely 100% justified in doing this. I believe there was just recently a new post made about getting some of the other time-constrained badges, so they're already going to be there. And just becaue the devs acquiesce on one minisculely-similar issue (read below) doesn't mean that they should have to on the others.

I disagree with giving people the chance to earn Celebrant, or some of the other time- or special-event-related badges. But to me, Isolator is kin only to those badges because it is also a badge. The unique badges from the Winter Lords, Celebrant from the 1-year anniversary, other time- or event-constrained badges - they are gone. Those events no longer occur on a daily basis. And unless the devs choose to repeat those events in some form, I don't think the badges should be given away.

Outbreak does still occur on a daily basis - and to me that makes it completely unique and non-comparable against those previous badges. I've seen no argument that it convinces me to the contrary.

There's another common slippery-slope argument I've seen in this thread that, taken to its extreme, completely negates the reason for this forum's existence: If a portion of the forum thinks the idea is unimportant or a waste of resources, then it shouldn't be implemented because it would slow down "important" development. And since I'd wager 99% of the ideas tossed out here would be considered wholly unimportant by one group or another, then all ideas suggested here should never be implemented, because they would be a "waste of time".

Thankfully, we don't decide what's important - the developers do. Thus, this forum exists so that we can give voice to ideas and suggestions we might have - and from my view, any claims of "This shouldn't be implemented because it would detract from more important things," are baseless and are not valid as a counter-argument because we have no say whatsoever in what is important to the game.

Now this is a cool idea. I'd probably make my way through the sewers for this. And all it would require would be to add a doorway somewhere deep within the Abandoned Sewer System that would link back to Outbreak, and then auto-exemping down to level 1.

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I just had a thought.

"Kill X" badges - they normally count the efforts of ALL team-members, yes?

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Has anyoen considered rolling a new hero, doing the whole tutorial EXCEPT THE LAST MEETING WITH THE FINAL CONTACT ... and then teamign with a friend's L50 main ... before happily heading off to bash Contaminated skulls?

...

Might that be a workable way to get those badges, without requiring a change in code ...? Or are my fears of "different zone, doesn't count" all too true ...??

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Holy crap, would this work? I'm not sure. I'll tell you what though - Em, if you're on tonight, I'll be glad to test this. If it works, I'll post it - and then everyone and their grandmother who wants it but doesn't have it better get it because you can guess they'll batten down that hatch quickly.

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Until that compelling, "it must be done" reasoning is proferred ... all the "no, leave it as-is" people have to say, is: it isn't broken, so leave it as it is.

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Okay, I have to call Shenanigans, after hearing this stated several times. This is the Suggestions and Ideas forum. Nowhere is it categorically called the "Debate Your Ideas" forum. Thus, all you have to do is come out, post an idea, and then leave it; the devs will look at it and decide whether they like it or not. Nowhere is it said that you have to convince a majority of the forum population in order for an idea to be considered 'cool' by Jack and Co.

People here can say they want Isolator, and the only reason they want it is because their main existed prior to the badge being available; that's justification enough in their eyes. The ones against that concept can say, "No, it's fine the way it is," and that's perfectly justifiable in their eyes. the only failling here is for one side to convince the other, because neither have solid, evidence-supported arguments to sway the opposition.

Thus, when the devs look at it, both sides are going to be equally balanced on the issue, because neither side has provided any conclusive evidence as to whether the idea is good or bad. It's going to come down solely to their decision (as do all things in the game).

Claiming that all you have to say is, "Them's the breaks," in order to win an argument when someone calls for change is wholly untrue. It just means you, like them, don't have a convincing argument as to why the change should not occur.

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Right there with ya. I'd rather see the Flashback system for going back and getting stuff you missed. That would make it MUCH more interesting... that right there would hopefully settle this entire arguement.

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As an aside: I PM'd Statesman at one point to try and settle a dispute over the Flashback system. Per his response, it is "semi-right" that the Flashback system has been scrapped by the developers. So take that to mean what it means.

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No, there weren't, because the badge didn't exist before I2. So datamining at this point is futile and irrelvant.

