Steelclaw

A pulse of some strange visible energy has spread across the world... The good news... it has imbued some of earth's inhabitants with super powers... the bad news... it wasn't the humans and taking your pet for a walk just got a WHOLE lot more interesting...

So your pets now have CoH style super-powers... what AT/powersets do you think they'd get and what kind of hero would they be?

My five cats:

Gizzy (short for Gizmo): My twenty-five pound couch potato has transformed into Gizz-Zilla, a Stone Armor/Electric Melee Tank. I chose those for him because he really wouldn't see much of a speed decrease from the norm with the Stone Armor and any offensive power set that allows him to do damage without having to move would suit him just fine. Also Gizzy is so lazy that just watching him makes you feel lazy yourself, which is as close to a real-life simulation of endurance drain as you're likely to get.

Baby-Phat : The matriarch of the household. Crotchety, taciturn and bossy, Baby is our oldest cat and not afraid to assert herself in confirming her dominance. Her hero name is Baby-Phat because choosing another name would seem silly to her. She has become a Psychic/Psychic Dominator. Actually, I use the word "become" a little loosely because she has those powers already... when she glares at you the urge to freeze or scream "I didn't do it!" are very strong.

Natasha : Our grey kitten, the youngest of our brood. She is as bossy as Baby-Phat and the two seem to have an agreement that when Baby passes the crown will go to Natasha. Natasha is our Claws/Regeneration Scrapper with the entire Speed pool power set for good measure. She is in a near-constant state of Scrapper-Lock as she races around the house like a little grey blur. She attacks anything that moves and has declared the Red Dot Laser Pointer as her arch-nemesis. The reason she's Regeneration instead of Super Reflexes are two-fold: 1) She occassionally takes short "power naps" after which she is raring to go at full tilt again and 2) though she is very fast she is also somewhat clumsy. This might explain her hero name of "Na-Crash-A."

Spooky : Natasha's mother, our all-black cat with gold-green eyes. Spooky is very cool and calm most of the time and will generally freak out visitors to our home by just sitting and staaaaaaring at them. She has transformed into a Dark/Dark Defender. She's a defender because, despite being creepy, she's a doting mother and very empathetic to her humans. She is always willing to lend her caring and healing presence to a loved one... and doesn't mind sucking the life from strangers to do it. Her hero name is Dark Pooky.

Bebe (pronounced Bee-Bee) : Bebe came to us via adoption. We took her in because no one else would as she is lightly brain damaged due to injuries when she was a kitten. Bebe is pristine white with patches of soft grey. Her brain damage causes her to be easily distracted. One of the funniest sights I have ever seen in my life was when she had one foot sticking straight up in the air for fifteen minutes because she had been cleaning herself when I drew her attention... she completely forgot about the foot and just... well.. left it up there. Bebe has become an Energy/Energy Blaster... because I'm fairly certain she's the reincarnated form of Fusionette. Despite that suspicion she will still be called Bebe because I honestly don't think she could remember another name.

So that's my brood of super-powered pets... what about yours?

Well... I run into a few small issues right off the bat...

1) I live in Maine... check that... I live in RURAL Maine... The crime rate in Maine is low... REAL low... and that's in the big cities like Portland and Bangor. Folks, Portland's entire population would fit inside Madison Square Gardens... all of them... all at once. My chances of actually finding a crime that I was close enough to do something about before the bad guys got away would be ludicrously small.

2) I would probably use the Helmet to play City of Heroes in a much more fantastic way.

3) Ultimately, I think I would probably go to a company that has a solid track record of supporting/outfitting Law Enforcement and US Military with armaments and the like. I would sign a contract with them that allowed them to reverse-engineer the suit for the purposes of mass-producing them for police, fire department and military use. I would ensure the contract gave me a small percentage cut of the proceeds. I don't have much interest in being a billionaire, but comfortable would be nice. Also would write into the contract that my family/descendents hold exclusive rights to that percentage so long as my family line continues.

Any opportunity for a list is a good opportunity for a list...

* I have gone from being a reclusive forum wall-flower who never said anything to posting too much for my own or anyone else's good.

* When I first started playing I was trying very hard to make up for some bad parenting mistakes I'd made as a younger man/father. Now, not only do I have a great relationship with my son and daughter, but I've even patched things up with my ex-wife to where we're able to parent effectively together despite no longer being married.

* As an addendum to the above, when my daughter and her mother were having extreme problems I suggested family counselling. So, not only have I grown as a parent, we've all grown as a family and I am happy to say she and her mother are getting along MUCH better.

