Tenacious_T

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On a whim I tried putting it on minimum, but then the character models at High and the slider at 75%. It was able to handle it, so I'm guessing it's all the particle effects that freeze everything up. It's definitely not that pretty on my MacBook, but it's still nice.

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Correction: as long as I keep the max particles down, I can run everything else at High. That must be what eats my RAM and forces a lock-up. If yours is locking up, too, try lowering the max particle count. Even at 1K it still looks fine, and there's a big difference between the lowest (100?) and just 1K particles. Obviously something like 25K+ looks better, but it's still totally playable.

Ah, good call. I was going to ask if you would give some insight on IO sets, but I'm assuming that'll be something you'll address in your next update.

I've found the playstyle to be very similar to my Elec/NRG/Elec blaster, just without the -END, so I'm looking at the standard Touch of Death and Positron's Blast sets so far. I'm anxious to see how the Positron's Blast proc works with Detonation!

On a whim I tried putting it on minimum, but then the character models at High and the slider at 75%. It was able to handle it, so I'm guessing it's all the particle effects that freeze everything up. It's definitely not that pretty on my MacBook, but it's still nice.

My fiance is saving up for one of the new MacBook Pros. They have the better video card like mine, which means our wireless network runs at 300mps. It has a supported 512mb NVidia card, and 2gb of RAM. Man, games must look so awesome on that thing. For nearly $3K, though, it damn well better.

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No, the rebooting Mac problem isn't fan related. It's a graphic setting that I fixed once before, but I've reformatted my boot camp partition and now it's happening again.

Basically what SEEMS to happen is your graphic card gets overloaded, the machine studders/locks up, then you reboot. When I fixed it what would happen is my graphics would lock up for about 2 seconds, then catch up. So there is some problem there that the setting fixes. I'm pretty sure either this thread or BillZBubbas thread had the key to what setting I changed, but for the love of god I can't remember what it was.

I'm experimenting now.

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That's the problem I'm still having as well, despite trying the above GMA drivers. The only thing that's solved the problem is running it on minimum, which kind of sucks, but it's definitely better than nothing!

Killer stuff in this thread so far, folks!

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Dramatic flight pose.

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Similar to my "dramatic flight pose" with my main.

I also like this one of my cross-planar assassin with a claws pose.

Edit: Forgot about my bot's "standby pose". I just like how it shines off of his exterior.

Megajoule : I agree with you, and I'm glad that you think it'll work.

DeviousMe: That definitely makes sense. Keep in mind, though, that the bot in question is basically the pet project of my main character, and I don't want to completely negate the programming that he worked on. I need to find a good balance of the two, otherwise its just a squid in a shell, albeit a shell that is the property of Samuel Dayne Industries.

Fire_Lilly: PBs/WSs have a lot of great possibilities. I ran into a WS who was the fusion of a dying Void and a dying Nictus which was really cool. The costume was almost exactly like a regular Void that I'm sure we've all seen.

Thanks for the replies, folks! I appreciate your input.

Very cool. Thanks, Heronator, that's a good start to my process. I guess it was kind of worried that this issue had come up before and been shot down for some reason that I am not aware of, y'know? And that was a really good story. It makes my characters backstories look kind of crappy by comparison. -.-

As far as the Kheldian that bonds to the bot, I think I've got some ideas on how to make the backstory work. I was trying to debate between accidentally or purposefully fusing with it, and I think either would work, but it might be better to make it on purpose. It could be something along the lines of being afraid of illness, pain, disease, etc, that comes along with having a flesh & blood host. It could also think that fusing with an AI means that it would retain most of its "self" (as opposed to a fusion of two minds), not realizing the kind of intellect that the bot itself would have. The problem is, I'm not quite sure how to RP a character like this. I don't want to change my concept, but I'm not sure how the character would act. I keep coming back to Data from Star Trek: TNG, but that's very different.

Any other thoughts on this and/or other possibilities to add to the backstory would be greatly appreciated!

Before you ask me "why didn't you post this in the Kheldian powers/archetypes thread?", this thread is more about character concept and how to RP him. Er, it.

