The Masked Shrike

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  1. The Masked Shrike

    Player's Summit

    Hopefully Pulp will show up eventually anyway.
  2. I simply have zero interest in it. It does not appeal to me in any way.
  3. Quote:
    Originally Posted by SlickRiptide View Post
    At least it's not the Black Rabbit of Inle...
    That would be far too awesome for the Well. Also, El-ahrairah would totally pwn Mot.
  4. I've wanted this for a long time. If I could only get it by buying it, I'd slap the points down with no questions asked.
  5. Oh my, congratulations and best wishes to you both! You may not know how much your art collection inspired me to start my own--especially all those beautiful couplecentric pieces featuring Sass and Thor's Assassin.

    As half of another 'we met in CoH and got married in RL' couple, I know how well these Paragon-begun pairings can work out. I wish you guys nothing but happiness and prosperity.

    And I hope we see some new art come out of it, too!
  6. This is the first Issue in a long while that interests me. I'm very glad to have a solo/small team Incarnate path. DA is suitably creepy, though in a different way. I've run the first arc there, and it was good. Interesting story. Not too long, just enough time to fill a fun play session on a quiet afternoon. I made a little Incarnate progress, which is more than the 'none' I would normally make. The brief solo missions are an interesting way to get backstory, and well-implemented. I normally hate forced solo missions, but these are optional, and so won't disrupt a team experience.

    So far, I'm very pleased, and simply glad to have a way to enjoy end game content as a non-raider.
  7. I play over in That Game with the Laser Swords, as well as That Game with the Extremely Dangerous Jewelry. CoH was my first MMO, and I am spoiled in many ways. I'm generally a solo/duo/small team type player, so the whole 'forced teaming' thing would make me avoid an MMO altogether.

    CoH is so beautifully flexible--I believe that's this game's great strength. I can jump in-game alone and run a mission or two, knowing I made progress and had a good time. I can log on with a level 50 tank, team up with my husband's brand new level 5 scrapper, then hook up with a friend's level 38 controller, and just run missions; all three of us make progress, get rewards, and have fun. I wish more MMOs had Sidekicking, Mission Scaling and Global Friends lists. And I haven't even mentioned the level of customization! I really am spoiled.

    I wholeheartedly agree that the designers of That Game with the Laser Swords made a lot of decisions that leave me confused and annoyed. Just adding a person to my Friends list is an exercise in frustration. I can't add someone unless they happen to be online at that exact moment, which defeats the purpose of the darn list to begin with.

    Arcanaville, you are spot on about the difficulties of teaming over there. Yes, the travel alone is a headache. I came to CoH when it was two years old, so a lot of issues had already been smoothed out. I did start over in Jewelry is Hazardous Game in open beta, and boy do I remember how long it took to get from A to B. A few years later, and you can pretty easily hop, skip, jump or ride across Midgard in a flash. I can only hope things change in A Galaxy Far Far Away, but with all the loading screens and airlocks and shuttles and orbital stations, just getting on my dang ship is a hassle, much less trekking from the back end of Hoth to meet up with buddies on Coruscant.

    Oddly, I find that I team more in That Laser Sword Game than in either of my other two MMOs. I think it's because a full team involves just three other people. That keeps things small and relatively simple. Large team activities stress me out. I become easily flustered and confused by all the antics and complicated mechanics and flashy power effects and people running around. I can keep up with two or three other people all right. I can enjoy a Flashpoint run or a stab at a Heroic, whereas a Task Force or an Incarnate Trial leaves me running for the hills.

    Weirdly, I find that the Social Point system doesn't really reward people for doing things on a team. You don't get points for actually teaming. I've spent hours on a team, and come away with no Social Points at all. If you don't happen to get an NPC to have a conversation with your group and invite responses, no points for you. Most missions don't involve those types of chats, sadly. It was a good idea, but I believe the implementation falls short. For me, at least, it's not a great incentive to team.

