SterlingSteel

I tend to use 4th down, 4th from the left as my gold color of choice.

Here's a therory, and its something the badge hunters don't want to hear.

We know this is all part of the "Endgame" Positron has been working on. We been clued in on how far we can enhance the Alpha Slot and the next Incarnate Power is some sort of AoE. What if this badge is only obtainable (without the use of pets/nukes, etc.) once you upgrade your Incarnate powers with the next ability? From a lore perspective, you have to be an Incarnate to deal with the new dangers of this coming storm, which the Praetorians are somehow connected. We are baby godlings now, we don't have all the power that, say, Statesman has.

Now from a simple gameplayer/badger perspective, this is stupid. You put a badge in the game that is only obtainable by using in-game, non-exploit "rule bender" powers (like nukes). Then again, I wouldn't put it past Posi to do something like this.

"Master" indeed...

I had the same problem for a week. On a whim, I rolled back the driver update that my CoH log-in screen kindly suggested I perform following the apply of the I19 patch.

No problems after that.

I use a NVidia GeForce 6150SE nForce 430. Rolled back from the 260.99 to the 197.45.

Support told me I was only running System Pack 1 and suggested I download Service Pack 2. Looking around my Windows Update is where I found how to roll back the driver. If I knew how to do it before, trust me, it would have been the first thing I tried.

I don't pretend to know much about computers, I can only try things. I know once I had to restore my computer after a Windows Update had me stuck on "Applying Update 1 of 3" for a week. I don't like "updating" things I don't understand. When it was suggested to move to SP2, I went looking for anything else other then SP2 to try before I do something that drastic. It works, my graphics are good, I don't lag unless I crank them up. I don't run Ultra, no intention, I just want to play the game. The new driver kept me from opening my contacts, kept me from my game.

Good luck. It sucks running in Safe Mode to read a tip or fire up the police radio.

Last night, was up late pulling enhancements out of a toon I intended on deleting. Was tired, didn't intend on switching toons to get these enhancements out of my e-mail. Remebered I had some money on the toon (that number I actually wrote down), sent that as well.

After reading the thread I logged on a toon... all gone. As a matter of fact, my e-mail box has been reset to as late as Nov. 28th. Enhancements and recipies that I already pulled out of my mailbox a week ago are back in there, the money I sent yesterday is gone.

Kinda disappointed that I hadn't sent myself a set of Armageddons at the end of November. I sent a petition.

That's one of the first things I did when I realized I wasn't imagining it. The buff drops.

When I hit 32, I threw on Power Siphon while I still had my "gratz on leveling, here is a Tier 3 Insp in all flavors" and ran right into a huge group. Those inspirations kept their duration.

Pine, what kind of Kin do you have? I have a SGer that has a Kin/Fire farmer, I'll ask him if he has seen this happen to him.

Edit: "Kin Melee/Firey Aura Scrapper used for farming", I didnt want anyone to think I was referring to a Fire/Kin Controller.

Im not losing time. I spent the duration of "Rescue the Kellermans" mission hitting inspirations and Power Siphon. The inspirations' buffs just stop after an average of 6 attacks, as opposed to times when I don't run Power Siphon, which actually blink before the end of their duration.

Im not popping inspirations, standing around for 45 seconds, using PS and running in. I'm stealth'd, I get right on top of my first target, insps, PS, sometimes hasten, then attack.

Has anyone else noticed this? I have a Lvl 31 Kin Melee/Regen Scrapper. When I see a group that I think I could use a little defense in I pop a couple of Lucks. I then fire off my Power Siphon and head in. By the time I take out the first guy, my inspirations are gone. I thought I was suffering some sort of "lost time", as in, I really stink at playing this guy cause it takes so much time to defeat him. Then I started paying attention. I get about six shots in on my target as Power Siphon gets good and saturated and WAMMO, the inspirations just go away. I tried without Power Siphon and the inspirations do their little blink thing and wear off as they should. Perhaps this is a bug connected to the stack of Power Siphon? I already filed a bug report, but I was wondering if anyone else has seen this. I have double posted in the Technical Issues/Bugs section, as to find a cross section of people that can potentially find this problem.

