ToySoldierZolgar

I still say the most sensible solution for this from an "in game" standpoint, and also a little bit from a "less whining" standpoint would be to just let players under a certain level use tailors for free, and then probably put tailors where lowbies could fairly easily reach them.

Would allow for continual tweaking and poking at the costume until the look was perfect. Including the possibility of testing how at least a few powers actually looked.

Like for example say after a tank gets their first two toggles they realize the colors they chose for them combined, looks really horrible? The tutorial option wouldn't do a thing about that.

Zolgar would support this option..
As long as it was not included in the Flashback version.

Of course, vet players would ***** and moan "It's not fair that if I want to be able to test my look in game before finalizing it, I have to run the tutorial." ... Not that I care mind you

It would also go quite well with Zolgar's suggestion to make unlockable costume items account wide, if they had to be awarded by badges still.

So, there's been some discussion on the Open beta forums, and .. a lot of us have been thinking, unlockable costume items (Taslorian blades, Tommy gun, etc), should be made account wide.

Why you ask? Well, first and formost, it would make a lot of people very happy. But there's also a little something more..

They are constantly making changes to "Eliminate aberrant player behavior" (or however they put it), and in the most recent bout of changes there were a lot to eliminate excessive farming, by making certain badges easier to get.

Well tell me, is it any more aberrant to sit in a farm for hours on end trying to plink the last few Illusionist Decoys, than it is for a high level player to hold a mission and never actually complete it, and then let people farm it in order to get X badge? (Something we actually see villain side, with the Overseer badge.)

As such, I propose that unlocked costume items become account wide, rather than just character.

If it's not possible to make a given item availible at creation, only if a certain requirement has been met, then make the costume items basically badges of their own, something like how Gladiators work (how certain times you get X badge, followed by Y gladiator badge), and the 'costume item' badges would be account wide, just like vet badges, the VIP badge, certain AE badges, etc.

(>.> Might be cool if Gladiators were account wide, too. )

Salutations,

I've just recently completed this arc. It's my first real attempt at one, so.. I'm sure it's not perfect.

Basic info:
Arc ID: 316479
Name: Alley Cats of Paragon
(official) Length: 'long'
Morality: Neutral
Enemy groups: Custom group.
Level range: 20-54

Synopsis:
The villain known as Hollenkatze (yes, I know there should be an umlat (sp?) over the o in that ) has formed a gang called the Alley Cats, and they have been expanding at an alarming rate. Certain parties are not happy with this, and want said expansion to be stopped.

This arc was built for I16, so it (should) still offer full rewards post I16. It was also built to be a challenge for a team. No single enemy is a major challenge on their own (other than maybe the AV, and the EBs in certain circumstances of course), but they were built to have a very good synergy.
Minions:
Alley Cat Slammer: Warmace/invuln
Alley Cat Assault: AR/Pain
Alley Cat Pyro: Fire Assault/Fire Manipulation
Alley Cat Chopper: Axe/Invuln
Lts:
Lynx: Claws/SR
Bobcat: Thugs/Kinetics
Bosses:
Tiger: SS/Shield Defense
Puma: Claws/Ninjitsu

EBs:
Marcus: Dual Blade/Will Power
Pantera: Dark Melee/Pain

AV:
Hollenkatze: Thugs/Pain

The feedback I'm looking for primarily on right now is the quality of the baddies. If any of them are just too hard (for a team), or too hard at a certain level.

Story related feedback wouldn't be bad, either.

You can either post here, PM me, or hit me up in game at @Zolgar.
If I'm in game I'm probably willing to run the arc with ya.

So, I'm looking at building up a new rig, mine is about 5 years old, and showing signs of its age (It was built for $1000 then).

I've run in to a bit of a problem. I tend to prefer AMD over Intel, but I also want high-grade graphics. I was planning on building my system with dual GeForce cards in SLI.. enter the problem:
I want to use the Phenom II processor. I can't find a MB that supports the Phenom II and SLI.

So, what I am wondering is this:
Is it worth trying to set things up to make a Crossfire system work with CoH?
Or is it possible to make SLI work on a MB that doesn't support it?

Otherwise, I have to either shell out more money to go with a Core i7, or just run a single video card.

I agree with you on the first half of your story. That person should have dropped the subject, as it obviously made you uncomfortable. (and, as others have pointed out, it could lead to legal repercussions to him.)

However, I do think that the second part, when you requested people "not talk about killing children", when they're talking about a video game, that... there you do need to lighten up a a bit. They were simply discussing a video game, perhaps the game is a somewhat malicious one, but it's still a video game.