    I may be naive, but I think that the Laser Sword folks will add features and streamline others. I don't think they fully grasp what the various types of MMO players want. Hopefully, this will change. I think the folks over there could learn a lot from CoH. I truly wish they could see how players here are so invested in their characters because they are so customizable and so personal.
  8. Thanks for sharing the screenshot, Capt Atom. It was great meeting you.

    Another year, another fabulous festival. Good company, good music and good times. I really enjoyed seeing all the clever outfits and character concepts. I don't know how the judges do it, there were so many great entries, it would be hard to choose. Mr. Believer was pretty amazing, though; congratulations to him and all the winners.

    The only bummer was a lack of Rikti. It's just not the same when they don't crash the party.
  9. Wouldn't miss it for the world. The Golden Age Festival can lead to great things and beautiful friendships!
  10. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Dragon_Surge View Post
    What is the one thing you would hands-down, no questions, wish was in the market to purchase ?

    what is the one thing you absolutely do not ever want to see in the market ?
    1. Personal housing!
    2. Nothing. I don't have a problem seeing anything in the store.
  11. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Xzero45 View Post
    My only critique is for the Rocket Pack. Perhaps make the fins and the tip on it use the secondary color choice, as well, so that it's more customizable and something more noticeable can have a second color on it? Most people won't notice the butt of the rocket, so having only it use the secondary color would be a waste.
    I agree with this.

    Dink, thank you so much! This (and everything else you've been doing) rocks. Spiffy! Swell! Neato! Keen!

    I will be buying this as soon as it goes live.
  12. Never. I'd rename it without even blinking. Transfer would be a possible option as well.
  13. Great to see you back, Alex. Love the sketches, especially the Cid and Mally one. Full of personality!

    No one draws women as lusciously as Alex. I look forward to seeing this thread fill up with new drawings.
  14. Quote:
    Originally Posted by FlashToo View Post
    This has always been a head scratcher for me, and I have heard it before. I've roleplayed as many men as women without a second thought, and it just doesn't feel any more difficult. I mean, what is the difference, anyway, when I'm already making a point of the character I play not being me? I mean, sure, "write what you know" is still the same strategy I use for my characters, but I don't feel it's inapplicable to the male ones. Just because The Hour Thief is a man doesn't mean I can't write what I know in terms of his being a reader, or a tea drinker, or an idealist, or terribly lonely. Hell, it's a superhero game - I'm writing what I don't know half the time anyway even when I'm playing a female character. I may not be a man, but I'm not a suffragette who got booted 100 years into the future (read: the present day) either, and I'm pretty sure none of us can fly or shoot fire or build a robot army. Next to everything else I'd have to portray without ever having experienced it, being male just feels like a drop in the ocean to me... maybe I'm weird.
    Sometimes I play or write male characters. Mostly I don't. It just falls out that way. What works for you is cool; what works for me is cool.
  15. Quote:
    Originally Posted by FlashToo View Post
    Maybe it's because I'm not a console user, and never have been even when I was in the clunky-black-and-white-game-boy stage (I didn't have one; I played PC games even then) and that WoW only kept my interest for about ten minutes before I got bored and came back to CoH, but somehow I've never had these conversations with my male fellows that you describe <snippage>
    I have to agree. I started out in pen and paper games back in the '80s, played a lot of MUSHes in the '90s, and started MMOs about 6 years ago. I've never been harassed or hit on in an MMO. I've also never been fawned over, had people shower me with stuff, or any of that kind of thing. I tend to gravitate toward male-dominated hobbies, and I've been fortunate to avoid preferential treatment as well as disdain. My experiences have been good; I've been lucky.

    As for the questions asked:
    What side do you pick more than others? I play blueside most of the time. Redside just holds no appeal to me. I like to play good guys, not bad guys. Also, I find the Isles dark, badly laid out, and depressing. Praetoria looks great but I also find it unappealing.

