Steelclaw

Awesome... absolutely awesome. Now THIS is how a re-make of an 80s cartoon should be done.

I actually think I detected a plot and series-wide through line in there somewhere!

SWOOOOOON...

Golden Girl: Hold on... let me check something first... okay, I'm moving my head back and forth... is my hair moving? No, I mean is it moving independently of my head like REAL hair is supposed to? No? The Devs promised me I'd get moving hair! THOSE (remainder of dialog removed as it violates the Teen Rating)

Zwillinger: I refused to become a summonable character until they provided my Avatar with a few.... umm... "extras"... I am proud to announce that I am the only character in City of Heroes history who has an emote for every dance number in Chorus Line, West Side Story, Oklahoma and a few others... here let me show you a few (dozen) of my favorites...

Zwillinger (alternative): First ever Scrapper with the Dance Fight power set baaaabeeeee!

Okay fine... Though I SERIOUSLY doubt any of us will ever be made into Signature Characters (although I can see the Devs making me the personal assistant cabana boy to Lanaru the Mad as revenge for the times I've mentioned them in my posts.) Here are a few for in-game summon-able Signature Forumites I thought of off the top of my head:

* Steelclaw: Sure, I'll help you... my pleasure... but... errr... well, you see I just deleted my Avatar and started over... so I'll help... but I'm only first level... Again.

* Arcanaville: Absolutely not. I will not help such a mathematically challenged build. If you want me to help you then you need to respec and re-slot your powers in the most advantageous way possible. So... before we battle... we need to go SHOPPING!

* Steelclaw: Okay... so before we begin... allow me to give you the Top Ten Reasons You Should Have Summoned Someone OTHER Than Steelclaw! I bet by now you've figured out number one for yourself...

* Dark_Respite: Stop! STOP!! This is all wrong! This room is FAR too small for me to properly film a battle scene. Okay everyone! Exit the mission! Give me twenty minutes to set up a small AE mission with these enemies on an outdoor map...

* Steelclaw: Devouring Earth, eh? Well, we'd best get to it. I mean, I don't want to STONEwall the process so we'd better LEAF immediately. Although I should refuel first, I'm about four QUARTZ low. Keep your tactics tight against these enemies there's no SHROOM for error, they could SWARM us under at any moment! And how about those... hey... wait... where are you guys going?!

* Arbiter Fabulous: Thanks for summoning me, I'll be happy to fight along side y.... DEAR LORD! Stripes with prints?! WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!

* Steelclaw: Okay, so I've died twenty times in the last mission and a half. If you guys would stop running from spawn to spawn I wouldn't have to type my jokes in the middle of a battle! Oh for the love of... there you go again... STAND STILL FOR A BLOODY SECOND!

* Chaos Creator (primarily due to his forum avatar): Hey, what are you and Arcanaville doing in Wentworths? Shopping? Let me just take a look at... ACK! What are you doing?! That's it... looks like I'm going to have to teach you how to buy things on the market without getting ripped off. Just... (wide smile)... give me a shopping list and all your money and I'll not only buy the things you need... I'll even show you how to turn a profit...

Okay... here is what I would do with a new AD&D cartoon...

1) All the old characters are scrapped EXCEPT the Dungeon Master. I would bring him forward but with a slight twist. From the first episode it would be apparent that HE is the one manipulating everything. At first he claims he is just someone who "finds heroes to bring to worlds that need saving" but as the series goes on it becomes more and more apparent that he is manipulating the villains as well. Perhaps this is just some semi-sadistic entertainment for him or maybe he is a diety of neutrality/balance/conflict? Who knows?

2) The heroes are brought in from our world once again and most, if not all, are NOT prepared for the change in culture, location, etc. There will be an extended adjustment period. One of the reasons for this is that they don't have the same bodies they did in the real world. I'm thinking a Biggest Loser candidate suddenly looking like early Arnie in the Conan movies or the senior dance WallFlower shy-girl looking like a Hooters waitress in a chainmail bikini. They all have serious adjustments to make mentally, emotionally and physically.

3) They do NOT have immediate skills. They are assigned to trainers initially to become "first level" characters. I don't care if the wizard is MIT level intellect and skills, he will NOT enter this world knowing a magic missile from a chain lightning spell. Also, I would NOT have the characters' skills be dependent entirely upon magical items they are given. They'll find those magic weapons eventually, but to start out they are going to have to quest for and earn them.