* When I first started CoH, I was working as a Veterinary X-Ray Computer Systems Software Troubleshooter/Specialist. (Say THAT ten times fast...) I have since met a wonderful woman who, with her medical concerns (she has Lupus) and her financial independence, has decided she would rather have me home 24/7 than working. I make no guess as to how much complete, all-day access to City of Heroes has affected my tournament addiction.

* I have deleted and restarted my tournament no less than 7 times. I am not entirely sure of the exact number since I seem to be blocking it out; sort of like a soldier with post traumatic stress syndrome.

* I have begun to write my second book; a novel about young kids with something sort of like superpowers but from a more mythical/magical source. Unlike my first book, which currently sits in a desk drawer gathering dust, I have plans to actually get this one published.

* I've had a helluva lot of fun... in no small part because of the support, recognition and laughter of a group of forumites who are almost as insane as I am.... Almost.

Okay, so I've put a little thought into this one and come up with a problem.

The problem being: expected lifespan.

Even if I had more actual, usable technological knowledge than I do now I would still only have a short period of time to give it over to my laborers. At the age of 42, with no modern medical facilities or care, with less-than-modern housing and food production, I could feasibly see living to my mid 60's. So I have roughly 20 years to teach and direct my minions so they can continue along after my death.

Now, if I were immortal there would be no problem. I'd take it slow and guide my people along gently generation by generation.

But I'm not immortal... so I am left with a decision to make. I think that, ultimately, my decision would be not to teach them ANY technology whatsoever.

Here's my rationale: I have studied martial arts (tae kwon do, shotokan karate, aiki jui'jutsu, judo and Marine Corps self defense) for 20 years now. I am quite capable of killing a man with my bare hands, but it took me a LONG time to learn those skills. During that learning process my instructors also trained me on WHEN to use my training. The morality of martial arts was drilled into me right along with the combat training. I know how to kick someone but at the same time I know what it's like to be on the receiving end of a kick.

Now, let's say someone found a loaded gun laying on the street. They have no training. They have no discipline with regards to finding peaceful solutions other than shooting someone. With my martial arts training I can restrain someone as easily as I can take them out. With a gun there is no such middle ground; the best option is "Shoot to wound" rather than to kill. The person picking up the gun has instant power. No cost to get it. No learning curve to earn it.

My minions would be in the exact same boat. If I just taught them how to make black powder and use it... If I instructed them on assembly lines and mass production princibles.. Then I am giving them power without any guidelines. When I am gone they would take my black powder and create bullets and bombs with it. When I am no longer there they build factories without thought to environmental impact because they had not learned those lessons.

So, what do I do?

Instead of giving them technology I give them basic survival skills like hunting, farming, irrigation, home building and community. I will give them culture to hold their communities together so they celebrate their neighbor rather than envy them. I will teach them a deep respect for the environment and the world around them. I will do my best to make them think "community and planet first... personal wealth and advantage second..."

That way, when they eventually discover these technological advantages themselves, they might be better prepared to share that knowledge rather than horde it and become devisive from the withholding. Perhaps they will think of the environmental impact of progress and adjust accordingly before they rush into "advancement" without proper forethought.

So, I guess I automatically fail the "restarting a civilization" test. Since, at least on a technological basis, I wouldn't give them a blessed thing.

Here's a few I've used over the years...

* Single Mastermind seeks team for missions, xp and long walks on the beach. Must love pets.

* There once was a lonely ol' Scrapper... Whose costume was looking quite dapper... Though unlikely it seems... He was looking for team... For without one his night's in the crapper...

* Masochistic Tank seeks team to help find large spawns to beat on him... the bigger the better... you can destroy the spawns for xp if you want.. just... well... just let me enjoy them for a FEW seconds first...

* Squishy seeks Wall for protection, taunting and debt-free missions

* KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL brute lft KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL

* I like big BUFFS and I can not lie... as a Defender I'm so fly... On your team I would fit right in place and buff you into space... so IN-Vite!

* Will Tank for Xp

* Hello... I'm a Mastermind and I'm here for the World Hunger Organization... did you know that with one simple invite you could feed a 'family' of seven for a day? Have a heart... please send an invite now...

Well, being an honorably discharged Marine I'll take a stab at this.

Rather than argue which would win; I think I'll just say how I would plan the tactics for the Marine side of the equation.

