SerialBeggar

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  1. The news is saying there were winners in Maryland, Illinois and Kansas.
  2. I just checked my numbers and confirmed that I am still a loser
  3. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Dink View Post
    The fan on the Back Pack will be animating.
    Do they light up like case fans?
  4. Quote:
    Originally Posted by VoodooGirl View Post
    According to CNN it might swell up to $640 million tonight.
    The NY Lottery website is showing Mega Millions at $640 Million now.



    As for what I'd do:

    1) I'd start by being mum about it until I've done some research. None of this dancing in the streets and being a spectacle. Unfortunately, with this big a prize, it's unlikely that I could wait out the interest of the general population. In fact, it would only fuel the suspense.

    2) Check with a lawyer on if I can possibly claim the prize without revealing myself. I really don't want to be a big target. Yeah, I know that'd probably be a "no" because the Lottery Officials can't let this PR opportunity go out with dud. Still, I'd at least have the lawyer press the Officials to not release my name and address (or even neighborhood name), and maybe allow me to be in disguise during the press conference.

    3) Check with an accountant to see how I can protect the monies. Trusts have been bandied about, but I don't have any knowledge of how they work, so I'll need to learn. I have a fair grasp on investing, so I can probably manage some of the money by myself.

    4) Depending on how much the Lottery Officials will insist that I reveal about myself, I may arrange for my immediate family to be somewhere else for the next month or so just before revealing myself. That is, move them and myself out of our current abodes. If necessary, we may have to abandon our homes. Yes, this may sound extreme, but once I have the monies, we will probably be upgrading our living arrangements anyway. Plus having some paranoia is healthy.

    5) Once things are settled, I'd quit my job and spend some time finding a nicer place to live, probably in a different state. This will, of course, have a nice room for my computer. At the moment, I don't envision buying a new computer just yet because my current one is still doing ok. I'd definitely get new furniture, so I can be comfortable with the extra playtime.

    6) I do agree with the popular sentiment to sponsor some Player Summits to other parts of the world with most of Paragon Studios attending. Of course, I'd defer to Black Pebble to decide when these would occur to ensure there is enough worthy news to present at these outings. In conjunction to the Summit, I'd also sponsor a contest for maybe 2-3 dozen players to be flown out to these Summit locations too, so we can have a decent international meet-and-greet.

    7) I'd sponsor a 1-month VIP upgrade sweepstakes for Free and Premium players. The players would have to submit a sweepstakes entry via the forum. I hope this would be a subtle encouragement for more players to participate in the forums. Maybe have this happen on a bi-monthly schedule for a couple of dozen winners each.

    8) I'd sponsor an annual sweepstakes with a couple of dozen moderately to high end gaming rigs as prizes available to only to VIPs who have subscribed fully during the previous year. Maybe have a tie in with a computer magazine for one of their "dream builds" issues.

    That's all I can think of right now.
  5. The Mega Millions Lottery is up to $540 million (as of now) for Friday's drawing. So how would you enhance your COH experience if you win? Would you finally get that Party Pack?
  6. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Dark_Tower View Post
    I’ll be looking around the web for a good detailed builders guide or if anyone can link one that would be great too.
    Pick up a copy of Maximum PC magazine. Every issue includes a step by step run through of a desktop build or upgrade.
  7. OK, this has been going on for a while now. Every now and then, I'd go into DA and those big glowing yellow wards at The Bulwak site (ie the Hospital area) are missing. Is this due to some sort of zone effect from the new story arcs or zone kill quotas? It doesn't seem to be hero or villain or server or specific character related because I've brought in multiple characters to check. Note, I do see the wards at the other sites. What's going on?
  8. Quote:
    Originally Posted by ClawsandEffect View Post
    Check your Reward Tokens, and place any you haven't yet.

    Why do I say this?

    Because if you have a high enough tier opened up......you can use the /auctionhouse command to access the market interface from ANYWHERE.
    The Wentworths and Black Markets are so empty nowadays. On the other hand, the Universities seem to have more traffic.


    Note: there's also /vault.
  9. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Asgardian_Blade View Post
    Don't know if you've noticed or not, but on top of adding tailoring to each trainer, they added a full-blown ICON store in Atlas Park between the hospital and train.
    Wow, I never noticed this. I guess that's the downside of flying.
  10. On a side note, in case anyone wasn't aware, you can also set colors to player names via Menu-->Options.
  11. I color all my global channels. I try to keep all 15 channels different a different color even though I have separate chat tabs for each server. I also try to avoid accidentally recreating the color of any of the default game channels. Even though you can use different colors for the top and bottom half of the channel font, I keep them both the same for a flat look.
  12. So how many people are planning to video this Summit? Is it because some of the last Summit's panels weren't preserved due to being in a secondary room, even though that's not going to be the case this time? Will this be the most well documented Summit/Con ever?