    What play style do you prefer? I generally play solo, or in a duo with my husband. I also enjoy playing with a couple of friends in a small team. Large team activities stress me out and I avoid them. As for archetypes, I like to play control or melee (tanks or scrappers). I do not enjoy playing support. I have no interest in PvP.

    What power set(s) do you favor?
    Whatever work best for the character concept. I enjoy playing my illusionist, my plant controller, my dual blades scrapper. I tend to rely on Willpower as it's a set that feels like 'set it and forget it.'

    What zones do you like the most?
    I generally prefer sunny, open zones like Atlas or Talos. Faultline cleaned up nicely. My characters always seem to live in Faultline or Founders' Falls--some nice apartments and condos in those zones.

    Do you usually play as a male or female character? I nearly always play female characters, here and in other games. I guess it's a case of 'write what you know.'

    Role Playing? I am a roleplayer, though I scratch that itch in pen and paper games at the moment, so I don't RP as much in CoH.

    Servers? I started on Victory and still have characters there, but I guess these days my main server is Virtue.
  16. Well, coming at this from a Golden Age/Pulp perspective (and I apologize if my focus is too pulpy):

    Jodhpurs/breeches. I cannot stress this enough.
    Flight helmet.
    Pith helmet.
    Zoot suit.
    Wide-shouldered jacket--think Joan Crawford.
    Sam Browne belt.
    Riding boots.
    Holsters!
    Rocket packs/jetpacks.
    1930s/1940s hairstyles. At least a 'Victory Roll' type hairdo:


  17. I like this idea, and I may actually take advantage of it. There are a couple of badge titles that are perfect for a couple of my characters. Being able to get those titles without going through the whole switching rigamarole--which they wouldn't do ICly anyway--would make them worth getting, IMO. Seeing them with 'correct' titles would make me enjoy them more, leading to me playing them more, which means I'd be playing the game more than I do now.

    I've never been interested in creating in-character reasons for game mechanics. I am a roleplayer, and immersion is important to me, but I suppose one person's immersive feature is another person's intrusive mechanic. My characters have no idea what 'enhancements' are. My one character with an Incarnate whatsis slotted is not imbued with godly powers; she just continues to hone her abilities and simply fights better. If the Shrike visits the Isles so she can wear 'Pilot' under her name, it won't become part of her personal story.

    (I also wouldn't have any problems with the aforementioned Incarnate token, but I suppose that's a whole different can of worms.)
  18. This is the first issue in ages that interests me, and oh my, there's a lot of deliciousness here. Missions in which I can bust Fifth Column heads? Yes, a million times yes. Solo/small team Incarnate stuff? Huzzah! At last! And Beast Mastery is in the pipeline? All this on top of Staff Fighting and those lovely upcoming costume sets.

    Darn you, CoH, you are making me love you again.
  19. My very first CoH character, Masked Shrike (Inv/EM tank) will always be the one I consider my 'spiritual' main. She's a character that has been through many incarnations, and she's dear to my heart. She's been retired for quite some time. I can't actually remember the last time she came out to play, but maybe she'll get Incarnated once Dark Astoria is redone. Weirdly, my mains on all three MMOs I play are tank classes, so I must like that type.

    Shrike was not my first 50, though. My Ill/Emp controller, Scarlet Specter, made it to level cap first. I'd have to say she was my main for a time. She is my badge collector, and at one time I was a fairly obsessive badger. Nowadays I'm merely casual, but Scarlet still comes out to get new badges, here and there. I quite like playing controller-types; my two other 50s are both 'trollers.

    I'd have to say that these days, PinUp Girl is my 'functional' main. A DB/WP scrapper, she's a hoot to play. She's dear to my heart for different reasons, and she was the character that led me to make the switch from Victory to Virtue. She's my only character who has any Incarnate stuff. She still gets playtime on a semi-regular basis. Through her I have discovered that DPSing is jolly good fun.
  20. I've been wanting one of these for a long time. Huzzah!
  21. What, no doom posts?

