Rigger4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1sjAmHoasc

Seems appropriate.

OK, so this issue only relates to CoH in that I can't play the game if I don't have a wireless connection, but I don't know what else to do. I have CoHHelper and HijackThis logs at hand if anyone wants to see them.

Yesterday, I was playing just fine, no problems. This morning, when I started up my laptop, for NO REASON WHATEVER, I got the following error:

ms56hlpr.exe - Application failed to start
The application failed to initialize properly (0xc0000096)

and my wireless network card simply would not connect to our network.

I have also tried:

updating drivers (no new drivers found; still got the error)
disabling the Motorola modem associated with the driver (still got the error)
deleting the ms56hlpr.exe application (didn't get an error, but still cannot connect to the network)

I'm now at a complete loss, and I would like very badly to rejoin my CoH friends in the game. Please help if you can.

X.) Log in..

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Watch the scout sell Slapchop

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OOC) Fall out of your chair.

007) Fap.

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Just checkin' to see if we're representing @ E3...

I mean, with those other guys breathin' down our necks, it'd be nice to remind people that we're here.

At NYCC, CO had Defender there, posing for pictures. Is Statesman at E3, taunting Defender over his white tights?

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They showed a trailer of the upcoming City of Heroes movie. It seems that in order to make things more appealing to the mainsteam audience, Woody Allen will be playing Statesman, Morgan Freeman will be playing Manticore, and Robin Williams will be playing Lord Recluse.

It seems that in the movie, Nemesis (Played by Jack Black) and his best friend/Heterosexual life mate Backalley Brawler (Will Smith) will be forced out of their appartment building due to it being purchased by Countess Crey (Julie Newmar) in order to make way for a new chain of Snuckies convenience stores. BaB's and Nemesis, desperate for a place to live, will then dress up as women in order to live in an all womans boarding house owned by the Carnival of Shadows. There, they will learn how to love and get in touch with their feminine sides.

However, in a heartwrenching story of redemption and hope, Citadel (Patrick Stewart) will learn that he has a long lost daughter, who is infected with incurable chick cancer. He will then go on a soul serching journey to connect with the long lost daughter he never knew he had before she dies. Thankfully, he has help from a lovable pantless hobo (played by guest star Troy Hickman as himself) who will teach him to love again as they get mixed up with the lonesome drifter Castle (Samuel L. Jackson) who is hunting Warwolves in a quest to avenge the death of his one true love, Becky the Tarantula Mistress (Sigourney Weaver), who was killed in a traumatic wheat thresher accident).

This is all capped off when Positron (Adam Sandler) is accidently sent back in time thanks to the time travelling car built by the eccentric genius Dr. Brainstorm (Tim Allen). Now, stuck in 1955, he must then make sure his father and mother marry while trying to figure out how to generate the 1.21 Gigawatts needed to get him back home.

I'm betting it wins an emmy.

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Cool. Sounds like it's going to be better than I expected.

Evil wins all the time in this game, actually. No more so than as a player Villain, where you succeed at nearly every evil task you set out to do.

The problem is--and this is essential--the evil plots you carry out are almost invariably your contacts' evil plots, not yours. That makes you a Mercenary, not a Villain. Now, Mercenaries can be plenty evil, but a true Villain makes his own plans.

A Hero seeks out injustices and rights them. A Villain seeks out opportunities and exploits them. Where the true profit of a mission for a Hero comes from saving the day, the true profit for a Villain should be more than just what their contact is willing to pay them. There has to be something within the mission itself which benefits the Villain, if they are to be separated from mere Mercenaries.

This sounds a little more complicated than it is. In game, the most basic missions that are true Villain missions (and, unfortunately, pretty much the only ones) are the Newspaper missions. You learn of something to steal, or someone who threatens your power, or someone who you can beat up to get more notoriety, and then you go take care of it.