    Me? I'm bringing a camcorder because I need to justify having spent money on this expensive toy.


    Edit:
    Here are my videos:

    Welcome & Keynote Address
    Flik Song & Paragon Market Panel
    Design a Power Set Workshop
    Design a Costume Set Workshop
    Make Your Case: Zone Revamp Panel
    Story Lore & Endgame Panel
  13. If I'm remembering the correct shield, it is shaped like a big circle overlaid around you. Within the circle, it is animated like an downward fish-eye lens view from way up high of the ocean that's constantly radiating waves outward from the center. Sections of the waves would shimmer a bit when they break into white caps. It's really rather pleasing looking.
  14. I see no point in announcing it after firing off Vengence. Its sound effect is pretty loud (if you have your sound and speakers on).

    I'm more prone to forgetting to use it, though.
  15. For a regular attack, endurance reduction in the 30-40% range is good enough for me. It's only on the few high endurance sucking dubuff or damage toggles that need way more endurance reduction.
  16. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Zyphoid View Post
    Also I tend to read very few female writers (they tend to have a bit more grafic sex than I care for), however the Patrica Briggs werewolf novels are great reads.
    Speaking of Patrica Briggs, I have a video of her appearance at last year's NYC Comic Con panel featuring female SF/F writers if you would like to view it.

    And while I'm at it, here's the panel featuring some male SF writers.
  17. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Zyphoid View Post
    Really though if you want a super fun read that is hard to put down I suggest the Monster Hunter International books. I have read each of the three books 3-4 times each.

    http://www.amazon.com/Monster-Hunter...2372042&sr=8-1

    My 15 yo who had only ever tackled young reader books even fell in love with them and read all three. I just can't rave enough about these books.
    I concur with the recommendation of the Monster Hunter series.

    In addition, Larry Correia's new series The Grimnoir Chronicles is also good. There are only 2 books so far: "Hard Magic" and "Spellbound". The story involves magic in an alternate post-WWII US setting, but you could easily reinterpret the "magics" as a super powers.


    The last time someone asked for recommendations, someone mentioned the Cassandra Kresnov series by Joel Sheperd: "Crossover", "Breakaway" and "Killswitch". I had seen them before in Borders. I was really attracted to the cover art. But after skimming the first couple of pages of the first book, I was turned off due to my impression of his writing style. Well, I was too hasty. After the recommendation here, I had the opportunity to pick them up during Border's going out of business sale and discovered that his writing is really good. Now, I highly recommend them to you.
  18. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Dink View Post
    The nose of the (blue) hand gun, ie the stem and the rings assembly, looks too chunky to me. How about scaling that part down to be 2/3rds relative to the gun's body?
  19. Is it just me or are both the male and female crotches a bit "full"?

    Also, how are they pulling the triggers on the guns while wearing mittens?

    The bubble helmet looks really nice, though. And I really like the forearm guards. Can those be available by themselves, ie without a glove on the hand?
  20. I would suggest giving */Mental Manip a go. I haven't done a Ice/MM myself yet, but I have done Ice blast on a Blaster, Defender and Corruptor and MM on a couple other Blaster with different primaries.

    In my experience, I find that Ice's attacks are very quick and this results in gaps in between cycles. So first, I'd not recommend Hasten. Ice also "feels" lacking in AOE because all it has are a cone and a rain. Mental Manip offers an additional cone attack which fits in very nicely with Ice's cone. In addition, MM has a PBAOE. You may not think you'll use it much because you want to stay at range, but you'll soon see that with your double cones dishing out high damage in a short period, you'll be pulling a lot of aggro and they'll close on you. Thus PBAOE!

    I find that Ice also seems to be endurance heavy, probably because of it's quick recharge. MM offers a +recov/+regen PBAOE power. Note: there's a steep learning curve before you can use it without it being effectively a suicide power. But in the meantime, it is good for AV fights because it also does -regen on affected targets.

    Going with Cold Mastery is a good choice, but I really think you should not skip the armor. In addition, slot the self heal with heals and recharge instead of +resist.
  21. Yeah, your OP along with your forum reg-date gave me the impression that you were a relatively new marketeer who had sunk a significant percentage of your net worth into inventory that got devalued. But after your clarification, I'm reminded of a similar situation about how De Beers was trying to handle the influx of synthetics that was dramatically cutting into their niche in an article I read a couple of decades ago. I don't play in that league, so I'll leave it to others to give you advice.

    /rich people problems
  22. On a brand new account, your global name is based off the name of your first character (by just having the @ tacked on to it). You'll also get one chance to change your global name to something else if you want to (which you mentioned that you've already done).
  23. When you log in, you'll see a bunch of green system messages in your chat. One of them is a reminder of your @global name. I just highlight it and copy and paste to the email when I'm sending stuff around.