4) Character growth is a must. I want to see them grow and evolve as well as grow more powerful in a character-sheet sense. Maybe one of them starts becoming power hungry and a bit abusive with their new-found powers, having brought all their real-world prejudices and angsts into this new place in full-force.

5) Rated PG-13. This was one of the things that really irked me at the time about the original series. They may as well have printed "No Orc Was Harmed During the Making of This Cartoon" at the start of it because no one ever was! The heroes kill the monsters. Period. I don't need to see blood sprays and piles of guts laying around, but there WILL be deaths and the unprepared novice heroes' reactions to killing for the first time.

That's enough for now. I could go on and on until I've actually written a pilot script but you get the idea.

So, one of the selectable Veteran Rewards powers in the upcoming Freedom changes is going to be the ability to summon a Signature Character to help you out and do your bidding in battle...

The mind boggles...

* Lord Recluse: Let me get this straight, you have summoned me to help you fight a stonger opponent... when you KNOW my philosophy is the strong eat the weak... and you don't see any flaw to your logic?

* Ghost Widow: For the last time, the summoning is COMBAT RELATED ONLY! I am NOT going to help you reproduce Stantz's dream sequence from Ghostbusters!

(would someone in-office please explain that joke to TunnelRat?)

* Captain Mako: Ooooh... No... no more summoning... I've been summoned ten times today already and it's not even noon yet.... I couldn't... UUURRPP... possibly eat another bite...

* Lord Nemesis: Yes... yes... I get it... Lord Nemesis is now involved in a CaptainUnderpants plot... how droll... haven't heard THAT one at least a million times so far...

* Willie Wheeler: You're fighting Hamidon and you summoned ME?! What were you THINKING?!?!

* Blue Steel: Listen, it's not MY fault you get no experience points when you summon me... bad guys just run away like that whenever I show up... still... you have to admit Hamidon makes the funniest Ki-Yi-Yi sound as he runs away with his psuedo-pod between his legs...

* Fusionette: Okay! I had a few problems on the way to the summoning but I finally got here! Who do I have to fight? Wait... why are we in the hospital?

* Television: Well, no, as a matter of fact I can't help you with the actual fighting... I AM only a TV after all... what can I do then? I can edit the footage and replay the battle after the fact to make it LOOK like you didn't get your a** kicked.

* Silver Mantis: Okay, I destroyed your opponent for you... I'm still feeling a little itchy and unsatisfied though... heh... YOUR turn...

* Synapse: Why is it... ouch!... That I ONLY... hey, watch where you're sticking that!... get summoned to... OWIE! ... PVP zones?!?!

* Willie Wheeler: You're fighting Crey and you summoned ME?! What were you THINKING?!

* Statesman: I'm just saying that every other Signature Character get summoned for ulterior reasons. Heck, even Stephan got summoned just the other day because some freaky female villain had a spider fetish... Why am I the only one who gets summoned for battle only? (sighs) Fine, fine... I'll beat up the bad guy... but maybe afterwards we could go out for a drink? No? FINE.

* Manticore: Okay... that's it... I'm not fighting ANYONE until you tell me why so many of you morons are summoning with tears in your eyes. Heck, the last one summoned me "just to say goodbye one last time." Now SPILL! What the heck is wrong with all you players? What do you mean you wanted one more look before the Developers off me?!?

* Sister Psyche: Why are you sitting outside my house with binoculars? You wouldn't happen to be waiting for me to step into the shower before starting your summoning, would you? Yeah, now is NOT the time to be remembering I'm a mind-reader.

* Positron: Numina, really... the summoning power is supposed to be used for emergencies... No, I don't think "I wanted some snuggly-pookie-time" counts as an emergency.

* Willie Wheeler: You're fighting Hellions and you summoned ME?! What were you THINKING?!?!

* Citadel: I am here! What enemies are we fighting? Is it the nefarious Lord Recluse? Is it the heinous Emperor Cole? Point me in a direction friend and I shall aid you with all the powers at my disposal! What? Er, no... I don't think I can help your player get his computer to run faster in the real world. No... I don't... but... (sighs) Has he tried defragmenting his hard drive?

* Foreshadow: I did NOT show up late. I just knew you'd be able to defeat your opponent even without my help... and look... I was right. So why did I bother to show up at all? If you could see the look on your face right now you wouldn't need to ask that.