Has anyone else noticed this? I have a Lvl 31 Kin Melee/Regen Scrapper. When I see a group that I think I could use a little defense in I pop a couple of Lucks. I then fire off my Power Siphon and head in. By the time I take out the first guy, my inspirations are gone. I thought I was suffering some sort of "lost time", as in, I really stink at playing this guy cause it takes so much time to defeat him. Then I started paying attention. I get about six shots in on my target as Power Siphon gets good and saturated and WAMMO, the inspirations just go away. I tried without Power Siphon and the inspirationns do their little blink thing and wear off as they should. Perhaps this is a bug connected to the stack of Power Siphon? I already filed a bug report, but I was wondering if anyone else has seen this. I will double post in the Scrappers section, as to find a cross section of people that can potentially find this problem.

My Earth/Kin/PF Controller, "Pillar of Peace", is a hero that escaped his war torn world to find a better life. The idea of throwing up some stone cages is to stop criminals in their tracks and offer them an opportunity to surrender. Any hold or debuff after that is simply to incapacitate them. Now Pillar has his little $#!t-tank, but the man has to defend himself from those that don't understand violence doesn't solve anything.

Do you have any idea how much this toon sucks to solo?

No radios. I could make due with a TV. But there are no TVs either. But any kind of computer you could imagine.

My "task force serial" involves a radio talk show host that furthers the story by talking about the events of the day. It is a political thriller that evolves into an epic struggle between good and evil...

yadda yadda yadda

The idea was that the player could click radios in each mission to get some of the story going on that the player's character would not participate in. One of these is the assassination of a high ranking elected government official, a major twist in the story.

I thought about using computers to "stream" the radio station, but it seems kinda silly that you would find The Lost streaming online radio stations.

Any suggestions on what I can use to get around this problem would be great. Unless I just missed a TV or a radio collectable object that is only available on a certain map. Thanks.

Wow.

Thanks guys for picking Bob's story. I know when I read the thread before my first post, I was thinking, "How the heck can I do something as good as BackFire's?" I really liked the style and it really fit the character's look.

I thought maybe if you guys liked Bob's origin, you might want to know about the inspiration. In real life, I am a letter carrier. One day I came home a little cranky about the job and sat down at the computer to make a mailman with an assault rifle. After all, it's better to shoot digital bad guys then real life members of management, right?

After about a half hour I had cobbled together my toon and to my surprise it reminded me of someone. I yell to my wife in the kitchen, "Honey, come here real quick!"

"Doesn't he look like Bob?"

You be the judge...



Bob the Mailman was born.

I've told Bob he was legendary within my gaming community, but he really didn't know. About a week after my submission to this contest, I put together a collage of "Bob's Greatest Hits" and made a magnet for him to put on his case (without the assault rifle, could you imagine what management would say...).



Now he's running around the office saying "Don't mess with Super Bob, BANG BANG!"

What have I done?

Thanks once again. I really enjoy reading the stories behind characters. This was a very cool contest and I hope to see another like this sometime.

Along the lines of a "super speed" toon, people typically think Kinetics. As a scrap/stalk, we have been handed "Kinetic Melee" as a new offensive power. Now, it may not be what you are looking for, as it has more of a "Dragon Ball Z" feel to it. Dark Melee has a power that has fists moving fast, similar to "Flurry" from the super speed power pool, or "Sands of Mu" Vet power.

If that doesn't suit you, Dual Blades animation can give the appearance of two swords moving at a high rate of speed, especially once you get "One Thousand Cuts".

As for secondary, super speed scraps/stalks I've seen lean toward Super Reflexes, "They move so fast they don't get hit".

If you want advice on what power sets to choose to become a bad@$$, I am not the guy to talk to. I'm only here to offer advice on what "looks" like super speed. In the end, you'll have to find something that is fun to play and fits your theme. Hope I helped a bit.

I just completed the mission where you have to destroy the suitcase. I went up 4 flights to find High Hope. The Nav Box told me to "Lead High Hope to the Chief's desk." after that it said "Lead him to the Chief's desk." The waypoint led me back down the 4 flights to the door. Then I went back up the 4 flights. The chief's computer was a glowie just up the stairs in the boss/hostage room. I didnt need High Hope and the computer was a clickable glowie.

Grammarwise, on the first mission contact conversation, capitalize Hamidon and plauralize chemicals.

Outside of that minor issue, so far seems pretty good. Back to the mission!

Global Handle- @SterlingSteel

Bob Thompson has been a letter carrier in Steel Canyon for over 25 years. Nothing stopped him from completing his rounds: not rain (cause it never rains), nor sleet, nor snow (it never snows in Steel Canyon). Even during the Rikti Invasion, Bob risked his life to bring the survivors mail from their loved ones… and their bills.

