Shazzie

Blind Invites are, to me, lumped in the same category as Spam Mail and Telemarketing. None of them have ever been or will ever be welcome by me. Unwelcome, unwanted, 100% impolite.

The same has happened to me, randomly. It will return absolutely no results, or (less commonly) *one* result, regardless of how many are for sale. (Such as searching for anything for sale from level 10 to level 30, and it only returns a level 25, despite there being several other levels in stock.)

I used to abuse the Thigh High boots/ Flared mini-skirt/ Flared sleeves look, back when the Thigh Highs had flared tops. To me, the use of the flared lines was a pleasing aesthetic. Now that the Thigh Highs are skin tight, I'm not nearly as interested in them. They still get used a bit, but they're not a fave anymore.

If the Steampunk pack male-only boots and jackets were available to females, I would abuse the HECK out of them. Especially the boots, oh my gosh!! Sadly, they're not, and since I never make males, I'll never use those wonderful details.

So, what do I still use a lot of? Well, the items I typically find myself trying to put on characters (before I catch myself and ask 'how about something else this time?') are Platform Boots and the Glam or Long Layers hairstyles. I also tend to use the Neck Chain a lot as either an authentic necklace, or just something to cover the seam.

My global began back in EQ1, with my character, Shazanti. This was, of course, shortened by everyone to Shaz, Shazzie, Shazzy, and the like. Due to slight similarity with my RL name, it became a RL nickname as well, so I tend to try to get 'Shaz' wherever I can. When that's too short a name, or already taken, I go with Shazzie.

It's not particularly feminine, but it's 'my' name, I love it, and I've had it since globals came into existence. I just have to correct people all the time "it's 'she', not 'he', please"...but I've been doing that in games for over a decade now, so I'm used to it!

I really like the toned-down extravagance and the better coloring edits made above! It literally takes me all the way from 'ugh these new CoT make my eyes hurt' to 'wow! that's fantastic!'

My only complaint would be that I dislike how the new clothing is...shiny? I suppose? It looks incredibly like plastic to me, and I find that plastic look really cheesy. Cloth, silk, even leather would be great... but not plastic, please. Maybe it only looks that way in the screenshots, however? Is it different in-game?

A dedicated status/maintenance forum would be fantastic. Notice I said dedicated, which means actually, y'know, used.

It's rather irritating that the servers came down unexpectedly a few times during double xp weekend, and then they came down post-weekend, and then again today.

Makes me twitchy because it reminds me of daily server maintenance crushing my playtime. But at least we expected that downtime, whereas this has all just been repeated 'oh hi, server coming down in 30 minutes' in-game messages out of nowhere.

One bonus, though, is I noticed the Server Status page is actually working again! There's no information about these downtimes actually posted, but, hey, it's showing actual server status again, at least!

<proceeds to camp the Server Status page, grumping about yet more lost playtime>

I set this weekend as a time for a couple of long, long abandoned alts to get some love.

Dire Scourge (Rad/Rad Def): Has been moping in a corner since 2004. Went from 16 to 37.
Psychedelika (Mind/Psy Dom): Has been dreaming of pretty colors since 2006. Went from 18 to 39.

A few other not-as-long-abandoned littles gained a few levels, but nothing as significant as those two. I also had a great time doing many TFs and SFs.

I'm quite happy. And I'm now very much in love with Psyche!

Wow. Over the top, much?

And I'm speaking about the new CoT costumes. Sure, they're pretty, and really nice work on WOW SPIKY WOW PRETTY, they are indeed well made and very eye-catching... but each and every one of them looks ornate enough to qualify as a super unique, super rare boss. Every. Single. One.

So, wow. Over the top, much?
It all just looks so busy, I guess is what I'm saying. REALLLLLY busy. But it's just my preference to have one or two bits of eye-catching detail, and not an entire costume that's gobsmacks of non-stop eye-catching detail.

I wonder how many people reading this actually recall Fansy? I do. I also recall the old theme song from the Flowers of Happiness website, which even now, all these years later, randomly gets stuck in my head.