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That's a bit of nit-picking there, I think. Earn can mean many things, but in the context I at least read "earn" to mean that they performed the requirements to have been awarded the badge, had it existed. The folks that completed TFs that didn't award badges requested datamining for those badges, and the devs agreed that they could do it - but that it wasn't resource-feasbile. So it's not futile - it's just not worth the time and resources it would require.

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Okay, lets put it this way. Lets say one year you decide to enter a contest for 12-18 year olds. Say, a Marathon. You participate, and win, and get a nice Trophy.

Now lets say its a year later, and your 19 now and uneligible to enter. Well, it just so happens that THIS year, they have a new sponsor who offers up a nice million dollar prize. Does that mean that just because you put up the effort in last years race, when there WAS no prize, that you should be retroactively awarded a million dollars?

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Comparisons are all well and good in this case - although I've seen some flawed and drastically exaggerated comparisons on both sides of the argument.

At this point, I think it boils down to one side that wants it, and one side that doesn't. Neither side is willing to give in, because to them the other side's arguments are invalid. The argument of, "I want it because my toon was around before it existed, and thus could never get it is," is purely opinion; the argument, "It would take away dev resources from more important things," is a slippery slope, because by that argument, no suggestion on the forum should ever be followed because the only ones who can determine an idea to be "important" are the devs - and they already know what hey're working on.

So why not just boil this down to a simple yes-and-no debate? Because it seems evident (at least to me) that neither side is going to sway the other by repetition of the same arguments over and over again.

And then we can move onto something important systems-wise - like getting Tanks an Inherent that works in PvP.

Thanks, Cuppa!

Even if it's with not-so-great-news, we're always glad to see you in the threads!

Even though I don't have a 'badge prostitute' (let's see if that slips past the filter!), I wouldn't mind having an alternate way of getting Isolator.

I suppose I look at it differently from the event- or time-based badges because it's still technically available in the game. You can't get the badge from the Calvin Scott TF because it no longer exists; you can't get at Celebrant because the 1-year anniversary has come and gone. They're status symbols, in a way - they say, "I was here when this happened!" Not that that means much, considering this is a game, and nothing more, but...

You can technically get Isolator - by rolling an alt. Every person that comes into the game can earn it, so it's not exactly a rare item. I don't have it on Richter, however, because he was one of my first toons, and I didn't even know it existed. If they gave a way to earn it later that was equally as 'challenging' (read: time-consuming) as the original, then I'd be glad to get it (and no one would ever know that I hadn't earned it the first time around).

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For my part, I'd say they are wrong. And I CERTAINLY don't think you're going to find a tanker above lvl 40 who doesn't think that the I5 defense nerfs and ED, which affects all their "damres only" powers in a VERY bad way, is bad for the game.

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Too late. Found one.

Okay, so I'm level 39. But since about level 36, I've either been soloing on Rugged with my Stone/Stone Tanker, running my own missions on Invincible while duo'd with my roommate Blaster, or I've been SK'd up to run level 43+ missions with friends and SGmates.

Not all the Tanker sets were hurt that badly by ED. Since it hit, I've tanked for 8-person teams and fragged out four times - three were my own fault because I misjudged distance and aggro'd too many enemies at once, and once while trying to save a Blaster who didn't see the 20 or so Nemesis crowded just inside the first doorway on a Numina TF mission.

*shrugs* I have yet to see a change in this game that I've considered game-breaking - mostly because I've been able to overcome them all by altering my playstyle. I didn't even have to respec into 'ED Compliance'; I used that free respec to drop Acrobatics and Minerals and get some decent powers in their place.

Anyhow... devs, thanks for taking some of the soloists suggestions to heart - and definitely thank you for rolling back that hideous Stealth nerf; my Controller and Stalker both love you for it.

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I fail to see how it is "easy" to memorize every mission in the game in advance in case it might spawn an AV so I know I have to form a large team OR raise my difficulty to a level I can't deal with just to SEE an AV.