First of all, the numbers are daunting but what is even more problematic is how those numbers are spread out over most of Europe and the Mediteranean. Chasing each Legion down individually or taking each city would be an incredible waste of resources. So, I don't do that.

The first thing I do is take Rome itself. This is the heart of the Empire and the symbol of its right-to-rule. With the Emperor taken out and the Senate disbanded, I immediately ALLOW Roman messengers and loyalists to leave the city en masse with the hopes that news of the fall and the otherworldly... almost godly... nature of the force that took it will spread.

I do this for one big reason... a good number of the cultures under Roman rule were not particularly happy about their governors. Once these less-than-satisified protectorates hear the invincible empire has been injured and the emperor is dead, they will likely consolidate their forces inside their own borders and declare their independence from the Empire. I would guess roughly half of them would do this and I think I'm being conservative in that estimate.

While the various political factions were deciding who was marching to re-establish the empire and who was waiting for the dust to settle to better know where their personal advantage lay, I would be re-landscaping the terrain surrounding Rome. While Roman generals certainly knew about lanes of fire and the like, they could not possibly comprehend the range of the weapons they'd be facing. My Marines would set up thick fence works and deep trenches interspersed with toe popper mines and other small anti-personnel mines, the whole layered with lines of razor wire. Between these pie pieces of hell I would have nice open and easily travelled roads that were just wide enough to allow ten men abreast to march through.

I would set up machine guns nests trained on these roads. I would also set a tank to each road with explicit instructions not to fire at anything that wasn't a siege engine. The rule of the day would be ammunition conservation, at least during those initial assaults. Shock and Awe, folks. Once again, I would mow down those who insisted on approaching the city, but I would allow anyone who turned to run away to escape. Not only would this allow me to conserve my ammo, but it would continue to let a steady stream of information about the destructive power of my Marines to leak out into the former Empire.

It wouldn't be long before other cultures and countries began to renege from their shattered empire. I would allow diplomats to approach my outer fortifications if they wished to discuss mutual non-aggression pacts. They would not be allowed in the city proper, but they WOULD be witness to the miracle of radio communications. I would make signing such agreements VERY lucrative and profitable to those countries. After all, I hold control over the riches of Rome. I'm not there to set up shop or improve the lots of the people. I'm there to disband and destroy the Roman Empire. I would make it very clear to all parties involved that it was a first-come, first-served basis. If they wanted the choicest loot, they needed to get on-board early.

The resulting feeding-frenzy/race-to-riches would likely be stupendous to behold.

Finally, once I had my "allies" securely numbered and listed. I would make one final offer... Aid and sustain my troops as I march out to take out the few remaining hold-outs and I will reward their help by giving them the lands so conquered. I would promise my staunchest supporters the city of Rome itself... once I had removed myself back to my proper time line, of course.

All things considered, I think I could count on resentment of their former conquerers and basic human greed to do most of my work for me.

Oh, what the heck, I'll put my two cents in because people expect me to be serious around here about as much as they expect the Spanish Inquisition.

I play both sides and enjoy both sides equally. And I would like to say right off the bat that BOTH sides need work. Blue side isn't perfect... if it were then they wouldn't be re-vamping Atlas Park and the low-level experience like they are for Freedom.

That being said, the topic of discussion here is Red-Side, so I'll limit my wish-list to that. Since I think better in lists, here are a few things I would change about red-side:

* Evil Is As Evil Does: I want to be a villain. By signing on at the character creation screen as a villain I hereby agree that I will NOT be offended by the heinous things that villains do. I am an adult and everyone who plays the game is allegedly a teen or older. We, as teens or older, accept that Villains are NOT GOOD PEOPLE. We are fully prepared to murder, steal, cheat, commit arson, hurt innocent people and do whatever we can to make ourselves more powerful. I want to be EVIL, not "slightly naughty but always willing to help out the other guy."

* Dominate The World Or Be A Subservient Lackey? Decisions, Decisions: Actually that over-simplifies things. Villains even more-so than Heroes have a wide variety of career paths. I would LOVE to see something similar to the contact trees from Praetoria in the Rogue Isles. Think of it... you arrive on Mercy and someone asks you what you want to do with yourself. You can choose from a short list of good solid villainous stereotypes: Megalomaniac Bent on World Domination, Homicidal Maniac Who Kills for Pleasure, Richest Man In World Ambition, Mercenary Who Works For Anyone Who'll Meet His Price. Like the current Praetorian model you can switch among them at will, but you get the chance to play your character as you've envisioned them. And only have to do the bidding of someone more powerful than you if you WANT to. Personally, I wouldn't mind seeing the entire "chosen one" story line go right into the recycle bin.