After all these years, Bob was starting to feel disgruntled. Not by the job, Bob loved his job. It was the rampant crime. Even in a city of heroes, someone was always getting robbed or threatened. Someone needed to stand up for the random face in the crowd. It wasn’t long before Bob answered the call.

While on the route, Bob witnessed Hellions setting fire to an apartment building. The fire chief called out for heroes to help. (Paragon City Council thought “Hey, we can save money by laying off the fire fighters and give the heroes badges to put out fires!) The heroes arrived and quickly arrested the Hellions. Then they turned to the fire chief, grabbed their extinguishers and worked on the fire. After only a few minutes, the heroes “gratz” one another and turned to leave.

Bob was watching from the crowd. He was shocked by Paragon’s champions abandoning the people in their time of need. The letter carrier cried out, “Why are you stopping!? You didn‘t put out the fire!”

“We have the badge. We’re good.”

Bob was shocked. These are suppose to be the valiant champions of Paragon and they would abandon this crisis because they earned a badge? “What about the rest of us,” he thought. “What about those of us that can’t use a badge to protect us from the evil that festers in this city?”

A scream cried out from the towering inferno. A woman was still in the building. The crowd tried to get the fleeing heroes attention, but it was useless. Fear gripped the civil servant. It wasn’t for the trapped citizen, rather for the decision that he had already made. Bob shoved his handful of letters into his satchel and ran in, determined to save the woman.

Bob rushed into the smoldering abode and ran up the stairs. Once on the second floor, a support beam fell, narrowly missing him, but landing on the satchel he had forgotten was still on his arm. He dropped the mailbag and proceeded to the window where he saw the woman. He tore off his work shirt and gave it to her to cover her mouth and nose. A veteran of navigating through yards of children’s toys, sidewalks littered with gum and paths used by inconsiderate pet owners, Bob knew the safest place to step. He easily escorted the woman out of the building before it exploded.

Bob’s victory came at a cost. It was government check day. His satchel, lost in the building, was now ash. Thousands of dollars due to head to the disable, the unemployed and at least one man working a fraud scheme were lost in the blaze. The “Penny Saver” was also scheduled to be delivered. The residents of the Rabinowitz Retirement Center were none too happy. Management had no choice. With so many angry customers, Bob was “forcibly retired”.

Bob Thompson was a broken man. All that he knew went up in flames. Now he was just a former letter carrier with a NRA card and a chip on his shoulder. There really was only one thing to do. Bob wrote a good-bye letter that someone would eventually find. He suited up in his postal uniform. He loaded his assault rifle and made his way out the door, heading off to work.

Bob walked from his apartment in Atlas Park to the monorail. His thoughts drifted through all the adversity this city had went through. He wondered what hero would finally stop him, or if he would have to stop himself. A scream shattered his lost thoughts.

“I need a hero!”

In the shadow of Atlas, in the park that beard his name, and elderly woman quivered in fear from the Clockwork that demanded all of her metal. All that she carried a simple ring, given to her by her one true love, lost two years ago. Bob looked at the situation. He peered into the sky looking for someone to respond, but the heroes couldn’t be swayed from the path, to and from the Architect Building. Bob’s stomach churned, his heart was in his throat. It was the same rush of fear and adrenalin that he felt at the fire. Bob Thompson, former letter carrier and future workplace-violence statistic changed his destiny forever. With precision, he gave the Clockwork more lead then they could handle. Disabled, dismembered and disarmed, the Clockwork laid in defeat. The elderly woman hugged Bob.

“You are my favorite hero. I’ll never forget you, mailman.”

Bob stood there for what seemed to be forever. He watched the clockwork pieces fade away and continued to stare at the spot of the kill. What was he to do now? He couldn’t possibly go through with what he had planned, not after this. “What do I do now?” he asked aloud.

He stared up at Atlas. He remembered the stories of the giant hero. He was bigger then everyone but never forgot the little people. It was who he fought for: the faceless, nameless citizens that populate Paragon. This city needed more heroes like Atlas. With his fate sealed, Bob changed course and headed to City Hall. He needed to register.