    I am disappoint.
  22. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Captain-Electric View Post
    Anyway, it would actually be nice to have more female feedback, because a different kind of male bias permeates this thread, and it's as out of tune with reality as any.
    I won't try to speak for anyone but myself, but here goes. For the record, I am a staunch advocate for complete costume equality between males and females. Let the guys wear corsets if they want, I say.

    I am a female player. I make characters built around concepts that interest me. I like sexy outfits. I have a character named PinUp Girl, for goodness' sake. I even have one named Dancehall Girl, who will probabgly use a few of these new pieces (thanks to the devs for the hat-free Ringlets hairstyle, finally!) It is ridiculous that they run around fighting crime in their high heels and skimpy costumes, but I have fun with it.

    I also like to make characters in outfits that are more realistic and practical--outfits real people might conceivably wear. My 1930s aviatrix is clad in something that would keep her warm in an open cockpit. My archaeologist/sharpshooter is covered from head to toe. Sexy is fine sometimes, but I don't want 24 -7 SexxxxyBabezTime.

    I don't have a problem with the 'saloon girl' costume pieces. They don't offend me in and of themselves. I will likely use some of them here and there. I am always happy about more costume bits.

    However, when I heard about a Gunslinger Pack, I was not looking to get more corsets or thigh-high boots. Thanks to the Steampunk and Barbarian packs, we actually have a nice selection of corsets as it is. Aside from the Ringlets and the cigarillo, I am disappointed in what this pack contains.

    What I was hoping for from this pack: gunfighter coats/jackets, spiffy vests, new hats, new boots, a duster. For males and females. Maybe an actual cowboy gun--'73 Winchester or longrifle--for the AR powerset, at long last! Oh, and holsters. I mean, how could there not be holsters? I am still totally boggled about the lack of a gunbelt. Really?

    Sexy is fine, but for the love of Edith Head, please give us more concept-focused non-sexy costume bits. I want to make a cool-looking female gunfighter. Tombstone is an awesome flick and a great inspiration, but not all the ladies want to dress like Katie Elder; some of us want to dress like Doc Holliday.

    I bought this set, but I feel kind of conflicted about it. It is just not a Gunslinger pack, to my mind, yet I've put my stamp of approval on it with my credit card. I am weak. I am glad to see that the devs are listening (and I'm thrilled at the news about pre-tinted pieces).

    Devs, please consider revisiting the Gunslinger theme in a follow-up pack. I will gladly give you money for it if it contains gunfighter clothes for the ladies. And holsters.
  23. This is sounding good so far. The DA revamp alone is a great idea; I've always felt that was a cool zone. As annoying as the fog can be, I have to admit I hope it remains in some way. It makes for a spooky atmosphere. Maybe the haunted house will show up as a permanent feature? Nah, I guess that's too much to hope for.

    I'm finally feeling happy about this game again! Thanks, devs (and the folks who are reporting all the news).
  24. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Dromio View Post
    I quoted Shrike because I'm crazy jealous of the artwork of her characters.
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Acemace View Post
    Well my wife and I unexpectedly met via this little fantasy world and we've been happily married for over five years now so in all likelihood 'yes' to OP's proposition.
    Now, there you two go reminding me of reasons I simply cannot leave this game. I met my incredibly amazing superhusband here. I discovered a fun hobby supported by the awesome art forum community. And I've made friends here, like SuperOz who posted previously, who have made my life richer (two of whom flew 8000 miles for the wedding--now that's friendship.)

    Those are the important things, not the pixels and game stuff. I might be annoyed or dismayed by some of the changes, but I still want to support the place that has given me so much.

    Upon reflection, I have to say that yes, I will be here until the lights go out. Thanks for the reminder of the things that really count, guys. (And thanks for the art mention, Dromio!)
  25. Doesn't bother me a bit if people buy it, or things like it. Someone else having it doesn't affect me at all. I have fun doing my thing, I am happy for everyone else to do the same.