The whole sense of being a lackey instead of a full-fledged Villain is exacerbated by the ubiquitous presence of Arachnos. Ironically, Villains are allowed much less freedom than Heroes. Since this point is a matter of degree, it is easier to illustrate it by imagining if the scenario was reversed: What if Heroes bought all their enhancements from Longbow quartermasters while Villains bought theirs from various shady businesses? What if Heroes were trained by designated Freedom Corp trainers, in a regulated manner, while Villains had to seek out powerful individuals to help them advance in power? What if Heroes took Patron Pools from admired, veteran Heroes, while Villains developed their epic powers on their own? I'm not saying this would be better, I'm just pointing out the irony of Villains having more governmental supervision than Heroes.

My point in all this is that evil does win in this game, and very often, at that. It's just that, due to the way CoV is structured, the evil that wins never really feels like it was the player Villain's idea.


Edited for length.

I like it.

DV didn't resurrect this thread, it did it itself somehow.

Spontaneous zombification for the win.

1. Were the old gods (Hequat, Ermeeth, Tielekku) Incarnates? What about the classic pantheon (Zeus, et al.)?

2. Is the spirit realm used by the ghosts in Veluta Lunata's arc the same as that in Croatoa?

3. What is the Netherworld? It's the canonical source of all Dark powers, and it seems to be inhabited by something, but otherwise there is no information on it.

4. Is the "Hell" that the CoT summon demons from an alternate dimension? Why does the Hordeling description say it has "sinners" and what are they?

5. What are the Spectral Daemons? Why do they looks so monstrous? (I have theories, but no evidence.)

6. How did Countess Crey get her psychic powers? This is especially puzzling since no other Crey troops are obviously psychic.

He wants to delete all level 50 characters. To prevent farming.

It follows the same logical thought processes as saying, for instance, that stealing is bad. Now, people steal because they want money. And people want money because they want to raise families. Therefore, in order to end stealing, all children should be confiscated by the government.

You see? Logical. Especially if you don't want children anyways (because anyone with children must be a thief, and besides, children don't really do anything for you once you've had them).

So, in that vein, I propose a threadjacking. Now that farming has gotten so out of hand that it must be stopped by any means possible (even ones that don't make sense), let's come up with further inane ways of preventing farming.

For instance: Every mission will now have a slight chance of spawning a giant monster, regardless of team size. That'll show 'em.

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The Gaythering Story?

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So, Council then?

Nice job breaking it, hero.

I read the entire thread just to post that.

What about the Battalion?

They're only rumors, so far. I don't remember where I first heard of them, but I think it was an old discussion about new endgame content. The Battalion are an immensely powerful alien race (their power was supposedly going to be represented by them being resistant to players' powers, thus requiring special temp powers to defeat--I personally hate that idea ). There are virtually no in game references to them, although according to one of the Rikti history arcs the Rikti have had a run in with them in the past.

Check out this from Twilight's Son's mission in the Ouroboros intro arc: [ QUOTE ]
For you, I'm sure this is hard to believe, but there is a storm coming. More destructive than any before it. This galaxy holds a threat that is far superior to the Rikti race. This threat is the one that rounded up my kind to fuel their battle fleets as living energy cells.

[/ QUOTE ] Unless he's being deliberately deceptive, he's saying the storm is going to be caused by a powerful alien race--the same one that destroys the Kheldians. As further evidence, the clue you find in the mission appears to contain astronomical data, and in the next mission whoever is responsible for the storm uses Shivans (which could presumably be controlled by a powerful enough spacefaring civilization) as scouts.

I'd like to ask them to remove the word "Hazard" from the list.

Now, I did some research, so I know that both Marvel and DC have characters named Hazard. The thing is, though, I belong to a SG called the "Hazard-Guard", which, for whatever reason, is not blocked on the live servers.

I guess Marvel and DC can both use the word "Hazard", but a NC gamer such as myself using it would just be taking it too far?

Group Name: The Duur
Server: Virtue
Side: Hero
Approximate Size/Cost: 12x12/1.5 mil.
Anything else pertinent: Entirely decorative base that was completely redesigned after I13. Designed for a race of tunnel-dwelling alien-supersoldier-things.