I've got some backstory ideas: My main, Terry, is a robotics/tech guru, and the company he works for recently developed a multi-purpose android. Terry has been tinkering with the base shape to improve it and make it "less stupid", especially as he's been taking some workshop classes at Paragon U about AI programming & development. This is what I'm planning to merge with a Kheld to become a PB. I don't know the circumstances of the fusion yet, or the backstory of the Kheld itself.

I don't know more than the basics of the Kheld backstory, and I'd really like to make a PB that is the result of fusion with an artificially intelligent android like I mentioned.

Would I be going completely against the in-game story if I do this? Or does this seem plausible?
Any ideas on how to actually RP the character?
Any other thoughts/reactions?

Thanks for your input, folks!

Gaderath: Thanks muchly! It was all luck.

DarkEther: Yeah, I've noticed that with some that if I use sharpen, etc, then it makes it look better. But sometimes, it makes it look worse. Weird. Good idea with the cropping; I think I got the one in my sig fairly decently.

So I went on my first Praetorian mission the other day, and got these two shots of us putting the beating on Marauder. My video card is a little crappy, so I'm sorry that it's not the best.

When I have big screenshots like this, is it better to reduce the size a little, or play with sharpening filters? Sorry, I don't really have much knowledge by way of photomanip.

He hits!

We hit back!

I'm quite partial to the one that my fiance did...

http://www.cityofheroes.com/community/fanart_6.html

I have a feeling more dark elves will be invading both the Isles and Paragon City with the new Dual Blades. I for one think they look AWESOME.

EDIT: And before you folks say "gah! not another sword set!", keep in mind we haven't seen what the actual powers are, yet. I have a feeling it's going to be very different from Katana & BS.

Wow, man, and I thought your previous guides were helpful :O

I just hit 30 with my Nec/MM, and was trying to decide on some IO sets to choose from (don't have any yet, wanted to hit 30 first). Thank you so much for all the great info!

Oh, MAN was that awesome! Fantastic job on the video, folks. :clap:

Well, that definitely helps, too! Mine's very similar at 20, but I have CJ/SJ instead. I'm all flown out with my other characters.

This is a fantastic guide, as well as your others on the subject. Thank you very much for the great tips!

I just hit 18 with my BS/Regen, and this has really helped me out.

I actually have been doing pretty well in Nerva by myself with Newspaper Missions. I haven't checked my difficulty setting in a while, but I believe it's somewhere 2 or 3 below the toughest.

Just got PG the other day, too, so that'll really help with soloing. Still trying to work Fear into my build, though, so it's into the test server I go!

Again, it's not that it's too easy, it's that I can't find a happy medium.

But I'll go to Nerva. Thanks for the tip.

Thank you for the exposition, but what I had asked was where "a good place to try to solo missions" was, not if I should do missions or not.

As I mentioned, my problem is that whatever missions I've been doing are either way too hard or too weak. That's why I was asking where (as in what zone) would be a good place to do and get missions.

Excellent! Thanks for redoing your guide, and for being so thorough.

I've been playing Dark in one way or another since CoH Beta, and it's great guides like this that've helped me do so.

[u]A question[u]: I'm unfortunately a primarily solo player. I just hit 27, and am wondering a good place to try to solo missions and minor stuff like that. I've got the hang of how to solo with a Nec/DM, but everywhere I try it's either weaklings or purples. Any help here will be greatly appreciated!

The contact is next to the other Arbiter in Nerva, Operator. He's not marked because he's only a few feet away. I was confused by that too.

This was really helpful for the 5-man Respec Team we recently had. We had 2 MMs, 2 Brutes, and a Corrupter. We didn't have a full-time healer like you recommended (couldn't find one), but after dying once or twice against the AV, we emerged victorious.

I think we would've given up if we didn't have the tips from this. Thanks much!

Thanks again, BlackestNight, for updating this guide!

I've found all of your guides incredibly helpful, and I recommend everyone that uses Dark to read this thoroughly.

My character's full name is Sir Velkyn Do'N'Vashe, which translates into "the shadow of house N'Vashe" in Dark Elven.

I'm a DnD geek, can you tell?

Hah! Those are GREAT! And I love your avatar over there <- .

Great job!

Gotcha.

Yeah, I forgot about the cloak of darkness.

If you try invis, let us know how it goes.