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A valid argument as to why they should mark these somehow... I know the devs like having them as a surprise, but now there's no reason to leave it that way. EBs are fairly common (more common than AVs, anyway) - so they could feasibly tag the mission on the contact's screen with something like, "There's a chance that you'll be running into one of Paragon's 'Most Wanted' villians, Envoy of Shadows/Maestro/DecafCuppaJo."

[*]Name: Secuutus Attero Incendia (Followers of Destroying Flame)
[*]Colors: Smoldering red and fiery orange
[*]Emblem: The destroying flame
[*]Ranks: King of Nova, Lord of Caldera, Baron of Inferno, Knight of Blaze, Squire of Flame
[*]Motto: Find the flame. Obey the flame. Worship the flame. Embody the flame. Destroy the flame.
[*]Description: Secuutus Attero Incendia was born in the fiery destruction of the Knights Templar, after the last Crusade. Holy Mother Church, fearful that the Knights had grown too powerful and had hidden away many of the powerful relics recovered on their crusades, joined forces with the monarchy and ordered the eradication of the Templar. Some of the Knights survived, and went into hiding to guard the relics they had recovered. Some, however, dedicated themselves to eradicating the Church, and their former Knight brethren who would not join with them. The Secuutus Attero Incendio has worked in the shadows ever since, plotting and striving for the day when the final cleansing fires will be brought to the world and end their enemy's hated existence. When that day comes, the knights of Secuutus will rise from the ashes to claim their rightful place as rulers of the inferno.
[*]Other details: Secuutus will be a role-playing villian group; many of its members will be the arch nemeses of heroes in the Priory of Scion, but all villians are welcome. Details are not yet available on the Priory website, but will be available within the next several weeks. For more information, please contact: in-game Glacia Void (@Richter 8.6) or Nehebka Aaru (@Voltania), via e-mail (richter_8_6@yahoo.com), or on Yahoo Messenger (richter_8_6).

My group tends to use the SG colors when one or more of us are together on a mission.

However, I agree that the concept of a secondary "monetary "system - Prestige - is a bad idea. Folks already give away massive amounts of Influence because they earn too much to use above level 50. Why introduce a second sytem? Unless they intend to do something else with it...

Now someone brought up an interesting point earlier, and I don't want to hijack the thread. However, I think that if the devs really want to encourage the use of SG mode in-game, then why not offer a bonus for it? As an example, the X-Men always seem more powerful when they're working with a few other X-Men. The Justice League always seems to have a tactical advantage when its members are fighting side-by-side. So why not offer some sort of temporary buff if 3 or more SG members are on a given team in SG mode, and up the buff for each person over 3?

Anywho - I have to agree that the Prestige idea ranks low in my books. I'd rather see Influence being spent for the bases. Although, as Hyper_Man stated, this could be something in counter to an idea in CoV - but I won't know until it comes out, because I don't got beta!

Name: Richter 8.6
Real name: Jeremiah Stone
Power: Stone/Stone
Origin: Mutation

Richter 8.6 was born Jeremiah Stone (Jere to his friends). He was raised in a small suburban town on the east coast by two loving parents; his father owned a small pet store, and his mother worked at a pharmeceuticals company. They were not wealthy, but they were happy and comfortable in their small home town.

His entire life, Jeremiah had been different; growth spurts at an early age pushed his height to 6'6" by the time he was 13 - yet, despite the usual occupation of those his size (bullying), he was a quiet, gentle person who excelled in academic pursuits. His interests leaned toward Geology and Vulcanology, thus covering the study of stone in all its forms.

Even beyond this obvious physical difference, Jere felt like an alien among his classmates and friends. He would frequently go for long walks by himself, where he would "talk" to nature. At first, his solitude worried his mother and father, but they grew to understand that Jere simply liked being alone on the unchanging earth.

As time went on, Jere's intelligence and open, friendly manner garnered him a small group of loving friends, and that helped him through his awkward high school years. Upon graduating as Valedictorian of his high school, Jeremiah began taking classes at Hephaestus-Geb University in Edison, New Jersey, studying (of course) Geology.

