Scarlet Shocker

I know this is a cross post but I figured I wanted the story to speak for itself and just reiterate here how much game this has meant to me.

It may be slightly premature to post now, but given the uncertain nature of our future, better early than never right.

I know I've sometimes expressed myself clumsily and been a bit grumpy on the forums but this game has meant so much to me. It kept me alive during the very darkest time in my life when I could barely function after a breakdown and I was dealing with some real demons.

Life's better for me now but I am still gutted by this news and struggling to process it but I hope this expresses how I feel far better than a clumsy forum post.

Thankyou devs, thankyou friends, thankyou everyone who's been part of this amazing, wonderful experience.

Scarlet Shocker. The End?

Pat Metheny

Medeski Martin & Wood

The Doors

The unofficial Shock Tactics Theme Tune!

The Sun set.


It dipped slowly behind the War Walls and the shadows lengthened across Atlas Park and the rest of Paragon City. The statue of Atlas supporting the globe of the World on his back cast a long dark shadow far across the city, and seemed to stretch into the future.


The Sun slid into the sea and the shadows also stretched across the Rogue Isles, but in contrast, the statue of Lord Recluse cast a shadow that was swamped by the cold, hard, iron walls of Grandville, symbolically becoming lost in the gloom.


In Cimerora, the darkness likewise encroached – but the ships in the docks cast their shadows out to sea, masts becoming fingers, pointing to the unexplored ocean.


In the Shadow Shard, with no direct light source, it simply got darker.


In Ouroboros, the gloom became such that the four floating islands turned almost invisible against their lightless background.


Praetoria went dark, and even quieter than it had of late.


Dark Astoria turned inky black, so dark it would be hard to see a hand in front of a face, but still for all that, several shades lighter than Darin Wade's heart.


When Scarlet Shocker arrived at Atlas, there were already a goodly number of heroes congregated under the Atlas statue. There was a hushed murmur from civilians and heroes alike. They were waiting for the end. They knew this was it... and yet it was so hard to come to terms with.


Scarlet circled around City Hall and the square, then glided down to land by Ms Liberty, still in place on her customary plinth. “Scarlet! Good to see you,” she smiled.


“Hey Liberty. Likewise.” They'd known each other many years. They weren't close, necessarily but a relationship built on mutual respect, and genuine regard for each other. They'd both done their fair share of saving the world – sometimes together – and although their relationship had never been social, they worked well together whenever fate brought them together.


A young hero came sprinting up to the plinth, his feet burning a yellow trail behind him as he'd raced. He was quite breathless. He looked at Ms Liberty. “Made it!” he panted and handed her his ID chip.


Ms Liberty took it and checked it over with her scanner. “Level 50! Congratulations Alpha Shot , you made it just in time – the big one. You got the freedom of the City I guess...”


Alpha Shot nodded and shrugged. “I just... wanted to get it done.”


Liberty put her hand on his shoulder. “I understand. I really do.”


“Well done Alpha” said Scarlet. “You did well.”


“It feels pointless now.”


“Maybe. But from the day we're born, we know we have a finite span. On a cosmic scale, this means nothing but in the day to day, it means everything...” she shrugged too, lost for words. “No point in getting philosophical. We just did what we could and fought the best we could too – and it was... fun. Yes... great fun.”


A couple of heroes wandered past and nodded to the trio in acknowledgment. Scarlet didn't recognize them but they were drawn together by today's event and their common bond of hero-hood.


A few people looked up and saw a bright light falling towards the city, some with a degree of consternation, but Scarlet smiled. It was her friend – the first person she ever knew in Paragon City, Corona, the Sun... being. “Corona I'm glad you're here.”


“I am too,” replied her friend and extinguished her flames and embraced Scarlet. “I had to come for this.”


“I'm glad you did.”


A few of the staff from Wentworths, and one of the Merit vendors wandered by, in low but earnest conversation. A bit of a hubbub broke out and the War Walls flickered off, and the wasp-like shapes of three Arachnos transporters came through heading towards the city. A small group of heroes took flight towards them, and two of the flyers turned and retreated as the other landed quickly. Ms Liberty, Scarlet and Corona headed to it where it landed by the corner of the square – funny how it landed in the same place when those villains broke into City Hall during the Reichsmann affair too. The hatch opened and Lord Recluse stepped out as Ms Liberty arrived. “I trust I'm not intruding Ms Liberty”


“Stefan, what are you doing here?” Liberty growled. A hundred heroes were assembled around the flier, but so far it was an uneasy standoff. With Recluse were his four henchmen, Mako, Black Scorpion, Sirocco and of course, his ubiquitous shadow, Ghost Widow.


“We've come to join you. It seems appropriate, under the circumstances.”


Ms Liberty pursed her lips, then nodded tersely. “I understand. Just keep Mako on a very tight leash. Nobody here will think twice about putting any of you down if you've got a double-cross planned.


