Scarlet Shocker

I don't know if these figures mean a great deal unless compared to other MMO figures. I'd suggest that the global recession has had a big impact on the games industry generally.

The recession and a lack of new content has inevitably had a detrimental effect on numbers but I wouldn't start crying doom yet. When War Witch took over her new cry was "Content, Content, Content" a recognition that they needed to introduce much more content to the game and I17 reflected that. However those numbers won't have impacted at this stage.

welcome back

Numbers are actually up since the release of I17 - and there's always plenty happening on Defiant Server. As has been said, join Defiant Events (and Harlequins for villains)

I actually find it ironic that there's a new trend for a lot of people to say "I've moved to the NA Servers..." If all those people came back - supposedly the EU servers would be busier - theoretically - but there's a lot of names that I don't recognise there ;-)

Welcome back good to see you

Aria.co.uk or ebuyer.co.uk I'd suggest.

Hurry back and GL

This looks great thanks.

I can also confirm that it works very nicely in Fedora 12 - meaning I can have it sitting nicely on my work box screen while I play

Top marks - though I've not yet gotten to use it in depth

Suggestion: Would it be possible to give an optional "Complete Set" button? For example if I wanted a complete set of Thunderstrike at level 41+ could I just choose that and get the ingredients rather than choosing them individually?

I love the fact that every issue the Vet attack powers go pear shaped. It's kinda gotten to the stage where I look forward to "what're they gonna do this time?"

Simply gorgeous

For those of you who want to shorten the URL for social networking etc

this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BCt9QW0HfE turns into this: http://bit.ly/aC0ZUZ which is much nicer for twitter etc

Samuaiko - I sincerely hope Paragon never employs you. Not because you are not worthy, but for quite the opposite - because your brilliant creativity would be hampered and diminished by a reign of black pebbles. Keep doing what you do for its own sake.

Yesterday I logged in and was pleasantly surprised to suddenly get my 48 month Vet Rewards. I'd not realised quite how close to the Anniversary I joined the game, way back when, right at the end of I6.

48 months of righting wrongs, arresting evil-doers, vanquishing robots, alien scum and generally living out the pages of a comic book. Not to mention the odd bit of evilness, bad deeds, smacking civvies around the back of the head with a lead pipe and stealing whatever I want.

It's been fantastic - a place where I can be whoever I want to be with no cares other than where my next badge is coming from or where the last bloody glowie is! In my particular case this game has been a shining beacon in an otherwise very difficult time of my life - and without dwelling on that it's not overstating the case.

During the course of the last four years I've made some very good friends (and some, shall we say "not so good" friends) split my sides laughing with (and sometimes even at in a friendly kind of way) my friends, gotten stressed from time to time, thrown the odd hissy fit (yes I know it's hard to believe but it has happened) and even shed the odd tear.

On the forums, I've tilted at windmills, stuck my head above the parapet and sometimes expressed opinions that I know would not win me friends and favour, but I felt needed to be said. I have always tried to be forthright, and spoken my mind, but I hope (possibly vainly) that I have been fair and I've never set out to pick a fight for the sake of it.

In game, I've organised the odd event, spun cool tunes from time to time and got a bunch of 50s - but I still have a way to go with some ATs. I've tried some zany stuff too with ATs and teams - with varying degrees of success - like getting to 50 without a single defeat and micro-teams to do the whole content with. That said, I've never been a number-cruncher, which hasn't always helped - I'm from the old-school aeronautics perspective: If it looks good, it'll fly right.

Challenges for the future include but are not limited to: Get a scrapper (and actually one of every AT) to 50. [I'm going to dread playing a stalker, I know.] Write a decent AE arc. Learn to PVP properly. Set myself more odd challenges and continue to have fun with my friends and compatriots.

I hope the game continues to grow and thrive - I see no reason why the City of Heroes franchise can't be up there in the top 3 or 4 MMOs globally - but that rather relies on Black Pebble and his colleagues in "marketing" extracting their digits. I'm convinced that a strong EU community is central to the game's growth globally. If it continues to shrink as it currently is, it sends all the wrong signals to the game industry, the press and most importantly to potential customers. To me, it's kind of ironic that a game that is this damned good, and a Dev team who are so receptive to player ideas have to conflict so heavily with their own internal systems just to maintain the status quo.

Devs, especially War Witch, Positron et alI thankyou from the bottom of my heart for the hours of pleasure you've given me and all the other players. I'd also like to thank Mod08 and Avatea - and also a big nod to Ghost Raptor, Kerensky and Bridger - for keeping the forums a good place to be. I know sometimes we collectively and individually give you a hard time - but that's cuz we care - sometimes more than you guys realise I think.


Also a big thanks to the unsung heroes in game, the GMs, who work tirelessly to fix our problems as we petition them - I've always been hugely impressed with how quickly, efficiently and courteously they fix stuff for us.

But finally I want to thank you guys, who I've teamed with over the years, who I've interacted with here, and just spent so many fun-filled hours messing about.

Here's looking forward to many more years of City of Heroes. Long may it continue! Personally I'm looking forward to 120 month vet reward