* More Good Guys!: I can see SOME fighting the other villain factions from time to time, but aren't we supposed to be battling heroes? On the other hand, I get very tired of fighting nothing but Long Bow. And honestly, why do we have to fight organized hero groups anyway? And why are they in the Rogue Isles to begin with?! One of the biggest things I would like to change is to have LESS missions in the Rogue Isles and MORE missions that take you to Paragon. Levels 1 through 20 you are proving yourself and don't get off the isles to do so... 21 and on you begin getting more and more strike missions against the heroes and businesses of Paragon. I feel more villainous taking out the PPD or some group of heroes than I do fighting Arachnos...

Most of my concerns are role-playing in nature. I want to FEEL like a Villain when I play a Villain and FEEL like a hero when I play one of those. As it is, BOTH sides end up making me feel a little purple.

So, if heroes are spending all their time out fighting the bad guys, and most of the signature Villains are standing around giving out missions and doing the contact thing... just exactly how do they manage to pay the bills?

Product endorsement, of course!

The big name heroes and villains took a page from the professional athletes' book and started lending their names and faces to various products and brand names.

Here are a few advertisements you could expect to see on Paragon television stations and in magazines:

* Ghost Widow: Magazine page of her face. Although just as pure-white pale as always it looks like her upper lip, normally black as sin, has disappeared entirely. The caption: Got Milk?

* Synapse: "Hello, my name is Synapse and I run... I run a LOT... heck, on an average day I can cover more than 500 miles easy... when I finally slow down at the end of the day only ONE detergent is strong enough to get the stank out of MY sweatsocks..."

* Capt Mako: "Sometimes even a shark's stomach can take a beating. When an enemy disagrees with me even after I've eaten him... I reach for that little pink bottle..."

* Positron: "Making an appearance to save the day is only half the battle. The way you look when you get there is just as important. When I want to really impress the bad guys I use Turtle Wax...."

* Golden Roller: "I didn't believe it... but they were right... one call saved me 15% on my car insurance..."

* Swan: "I began to realize what a mistake an all-white costume was after my first sewer-mission... I was the laughing stock of the super-set... they began to call me dirty-duck... then I discovered Chlorox bleach..."

* Wretch: "Hooked on phonix am work for me!"

* Back Alley Brawler: "I used to be embarassed all the time by blown out pants or shirts that split and tore if I even sneezed too hard. Then I discovered Atlas' Big and Tall Store. Now, to the disappointment of ladies all over the city, I can keep my assets consistently covered."

* Lord Nemesis: "Amazon dot com... the ONLY place that has even more plots than I do..."

* Foreshadow: "Being able to see the future, you would think I would have it made... But when it comes to planning my FINANCIAL future I turn to the stock brokers at..."

* Lord Recluse: "Mwa ha haaaa.... My forces have invaded your home! You are doomed! What?! Oh no! Not... (gasp)... The Orkin Man!"

* Lanaru the Mad: "Drink and drive? Even I'm not THAT crazy..."

* Clockwork King: "Smuckers Jams and Preserves... the second best thing ever put in a jar."

* Infernal: "As an inter-dimensional hero I have to travel a lot and one thing I've discovered is not every place I go has a hotel that accepts... er.... Pets. So when I'm in a jam I call the great folks at Pandora's Pet Paradise lodging center..."

* Citadel: "Su..suh...suh... suh... sometimes I get a little g-g-g-g-g-glitch in my sy-sy-sy-system that I just can't do anything abou-OU-ou-OU-out. When I fuh-fuh-fuh-feel like I'm Cr-EEEEEAAAAAHH-ashing I call the cool professionals at Compu-Works Major!"

* Vanessa DeVore: "Marid Gras? Yawn. Oscar after party? Don't make me laugh. When you've seen as many parties as I have there's only one place to turn when planning the shin-dig of the century! That's to the party planners extreme at Pat's Parties and Tent Rentals!"

* Sally: "I used to hide a lot rather than let people see me. Many thought I was just terminally shy but the truth was my horrible skin problem! But now I'm out painting the town green thanks to Proactiv Acne Cleanser!"

* Captain Castillo: "Supercuts hair salon... Really... Do you think I'd trust hair THIS fabulous to anyone else?"

* Fusionette: "Hello, OnStar? I did it AGAIN!"

Some other ways of getting the Well's Notice....

* Do a really good Ronald Reagan impression...