* Luminary: 404 Error Hero Not Found. Just kidding! Here I am...

* Azuria: You summoned me? When? Two days ago? Huh, sorry... I must have misplaced the requisition form.

* Willie Wheeler: You're fighting... Ummm... wait a second... Who ARE you fighting? I don't see any enemies around here at all. Oh thank GAWD! You have no idea how many times I've had to run away squealing from powerful enemies since they started this Signature Character summoning thing! At LAST someone summons me to do something other than fight! Now, what can Willie Wheeler do for you? Say! You look kind of familiar... Didn't you summon me to fight the entire Freedom Phalanx a week or so ago... Uh... why are you grinning like that? Oh... crap...

Congratulations... although I'm not sure anything with my name associated can really be considered an "Accomplishment."

Well... perhaps if you survived something to do with me... then that WOULD be an accomplishment.

On a related note, I will be hitting my 48 month point in early August. See, you were right! I AM following you!

Embalmed Vahzilok: A hunkahunka burnin' love...

BOOOOOOM!!

The following test will tell you definitively if you are currently involved in a Nemesis Plot.

1) Did you listen to a radio station within 20 minutes of waking up today? If yes, you are in a Nemesis Plot. If not, proceed to question 2.

2) If you live with someone were they either non-communicative or spout off almost the identicle drivel they do every morning before you left for work? If yes, you are in a Nemesis Plot. If not, proceed to question 3.

3) On your way to work did unforseen circumstances (construction, car accident, etc) force you to take a different route than usual? If yes, you are in a Nemesis Plot. If not, proceed to question 4.

4) Does your first name begin with the letter "A"? If so, you are in a Nemesis plot. If not, proceed to question 5.

5) Upon arriving at work were you subjected to new training, a change in policy or pointless emails explaining policies you know by heart anyway? If yes, you are in a Nemesis Plot. If no, continue to question 6.

6) Did your co-workers say nothing but generic, non-specific excuses for conversational gambits that were about as deep as black ice on the highway? If yes, you are in a Nemesis Plot. If no, continue to question 7.

7) At any time today did you notice a large brass statue carrying a staff look at you, then quickly look away hoping you didn't see it? If yes, you are in a Nemesis Plot. If not, continue to question 8.

8) Were you forced by unforseen circumstances (namely your boss) to stay late after work? If so, you are in a Nemesis Plot. If not, continue to question 9.

9) Have you noticed an inordinate number of marching band members following you around today? If so, you are in a Nemesis Plot. If not, continue to question 11.

10) If you are reading THIS question now instead of proceeding to question 11 as instructed in question 9, you are in a Nemesis Plot. Proceed to question 11.

11) Are you beginning to feel a little paranoid? If so, you are in a Nemesis Plot. If not, continue to question 12.

12) Have you at any time actually LISTENED to what Zwillinger is saying during a Ustream? If so, you are in a Nemesis Plot. If not, continue to question 13.

13) Have you read and answered every question of this test? If so.... you are in a Nemesis Plot.

Thank you for completing this test. If the results of this test indicate you are currently in a Nemesis Plot remember: DO NOT PANIC!

.....

Unless you forgot to bring your towel... in which case panic would be the appropriate response after all.

I would like to THINK I'm going to be reasonable and just select the ones I'm most interested in when I have the points accrued to get them... but....

My Hyde Side Replied "Buyed!"

New one that occurred to me while driving.

Synapse died when Coyote, left with nothing to do since losing the Outbreak gig, painted a picture of a tunnel on a wall at the end of a dead end street.


On a related note, I would LOVE to see a video taking the soundtrack from an original Warner Bros Road Runner cartoon and following the same action only with Synapse and Coyote as the visual.

So we will be seeing one of the Surviving Eight going the way of the Dodo in the upcoming Signature Arcs. They have not announced who will be the one receiving the great golden boot to the City of Afterlife but I am sure they will handle the unfortunate one's passing with dignity... respect... and great attention to story and emotional content...

... YAWN ...

That being said... here's a few thoughts on how *I* would have greased some heroes...

Statesman

* Death due to complications resulting from multiple concussions specific to the area of the head NOT covered by his helmet.

* Convulsions followed by death resulting from the stick up his *** finally reaching his brain stem.

