Scarlet Shocker

Very good question. I'd not even equated them all as the same and I generally enjoyed getting the history plaques more than most badges

the only thing I can add to your post is that I think in this instance, an M1 refers to a tank as in the M1 Abrams etc rather than a rifle.

Let's take some time to celebrate the game we love and remember the things that CoH got so very right.

I mean... this game wouldn't have lasted for as long as it did if the guys running the show didn't know diddly right? But to read the boards you might think this game only got to be eight and a half years old by fluke, happenstance and sheer good luck.

Let's remember there is no evidence to suggest that is was dead on its feet and terminally ill. It was killed. After eight and a half years.

So let's celebrate that and talk about what worked well and why we love the game so much.

For me my top picks are simple but they made the game work really well:

Enhancements - the UI is simply gorgeous and perfect. It just works. It leaves little room for ambiguity and it runs right from out of the box and continues right up until you get to Incarnates. Even with the addition of IOs, the UI still worked fine. No need for mods or tweaks. Just go on and slot 'em in there and hey presto, you got your powers in a visual expression that shows you exactly where you are.

Controllers - I've never experienced an AT like them in any other game. They are versatile, deadly without being overpowering and probably the most fun I've ever had in a game. No two combos play quite alike - even if they have a shared primary or secondary they are all interestingly different. And there's a lot of interesting combinations despit the ubiquity of the fire/kin

Combat - it was fast - a whole array of powers all ready to be fired off at the press of a button and there was almost always something ready to deliver at your foe. None of this "perm x from y, and wait ages for them to be ready to fire" malarky! You earn the power, you get to run with it! YES! That's one reason why Frostfire was so intense even at level 11!

speaking of which... Frostfire - that's the coming of age/rite of passage that has been so missed in recent issues. It's weakness was its ubiquity. The alternative was hunting skuls in Kings Row, but with Frostfire you still got some of the best story in the game to date and a challenge into the bargain. Frostfire taught you to take the back elevator and not to charge into a room unless you knew what you were doing. The only problem was, the lack of choice meant it got stale - and so a wonderful zone arc became a chore. But by the time the Hollows revamp came along, there was no need for the revamp - there was too much choice. I'll be running Frostie on Nov 30th for sure!

The Ski Chalet - what a great thing! A game within a game. Light relief. A couple of unique events that really never got the credit they deserved and some cool missions and rewards even if the gaining of them was a bit grindy. And the invisible ninja cows and the phantom yodeler

The Rikti Invasion - I know they weren't the most popular event but I loved them. It always gave me a sense of real challenge. This was saving the world and being the hero I was meant to be. Zombies not so much. I guess the Rikti raids had dropships and bombs to set the scene and interdimensional science mutated space alien humans with speech:defects pwn zombies every day of the week.

Kahn and Statesman TF -well they both appealed to my sense of struggle. I loved the fact that there was never a guaranteed win with those two TFs even if you'd got everything right, especially STF - but yet a small team could win wiht perseverance.

Soldiers of Arachnos - what a brilliant concept to make VEATS stuff that we'd grown used to beating up on a daily basis. Not that Kheldians were bad but these things rocked. What was even better was the stock SoA turned out to be an unsung gem in the game. Resilient, goodish damage, cool pets and a bit of handy control and melee. Arguably one of the best all-rounders in the game. Let down by the weak story and the fact you only got one original NPC cossie. Not to knock Kheldians but the SoA kicked but and even put the other VEATs in the shade IMO. Huntsman Strauss (so called to annoy Ghost Raptor - a no prize to anyone who can guess why ) kicked **** and was very quickly my redside main, became the only toon I solo'd the ITF with and my first successful solo Rikti Pylon takedown. Also in full flow delivers the best sea of orange numbers in the game.

So those are just some of my personal favourite things about this game. I'd love to know about yours!

Mtyltt

sending something abusive to what end? So they know we're pissed off at them? Well they possibly already realise this.

But as I've said before they looked after this game and kept it going and invested in it for a long time so personally I think that's a misdirected emotion.

If I were to send him anything I might write a cheque for a couple of thousand £££ (unsigned of course) and send copies of it to him and all NCSoft shareholders and say "this is just my contribution for the next few years to City of Heroes. But you can't have it. Multiplied by several thousand because the game doesn't exist. How is that a good business decision?"

The best we can hope is that the board of NCSoft is given some stick by the shareholders but I doubt that will even happen

How the hell do you get time to do this AND all your spreadsheets?!


Also are you going to run this... "story" more than once? I hope so.

if I knew that the game would continue, even for a finite amount of time, I would happily pay to sustain that - providing the goalposts weren't moved dramatically (like the sub was $100 a month and only 2 people per server allowed etc - yes that was slightly OTT but you take my point I hope)

I guess if NCSoft did the right thing, then I'd applaud that and celebrate by giving them money - but would it be indefinite? Probably not unless there was some continuous development of the game.