* EVERYONE throws in pennies, nickels and dimes... but how many thrown in crisp 100 dollar bills?

* If even bad attention is better than no attention then I have two words for you... "Public Urinal"

* Tell it you're the only person in CoH history to earn the "Master Spelunker" badge.

* To heck with getting its attention... so what if it won't let you bring up the bucket? Just bring a really, really, really long straw.

* Threaten it with 5,000 packets of unsweetened Kool-Aid and not a single grain of sugar. Then NO ONE will want to drink from it.

* Offer it a kick-back on your new "Essence of the Furies" line of cologne and body wash products.

* Reveal to it that you know it's secret and will release to the press the fact that Hamidon was actually created the day someone poured 10 pounds of gelatin mix into the well.

* Bring a class-action law suit against the Well for harassment due to the fact that males only have to drink from the Well to get power; females need to bathe nude in its waters.

Been having this problem for a couple days now.

If I click on the Launcher from my desktop or my start menu I get nothing. It doesn't appear on my Task Manager it's basically as though I never clicked it.

If I click on the Launcher icon in my Sys-Tray then I get the Launcher to appear in my Taskbar and it also appears on my Task Manager list but it does NOT pop up on my desktop.

This is getting ridiculous. I haven't played the game in nearly a week between Irene's power outage and this new little Launcher issue.

So we, the illustrious blessed beings known as VIPs, will be getting access to Freedom (v 1.0) before it is opened to everyone and anyone who has a computer and an internet connection (v 2.0).

It occurs to me that perhaps we should prepare ourselves for the sudden wave of unwashed heath... er... new free-to-play players. Follows is a list of things you may want to consider getting done in preparation for the f2p invasion.

* Get a finely crafted, supple leather saddle with custom engravings and sized-to-your-hiney dimensions... just in case the Devs take our advice on the "Ride-a-Freebie" Travel Power.

* Pester the Devs for a new base item... an animatronic old man in a rocking chair to put just outside your base entrance with motion sensors and an audio track that broadcasts "Get the hell off my lawn!" at high volume.

* An identification program that will transform any Free-to-Play player's costume just slightly so you can tell who is one and who isn't... all F2P characters will now have a beach towel cape secured with a safety pin.

* Go to the Market and buy as many Computer Virus salvage as you can carry. Give them to new players as they enter Atlas or Mercy... convince them it's a problem that will infect their real life computer without the appropriate patch... When they are at an acceptable level of panic... give them a Daemon Program to "fix the problem"

* Set up macros for local chat to spam the message "I am your first contact; please approach and speak to me for your first mission assignment!" Have a list of outrageous requests and missions ready for anyone who approaches you which you can send them in private tell. Stand within range of the tutorial drop-off point in Mercy or Atlas.

* Prepare a list of "In my day..." items you can crank out in broadcast as you sit under the Atlas Statue. "In MY day City Hall only had ONE floor... guess those politicians got so fulla hot air it just inflated..."

* Get some Vets with twisted senses of humor together to organize a Snipe Hunting Zone Event. Spread out over Atlas Park and start talking in Broadcast about the event. Say the Snipe is loose in Atlas Park... it's not a strong creature and can be defeated by just six hits regardless of the power or level of the character hitting it. The trick is that it teleports the instant it takes a hit and can reappear anywhere in Atlas. So... the naughty Vets spread out and begin yelling things like "First hit! I got first hit on it!", "I see it... at my location and headed East FAST!", "It's on top of the Atlas Statue! Hurry!" and so on. Sprinkled liberally with "The one who delivers the last blow gets a badge, reward merits and enough xp to raise a first level character to 10th!" comments. See how many Newbs you can get to "play".

Congratulations 2Short2Care... How old do you have to be before you change your forum name to 2Old2Remember?

Can I Play?

Walk Speed

* Mime Walk 1 - Walking against the wind. Today your walk will be mostly slow with occassional gusts resulting in backwards movement.

* Mime Walk 2 - Who put all these invisible walls all over the place?!

* Thriller Walk - A metamorphosis walk that switches between a zombie shamble, a moonwalk, a strobe-light style zombie strut and a zombie moonwalk. Note: body parts have been known to fall off during the Zombie Moonwalk... please take the time to pick up your parts... keep Paragon clean!

* Prat Fall Walk - Actually this LOOKS like a full on run but with all the banana peels, strategically placed rakes and face plant cream pies, it averages out to walking speed.