* Complete physical collapse as a result of total exhaustion as it turns out he really WAS Emperor Cole and Statesman at the same time. He just wanted to live out some dark fantasies while still being able to keep up his image as a "good guy."

* Complications due to secondary infections brought on by spider bite.

Sister Psyche

* Complete mental degeneration, diagnosed clinical insanity and eventualy psychic suicide after mind-riding for ten minutes with Steelclaw.

* Malignant, aggressive skin cancer from wearing a practically see-through costume and standing out in the sun all-day, every-day for the last 7 years.

* Complications and infections resulting from surgeries to remove a "trick arrow" from an undisclosed location of her body. Doctors would not provide details; only claiming that the arrow was "not intentionally lethal in design." Manticore's only comment was "I knew I shouldn't have shot it at such close range."

* Mobbed and trampled by fan-boys after making an appearance at Comic-Con as a booth girl.

Manticore

* Forgetting to shield his thoughts when his wife asked him a direct question about Swan.

* Misjudging the potential blast radius of his new pocket nuke arrowhead.

* Suggesting a few attractive female heroines his wife could mind-ride to when her current body got "old and ugly."

* Losing his temper when Blue Steel told one too many short jokes.

Positron

* "Huh, guess he needed the armor 24/7 after all..."

* On channel six news tonight, Positron dead after Steelclaw glues a Rust Monster to his back while the famed hero was cruising at 1000 feet. When asked why he did it Steelclaw replied "Because it was hungry."

* In the culmination of his love for Numina, kills himself to be with her. However, being one of the very few male ghosts in CoH lore, finds himself as the rope in a tug-of-war between Numina, War Witch and Ghost Widow. Later quoted saying "I should have done this YEARS ago!"

* Beaten to death with a video camera by a very angry woman, identity unknown, who screamed "How (whack) could (whack) you?! (whack) Do you (crunch) know (crunch) how long (thunk) it took (schluck) to write (squelch) all that?!" Any help identifying this women would be greatly appreciated.

Numina

* Though that Positron had left the refridgerator door open again and went toward the light.

* Ghost Widow finally decided there was only room in the lore for ONE spectral hotty.

* Unknown, but clearly agitated woman puts in a call to Ghostbusters.

* Unable to really die in her current state, is downsized by the development team. Discovers finding work is difficult for one in her circumstances, eventually hired by large sprawling hotel with a history to do part-time haunting in an effort to draw more guests.

Citadel

* Mixes his hardware with a complete stranger's software. Later on repeated I/O failures lead him to seek the help of a specialist with additional complaints of depleted RAM and lacking in his Drive. Is informed he has contracted a terminal virus.

* Against his better judgement he installs a Microsoft OS. Two hours later his vision goes entirely blue and he knows no more.

* Accidentally sets his spam filter to "Accept All". Does NOT die, but his processes become so slow everyone THINKS he's dead and buries him anyway.

* Clicks "Yes" to an Apple Corporation I-Tunes End User Agreement without reading the terms first. Never heard from again but six months later Apple comes out with the I-Citadel.

Back Alley Brawler

* Meteor lands on him.

* Dies of shock and massive trauma after forgetting to remove his power gloves prior to his "private time."

* Looking for a new gig once his Galaxy City duties are no longer required; opens his own restaurant called "The Back Alley Broiler." Dies of food poisoning three weeks later.

* Tenders his resignation when he gets a job with another video game publisher as the title character in an upcoming re-make. Unfortunately, "Back Alley Brawler's Punch-Out!" is scrapped before it goes into production.

Synapse

* Steelclaw ties his shoe laces together then screams "Synapse! The Skyway Bank is being robbed and the bad guys are getting away!"

* Is dared to drink 60 cans of Red Bull in under 30 seconds. Wins the bet. Spontaneously explodes.

* "Hey Synapse! Bet you can't vibrate your atoms and pass through solid objects at high speeds like the Flash can!"

* Doesn't pay attention to his calendar and mistakenly shows up for work on the day Mynx enters her heat cycle.

* Synapse's Girlfriend: "It says right here 'lasting longer than four HOURS!" How were we supposed to know there was a time adjustment for super speedsters?! And can someone please put a cloth over his face or something?! It's creeping me out to have him smiling at me like that..."


Hmmm... you know... this is probably why the Dev team doesn't invite me to write any story arcs.

Excellent as always!