Look at CoH/V for a moment.
Hero side, you're encouraged to beat people down, simply for what they're wearing. (How often do we see Hellions or other gang members just kinda chilling, not doing anything wrong?)
Hero side, vigilante justice is REWARDED. In the real world if you put on a cape and ran around beating up criminals, you'd become a criminal yourself.

and let's not even talk about Redside. >.>

Video games are not reality. People do things within video games that they cannot, and should not, do IRL. It's that simple. Just because we do something in a video game, does not mean we're even predisposed to doing it IRL.
I've played Grand Theft Auto. I'm not going to run around town, stealing cars and shooting people for fun.
I'm not going to strap on a sword and go spelunking and kill everything I find.

Toy Soldiers of Virtue
Leader: Zolgar, and Sister Scorch (because Zolgar is level 9 and doesn't generate enough prestige >.&gt

Web sight: None, but you can visit Doctorsteel.com or toysoldiersunite.com to get an idea of who/what we are.

Contact: PM, in game at @Zolgar, AIM/YIM: Yverthel, I can also be found on the Toy Soldiers Unite forums under the name of Zolgar the Insane

Who we are:
We are a currently small (Read: me at the moment) group who seeks to bring the glory of Doctor Steel to City of Heroes. And besides it's a rather fun RP concept. Taking over the world, to make it a better place for everyone.

I strongly recommend looking at Doctor Steel's web sight before you consider joining my SG. Because while you do not have to be a Toy Soldier OOC, some of the guild actions will be making a presence known at events, in the D, etc. And in doing so, there will be propaganda spreading, preaching the word of Doctor Steel, etc.

The intent for the SG is to provide a fun and friendly environment for players of any skill level and play style to be able to relax, screw off and generally enjoy the game. And to spread the word of Doctor Steel and help him build a Utopian Playland.

Generic FAQ:
Are you an RP SG?
-- We're RP friendly. You don't have to if you don't want to. I'm a RPer, usually (depends on the team I'm with). But we won't shove it down your throat, and we also won't tell you HOW to RP.

Are you a PvP SG?
--Nope. I loathe PvP personally. That said, you are more than welcome to participate in PvP. But, while you are in the Toy Soldiers of Virtue, remember that you not only represent yourself and your guild, but you also represent Doctor Steel. So be a good sport and don't trash talk people.

Do you PL?
--I don't.. I'm not a fast enough killed (BAH Tanker nerfs!) if I have have a character who CAN pull it off, I'll do it on occasion. I've nothing against PLing.

Do you give newbies sign-on bonuses?
-->.> Can't afford to, sorry. I'll help you get enhancers if you need it, but, I'm broke meself.

Do you have a base?
--Yes. It sucks because a base is REALLY hard to build on one persons prestige when you still need influence.. I'm saving up so I can place a second room and get a teleporter in it now.

Who the heck IS Doctor Steel, and why are you this obsessed with him?
-- Doctor Steel is a mad man, or a genius. Take your pick... Maybe he's just a musician, I don't know. In short, he is a musician who preforms a kind of industrial/techno/steampunk metal.. Yeah. His music is cool, but more fun than his music, is his schtick.

Yep, he's one of those singers with a schtick. His is being a mad scientist, bent on global domination in order to turn the world in to a better place. A Utopian Playland.

A world where the main goal of all her people is to have fun. A world where children go to school to learn things that interest them A world of beauty.... And robots.. A world of Beauty and Robots.

And finally (yes I have actually been asked this one!)
Is Doctor Steel some kind of reference to God or Jesus, used to pull nonbelievers in to your little 'secret Christian' group?
-- No.. Religion plays no part in this. All religions are welcome, as long as all remain civil with each other about said religions.

If you should choose to worship Doctor Steel as a god. Well, I think you're weird, but no weirder than someone who worships a mythical unseen being in the sky. So more power to you!

Final words:
Yes, the Toy Soldiers are for real. Yes we are insane. No I'm not Doctor Steel. And no, this is not exclusive to CoH.

Ghosts of the Apocalypse

Lead by the notorious Jason K, this band of misfits will do anything for the right pay. The ranks are small, but that means less of a split, and more chance for advancement.

The HQ is currently being ... aquired, just a few more heads need to be busted to get things in order.

((RP mercenary group, we're not talking militery, we're talking anyone who just cares about the money. contact me ingame at @zolgar and we'll talk.))

my problem with the way baddies can see you and follow you is the fact that your allies can't...

And you really don't get much of a bonus to defense from just hide.

I understand the idea that when you AS someone, they drop dead and their allies are like "huh, my buddy just died, attack!" But the idea of "hey, lets chase that invisible thing for 2 minutes while it tries to get out of aggro range."