“To stamp out crime, to certify evil’s defeat, to deliver a priority parcel of justice, this city must have a hero not afraid to walk the route. I will accept this task. I shall go about this task with duty, honor and pride. And neither Rikti, nor Nemesis, nor Council nor gloom of Arachnos will stay me from the swift completion of my appointed rounds. For I am BOB THE MAILMAN!”

My Demon Mastermind is a Demon Rancher. On Praetoria, for generations, her clan have been raising demons to sell Demon Meat, Demon Blood and even Demon Milk to those that have use of it. After the Hami Wars and Cole cleaning up, there hasn't been much use for Demon pieces, so the daughter headed out to the big city with a herd of Demon "cattle" to try to make a buck. She isn't evil, just an innocent, proud Praetorian trying to save the family from bankruptcy.

After Praetoria (Lvl 18 now), She will be a bluesider. She's a loyalist, but not too thrill with what's up now that she understands how things work within Cole's empire.

The wife is having problems applying the new patch on her laptop. As soon as the apply starts it says, "Failed to rename C:\Program Files (x86)\City of Heroes\cityofheroes.exe to C:\Program Files (x86)\City of Heroes\cityofheroes.old"

Click okay on the failure box and the updater closes.

Any workarounds you guys can suggest?

Wait... you have to be registered to "practice" veterinary medicine?
Uhh...
(Pushes nearly dead cat body under a sheet)
Yea, Yea I knew that.


Well, sorry to hear about the test. Remember, we fall down so we can get up or whatever Thomas Wayne said in that movie. Come to think of it, he really didn't get up when he fell down. Okay, bad example. Umm... there will be better days ahead... unless this was your only chance and now you can't pay back student loans and they take everything. Okay, that's not a good thought.

Y'know, I'm just not good at this. just, uhh... think good thoughts and...

This cat is gonna really die if I don't get back to it.
(flips through "Cat Medicine for Dummies")
Should have never told her I was a vet...

Guardian and Virtue down again.

The global friends list was missing again when I first logged in at around 2 (EDT, not EST). Ive been in costume create since then, finally think Ive nailed down what I wanted. Just getting the colors right and BOOM!

Heaven forbid I save it before I'm done!

I've played Fire/, AR/ and Arch/ blasters. Inferno is my favorite nuke, but that is simply because I love jumping in, nearly defenseless, and setting everything on fire. Nope, I am defenseless, I never turned my toggles back on after the last nuke. Oh well, that's why there are Emps! (No, I didn't call them "Healers", put the stones down...)

On my AR/ blaster, my mailman, Full Auto is much fun. It gives you that "Rambo" feel while playing the game. I found myself turning the camera during the attack to check out my kick-*** 50+ year old mailman unleashing years of postal fury on an unsuspecting group of bad guys.

Rain of Arrows on my archery toon spawned four differnt players from my SG to roll archers. Simply put, it does plenty of damage. My SG mate that got his to 50 first and I teamed with another SGer scrapper on a few task forces together. Alternating RoAs, she never got a chance to Scrap. In addition, if someone needs some Vanguard Merits, I take my Archer on the ship raid. If lag is co-opperating, dropping a Rain on various Rikti Mobs all over the ship rakes in the merits.

When it comes to the nuke, I know Ill never take an end crash nuke on a defender, I'm there for buff/debuff. As a blaster, it comes down to wether I want to blap. On a brand new Nrg/Nrg blaster now, building it to blap. I will nuke, I will send the baddies flying...

That is, if the Shield/Elec scrap doesnt get them first.

I have no issues with the end crash on my fire/fire/fire blaster.

No, that isn't true, I have a resist toggle that drops.

The way I see it, many of us that play the nuke blaster toons have developed a way to use the current system to recover enough endurance to keep going. Post-nuke, I pop a blue, consume to mop up (I slot for damage, not endurance on consume) and keep on rolling. If I die, I did something wrong. But, then again, I'm Level 50 and have Rise of the Phoenix, so death is just a chance to grab a soda or listen to the wife tell me about that thing that she will say she told me about three days from now, none of which I will recall at that point.

By shutting down our offense for 20 seconds (or even 15 or 10) you take away what we are suppose to be good at, you take away our entire purpose. We shoot things. Sometimes we punch or freeze or "think really hard violently" or whatever, but we are blasters, we do damage.

I'm actually considering respecing out of that toggle. I'll probably come up with a second, safer build for staying alive on Master runs. But for pure flaming fury, I'll take more "dishing out" power over "taking it" protection.