General: One thing I'd like to see for every zone in the game--but particularly Hazard Zones--is at least one story arc that gives a history/overview of that zone.
Also, a lot of the Hazard Zones would benefit from having a set of repeatable missions.

Perez Park: I'd like to see the gang war escalated, with increased street warfare and a few missions dealing with it. Again, a small overview story arc, and some repeatable missions.
Also, don't touch the woods. It's one of the few nature areas in the game that isn't infested with DE.

Boomtown: Boomtown probably needs a Faultline treatment, although probably a lesser one. Start reclaiming the entrance area, with only a little construction further in. I like the wasteland feel of the zone, but it could use a little variety to the devastation. Many villain groups have set up camp in Boomtown, so let them have some established bases in there.
Also, roughly the same amount of story content as new Faultline.

The Tunnels: The only problem I have with the Tunnels is that they're somewhat repetitive. Adding some unique rooms and spicing up the spawns would help it.
I'm not sure they need any mission content, since they're so tied in with the Hollows. Maybe some repeatable missions, at most.

Dark Astoria: This zone needs an update badly. It's a very mysterious zone; we need a chance to investigate it. I'd say three or four story arcs and maybe a TF or Trial.
The map is fine, and would only need to be changed for story reasons.

Crey's Folly: I sometimes wonder why this is a Hazard Zone at all. There was evidently some sort of disaster that left the water highly polluted, but it seems like a number of the facilities are still operational.
I guess there's a few ways to go with it. It could be given a story arc or two dealing with Crey and all the sinister plots they undoubtedly have there, and/or it could be cleaned up enough environmentally to be opened up to the rest of the city again.
Or it could be ignored. Other than maybe a set of repeatable missions, it doesn't really need anything.

Eden: The threat in this zone is so straightforward (DE attack), that it doesn't need a heck of a lot other than missions fighting the DE. And that's partially covered by the Trial.
This brings up one of the main problems with improving Hazard Zones: there's lot's of stories that could be added to all of them, but only so much Developer time, and only Heroes have access to them. So maybe some missions could be added to Eden, but not many.

Abandoned Sewer Network: This zone is rather underused. That's a little odd for an area that was one of the major battlegrounds in the Rikti war. As a zone, however, it doesn't need much except maybe more of an incentive to go down there.
There are presumably Rikti strongholds and Oranbegan ruins down there, somewhere. It would be interesting to actually see them.

Sewer Network: These are well used for sewer runs. That actually makes adding content to them a little problematic, since any contacts or vendor NPCs placed at the entrance would be useless to groups that invariably end up deep in the sewers with no way of reaching them.
I think the most useful thing that could be added would be a contact who gives hunt missions, and who could immediately be called upon taking the first mission.

Terra Volta: This zone is downright strange: it's the central electricity source for the city, and yet it's been allowed to become a Trial Zone with seemingly little resistance. PPD and/or Longbow should be out in FORCE trying to reclaim it.
I think an interesting way to re-imagine Terra Volta would be to claim that it's not a Hazard Zone because it's dangerous, but because it needs to be kept safe. Where most Hazard Zones seem to be designed to keep enemies in, the walls around TV could be in place to keep enemies OUT. In this scenario, the enemies in the zone are not there because it is their turf, but because they are constantly staging assaults on the reactor.
I'd say a story arc or two, plus some repeatable missions.
Also, this zone needs Arachnos. TV is the heart of Paragon's energy; they very definitely want to stab it.

The Shadow Shard: The main thing these zones need is more story content that isn't confined to the story arcs.
There's been debate on the forums about making them co-op zones. I think Villains should have more access to the Shard, although that doesn't automatically mean co-op.


Overall, what most of these zones need is about two short story arcs, and some repeatable missions. A few could use some visual upgrades, with Boomtown probably needing the most attention in this regard.

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Also, it's friggin' hard to come up with appropriate bonuses for the day jobs.