Love the possible death scenarios... of course... it immediately gave me an idea for a possible list... but for now I've successfully restrained the urge.

Okay, let me start this by first saying that I will buy whatever I "can't live without" from the store no matter what the charge is or how long I have to save up for it. I'm a glutton for this game and will continue forking out points, cash, whatever to maximize my personal enjoyment there of.

That being said...

I don't think the proper way to determine if something from the upcoming Paragon Store is priced correctly by comparing it to "real life" money at all. I honestly believe that was a bad idea by the marketing team from the start. It's always a bad idea to promote price over value and that's what I feel has caused a lot of the grumbling. As soon as they said "400 points equals roughly $5.00 of real world money" they greased up the slopes of a discussion that should likely never have taken place.

The way I would have approached it would have been one of relative value versus relative effort to create. Sooooo... if it takes a developer/artist/coder/etc roughly two hours to make a Wizard's Beard costume piece but takes an entire team a full work week (40 hours) to create a Signature Story Arc and a full team three weeks (120 hours) to make a new Power Set then I would have no problem what-so-ever with a 1 to 20 to 60 ratio on the cost of these times in Paragon Points.

Actually, the ratio SHOULD be higher than that because the more complicated the item we're buying the larger the number of people who had to work on it becomes. I would imagine that Power Sets are some of the most complex and labor-intensive things in the game to create; so OF COURSE I expect to pay more for them.

Another bad thing about using Going Rogue as your price point comparison is that Going Rogue was DELIBERATELY underpriced. Going Rogue was a tool the team was using to draw in new subscribers. The subscription fees were at that point the Primary Way they were drawing in cash. Gaming Consoles and other electronic media work the same way. They undercharge the hardware like crazy, sometimes even taking a loss per unit sold, so they can make back their profit margin on the games/media.

Let's face it, production-wise, that little disc of plastic does NOT cost them $59.95 to make.

The Freedom market model, of course, works much differently. It still wants subscribers, but now can make micro-transaction money from the "free" players as well. But in order to do that, it needs to convince the players (VIP and otherwise) of the value of the product.

As far as whether or not the value of Beam Gun and Street Justice are enough to warrant the price point they set.... Well... don't buy it if you think it's not. And then... when you've seen it in action in-game and start getting the shakes at not having access to them... and the Paragon Store is humming a siren song directly into your points bank...

...then we can REALLY discuss how much value they have.

Well... since my latest reboot I only have 8 characters at the moment so I guess I'll list those..

Heroes:
D'Shan Steelclaw (Level 37 claws/regen Scrapper)
Edie Wyldfire (Level 37 fire/devices blaster)
Ranger Lord (Level 4 dual blades/willpower scrapper)
Lady Arc-Light (Level 1 electric/electric blaster)

Villains:
La Bella Mafia (Level 30 thugs/thermal Mastermind)
Assisted Afterlife (Level 30 dual pistols/energy blaster)
Re-Stitched (Level 1 gravity/energy dominator)
Sundered Remains (Level 1 battle axe/invulnerability brute)

Yes, yes... very nice trailer.... I think...

This really is NOT the sort of thing to watch when you have just woken up to 100 degree weather... feeling like you haven't slept at all...

They were flashing screens so fast I feel like I was the victim of one of the Time Manipulation debuffs...

Oh, another new nifty item that will be available through your Paragon Rewards will be new Inspirations.

There will be two new types.

The first will be a Dual Inspiration which will affect two attributes at the same time (for example: accuracy and damage or defense and resistance, etc)

The other will be a Team Inspiration which apparently work like normal inspirations but the bonus applies to the entire team and not just the person popping it.

Also... The IO Booster power will (if I got this right) increase the effectiveness of any IO Enhancement it is attached to by x5.

So, if you hook it up to an IO Damage it will increase the bonus of that IO by a factor of five.

Black Pebble said that if the Booster was attached to a specific function IO such as the Luck of the Gambler speed increase, it would treat it as though the character had two such enhancements slotted instead of just one.

Also, Positron confirmed that these boosters are PERMANENT. They are NOT like inspirations to just give you a short-term increase.

He was unable to confirm if there is a maximum number of boosters you can use or how many such a number would be.

So, we're going to be inviting EVERYONE to come play our game, are we? The criteria for entry to our formerly exclusive club has dropped from "Willing to pay $15 a month" to "owns a computer and can at least steal internet from the neighbor's wi-fi."