The problem is, the game has [censored] for LoS rules. It makes no sense how when you round a corner, they continue seeing you, despite the fact that they should lose LoS.

We'll use the predator idea again, when he ran, he didn't have to run far at all. just enough that they lost sight of him.

Katzekonigin.

Harris: First of all I would like to thank you for taking the time to appear on the program.

My pleasure, but can we get this over with?

Harris: Could you tell the viewers at home a little bit about how and why you became a hero.

Well, it all started when I was drunk.. No, seriously. I was drunk, with some friends and on decided we should get tattoos.

I got this crazy old tattoo artist, and becuse I was drunk and found it funny I got this regal cat.. *she points to the dark black cat shape in the fur on her chest* Over the next few months I kinda changed in to this cat-girl thing.. Why I became a hero?

Well, a cat girl can have 2 jobs, super hero, or stipper.

Harris: What would you say is the greatest reward for being a hero?

Hmm, that's a tough one.. I think it's being able to sleep wherever I damn well please.

Harris: Have you ever found there is any drawback to being a hero?

Well that whole always getting shot at thing.. What do you think?

Harris: What is going through your mind when you are in a dangerous situation that could lead to civilian casualties? That must be a scary situation.

*smirks* you really wanna know?

"Damnit, how am I getting all this blood out of my fur? .. someone is going to have to pay for the repairs to this suit. ... do I smell cat nip?"

Harris: How do you feel about people that use their powers for crime like the outcast or the super villains we starting to see around the city?

It's only natural, power corrupts.

Harris: What do you think is going through these criminals minds when they commit these acts?

I dunno.. I'd guess probably things like "I want a monkey... Man, I shoulda hit the can before leaving the hideout.." etc.

Harris: How do you feel about the various anti hero and anti mutant groups that believe heroes course more problems then they solve? Given the amount of work heroes do for the city this must be quite upsetting.

They're quite right actually, heroes do cause alot of problems. But, my opinion is. those groups would be singing a whole nother song if we heroes even stopped worrying about the minor gangs like the Hellions and Skulls. We keep their numbers down enough they don't have a gang war.

Harris: and finally, have you ever worked along side the Statesman? What is he like?

Never have, probably never will. He's old though, none too shabby looking for his age, but way too old for me, even with all the power he's got.

Harris: I would like to thank you for coming on the show and on behalf of the citizens of Paragon city thank you for keeping the streets safe

Yeah.. now if you'll excuse me, I'mma go take a nap.

I know people are gonna get mad at me here. But.

The only thing wrong he did was stopped and said "I'm just roleplaying".

I can't count how many times I've offended someone who was OOC, due to my IC behavior, if they mention it, I will OOCly explain, but I don't cease.

If you're going to play a female character, you have to be used to the following:
Getting hit on.
Getting called all manner of pet names.
Getting hit on.
Being refered to OOCly as she.
Getting hit on.
Being insulted and called a guy, because no women play MMORPGS..
and did I mention being hit on?

I do not advise playing a female character if you yourself are not a RPer.

How you handle being offended. If it's an IC action and it only offends you OOCly, get over it.
OOC action that offends you OOCly, talk to the person try to get them to stop.
IC that offends you ICly, get the person to stop by in character means.
IC that offends OOCly, best bet is to just leave.

My natural character whom I RP with.. well, she's kinda not exactly really human, so well.. she can have travle powers

there's honestly one thing I have to say, it's always irked me in RP:

When something happens, it happens. It's not much of a character-developing life if every time you RP, whatever happens just goes away for the next person you're RPing with.

In comic books, in real life and, in movies people change, what happens in their life effects them. Do we not have the compacity to set our heroes up for that?

... Again, sorry, just a note I have to make as a probably 8 year veteran of free-form RP, and a drama student. (not to mention a D&D DM)

Authors note: This is pretty much the prologue. If I have the time and actually want to, I'll write his 'life' out. This is just his backstory, the how and why. The character is not described in detail intentionally, I'll leave it to the minds of the audience how they picture the every day joe-schmoe type.

----

Lt. Jacob Benson, a man still in his prime but with nothing to lose, a skilled combatant and the ideal canidate, sitting on his bed, staring at his clock, an hour left.. I should get ready. he thought to himself, reaching for the black gortex body suit. For about 3 months now, he’d been in command of a division of light power armored riflemen, the squad he led had been in countless skirmishes with the gangs, and had few casualties.