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Why do you think I didn't?

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I didn't include a Dockworker day job because I had no idea what bonus to give it. Smashing resistance due to dropping crates on toes?

Made a list of some, including other people's suggestions.

Also, it's friggin' hard to come up with appropriate bonuses for the day jobs.

-Reporter (Paragon Times building and newsies/WSPDR building): Minor resistance to hold duration
-Construction Worker (Construction site): Increased chance for recipe drops
-Businessman (Helipads or near certain office towers): Discount at stores
-Lawyer (Courthouses--if they're added): Minor psionic resistance
-Sanitation worker/Sewer Dweller(Sewer entrances): Minor resistance to toxic
-Panhandler (Various alleys): Minor resistance to cold
-Hero For Hire/Mercenary (Near Hero Corp employees/unsure): Influence bonus on mission complete
-Naturalist (In the woods): Minor resistance to slow movement
-Athlete (Arenas): Tiny bonus to maximum endurance
-Entertainer (In front of or inside theaters/carnie tent village): Out of combat recovery bonus for teammates
-Vanguard Soldier (Vanguard base and DPOs): Vanguard Merit on mission complete
-Miner (Villains only: The Pit and Cage buildings): Minor resistance to immobilization duration
-Marketeer/Black Marketeer (Wentworths/Blackmarket): Minor market discount
-Fireman/Firewoman (Fire Station--if its added): Minor fire resistance
-Technician (No clue; somewhere techy): Minor energy resistance or discount on crafting costs
-Holy Man/Holy Woman (Heroes only; Religious buildings--if they're added): Minor dark resistance
-Cultist (Villains only; Oranbegan ruins): Minor dark resistance

Butcher. My Scrapper's been thinking of opening a shop for discerning carnivores for a while now.

I guess if thats too specific I'd settle for "Small Business Owner", or something.

This is a great idea. It seems to me that, even if the mission content is kept separate, the zones should be more accessible to both sides by various means.

I agree that the two-level difference requirement should be removed to enable level 50s to participate.

More Mastermind Primaries should be added to the game, for several reasons.

One, with Powerset Proliferation coming up, Masterminds will have fewer choices in their primary than any other AT in either their primary or secondary. Additionally, Masterminds are highly unlikely to ever gain any new primaries from Proliferation, which will make the disparity even more noticeable in later rounds.

Two, Masterminds seem to be the most played Villain AT. While I'm glad that the new sets that will be available in Issue 12 will encourage people to play ATs other than Masterminds, I also think that Masterminds should have greater diversity considering their numbers.

Three, Henchmen sets have almost unlimited possibilities for new themes. Demons, Ghosts, Cultists, Pirates, Circus, Mobsters, Junkbots, Abberations, Mystics, Elementals, Elite Troopers, etc. Just look at the Praetorians, who almost all have their own custom minions. Unlike most other types of sets, in which the powers simply become part of the player character's concept, Henchmen sets also introduce six other minor characters, each of whom has its own concept-defining powers. Since it would be impractical to ask for the ability to custom-choose the costumes and powers of each henchman, I think more sets are important.

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Leading me to my next point about Stalkers, in PvE ONLY their AS should do line of sight damage like Headsplitter. Meaning, if you have a group of guys in a line, you should be able to chain through about 3-4 max and unlike headsplitter, the damage for stalkers should do less each successful chained NPC. Meaning that the first NPC, the origional target should take the brunt of the AS damage, the one next to him half and so on and so forth.

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Make AS a single-target power PLUS a 5-degree cone (like Headsplitter). Only the single enemy targeted by the Stalker receives the full Assassin Strike damage. Anyone else hit by the cone receives a critical of the base Assassin Strike power (so x2 as opposed to x6, or whatever the full AS bonus is). Note that this would only work conceptually with sets that do lethal damage.

That said, Tyranny, I'm not sure exactly why you suggest this. Why do you like the idea?

Yeeah, they got me.

I kinda like the idea, and I think it's funny that I kinda like the idea.