* Really Strong Suspenders Walk - Another one that has the character trucking and running as hard as they can... however a Huge size generic character is holding on to their bungee-cord suspenders and the resulting drag slows them down to walking speed. The dragee will be eating a sandwich and looking bored during thier participation.

* Incredible Contraption Walk - Character is seated on the bicycle seat of a machine that looks rather like it just sprang directly out of who-ville just after Christmas. The contraption is rather large and has no less than fifty various hamsters, gerbils, mice and other rodents running in a variety of wheels and treadmills. Depsite having a 50 RP engine... it still moves at walking speed. Given that it is a Seuss contraption however... it plays delightful.. if discordant... music as it goes.

* Conga Line - Walk speed while doing the Conga. Every civillian you pass while using this walk will place their hands on the hips of the last person in line and join in. Other characters may also join the line by using the same emote while near it. The conga music will accompany the procession. Even when the originating character stops using the emote the civies will all remain in loose formation doing normal dance emotes until, one by one, they lose the groove and wander off aimlessly.

Sprint Speed

* Charioteer - The character rides proudly standing in a roman-style chariot. The creature pulling the chariot is a very thin, very paranoid-looking rabbit. Think the March Hare from Tim Burton's version of Alice in Wonderland, only the size of an average rabbit. When standing still the rabbit power-chomps carrots, pants as though about to keel over or attempts to pick the lock on his harness.

* Slow Motion Sprint - The theme from Chariots of Fire plays triumphantly as the character runs in slow motion. Despite his slowed steps he actually moves along at normal sprint speed which makes for passers-by to blink and do double takes.

* Get on Down The Road - The character does the dance-walk from the Wizard of Oz (there is also a version from The Wiz). The emote also includes an area of golden bricks to appear under the character's feet as they move. As an added bonus, any other characters who do the same travel emote within range will link arms together and "run" in unison.

* Marathon Runner - Character will have shorts and a tank top with a number pasted to it appear OVER their existing costume. They will run at a brisk pace, occasionally reaching up to press index and middle fingers against their neck to check their pulse rate. Every few minutes they run a generic individual will appear directly in their path and hand them a small dixie cup from which they will sip then pour the remainder over their heads.

* Olympic Power Walker - Similar to the Marathon Runner except now they are "walking" in such a way that their lower spines and hips would seem to be composed mostly of ballbearings.

* Is It Still After Me?! - Character sprints mostly normally but frequently casts looks back over their shoulders and occasionally even turns around and jogs backwards for a while with a panicked look on their face. The side benefit to this emote is any civillian seeing your hero run like this will assume the worst and begin "panic running" right along behind them in a long, sprinting line. Stopping the run will immediately disperse the line, with people walking away. For the next five minutes all former members of the line have dialog complaining about your character being a coward and "running from nothing."

* Oh Benny We Miss You - Yakkety Sacks plays in the background as your character does the normal walk emote... at sprint speeds. If several characters begin chasing each other around any zone using this emote as a group one of them will randomly transform into a short old, bald man. Although this new-appearanced character is now targetable, the only result you get from attacking him is to rapidly tap him on the head to a loud slapping sound-effect.

Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale
A tale of a big ol' twit
Who lost power for three whole days
And came back in a snit

For fate had dealt him a telling blow
A one-hit sure defeat
His tourney he must now re-name:
Start, Delete and Repeat
Delete and Repeat

The sign-on screen it told the news
That one big awful fact
Though Freedom it would soon go live
They'd killed the level pact
They'd killed the level pact

The Tournament it now must face a nigh uncertain fate...
Cry **********!
And ******** too!
Take your level pact and go *****!
I feel regret...
My tourney gets a new reset!
This may take a while!



But I'm not bitter.

The way I see it... I can stay with the level pact system and simply create a HUGE number of pacted characters to hold in reserve and hope that I am not all the way through them before the Devs finally figure out how to fix the problem...

Or... I can just scrap the level pacting altogether and re-write all the rules of the tournament... the advantage to this being I won't have to restart the tournament if the Devs CAN'T fix the level pact bug and I'll also be able to use new power sets soon after they are available instead of having all my characters written in stone.

Decisions... decisions...

So, I have... just now... signed on for the first time since Saturday night..

The reason for this is a simple one... Hurricane Irene... she came uninvited to my home and knocked out power from 2:30 PM Sunday to 11:30 AM Wednesday.... wait... is it Wednesday? Yeah... pretty sure it is... lost track of time what with no electricity... clocks... television... computer.... spreadsheets...