After pulling the gortex body suit on, he began the normally rather slow process of gearing up, this involved strapping power armor on, attaching it to the ports on his body which allow him to control it, and hooking the pieces together. As he lifted his chest piece, which weiged about 50 pounds, down from the 150 of heavy power armor, he noted an ancient Judge Dredd comic book and had to chuckle “We truly have become Judges.”

Thirtyfive minutes left, plenty of time.. , he walked to his door and took a last look around finding it amusing that he was going to be gone so long, but not long at all. He just shook his head, closed the door, punched in the lock sequence, and turned to head to the lab. Stopping first by the memorial.

He paused a moment at the memorial, the full sized statue of Statesman, behind it a stone wall carved with names, Positron, Back Alley Brawler, Ms. Liberty, and countless others. Reflecting a moment on the words on the memrials plate, he knew them by heart.

In the year 2005, after the Rikti invasion and the influx of heroes in to Paragon city, the gang wars just stopped. And their activity was laxed, at the time noone knew why but they were all grateful. The peace lasted about 3 months, heroes got bored, some went home. Then they struck, the gangs came back all at once, a massive coordinated strike over the city, it only took them a day to take over most of it, and less than a week for them to have control of all but Atlas park, countless heroes died in the initial assault, Statesman gave his life defending the gate of Atlas Park long enough for the last citizens and wounded heroes to get in.

Since that hellish week, countless more heroes had died, it had been put on to ordinary civilians given tech armor and weapons to fight, but they weren’t trained. Jacob had been a cop, so he could shoot, and well. But still, thy needed a way to train their civilian army... And that’s what Jacob was the test subject for. He just shook his head, put his helm on and jogged to the lab, no sense would be found in mulling it over further.

”STATE NAME FOR VOICE RECOGNITION.”

“Lieutenant Benson, Jacob C.” He stated clearly, another advancement in his power armor, a perfectly acurate voice projector in the helm. The door slide open, permitting Jacob inside, he glanced about the room at the scientists “Allright boys, whatcha got for me today?”

Over the next few minutes, he recieved a few items he’d need for his journy, a Slevel 1 clearance card, complete with hero registration, a large lump sum of cash, as well as the name of a building he could find lodging at. And, most importantly, in his eye at least, was his newly refitted assault rifle. Which he completely ignored the scientist telling him all of its features. He knew them well, probably better than the bloke who built it. “Let’s just get this show on the road folks, you only programmed a five minute window, and you havn’t found out what happens if I show up while I’m still here.”

“Jacob, there’s a few things we need to brief you on.” The voice was femenine, he knew it well, and wished he’d known it better. Doctor Verna ‘V’ Simms, the head of this project, and by far the best looking scientist he’d ever met. “First, you’ll be dropped right off in to a hot zone. A small section of the town is having a problem with drugged up goons, best place for you to apear and be heroic. Now remember, we’ve already checked, this world doesn’t have the same future as ours does, so you will not adversly effect the timeline and screw things up for them. Your primary objective is to obtain the skills required to fight this war, all else is secondary. You will be transported back here in two years time. No more, no less. We’ve taken care of the government, and the local athorities, they will not question your presence. Any questions?”

“No ma’am.”

“Good, then we’re ready to begin.” She turned to one of the machine technicians “She all ready to fire up for her maiden voyage?”

The tech nodded, and Jacob stepped u on to the platform, and tapped it with his booted foot. “You sure this thing is safe? .. If it kills me I’m never talking to you again.. Ahwell, see you in two years V.”

“No Jacob, I’ll see you in five minutes.”

----

-And so ends the first chapter of the potentialy ongoing saga.. please excuse my typos and spelling errors. I'm not really a writer.

-Edit: stupid thing didn't format right

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Anyone thought about doing a CoH movie? I lack the equipment but I'd love to participate.

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That's a pretty cool idea. Does anyone got a fan film in the works?

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As executive producer on a 35 MM film i can tell you that making a film is no easy task i have wanted to do one but theirs things you need to decide, those interested throw a email to gorathtogar@hotmail.com

live action is obviously out of the question so the quetion is CGI or Cell Animation, i know how to do both but would need

a: Script writers
b: Artists or modlers

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C: Voice actors

*raises hand* I can do that one!

THAT was over the word limit for their entries?

Damn, I've written backstories almost that long, and I'm not the most expressive individual when it comes to writing.

But anyways, 's good. *snickers* I could see it better written in comic book fashion though

I don't have his hero name down yet.. but he's a dark/dark defender...

Excuse the typos.
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Joshua Richards, a nobody. One of the 'normal' kids at school. Since jr. high he'd been nothing special. In to high school, he wasn't one of the nerds who everyone knew exsisted and pretended didn't, he wasn't one of the jocks who the girls fawned over, he wasn't one of the goths who wanted to be seen as a frightening presence.. and all people were worried about is that being goth might be contagious.