It's hypothetical anyhow so meh

I generally had a lot of time with the enhancement/slotting system - that seemed to work really well


But I really began to dislike the number of different reward currencies there were in game - the various different forms of salvage, catalysts, converters, merits, etc etc ad infinitum. It seemed to just get out of hand and every damned issue there was some new kind of reward drop when it was unnecessary.

I also regret we never got a cricket bat for WM and TW

Statesman TF puts you on a ship. Also Warburg. Not sure if anyone's sitting down

So I follow my other thread of any anything you regret not completing with a different question

My last question was almost a result by omission. What I'm talking about here is stuff you actually did that in hindsight, you regret/wish/sad you hadn't done. The stuff you did at the time and figured wouldn't have a longer term cost... but did


Yes. This thread does mean you have to hold your hand up and maybe do a mea culpa and admit publicly that you got it wrong. Maybe you never got it wrong. Maybe you're Mr Perfect but for the rest of us, sometimes our humanity gets to us and if we can't admit this now, then when can we say it?

So... here I am, bare chested (don't fret, it's not that exciting) and here are just some things that if I could relive, I'd change:

• Fish: He's a good guy and I wish my falling out hadn't been so terminal. I'm lumpy and he rubs me up the wrong way sometimes - and we both ended up losing a good mate.
• I sometimes got a bit too passionate (aggressive?) on the forums. I often took the Devs and CCs (well actually not many CCs) to task without a clear understanding of the situation. For that I appologise and actually I think I do need to hold my hand up and appologise to Black Pebble because I didn't understand all the pressures he was under. Clearly I was blaming him for a much bigger muzzle he was working under and now he's free of that he's actually pretty good! I hope he reads and accepts even if not forgives.
• Deleting too many 50s. See below
• Not making enough friends on other servers. I guess it's easy to stick with what you know - and let's face it, I got lucky landing on Defiant. But in one sense, that made it harder ot break out (qv my other posts to understand a bit more about that) The upshot of that is, I tended to miss out on a large proportion of the community that is clearly one of the best MMO communities in history and so my experience was limited. A consequence of that is that I ran out of sever slots at times and even making use of the odd transfer meant some 50s had to die. Had I kept them going, well...
• Falling for one of the weakest powersets in game: I thought of the name then created a toon around it and she, Scarlet Shocker was instantly my main (IIRC she was my second toon.) Electric blast was the only primary electric set and electric manipulation was the only secondary. Conceptually it worked but Electric Blast is a dogpile in comparison to any other blast set and the end drain never compensated. So there I was saddled to a concept that worked (and created some great stories) but sucked in game.
• Not getting melee. Melee was always tough for me but there seemed to be a bias towards it. And yet the notion of running after something to hit it was an anathema - so I far preferred range (see blapping) and I would have enjoyed being able to get to grips with it
• Blapping: It became my playstyle - regardless of toon in some ways. Start with range, close to melee. It seems a natural progression if you have a combo of effects (and trust me, there's plenty of melee in a blaster set) but I carried that across blasters, controllers, corruptors and even my SoA (who's effing hard!) I'd liked to have been a tad more adaptable.
• Not giving Avatea credit. I don't know why. She was one of the coolest CCs - maybe that was her strength and weakness - but maybe because she was so great and easy to talk to and ubiquitous I forgot many times that she wasn't a friend she was somebody in game. But I regret not giving her props when I could
• Being less guarded/uncommunicative in game. I sometimes left teams because it was difficult for me - I don't like to talk about my stuff - especially the bad [pancakes] and if I had... well... anyhow.

As always the thoughts elude me when it comes to enscribing them... so I reserve the right to add/edit/amend as required.



I encourage you to respond - for me this has been somewhat personal. But Cathartic. Hope you feel the same when you share!

great stuff!

There are so many - and I'm going to miss out many but here's just a sample

I know that on November 30th I shall be drinking and playing a lot of these tunes in game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n35bIoV-lI8 Kill Ten Rats

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zb9zxbNwCTA Ok if I must

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=867iyhVFyEw You should know this one

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnnQlSDM-c0 Not a lot of people know that!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cwL1uoWhyU Eden

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UB0tzvS-790 Hot Staff

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcbrV...feature=fvwrel Before the Future

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPbTm5Mi4yE From the Hollows to Founders Falls

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lQLy...eature=related Nimrod

there's so much more....

I'm gonna hope against hope. I'll worry about December the 1st on December 1st

I played most nights for many years with the exeption of a few short breaks.

But even though I have logged many many hours in game, there's so much I never quite acheived.

So in no particular order:

• Get a PB to 50
• a Cold anything to 50 (which is sad cuz I love trollers)
• make a CoH movie
• dual box (I'd have loved to and I probably have the tech but never quite worked out how)
• played more than one scrapper to 50 - probably my least favourite AT
• got a PVP IO recipe drop
• managed to craft the portable work bench
• duo the Statesman TF (that's the only one that eluded me)
• got the badge for controlling the big robots in RV
• I never got to FPARN here even once WW posted in my thread!

There's probably more that will hit me when I finish this thread so I reserve the right to edit


Why not share some of the things you regret not having done?