It was during his junior year that his feelings of dissimilarity finally made sense. A massive earthquake, caused by the activities of the Trolls of Paragon City, struck the East Coast. Jeremiah was in one of the biology labs with his study group when the building shuddered and collapsed around them.

The screams of terror from his fellow students sparked something in the gentle giant; he felt strength coursing through his body, and felt his skin thicken and become stony. He made his way to one of the outer walls of the building, moving slabs of stone and metal girders as though they were styrofoam. Reaching the outer wall, Jerermiah felt the heat of molten stone pouring into his fist; the magma burst forth from his palm and hardened into a massive hammer, with which he beat down the wall and allowed himself and most of his fellow students to escape.

He confided in his parents as to his sudden heroic changes, and his mother finally told him of the experiments she had performed on herself in her early years as a pharmeceutical student - and they can only assume that these experiments led to mutations in Jeremiah's biology.

Realizing that his destiny had changed forever, Jeremiah adopted the name Richter 8.6, and made his way to Paragon City. He has gotten a job as a substitute teacher at a night school, but spends most of his time on the streets in cape and armor, fighting crime. He has vowed to prevent any further disasters from radiating from this city of heroes.

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3 words: Belkin Nostromo n52. It's absolute control in the plam of your hand.

Belkin Nostromo Speedpad n52

The only thing you need the keyboard for is random chatting. 14 programmable "keyboard" style keys (2 rows 5, 1 row 4), a scroll wheel w/ a center "click" button, an 8-directional control pad, a thumb "trigger"...

...and the shining prize: a "profile" shift key that lets you flip through 4 different colored profiles, each of which can have a completely different set of keys bound to all 26 programmable keys, giving you a total of 104 programmable slots.

The keybind editor is easy to use, and includes a full macro editor - so you can actually bind macros to the keys. I use it for extended battle-cries, chat "taunts" to use on enemies, and common requests ("LFT" or "HEAL PLEASE!!"). It's all easily editable, and with the mouse, means that the keyboard goes bye-bye completely (again, except for random chatting).

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Regarding my Nostromo n52 post:

I've got an email specifically for CoH! Send any of your questions or profile requests to ricther_8_6@yahoo.com.

3 words: Belkin Nostromo n52. It's absolute control in the plam of your hand.

Belkin Nostromo Speedpad n52

The only thing you need the keyboard for is random chatting. 14 programmable "keyboard" style keys (2 rows 5, 1 row 4), a scroll wheel w/ a center "click" button, an 8-directional control pad, a thumb "trigger"...

...and the shining prize: a "profile" shift key that lets you flip through 4 different colored profiles, each of which can have a completely different set of keys bound to all 26 programmable keys, giving you a total of 104 programmable slots.

The keybind editor is easy to use, and includes a full macro editor - so you can actually bind macros to the keys. I use it for extended battle-cries, chat "taunts" to use on enemies, and common requests ("LFT" or "HEAL PLEASE!!"). It's all easily editable, and with the mouse, means that the keyboard goes bye-bye completely (again, except for random chatting).

If anyone is interested or gets one, email me for my Nostromo profile - jdfurryphx@yahoo.com .

Group name: The Nights Templar
Group server: Guardian
Group colors: Black and bold blue
Rank titles (descending): Sidereal Lord, Eventide Paladin, Stygian Cavalier
Group motto: Act as kings, fight as demons!

Group purpose: To have a good time Seriously - offline, the three founding members are into tabletop roleplaying, and we're looking for those who would like to interject some light roleplaying into their villian-blasting. In addition, we're hoping to prepare for the release of City of Villians, and the obvious changes that it will bring to the game. The group is open to all archetypes, and we would prefer teammates that are semi-cautious, fair-minded, and open to strategy and teamwork.

Current Group List
Bagheera Ba'ast (lvl 12 Natural Defender RadEm/DkBlst)
Erykaun Vleshin (lvl 10 Magickal Defender Emp/RadBlst)
Cryo-Flayme (lvl 5 Technology Tanker IceAr/FMel)

Usual play times: 2pm-10pm AZ Mtn Time Mon-Thurs-; 7am-12am Fri, Sat; 7am-10pm Sun