Whether this is the original Fansy or not,... thanks for bringing back some great old memories!

There are only two games I have ever considered the purchase of a lifetime sub in to be worthwhile: LotRO, and this one. Sadly, this game never offered that option, but it still remains only one of two games I'd find it worthwhile for, even now all these years after its release.

Had CoX ever offered the option, I would have snagged it in a heartbeat. I've played erratically since CoH Beta... some months I play nearly every day, some months I don't play a single day. The lifetime option would have made it easier for me to hop in whenever I felt like it, and not 'well fudge, I haven't played in 2 months, I might as well cancel' only to get the urge to log in a week later, re-sub, play for 2 days, have something come up, and then not play for another month. Had CoX offered a lifetime option, I would have still bought all the boosters I've purchased, and I would have still purchased CoV and GR, and I'd still be purchasing anything else I was interested in that popped up that required money.

But CoX is not to have a lifetime option, and I came to terms with that about 3 years ago... even though, damn, it would have been nice, yeah?

Same here. Unless the servers are actually still down, and have been down for the hour+ they have been reported as 'UP' on the Server Status page.

I'm running the NCSoft launcher and have done all the this&that testing, too.

So, yeah. Is something up?

Base upgrades/fixes, when bases have been ignored for... um, EVER. (Or at least, it sure feels that way.) However, since I said the word 'bases', this post will likely fall into a black hole, since that's what it seems happens to anything having to do with bases on the forum.

AE updates/fixes, because it was another fixture that was released and then practically ignored ever since. It doesn't seem to be as black-hole formative as 'bases', though.

'Paying for power' items, such as 'better than you can get elsewhere' enhancements and temporary powers.... what would be 'loot/gear' in other games. Do NOT put the 'best' stuff in the store.


And on the opposite side of the coin...
I would absolutely not mind paying for expansions and/or mini-expansions, and even some old booster-pack-ish items, provided that the base game itself also continued to get booster-pack-ish updates that were part of a subscription. A 'freemium' game that considers the subscription option the 'goal' for any player needs to make sure it keeps the subscription an enticing option, by not only making sure having a subscription unlocks general game items, but also gets you 'shiny new stuffs' regularly, as part of the (ever so enticing) subscription deal!

I'm not a stickler for silly concept/punny names (though I do have a few!) but, oh man, I must say... Oedipus Tex, your character list made me laugh so hard my husband came in the room to see what broke me this time. I think Pinball Blizzard is my absolute fave!!

Thank you for sharing!

Hotwire: Fire/Elec Blaster, with one of my absolute favorite backstories. She's on a server I never play on anymore because I don't know anyone on Guardian anymore... I really, really need to move her, I suppose, but I'm sure that would mean giving up the name, and I just can't do that to her!

Psychedelika: Mind/Psi Dominator, again with an origin backstory I'm very happy with, even though it's not nearly as complex as Hotwire's.

Pam Demonium: Dark/Elec Brute.... short but sweet backstory that I love... huh, I think I see a trend here.

Dreadfall, Dire Scourge, Shadowfell, Tinker Toyah... I think the only character name I don't love BECAUSE of their backstory is Incandesse. Mostly because she hasn't told me enough of her backstory to put down anything but a very short bit of prose. Not all of my characters wind up with anything in their bio box, and there's a few that have always been blank that I still love playing. But something about having something written down makes them more precious to me.

I've played City of Heroes since beta (aside from a break post-ED due to all of my friends quitting). But as much as I liked the game, I never fell in love with it.

It was City of Villains that I fell in love with. It was a Brute that was my first to 50. It is a CoV icon on my desktop that launches the game.

I do have some Heroes. I even actually finally got a Hero to 50. Of course, she's gone Rogue, now, but she did hit 50 as a Hero. The majority of my characters are Villains, though. The majority of my game time is spent redside.

