Stalemate

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4:10 AM EST - Apparently, we've entered into the "random prose" phase of the event:

[Marathon]Janlee2: Quick Zapper: someone, please, give a cell phone
[Marathon]Janlee2: Quick Zapper: to that luddite Faathim
[Marathon]Globetrotter: we need to put all our nickels together to get him one!
[Marathon]DJKyo: But but but
[Marathon]DJKyo: I has no nickels
[Marathon]DJKyo:
[Marathon]Globetrotter: you can do dimes
[Marathon]Mr Grey: None of us do.
[Marathon]Janlee2: Quick Zapper: no pockets
[Marathon]DJKyo: I got a pocket lint...
[Marathon]Globetrotter: haha
[Marathon]Mr Grey: We have no nickels, no dimes, no dollars or other cents.
[Marathon]Mr Grey: We only have influence.
[Marathon]DJKyo: And no sense.
[Marathon]Globetrotter: awww

I gotta get on XBox Live more and send him a message.

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3:12 AM EST - Some flirting going on apparently. with more than 3 people involved. Note to self: check ingredients in energy drinks for known aphrodisiacs.

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2:20 AM EST - Kyo reboots hoping to solve her lag / rubberbanding issues.

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2:07 AM EST - The 2nd TF is already started (Faathim) - with a quick restart since difficulty setting was a bit high.

Roster:

Janlee - Quick Zapper (defender)
Tsuki Sumarasu - Moon Goddess Luna (defender)
Globetrotter - Dutch Legacy (tanker)
DJKyo - Snap Play (defender)
Asylym - Blackrazur (scrapper)
EasyKnife - Fire Agate (scrapper)
Jon_C - Beltane Firevoid (controller)
Mr_Grey - Roland Grey (defender)


A defender heavy team. Will be interesting against the AV.

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1:30 AM EST - Dr. Quaterfield TF is completed in just over 5 hours, 7 min and 31 seconds.

Kyo had lag / rubberbanding issues quite a bit it seemed. Also, kept fighting with Tsuki over remains of defeated baddies. May need more coffee.

General consensus was that "this team rocks" and that this first TF went smoothly.

Loved a comment from EasyKnife during this TF: "no further need to fight", almost immediately followed by "ambush!"


Faathim will be next, after a short break.

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10:30 PM EST - Dr. Q TF is still going, with the team almost halfway done and morale is high largely in part to Stoneburst's energetic cheering. Kyo suffered a bit from key problems and directional issues. I'm chatting with Globetrotter on Teamspeak. It is now 4:30 AM for her.

The "Marathon" channel only has 2 cheerleaders in it, and only one of those usually wears dresses in public. Plus, she's married to me, so she might have felt obligated to do it.

More cheerleaders are invited to join the channel at any time to encourage the marathoners.

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7:50 - 8:20 PM EST - Getting ready to start up, logging in. Globetrotter is already hooked up to TS server when I get there.

Team is gathering up, all who signed up accounted for:

Janlee - Quick Zapper (defender)
Tsuki Sumarasu - Moon Goddess Luna (defender)
Globetrotter - Dutch Bat (blaster)
DJKyo - Snap Play (defender)
Asylym - Blackrazur (scrapper)
EasyKnife - Fire Agate (scrapper)
Jon_C - White Marvel (tanker)
Mr_Grey - Sarah Grey-durnan (controller) - stepping in for Stoneburst who bravely ran away and went over the the cheerleading section.

They're anxious to get going!

Tsuki mentions hoping the 3-6AM part of the night will go well for her.

Globetrotter is already rtunning out of coffee. My heart goes out to her - being in Europe already sets her current time to 2:20 AM by the time things start up.


And they are OFF - starting with Dr. Q.

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6:07 PM EST - Going to grab dinner with the family. Wasn't able to nap after all as planned. Should be OK. I met up with Stoneburst and globetrotter who also weren't resting up so we teamed for a few missions. Pretty sure Janlee and Kyo weren't resting up either. It'll be pretty interesting later on. Less than 2 hours before blast off.

This thread will be used to follow the events occuring during the Shadow Shard Marathon starting tonight at 8PM eastern.

PRIZES

800M Influence to be split up between all team members still playing at the end of 4th task force, with an extra share to be given to the team's MVP (as voted on by rest of team). The New Player Welcoming Night has sponsored 150M of that. The rest is offered by me.

- Approx. minimum gain of 100M.