Lord Recluse bridled a moment, then nodded. “In this, we are all the same and all victims. I give you my word we mean no harm.”


Liberty turned and headed for the centre once more, and the heroes and villains followed suit. As Scarlet and Corona reached the square, she noticed three people – three very familiar people – stood in the middle, under the statue.


“Michael!” she exclaimed and rushed to hug her friend, better known to Paragon as Back Alley Brawler. “It's good to see you! You as well War Witch and Positron...”


Positron nodded and smiled. War Witch shimmered, translucently and grinned. The square was filling now – hundreds of heroes and their mentors had arrived. Almost all the surviving Freedom Phalanx, the Vindicators, more than one Supergroup in their entirety.


A couple of tiny clockwork ran towards Scarlet and sat down beside her. “Hey little friends. You two still around to bug me huh?” They said nothing – but they never did. They were more-or-less constant companions and never seemed to draw the ire of other heroes, unlike the rest of their kind. Speaking of Clockwork, where was...


“Hi everyone” said Penny as she arrived to stand by Positron and War Witch. “Is there nothing to be done?”


Positron looked at her and sadly shook his head. “I've run every test, gone through every scenario that I can. I...” he smacked his hand into his fist and screwed his face up trying to keep his emotions in check. “I wish I could do more.”


Scarlet looked at him with a lopsided grin. “Posi, War Witch, you guys made this – you were our guides, and mentors. You and the rest of the Freedom Phalanx, you took us from being just rookies running around to being real heroes. Your guidance, your ability to listen, and your understanding – even when sometimes we didn't – or even when you couldn't tell us. It was your guidance and determination that kept us in the game for as long as you did. Whatever happens today, you have enriched so many lives because of your dedication to this great place. Even if we're gone tomorrow – that isn't going to vanish into nothingness.” Scarlet reached out to Positron and War Witch and shook their hands. “You've been a best friend to every one of us here for a lot of years. Nobody can ever diminish that. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your commitment to us all.”


War Witch squeezed Scarlet's hand and they all allowed themselves the luxury of a single tear. Scarlet wiped hers away. “But... let's not get too maudlin about this. Let's remember the good times.”


Positron smiled and nodded. There wasn't much more to say.


Another murmur, this time as Lady Grey arrived, but beside her the large brass figure of Lord Nemesis. A few heroes tried to confront him, but Lady Grey waved them away, but there was a sudden silencing amongst the crowd as one – then the murmur became excited. Scarlet had the same thought. If Nemesis was here, was this simply an elaborate...


“Plot? Is that what you're thinking?” Nemesis addressed the crowd. “Would that it were but this... this, I'm very sad to say, is beyond even my machinations.”


A low moan escaped the crowd, hopes dashed, and once the initial surprise of one of the great schemers of Paragon being in their midst the crowd turned to other things. Scarlet Shocker and Corona ambled amongst the crowd, a nod, a quiet word, clap on the back. Friends, team-mates, SG colleagues, coalition friends – everyone out in force. It was good they all got to be there for the very end, she mused to herself.


“A word, Scarlet, if I may.” Lord Recluse tapped her on her shoulder.


“Of... course. What can I do for you Mr Richter?” she responded – trying to keep as neutral as possible.


Lord Recluse smiled and took off his mask. “I wanted to tell you something. You made life very difficult for me. You should be proud of the things you and your team-mates achieved. Without your efforts, Paragon would have been mine years ago. You kept it from me, you and your friends.”


“I don't really know how to respond to that. I guess... thanks. I'm glad to have done so.”
“Indeed. You earned our respect, with your ingenuity and cunning. Even while we were more potent than you individually, you always managed to thwart us, often in ways we could not imagine. I salute you for that.”


Scarlet Shocker grinned. “I'm very happy to hear that.”


Another rumble from the crowd as some vanguard arrived, escorting U'kon Gr'ai and H'ro'd'tz – the Rikti warlords. Many of the heroes bridled, and Scarlet more than most, but U'kon'Grai spoke:


“Rikti: Beginning. Heroes: Story. Fitting to be: Here at End.”


A rumble of approval from most, although Scarlet remembered being captured by them and the trauma of that. Her first response was to scream “Off: F...” at them but she looked around the crowd. It brought her to the sudden realisation – every single hero there had their own unique story to tell. Everyone who ever put on spandex or armour in Paragon or the Isles, or even Praetoria, had a personal, often private story. Her story was unique to her but there were so many others equally unique, equally important. Yes, maybe the Rikti should be there. They were synonymous with with Paragon's struggle for freedom. They should be there at the end.


A shivan shuffled by with a low groan, followed by a lumbering HVAS on some unknown quest to some destination. The square was filling up so she nodded to Corona and they hovered upwards a little, away from, but at the same elevation as the Stars and Stripes on top of the City Hall. Corona followed suit and they hung in the air surveying Atlas Park.


A figure waved to her from the ground catching her attention. It was Frostfire. Scarlet grinned and saluted him. He had been her toughest adversary for many months and fighting him had taught her so much. She was glad he'd managed to get himself straightened out and ended up on the right side. Frostfire saluted back and melted into the crowd once more.


Corona tapped her on the shoulder. “It's starting.” Scarlet's brows furrowed and she choked back a tear. This was utterly wrong, bitterly unfair but here they all were. United as one but defeated by a complete lack of empathy and passion and sucked into the void.


A low drown of the hero comms spilled out the names of the areas that were vanishing. “Praetoria's gone... the Shadowshard too.... St Martial.” Scarlet clutched Corona's hand and they both held onto each other. “It's really happening!”


The comms rattled off the names and Atlas went silent as everyone listened to the commentary. Independence Port went in a whisper, Lusca gone forever. She choked back tears, trying hard not to lose it. Corona, even though made of stars was feeling much the same.


A hole opened in the sky above Atlas Park, growing bigger, a nothing void of emptiness, consuming everything as it grew. The end was imminent and she found herself humming a song by the Doors. “This is the end, beautiful friend” that refrain over and over. She took Corona's hand for one last time. “I don't want to wait for it to get us. Let's fly into it. Maybe there's something on the other side?” she said in hope, rather than expectation. “Maybe we'll fly into the middle of it...” she grinned through the tears “and find one of Golden Girl's winky emotes in the middle.”


Scarlet Shocker took Corona's hand and they flew upwards into the darkness, as fast as they could.



November 30th 2012?

make it in Atlas

I'm surprised that I've not seen this mentioned before but it seems somewhat obvious - so if somebody has thought of it, apple bogies.

NCSoft is a publicly owned company so why don't we

1. Form a consortium
2. Buy loads of NCSoft shares
3. Change their policy

Not an easy task perhaps, but maybe easier than starting from scratch?


Just throwing it out there.



http://www.reuters.com/finance/stock...mbol=036570.KS

Fed's asked me to tell you he's touched by your response chaps.

I'm not sure why he can't post here. I guess not being VIP or something but anyhow, letting you know

Thankyou Melissa for everything

I wish you and the rest of the team the best for the future

Riff aka Scarlet.

because it never ends up doing anyone any good.

I claim no credit for this. Long time EU players will definitely remember Federico's work - he's done a number of CoH commissions etc. He hasn't played the game for a while mostly because of his RL. He wanted to post this personally but for some reason, having no sub, couldn't, and I'm honoured to be able to post in his stead.

Enjoy. He's said it beautifully.

I suspect that it's probably NC that killed Paragon.

We know that they can be completely brutal - they have shown that plenty of times in the past. They did it with the EU, they did it with Tabula Rasa, they did it with Exteel.

They have form in this. So it's rather a false flag to blame PW. It would be a very high risk strategy for them to say no - they'd be cutting of some solid revenue, and would get a reputation in the industry as a skank, and there's no guarantee that any CoH players would go to CO if the news got out. In fact it could hurt their existing player base quite badly as there's a lot of cross fertilization.

But whoever wants City of Heroes dead did a very good job of killing it

I only resubbed a couple of weeks back. I got bored and decided I needed to zap something...

What can I say? I'm an addict and needed a fix.

Looks like my addiction's going to be cured very soon and the only expression I can come up with rhymes with "Clucking Bell"

I can't claim to have been here since day one, or anything important but I have spend many many many happy hours in game and on the forums and it's devastating to see the game get canned just like that, and I hope one day to understand exactly why.

Like others have already said, CoH kept me going in the darkest time of my life - it was reliable and trustworthy, consistent and even when nothing else was, it was fun, and there were always cool people to hang with and fight the good fight alongside. The alternatives don't bear thinking about frankly - and I will always be in the debt of the Devs and community at large.

I don't know about you guys, but I think I'm gonna try and celebrate the last few weeks of CoH getting a toon from 1-50 and then going through the Incarnate arcs - that and my usual zany crazy stuff - I never did manage to duo Statesman/Ms Lib TF and I'm sad for that though.

There's too many good people to mention - and even if I tried I'd probably leave somebody important out, so I will simply say thankyou to all the Devs for making such a great game, to the community people for keeping the players on a steady path, to the GMs who keep stuff going so well in the background and always seemed to go that extra mile to help fix a problem. But most of all, to you, my fellow players who made this game such a vibrant, pleasant and enjoyable experience for many years.

Thankyou all. For your future, I wish for you everything that you wish for yourselves and for those who'd like to keep in touch, you can find me @RiffGaffer on twitter, or PM me here if it pleases you

Riff, aka Scarlet Shocker.

Awww thanks chaps. I'm genuinely moved by your responses! Thankyou all!