Perhaps this is a leeettle too easy? I mean... what kind of people can we expect with those kinds of guidelines? I propose every person who wishes to play our game for free be forced to take the following "Minimum Requirement(s)" test.

Just so we can weed out the people who really shouldn't play City of Heroes with the rest of us.

1) When you see a female Crey Field Agent fly up and fall down to land with her legs spread wide in that short skirt do you...

a) gasp in alarm, avert your eyes and drape your cape over her until the teleporter takes her away to preserve her modesty.

b) ignore her... there are other Crey to slaughter and XP to harvest!

c) think "oh yeah... she's a tease..." and hit Print Screen.

2) When an Embalmed Vahzilok squats in front of you but out of sight of the squishy blaster do you...

a) shove the the blaster out of the way and throw your body over the Vahzilok to absorb the blast.

b) kill the danged thing before it can blast or at the very least get some damage on it so the xp aren't lost.

c) back off and think this is going to be funnier than that time you slipped the whoopee cushion into grandma's chair at Thanksgiving dinner.

[b]3) Your team mates have all fallen in battle, leaving only you alive, do you...

a) immediately begin encouring them to try again even as you teleport their bodies to safety while passing out wakies to those who need it.

b) gloat about your leet skills at combat while fighting whatever enemies are still standing.

c) walk up to the team member with the star and do the teabag emote; immediately getting upset when it wasn't what you thought it was.

4) You are high level but while running through Atlas Park you come across a purse tug-of-war in progress, do you...

a) stop to aid the hapless woman get back her property and administer swift chastisement upon the miscreant!

b) run on past; no XP = no interest.

c) kill the snatcher, make lewd innuendos to the victim and then take the purse yourself.

5) You decide to play a character on the Villain side of the pond; do you...

a) I would never play a Villain! My flesh hardens to horrified gooseflesh at the very thought!

b) XP is XP; power is power... so long as I can kill something... preferably LOTS of somethings...

c) You call these missions villainous?! I've earned boy scout merit badges for doing worse things than this!

6) Someone announces a costume contest under the Atlas statue; do you...

a) join immediately! You love community building events like this!

b) ignore it. If it isn't earning you loot or XP then it isn't worth your time.

c) join immediately! Then, the moment the judge gets in position to start looking at the costumes, activate an AoE Ice Shield buff... and Glacial Shield... oh... and Arctic Fog for good measure.

7) A low level character needs help crossing The Hollows to get to their mission door; do you...

a) have them wait in the safety of the police barricade while you travel to the mission door and teleport them there.

b) team with them and travel the breadth of the Hollows together, killing every spawn you come across for loot and XP.

c) have them wait in the safety of the police barricade while you travel into the pit, find the biggest nastiest spawn of Igneous you can and teleport them into the middle of it. Perhaps stopping to get some popcorn to much while watching the show.

8) Statesman has asked you to help repel an incoming Praetorian invasion! Do you...

a) gird yourself for war! The clarion call has sounded and there is only one honorable thing to do!

b) leap headlong into the fray! Invasion XP is sweeEEeet!

c) ask him if he only has a half a helmet because he only has to protect half a brain.

9) You are fighting side by side with Sister Psyche and your team when the heroine falls in battle! Your team rushes ahead heedless of her plight. Do you...

a) stop immediately to lend aid while calling to your team mates to wait until she is fully recovered.

b) rush along with your team. Vengeance is not only sweet, it is often profitable!

c) stop immediately while letting you team mates run onwards. Admire the way your drool glistens on her plastic-like costume.

10) You are, for the moment, an unblemished hero. A team is advertising that they are running Vigilante tip missions and are looking for more members. Do you...

a) politely refuse then admonish them for straying from the path of light into the twisted maze of shadow.

b) join in for the XP frenzy; after all... you can just refuse to do the morality mission later on.

c) explain how you're not high enough level to take advantage of the alignment missions. Since the only way you are an unblemished hero is if you were too low a level to get tip missions in the first place.

What I want to know is why... after I posted that I was definitely going to stay VIP... I got 23 private messages from people trying to convince me to go Premium?

I think it has something to do with losing your Forum access if you're not VIP... hmmmmm....

Premium is not conducive to my current tournament rules. And this time... this ONE time... I don't think I'm willing to burn and restart...

Basically I love the game too much to willingly limit my access to it.