::shudders::

Anyway... as soon as that 69th hour passed and the power came back on... I rushed straightaway to my computer to access the barely-remembered internet and see what wonderful news the CoH website held regarding Freedom! I floated as if upon wings of purest joy... my fingers tapping on the keyboard was the sound of cherubs singing praises... and then I read...

We interupt this story to go to on a brief flashback... some of you might experience some vertigo or motion sickness as the hazy wavy image distortions appear at the edge of your vision... the flashback incorporates my last iteration of my tournament in which I adopted one of the game's features as my core concept for the new tournament.

The core concept in question was... of course... level pacting.

Fast forward to the present where I sit staring at my computer, willing my frozen and stuttering brain to comprehend the fact that level pacting will not function for new characters once Freedom goes live.

I think I'm going to put this all down to my mind snapping. It is my sincere belief that none of this is real and that nearly three days without access to spreadsheets or computer has driven me temporarily over the edge into full-blown insanity. This is all one big hallucination because the alternative is too horrible to consider.

The alternative being: The devs have finally had enough of me poking fun at them and their game and this is how they're going to punish me directly.

I've always thought that some sort of Super Powered Olympics would be an awesome addition to the game.

An instanced map with obstacle courses (similar to the Winter Event slalom) that rely on the player's skill as much as superior slotted travel powers would be awesome.

There should be badge awards... both of the "You won against others" and the "You completed it within X time limit" varieties. The Time Limit badges available at all times while the Defeated Others only in organized competitions.

I like it. I heartily approve.

So I was thinking of how few Primary Power Sets the MM has to choose from, especially considering the latest upcoming wave of Power Proliferation. Now, I know the MM Primaries take the greatest amount of work on the parts of the Devs, so I can understand why they would get new sets so infrequently.

However... I think we've got too caught up in the whole "summonable army" aspect of the Mastermind. It's time to think outside the box... something which I specialize in... heh.

Instead of summoning minions to do their bidding, what if the Mastermind summoned something else? What if they summoned magical constructs, technological doo-dahs or the like to make THEMSELVES more powerful? Here is an example of what I'm talking about.

Mastermind Primary: Battle Armor

* Repulsor Blast (lvl 1): Ranged, Moderate Energy/Smashing Damage When used out of Battle Armor this will be delivered through a Customizable Weapon. Rifles of various kinds, staves and other options will be given so the player can choose a techonological, magical, etc appearance. The attack has a chance to cause knockback.

* Gird Gauntlets (lvl 1): Summons the first three pieces of the Battle Armor (1st available at first level, 2nd at 6th level and final at 18th). Right arm Gauntlet is the first piece. Left arm is the 2nd. The final piece (gained at 18th level) is a connecting shoulder piece that includes a spine support that ends in a scorpion-style tail. Gauntlets and Tail have ranged energy attacks and smashing melee attacks. The Gauntlets are completely under the control of the MM. When both Gauntlets are gained the MM will be able to direct both of their attacks (ranged or melee) at the same target in the same attack OR divide the attacks up per hand, to better use them effectively. Doubled up attacks are accomplished by one button press but still have two to-hit rolls made and two separate damage calculations. (See Armor Upgrade for further details). The Tail operates independent of the MM, shooting enemies at range automatically or attacking enemies within melee range as a normal MM pet would do. Note that the Tail is tethered to the MM and so will not chase enemies except by ranged attack. All three are customizable weapons with tech, magic and other options.

* Aggressor Strike (lvl 2): Ranged, High smashing/energy damage Aggressor Strike is a shorter range, longer recharge version of the Repulsor Blast. It animates through the weapon or Gauntlets depending on whether the armor is equipped. It has a high chance of causing knockup.

* Armor Upgrade (lvl 6): Gauntlets gain glowing pieces dependent upon which costume piece was selected. Gauntlet double attacks that BOTH strike the same opponent on the same attack will now do additional fire damage over time. Tail gains new animations as it tracks back and forth like a serpent mezmerizing prey. Tail gains a Whip Strike attack at melee range that hits hard for moderate smashing damage with a good chance of stunning their target. The first Armament will gain an automatic healing function that will spam minor heals at roughly half the speed of an unbuffed Empathy Defender spamming Healing Aura. The heal function only affects the MM. The helmet Armament becomes better able to coordinate the functions of the Armor as a whole; count as Tactics leadership power and affecting only the Battle Armor and MM.