To say I’ve been cogitating over this for a while might be something of an understatement - but if there’s absolutely one thing that I want to get across is that this is anything but a rage-quit. But it is a leave of absence, an unspecified departure and I can’t see myself back in the game for a long time, if ever.*

First off though, I don’t want to talk about the future, I want to talk a bit about the past - and how much this game has meant to - and done for - me. It’s no exaggeration that when I was in the deepest pits of depression, City of Heroes kept me going and kept the suicidal thoughts at bay because I could put my own life to one side and do good stuff in a different world. I don’t propose to bare too much of my soul here - it’s highly personal and probably not that interesting - but having the game and the community kept my last vestiges of sanity together when everything else was going pear-shaped. For that I will always be eternally grateful and I have some wonderful memories of this great game... for a long time City of Heroes was my happy place and a sanctuary.

However times change and what Winston Churchill referred to as his “Black Dog” has scampered whimpering out of my yard with my size 10 plate of meat wedged firmly up it’s proverbial...ahem. well you get the picture. This is good news. In a relatively short space of time I went from barely being able to step out my front door to starting my own small business which is seemingly flourishing.

The other day I came in to play the game and I realised that this wasn’t where I wanted to be. It’s almost a personal relic of my own bygone age. It’s not actually the game - but as a self-confessed intense player I’ve done most of the things there are to do in the game - hell I put enough hours in and I’ve done some lunatic things and craziness in my time. Never quite got that Duo of the STF down but did everything but - mostly before Incarnates too.

But that means there’s no content left for me to discover and even if inclined, there’s a few issues finding people not caught up in the IGrind. However I’m not here to gripe about the game - because that’s not why I’m moving on.

I’m moving on because of a positive change my own circumstance - and I will always have great memories of this game - and the stories we told within it as players. Never mind the canon, we players told some epics!

Even when I was grumbling and griping on the forum (I prefer to think I was just telling it as I saw it - ymmv - but never with malice, albeit occasional frustration) I was enjoying the game. Sometimes shouting loudly and banging the desk worked - and I certainly don’t regret militating about global server access or the TPN trial. Somebody, somewhere, seems to listen - sometimes!

So thank you to the Devs, one and all, for a guesstimated 12,000 hours of superlative and intense enjoyment. Thank you Defiant server for the SGs, the trials, the TFs, the mayhem and for putting up with my general lunacy and still teaming with me when I was putting the diff level up to stupid. Thank you to the real friends I made who I still keep in touch with, even if sporadically. Thanks also to the community team - and here I’m going to break a personal rule and name the names of Avatea, Ghost Raptor (despite his cricketing affiliations) Kerensky and Zwillinger as being the guys who got the best out of their respective communities in often very trying circumstances. The GMs and Support team are the unsung heroes of this game though. They are always picking up the pieces and getting yelled at because the game don’t work - and do it with a smile (and maybe a bitten tongue) and invariable get things sorted - often going that extra mile. Thanks to you too for reading this and being part of my City of Heroes experience. Yes you... reading this now. No, put the soup do... oh it’s not soup.... it’s... ewww... really? But yes, you’ve made my experience here very good even when it didn’t always seem like it so thanks.

So with my thanks made I guess I’ll just say maybe this time is the best to part. I’m at the top of my game and this game - there’s no angst here and I leave with very happy memories and a positive experience to remind me that even in the darkest times, there’s always some light.

See ya on the flip side - and no, you can’t have my stuff, I gave it away already.

From the bottom of my heart I wish for you all that you wish for yourselves.

Riff

*subject to change at whim
** no animals were harmed in the making of this post. Bronies however... that’s a totally different matter...
***coughtrioofdoomcough***
****yes even the PVP proc

Why does Power Surge (Elec Armour) take Acc Enhancements? And Hold for that matter?

I've looked in Red Tomax on the Titan Network and I'm not computing it well

What am I missing?

Ah HA!!! Thanks chaps.

It seems that it was my incomplete comprehension of Invincibility that was the issue... crowd a few bodies around and robert is your father's brother so to speak.

Many thnkas for the help

(PS no hadn't factored in Defensive Sweep into that - that's not an issue I think.)

I've just respecced my TW/Inv scrapper into a build that I'd worked out in Mids.

What is really puzzling me now is this: According to Mids in most defence categories a single purple should put him at the soft cap or very close to. Smashing and Lethal Defence are already at the soft cap (44% to be exact.) Resistance is mostly around the 20% mark except for Smashing & Lethal - both of which are a gnats tadger over 60%.

There's a discrepancy: What Mids tells me and what the game itself tells me is very different.

Most of my def values is a good 7-12% below what Mids tells me - according to the Combat Attributes window.

What am I missing - or is this a bug?

make it easier on the art department by disguising the Freakshow as a different enemy group every event