I simply enjoy redside more. I enjoy the story arcs more. I enjoy the archetypes more. I'm irritated by all the contacts being locked behind Mayhems or locked behind badges, sure. I'm irritated that redside feels like it is consistently ignored by the devs, sure. But redside is where my heart is.

The funny thing is, I'm not psychologically pre-inclined to flock to the dark side. Any time I play a single player RPG, I play as the goodiest goody-two-shoes imaginable...um, kinda like I am in real life, I suppose. Something about CoV, though... it's just right. It clicks. And I love it!

My very first character was a Claws/Regen Scrapper in early-ish beta. She didn't get re-made after release. My very first live character was an Emp/Dark Defender, made because 'no one else was making a Defender' and my group 'needed a healer'. Hey, we were used to Holy Trinity MMOs. She's still on my first server, still...35, I believe, and hasn't been logged in in years.

How have I changed? Well, CoV came out.

I didn't know true gaming love - or max any of my characters - until I played a Brute. Brutes are my #1 favorite- and the first redside character I made, Pam Demonium (a DM/Elec Brute), was also my first 50. She does still get played now and then, but the friends I always played her with don't play anymore, so she doesn't get played that often. Not because I dislike her, but simply because it's bittersweet, because doing so makes me think of, and miss, my friends.

I did my very first iTrial (I think is what they're called?) yesterday.... my very first, after being away from game for several months, and only beginning to actively play a couple of days ago.

And it was Keyes.

Perhaps not the brightest idea, no. A friend was putting together a BAF for my first, but an experienced Trial leader showed up and was putting together runs for multiple trials, and our group got merged into theirs. They were starting with Keyes.

I was so lost. Yes, there were instructions, but in a few cases they seemed aimed at people that at least had some idea what was going on. In other cases I just didn't know where I should be. With this group? That one? That other one? Were we just splitting up and having at it wherever we might be? I tried to follow everyone as best as I could, and follow the commands. I tried to not do anything stupid twice. Why twice? I might do it once, simply because I had no idea not to. I died so much. I hardly understood anything, and 'in the middle of a trial' is NOT the time to ask questions.

I'm really, immensely, overwhelmingly grateful that it didn't trigger a stress reaction - or panic attack - from me. It could have. Such things have, before. It's the uncoordinated chaos of it all, compounded with my lack of knowledge. I could have wound up whimpering in my bedroom, huddled with an icepack on my head and a raging headache, and that would've been only a minor reaction. I'm surprised I didn't.

It isn't so much the raiding issue for me. I ran a rather hardcore raiding guild in the early years of EQ1. It's an activity I never stopped taking part in- I still regularly raid in LotRO. Something about Keyes, though... it might be Keyes itself, it might have been my lack of understanding of how Keyes works, it might have been a perfect storm of my rustiness and all of the above. All I do know is: I don't think I want to go back and do that one anytime even remotely soon!

Guardian is where I started, when the game released. It's got the one character on it with the name we were allowed to 'save' from open beta to launch... for that, and for other sentimental reasons, characters on Guardian are like good memories. I seldom play there, but I go 'check' on the characters now and then.

Virtue is my predominantly blueside server. It's where I originally went post-Guardian days, after all my RL friends had quit the game. I went heavy into RP there for a while, and had a wonderful time, until RL pulled me away as well.

Champion is my redside server. It's where I went after I came back to the game, to find that the RP culture on Virtue had changed, I didn't know anyone anymore, and I didn't know where to fit in. Champion is also my primary server, since I favor villainy.

So, my servers aren't really 'themed', but they do have general categories.

1. Are you male or female?
Female.

2. What ATs do you mostly play, and for what reason(s)?
Brutes are my favorite! Non-stop action! After that it's a toss-up between Masterminds and Controllers....I like minions, and controlling the combat.