* Halo Assault (lvl 8): PBAoE, Moderate Energy Damage. When not wearing battle armor the Halo Assault uses the same weapon as the player chose in Repulsor Blast. With the Battle Armor the player claps Gauntleted Hands together to create a wave of expanding energy. Those hit take moderate energy damage and have a slight chance of being overwhelmed and suffering as though from Sleep until duration expires or attacked.

* Acquire Armaments (lvl 12): The first piece of Armament is a full-body armor that is fully customizable for appearance. The Armament can also be of a different height than the original character or can be huge if the original was male or female of body type. The second Armament (gained at level 24) is a full-coverage helmet and shoulder pads. First Armament has anti-personnel missiles as a ranged attack doing moderate lethal/fire damage which are automatic and need not be directed by the MM. It also has a thorny exterior that does minor lethal damage to any enemy who successfully hits it. In addition, since the first Armament is more defensive than offensive, it gives a significant defense buff to itself and the MM who wears it. The helmet Armament has an eye laser ranged attack doing high energy damage completely under the control of the MM. It also provides a minor boost to the Defensive Buff of the first Armament.

* Warrior's Glory (lvl 18): Combination of a Targeted AoE Taunt with a self-buff. Affected enemies will rush the MM who will find themselves under the effects of a moderate damage resistance buff for one minute. The buff will also give the MM and Armor pieces good resistance to all status effects (hold, sleep, knockback, etc).

* Armor Empowerment (lvl 26): Gauntlets used in a double attack against the ground at the MM's feet cause moderate PBAoE damage and cause a high chance of knockup, some weaker enemies may be stunned. Tail can do a broad slashing attack doing moderate PBAoE damage in a cone to the REAR of the MM; can cause knock up and is not under the control of the MM. The body Armament's thorn damage to those hitting the MM will now poison the attacker as well, doing minor toxic DoT. The helmet Armament gains an independent psionic ability to target opponents at range. The Psi Blasts do moderate psionic damage with a chance of causing sleep. The Psi Blasts are not under the control of the MM and happen against targets within range.

* Cataclysm Blade (lvl 32): Yes, you already know where I'm going with this one... this is Voltron's Sword... Although the player can select from a wide variety of possible giant-sized melee weapons. The weapon does Extreme lethal/energy damage and has an almost guaranteed knock up. The weapon remains for 2 minutes and while it is held the Gauntlets can not do anything but wield it, all their normal attacks will be greyed out. The recharge for the weapon swing works out to give the MM five attacks before the weapon is sent back to the place from whence it came.

The five armor pieces would be targetable separately the same way a normal MM's pets would. Any buff applies to the pieces and the MM as would for a normal petted MM. Area of effect heals heal both the armor pieces and the MM. Finally, the Supremacy will work the same way as it would for a MM.

In the case of my Battle Armor example it could be argued that the lower number of pets to divide the damage is balanced by the strong defense buff the first Armament grants. If that didn't seem enough then the set could be tweeked by giving the individual pieces more hit points to balance the lower number of them. Needless to say I haven't done any math on any of this so the set as a whole would likely need some major tweeking in order to balance its overall power and effectiveness.

All that aside, however, the set makes my point about how Masterminds can be re-tooled to summon items (or armor in this case) to make them more powerful as individuals. While I put some of the powers under the control of the MM as click-powers, some of the pieces still maintained independent control and so could launch their own attacks which is the advantage of the MM AT.

I think the MM should be thought of as Summoners... as they always have been... but the AT itself can be greatly expanded by reconsidering just WHAT they can summon.

Well, honestly... If *I* were in on the planning of CoH2 I have to assume the other developers would have duct taped my mouth shut prior to any meetings.. By now most of them know better than to actually listen to any of my suggestions...

When there's a(n) A on your team, you get B.

A) Demon Summoner
B) Migraines.

A) Force Field Defender
B) Bubbly

A) Time Manipulation Defender
B) to the mission on time!

A) Brute
B) accusations of "that was MY kill!"

A) Scrapper
B) map aggro

A) Beastyle
B) more pets and allies than there are enemies on the entire map.

A) Derp
B) herp-a-derp-a-derp.

A) Expert on tactics
B) someone who disagrees with your "CHARGE!" mentality.

A) teen age boy
B) distracted by a barely clothed 8' tall female tank... with "bazookas"

A) Stalker
B) free map exploration

A) TF Speedster
B) less xp but free TP

A) Steelclaw
B) to rezz him a lot as he tries to tell jokes while in the middle of combat.

A) Dark_Respite
B) Filmed