And in to College, he was still just the nobody, one of those with an undeclared major and major bouncing, never sure what he was doing.. He did abit of everything. but never excelled at it.

His parents, divorced, had been competing to be the 'favorite parent' since he'd been young, a habbit they never grew out of. Both had plans for him, his father wanted him to be a dentist, and his mother wanted him to be a lawyer. His opinion was both were very simular, they both put people in alot of pain and draw alot of blood, and get paid by the person they did it to.

All in all, his life was going nowhere.. That though was before his dormant gift woke within him. The craft had not surfaced in his family for 10 years, but it found him. He really didn't know what he was doing with it, but he decided that he should use these powers for good (and then he chided himself on being so cliche).

Now, the city he grew up in, that of Flagstaff Arizona, was a fairly safe place. And less the cops couldn't handle, but none the less Joshua took it apon himself to deliver vigilante justice to muggers, and petty thieves. This actually paid off though. One night he caught a couple of street punks acousting an elderly man for his wallet, and Joshua stepped in, and set them fleeing for their life, screaming in terror (... okay so that's how he likes to tell it. Really they thought he was a cop and bolted).

The elderly man, one professor Alexander Wilson of the AAS (Academy of Arcane Science) however noticed the potential in Joshua and gave him his card.

Before long, Joshua was accepted in to the AAS, located hidden within the mountains of Colorado, his parents believed he'd gone to school to be a vetrinarian.

At the AAS, life was quite different, there were very few students, and and those there were very close, it was only a matter of days untill Joshua fit in, perhaps because everyone there was a misfit. He even found himself a girlfriend, one Jessica Simms from southern california, an elementalist with an impressive power of fluids.

This is where life takes a turn for the worse for Joshua again. Late one cold winters night he and Jessica were in her dorm.. And regaurdless of what everyone wanted to say they were not engaged in physical intimacy (yet), they were working on an experiment regaurding certain volatile compounds, required homework for her. Noone is sure how it happened, but the compounds got blended, and the results were impressive. And explosive, half of the dorms were destroyed, fortunately few were hurt because of how few students they have.

Jessica did not survive the blast. Joshua did, barely. He was given about as much chance of survival as a decapitation victim. bounced between hospitals, kept on life support in a most fitfull and frightening death-sleep. finally they decided to send him to the city with hospitals best equipped for treating injuries from massive magical mishaps. Paragon City.

When he finally woke up in Chiron Medical Center, he remembered nothing (again, so cliche), and he wished it would have remained that way. he recalled vividly the events of that winters night, and even worse did he remember the hellish nightmares of his year long coma. The blast had scarred his body, taken his right eye, and forever marred his soul.

This his real vision isn't what it once was, he now has vision most do not, his eye sees as well in the dark as it does at noon. and he can see the core of the person. Who and what they really are. Their intentions, their feelings.. Their dreams.

He's chosen to remain in Paragon City, his parents think him dead, so he's got nothing to go to wherever he goes. So, he does what every other Joe Schmoe with a power or a magic sword or a spiffy gun or super flight boxer shorts does in Paragon City, and took up life as a super hero! He found his powers most changed from what they once were.. if he could even remember what they used to be. But channling power from the netherworld is most certainly not what it was.

-------

It's sad.. When I was playing on Horizons, which has devoted servers for RP (half the servers are RP!), I posted something akin to this for the people who tried to RP on and RP shard but didn't know how.. and I got flamed to hell and back for doing so.

Props to ya

too bad I don't like message board RP, I prefere live chat.

Well, if either A: the individual in question was [censored], or B: they were RPing and thought that was also all you were doing, there's nothing 'evil' about it.

I know a guy, who's actually a pretty good friend, who when I first met I thought was a girl, not because he was playing a female character but because he refered to his boyfriend.

I've also been on the 'leading on' side of what -I- thought to be a strictly RP relationship, and the guy on the other end thought to be more... It's only happened a couple of times, and after that I got to the point that if characters get in to any more of a relationship than friends, the players knows my gender.

Trust me, it sucks to be on that side, too. Gets the person really mad at you, and not to mention.. for me atleast, it hurts the character. I'm not the sort who ever is like "never happened." .. whatever happens with my character in one place with one person, that's permanent, it's now a part of the character.

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Although I prefer to play male characters, I have tried playing a few female characters. I noticed I received quite a few donations as a female. Perhaps it was my scantly clad outfit

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Yes, it's a proven fact, in MMOs females get more gifts than males.