MARATHON CONDITIONS

• Since 8 members are required to start the TFs, ideally 8 players will be required to be online at all times when the missions are run (barring complete and total PC failure, lack of Internet connectivity, or the End of the World). There will be no dual account usage if we can help it.
• There will be a Referee, who will check up on team status periodically through various means.
• Whoever has the star becomes the Acting Team Leader (ATL).
• Team can do TFs in any order.
• There is no time limit on running these. Completing with the highest number of players still conscious is the objective, not speed.
• All tactics* used while running these are deemed "valid".
• Breaks are allowed, at team's discretion, not lasting longer than 2 hours at a stretch. Team mates will not continue running any missions until everyone is back from break. Referee will be warned by ATL when breaks are taken and what is the estimated time to restart. No penalty unless 2 hour max. is exceeded.
• Bio breaks are not covered by this rule, and are always expected to be as quick as possible and announced in the global channel mentioned below.
• A global channel will be created and all participants invited as means of tracking progress. If a participant receives a tell from the referee a response is expected within 5 minutes max., or else a points penalty may occur (see below).
• If a player drops, the ATL will warn the Referee and the team will wait until that player has returned before proceeding with the following mission. The current mission may be completed with reduced numbers.
• If only 1 team ends up participating, then a MVP vote will be taken at the end, with the top vote earner being granted larger prizes.
• These conditions may be changed at any time, to better accomodate the event and the players. This is not etched in stone. These are guidelines and changes will be considered if proposed.

*This refers to the use of Temp. powers, Stealthing (with all team members inside the mission), Vet rewards, Warburg warheads, Temp. pets., etc.

Note 1: Teams will have to be composed of whoever is participating at start of event. Players are allowed to play different characters for any of the four task forces.

Note 2: The last mssion of TF 3, Defeat Lanaru the Mad, should be run in SG mode to accumulate credits for the Rikti Plasma Turret base defense item. Each player in SG mode accounts for 1 credit, 5 are required for item.

Note3: A channel on the Praesidium Teamspeak server will be made available for each team participating, to ease communications. Please make sure you have the latest Teamspeak client at the start of the Marathon

Note 4: This will NOT be easy to complete if you are using a character unsuited to defeat AVs as part of a team. Team dynamics will play an important role.

Note 5: The above have been modified to remove all mention of the points system since only 1 team is running.

PARTICIPANTS

This list was finalized yesterday, at noon.

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Team members:

• Globetrotter
• Janlee
• DJKyo
• Unholy
• EasyKnife
• Stoneburst
• TsukiSumarasu
• Tabercil (Jon_C)

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Reserves, in order:

• Mr_Grey
• Stalemate (2 accounts available)

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Cheerleading:

• StormVyxen
• Anyone else wishing to contribute cheer, inspirations, etc. can contact me and I'll put you in touch with the team.

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1:45PM EST - Only a little over 6 hours before this gets underway. I'll try to nap later since actually playing with the participants doesn't look likely and I'll need to find other activities to keep my mind active. Perhaps I'll start actual work on that arc I've been doing reading and research on for the last couple of weeks.

Happy (belated) Birthday!

Congratulations!

Hulu not available for Canadians.

And the last proxy redirector I used was a tad buggy, so I'd prefer not using it again. I'm sure it was great though.

And of course, since any time-saving tricks are not only allowed but encouraged, I say your estimate is fairly accurate.

I modified my last post to reflect the official team roster for the Shadow Shard Marathon.

We are a GO!


I'll see you all tomorrow night at the Shadow Shard entrance to invite team members and supporters to a global channel (please have a slot ready to accept it). I will also give you the details to get into the Teamspeak server, for those interested.

We'll review the marathon directives together, answer any last minute questions and then get under way.

Is 8PM eastern OK with everyone?



I will start another thread once we start up to act as a journal / blog of happenings as they occur to keep informed the rest of those who wanted to do this but lacked the intestinal fortitude.

Updated Participants Roster


_______________
Participating:

- Globetrotter
- Janlee
- DJKyo
- Unholy
- EasyKnife
- Stoneburst
- TsukiSumarasu
- Tabercil (Jon_C)

_______________
Potential Reserve:

- Stalemate
- Talbein_Vikshus
- Blazing_Blue
- Mr_Grey
- bamaWolfie

_______________
Cheerleading:

- StormVyxen
- ?


* I'll join the team if anyone drops, if only to pass the time quicker.


I need to finalize the team make-up so Thursday, Aug. 6, at noon Eastern will be the deadline for signing up, dropping out.


The New Player Welcoming Night Committee has dropped off the funds they wanted to invest, so we now have our 800M in prizes ready to distribute!

Thanks again to bamaWolfie for offering, since this type of event definitely doesn't appeal to most "new players". Personally, I'll be sure to give a litle something back in the fall when the next NPWN occurs, and I hope to see you all there.

I'm getting antsy for Friday night now.

The Bacon Explosion

Two pounds of bacon woven through and around two pounds of sausage and slathered in barbecue sauce.



...covered with...





PS - Yay for image inclusions.

*Corrected my last post

Globetrotter asked me a few minutes ago if one could bring different characters and not stick with the same one throughout all TFs, and I thought that was a great idea.

This way missing badges can be gained on specific toons, and team composition can change to keep things lively.

As long as the same player controls the toons from start to finish, I think it's OK.

Just FYI, my kids ran Justin's today from about 3 until 6PM or so.

About 3 hours.

Not til about 11:30PM Eastern.

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=183495

I think I got you on Facebook already, but it's always worth seconds.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday!