Techbot Alpha

/SIGNED

Anything that needs contacting should be visible.
Respec trainers included, even though Redside is now much easier to find (Just outside Oakes PD )

Issue 1, 1st June 2009

THE STREETS OF PARAGON

Paragon City, Rhode Island. The shining jewel of freedom and justice the world over.
Or so you might think.

Reality, it seems, is a lot different. I certainly had my own assumptions when I got off the jet a few days earlier. It's certainly true that Atlas Park is a fantastic place to start. There is nothing quite like the sight of the towering statues, and especially the centrepiece that is the Atlas Monument. City Hall itself is no small afair, but it's limelight is somewhat stolen by the towering titan in front.

It is a wonder, however, if the same could be said of the streets. While travelling, it has been necessary to employ a few little gadgets for saftey and self defence, courtesy of the D.A.T.A. engineers. Of course, not everyone gets so lucky.
Even on the main streets of Atlas, supposedly one of the cities safest zones, crime is very much a factor. A number of citizens were seen being taunted, intimidated and sometimes even mugged by street gangers, most prominantly from the group know as the Hellions.
"There's not much you can do," one citizen said, "You don't want to cross them, that's for sure. Sometimes, though, you can get stuck, praying like crazy that a PPD officer is around, or Longbow, or one of the Heroes."
While it is true that the PPD and Longbow have a street presence, one would have thought that the cities greatest defence would be it's Heroes. There were cases of spandex clad individuals (some not so clad, and others even stranger) diving to the rescue, but far fewer than expected. Has the ongoing fight against crime and foes such as the Rikti started to take it's toll?

Distracting Devices
One place where Heroes could be found was the 'Architect' building in Atlas. Architecht Entertainment is a revolutionary system, which utilises advanced software and programming. But, despite finding use as a training and simulation program, it can also be used to simply kick back, a fact not lost to this paper. When further researched, the fact that Architecht Entertainment is the brainchild of Crey Industries, long the focus of various legal standoffs and dark rumours, and none other than one Doctor Aeon, a scientist from the Rogue Isles that works for the dictator Lord Recluse. It makes the mind boggle, that such a system is in such widespread use. One can only wonder if there isn't something more serious afoot than simple 'Entertainment.'

DIVERSE DIMENSIONS

The Pocket Dimension is home to, arguably, one of the most powerful Metahumans around, the 'DJ' Zero himself. The man who created 'Pocket D', Zero opened up his club as a neutral ground for all comers. Temporal doors open to both Paragon City and the Rogue Isles, making it a true hotspot for all sorts of activity.
Strange, then, that Zero's interior decorating very closely mimics a warehouse. Perhaps a bit more gritzy, for that 'Rave' mentality, but in some places it realy does show. For a man who can create an entire dimension, surely an occasional makeover is cake? And this reporter wonders wether the 'DJ' is deserved, as there was no sign of any disks, no jockeying, and, for the time spent there, only one track. On a loop. The staff at least seem to enjoy it or are paid well enough to, but, as one clubber said, "I would have said just stupid, myself."
The two saving graces are most likely the Tiki Lounge, with its variation in theme and setting, and the dancefloor. Loopy the music may be, but the seethrough flooring and extra dimensional view are definately 'Far Out'.

-Jennifer Kerringer, Paragon Independent

Doesn't surprise me much, tbh.
What does surprise me is why they keep sleep powers in game, when, or at least I have found, they are mostly complete guff.
Ah well.

Heh, missed this Friday's raid.
Still, I have to get back to it. Leading the fight with a Sword/Shield Vanguard Colonel, in full kit is nothing short of satisfying.
That, and people always seem happy with the way things go The Master at Arms dies incredibly quick when facing him.
Colonel Lyndon, reporting for war ^^

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Having those big teams that nothing can stop

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Still happens. Especially VEAT teams

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Joining a team with people you don't know and having a great laugh no matter how bad the team is.

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Still get them, and still get the failcake ones too

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Mothership raids

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Union Server, every Friday at 8pm/9pm varying

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When people used to ask anyone for a TF and when you didn't have to get your SG to organise one.

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Yeah, give you that one, esepcially now I have time for the damn things =[

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The thrill of an exciting new zone with loads of content in an issue. Their isn't enough awesome new content, I remember the thrill I got when I first played in RWZ.

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Well, Going Rogue may help. Tbh, they said the won't, but revamped zones would be better...

Personally, I miss the days when Hollows had Trolls, Outcasts, CoT and Igneous. No damned Skulls or Hellions! >.<

I miss Pocket D being a bigger RP venue.
I miss my Tankers glory days. I dont know why he feels less so now...
I do miss having Heroes and Villains in every range.
I miss the days before Recipes...
And I actually miss parts of old PvP. My AR/Ice still lost all the time then, too mind...-sigh-

I miss...that warm, happy feeling when they stopped Debt from ruining my playtime

Based on what Croesis said;

Why are people still arguing about this?
Just focus on what EFFECTS the powers do.
Seeing as people have fudged everything up to and including kheldians not being kheldians (I know I have), 'perfectly normal people' being able to down a fracking Titan, aliens, robots and all sortsa things;

Who cares?
Still /Sign the powers, but people have and always will fudge the powerset background to suit their own characters because, lets face it, characters are the best bit of the game.

And Sorudo; [Golf Clap]

I am Techbot Alpha.
I approve of this idea.

Seriously, this is something that Ive not seen here before. Although the concepts been out there, this is a different sort of set that, although specific, is also rather tasty IMO.

And, as for Tech and Natural origins, Im pretty sure auras can play hob with tech, and natural can either be weakened below normal levels, or some other possible fudge.
I mean, thats no excuse, really. I mean, how the hell are spines, or a bow, going to hurt some of the enemies we have, like the Malta titans? But, lo and behold, they can hurt them. Powerfudge ftw

/SIGNED

I would like nothing better than for Marvel to pull out of the sucky lock it has NCSoft in, but atm I doubt it will happen. Marvel is, frankly, Huge. Given the current economics, NC cant afford the risk of a legal battle. If they lost, not only would they be nowhere, but they could well be close to breaking point.

This is purely speculation on my part, of course.
And, Razor, they cant revamp the engine for the game as we know it without, bascially, making a CoX2. Which isnt yet on the books, afawk, since they have up to I18 planned (Statement by Positron). They have said that the engine can be pushed further than expected, which we may see.

So, myeah.

I find myself (sadly...) agreeing with Sorudo. Its the same reason we can't have swinging powers in game, even if the engine could deliver. Marvel would come down like a...well, you know the rest.

My main and first 50, Chief Centurion Z1, barely ever comes out of retirement. Invul/EM tanker, used to feel hard as nails, still sometimes does but...not quite so. No idea why...

My global changed on its own accord way back, to my current one. My main main seems to have taken centre stage. I still fall out of love with Alpha for some of my newer/more crative toons, but theres nothing like rolling out with ALL the big guns in tow to make a Bots/Traps MM feel really damn happy

If anything, switch the debt given. As in, current mission death swapped with current Zone debt.
I never get that. It's like killed while randomly running = penalty, killed while on a job = less penalty...uhm? Hmm.

Anyhow, Works fine for me, so I aint complainin =P

I concur with Razor.
A game is meant to be fun. By and large, it still suceeds in that.

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it is pointless, it's grind.
and no, as long as there is only a hald on the fun, i keep saying what i like to say.
until xp is made better, just deal with it, bare with me, see it to no end.

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You know... Try as I might, I can't actually work out what you're trying to say, there... It's just... gibberish.

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You've been here *how* long? And this is news to you?

Bases, unlike places like Atlas, etc, are not permanant. As in, they get created when a player goes into the base. Like mission maps. I would imagine that doing something like that would take a lot of work.

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Ah, you just can't quit on us, can ya Floaty?

Damnit.
Oh, I didnt say anything

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Sad, but true. I tried, but I just couldn't keep away...

Mind you... My stated reason was because of the devs never telling us what's coming, especially with CO on the horizon. As they've now done so (in a limited way, more is to come Soon™ ), my reason for leaving... left!

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Admit it, your soul belongs to the Dark Side
We do have cookies, after all ^^

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The thing is i don't think debt is working as intended and to the best of my knowledge the dev's have never made comment on weather it is or not.

Debt as it stands is meaningless and is no form of punishment or deterrent I'm not suggesting that it should be uped to silly levels but upping it to the point where it at least makes you think before charging into that purple spawn with only a sliver of health

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If you do that anyway atm, you will quickly find it becomes a lonely game, as most decent teams get a bit sick of players like that, especially if they pull huge mobs with them.

Debt, before the Devs actually changed it, was so much so that it could be crippling. Certain missions are such that you WILL die on them. When playing solo, especially, debt was particularly unpleasant for the likes of Tankers and Blasters, at least I found it that way. My AR/ICe blaster languished at lvl 14 for a long, long time, because of the old debt system, whereby a particularly bad string of missions left him in debtsville.

Sure, a level 10 start point is enough to not put off the new players straight away, but making debt worse again could mean that people get to 14-15, and then find themselves bogged down in debt. And what about the level 30 range? While the XP smoothing did make it a bit less of a nightmare, its still the nasty patch. Ramp up the debt and you will find a lot of toons get abandoned at the 30 mark.

(Allergy Warning: The above Post may contain opinion)

Nice. Like welcoming back an old friend =]

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the cryptic logo will probably stay as even tho the game is now owned by NCsoft and developed by paragon studios it uses the cryptic engine. that's also probably why the cryptic logo appears on the new GR web site

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It does?
...Wow.
Also, yeah, overhaul the loading screens would be nice

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/signed
Another thing I want is the burning forest and Crey Cloning Labs back!

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ESPECIALLY the lab! One of the greatest maps, and the key point for my main arc, and they CUT IT! [Rage]

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However, do not expect things to remain that way forever.

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You know just because Ghost raptor is gone doesn't mean you have to replace him in the cryptic comment department

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It's a dirty job, but someone's got to do it.

Besides, it's fun!

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Ah, you just can't quit on us, can ya Floaty?

Damnit.
Oh, I didnt say anything

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i think it should

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Ah yes, I think I spot the flaw in your logic.
No need to fix what is not broken. Debt is WAI.

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^ This
If you want to be macho, go play...Ah, what was it...Tenshu Assassins? Cant remember now, but it was a game where even Normal difficulty beat you up, mauled you and left your bleeding, shattered form to drown in a pool of its own blood.
And, on harder...

WAI. If you want to not out-level stuff, use the 'No XP button'.

Welcome to the Forums.
You get used to it =]

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Singstar how can you accuse me of trying to start i fight when you cant leave me to my oppinion?
i feel like saying a lot of things to you right now (most of them could get me banned from these boards) because ive never meet someone with as thick a skull as you have but you probably wouldnt understand so i'll just leave the word to Dr. Cox

now please understand that i will never agree with your suggestion!

JB out!

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You're sliding into the pool of unending insults. Two wrongs doesn't, etc etc.

OT

I think Villain SF's in general need a look at and some loving. Also, personally, I'm sick and tired of the Devs penalising people that are casual gamers over the '1337' breed who can speedrun things. Putting rewards on a timer of any sort is, IMO, asking for trouble.

All this messing around with rewards is getting to be a headache. Either the Devs want rewards to be easy to obtain, or hard to obtain. The constantly shifting middle ground is doing no one, least of all the players, any favours.

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No, giving maths teachers inherant powers is bad, ok.

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Would that make it a villain only powerset, then?

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Somethings are beyond good or evil

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Or you could become a politition and rob banks via expenses claims..

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Hey, I might be an evil blasphemy against nature, but come on! I find that insulting.