3. Redside, blueside, purpleside, or any combination of the above?
Redside predominantly.

4. What are your favorite story arcs?
For me, it's more favorite contacts than favorite arcs, since I play mostly redside, so: TELEVISION! Slot Machine. Golden Roller. Diviner Maros. Doc Buzzsaw. Blueside arcs: Ubelmann the Unknown (though I never cared for the retcon to Council instead of 5th Column), Freaklympics, Revenant Hero Project. I'd also like to check out the Praetorian stuff in more detail, but I don't like the cranked up difficulty setting enough to put up with all the deaths.

5. What makes you like this game?
I can make 5 Brutes and each Brute plays differently than the other 4. The customization that stretches from the looks of my characters to the little details of how I play my characters. The obvious interest the devs have in keeping this game growing and moving forward. How the game segues so well between solo play, to (most common for me) duo, to full size groups.

6. What other games do you play?
I've got a lifetime sub in Lord of the Rings Online, and the majority of the time my game time is roughly balanced between this and LotRO. I also tend to dabble in other MMOs and get completely sucked into single player games now and then.

7. How long have you been playing?
Since CoH's closed beta, but not continuously. My last veteran badge is the 63 month one.

8. How many alts do you have, what is the average level range, and how many are level 50?
I really don't know how many I have....they're spread out all over and plenty of them have been abandoned for a long time...and my gaming partner and I are altaholics. We haven't reached 50 with most of them, we play a new duo like crazy and then get a wild hair to do something different and suddenly we've played another duo like crazy and are getting a wild hair to do something different. Vicious cycle, that. I have 2 50s and about a dozen in their 40s, and a horde in their 30s and below. Average level range would probably be mid to late 30s.

9. Do you bother with softcaps, set bonuses, and all that numerical stuff? What difficulty settings do you normally use?
Set bonuses interest me, softcaps not so much since I don't tend to play max level characters actively- I'm constantly playing new alts. I tend to Frankenslot vigorously. Difficulty settings vary by character, I don't have a favorite setting.

When an enemy you're attacking (best thing is when it's the BOSS of the map, whether of B, EB or AV variety) runs frantically SO FAR AWAY that they break their leash, forget the aggro, forget all about you, and wander back to their spawn point.

My friend and I put down a boombox and dance and chat while we wait for 'must defeat' NPCs to return, because having to chase them AGAIN just makes our blood boil. It's sad that 'So how's the weather up/down there?' (I'm in Louisiana he's in Canada) has become so commonplace.

Funny thing is, though, I've thought that the music clip you played in your video should be available via the boombox, because I sure hear it in my head sometimes with the way the NPCs run!

Any in italics are pets I don't have yet

Thugs/Traps
Plot, Ploy, Prank (Arsonist)
Blitz, Krieg
Zed

Bots/Dark
Clink, Clank, Clunk
Nuts, Bolts
Blastage
(Don't have Dark Servant yet, & haven't even begun to come up with a name!)

Necro/Storm
Edgar, Allen, Poe
Bram, Stoker
Lovecraft
Soul Extraction: I keep changing between Horror and Terror

Demons/Thermal
Fiery: Ignis
Icy: Glacies
Hellfire: I honestly can't remember...I'm pretty stumped on what would be appropriate for this one. Heck, I'm pretty stumped with where to go with the Latin names for all the rest of them, too, so I may have to reconsider my naming scheme...

I'm female and all my characters are female. (In every single multiplayer online game, that is- single player games, especially those where the player is given no choice as to gender- I'm ok with.) I've tried to make male MMO characters (in this game, especially) but they never last long. I'm one of the type that sees their character as an extension of themselves, and a male character - despite my interest in playing one - just feels wrong and that feeling gets stronger and stronger the more I play him.

I'm not bothered, and never have been bothered, by other people playing 'cross gender'. Everyone sees their character(s) differently. Decades ago when I was first introduced to tabletop AD&D, some of the guys I played with had female characters. There was no 'if I'm gonna watch a butt for hours it might as well be female' there, heck, there WERE NO real video representations of butts yet back then! So that particular argument has never made much sense to me, but I accept it. You play what you want to play, whatever makes sense for that character, and is fun for you. Everyone has their own reasons.