hazard

Thanks for all the replies.

I never expected a game to effect me as much as this. But I'm glad this is the kind of game that can get people out of their shells like that.

I don't think I'll find a game or community that invites and rewards RP as much as City of Heroes... and I'm absolutely dreading going back to the other titles to even /attempt/ to do so.

I just want my City of Heroes back... crap, got me going again.

Thanks for the replies, and for being the best community there is.

I know what you mean. It was difficult to draw the kid and the dog... I thought the dog approximated the game fairly well. It can't talk, but... it does communicate to us in ways... and we do love it.

It shows how art and ownership really shift. We paid for the game. We owned it. We enjoyed and loved it. That someone can take it away from us, after all we've invested in it, is heartbreaking.

I didn't want to rant... damn... got me going again.

Thanks for the replies. This is... was... the best game ever.

So, I made a Praetorian and started playing "Going Rogue." Which is an awesome setting, by the way. I've done a bit of the First Ward as well, and I'm really impressed with the expansion.

Anyways, I've been having such a good time with this character that I decided to do some artwork of them.

I *WAS* going to do a FULL, comic page, but after I did these two panels, I couldn't think of anything else (no other images were rattling around in my head), so I just pieced them together and called it good.

Enjoy!



This is Simon Rictus. A Loyalist and member of Powers Division. He's a good guy in a bad situation.

Met another toon today that I thought looked freakin' sweet!

Exptiztika!



She's this cyborg chick... that's about all I really got from her backstory. The rest was "classified."

Anyways, it was definitely hard getting good definition in a character with a dark color scheme, but I think it came out decent. I'm not sure the fore-shortening works, especially with the dark colors, but... meh. There's always next time.

I am VERY happy that, for once, I've drawn a female super-hero who isn't being objectified. Yes, her figure is nice. Yes, I spent a little extra time shading her... um... "classified materials." But, at the end of it, she looks like a bad-*** cyborg first and foremost. Like, you're first struck with "OMG-badass!" instead of "OMG-hot-chick!"

I know some of the ladies are getting tired of seeing super-heroines with their backs arched, chests all pushed out, in 'non-clothing' costumes. So, this one... is for you.

Wow!

That is some kick-*** artwork. I LOVE your colors! How do you do 'em?!?

That group-shot is pretty freaking awesome! You can tell that a LOT of work went into that. Very, very impressive.

I saw some of your sketches on your DA account as well, and those are really good too. I no lie. I a little jealous.

*paws at BrandX* "More?"

I have a question about legal ownership of characters created in the City of Heroes/City of Villains game.

For the sake of this discussion, let's pretend that I totally didn't read any of the agreements or notices that you're *supposed to* before playing the game. Let's also pretend that I know absolutely nothing about legal practice.

...and let's also pretend that I had no clue where else to post this thread.

Now, let's say that I fire up City of Heroes, create a hero (Mr. Awesome) and play the game for a while (like 6 months). Then let's say I like my hero (Mr. Awesome) so much that me and my friends make a short, live-action movie about him and post it on YouTube. Let's say some big-shot Hollywood producer sees my video and exclaims "That's it!" and offers me $100,000 dollars to make a movie featuring my hero (Mr. Awesome).

Do I have ownership of my hero (Mr. Awesome) or does the makers/current owners of City of Heroes own them?

What if, it was the same scenario, but I'd actually done stuff with my hero (Mr. Awesome) before ever playing as him in City of Heroes? Did making the character in the game surrender my ownership of him?

And, on a separate note, are the current owners of City of Heroes like the I.P. Nazi's over at D.C./Marvel?

I would assume their "token" characters and setting are in their ownership.

Have they established any sort of rules for using either in fan-works?

I'm not sure if these are the types of questions that other players can answer, but just want to make sure where I stand in all this.

So, I was playing CoH this week, and I saw a hero costume that I HAD to draw.

Here is... Black Autumn!



She had a really good biography on her I.D. as well. Wish I could post that here too.

Also, I figured I'd do a pic of one of my heroes. She's not my favorite, but - as a healer - I end up playing her the most.



On a side note, when I originally drew her, her bust was about half the size. But, when I logged in looking for some reference, I realized that they needed to be bigger. LOL!

Hope ya'll like the drawings!

Here are the things that I need to get me through a drawing.

- A broad, flat surface - I need room for my elbows to rest on the table.
- Ample lighting - usually coming from the left hand side, as I am right handed.
- Slightly cooler room temperature - warm temperatures can make my hands sweat (bad for paper quality) and lower my patience. Put those two together and it'll be a short drawing session.
- Low humidity - high humidity can cause paper to go limp. The paper gives more than it should, which means you have to press harder, which also means your lines are more likely to leave grooves in the paper (all of which is bad).
- Repetitive, but enjoyable background music - gives my ears something to do. Repetitive because you don't want to worry about focusing on it (which will happen with a big play-list as, eventually, you'll hit songs you either like or dislike), but enjoyable because you want it to energize you whenever you start to focus on it.
- Constantly remind yourself: "It's not a race." - professional artists have deadlines, yes, but rushed artwork doesn't look good. Better to have kick-*** pencils, than a bad-quality inked/colored piece.
- Artistic Reference - crucial for getting through tricky poses or backgrounds or whatever. Having a photo, or something on hand to reference can help smooth out the rough areas.

So, there you are. These are just the things that help me.

That was awesome!

I really liked the vid. The intro felt totally professional; it immediately sucked me in.

The use of in-game footage was really good. It was easy to watch, punchy and fun.

My *only* criticism, is echo on the girl's audio. Some of them were nice and crisp, but a few had this echo that really took you out of the story.

Other than that, I really liked it!! Looking forward to the next one!

Thanks ya'll!

I mean, c'mon, we all know that heroes aren't "super" unless they're anatomically top-heavy.

Plus, the widow chest detail puts you up AT LEAST another cup size. <--It's true.

So, after posting this in the WRONG FORUM...

I'm posting this bit of artwork I did.

I'd decided to try out the "Arachnos Widow" archetype and am having so much fun that I decided to do this piece of art.



So, yeah, there she is!

Between you and me (and the rest of the internet), I really wanted a name like just "Poison" or "Venom."

Anyways, she's got the 'double eye-plugs' because her eyes were removed as part of her Widow training. She has a 'daredevil-like' latent psychic ability which allows her to see, despite this.

What do ya'll think?

LOL!

I thought I'd seen a forum like that, but I couldn't find it last night.

It's probably the stupid. Yeah, that's probably it.

Thanks!

Oh! And it'd be cool if a mod could delete his post b/c I'm putting it up in the RIGHT place. :P

Hey guys,

I don't know if I'm posting this in the right place. Oh well.

Anyways, I've had such a good time trying out the 'Arachnos Widow' archetype that I was inspired to draw & color my character.

Enjoy the fruits of my labor.



That's Dual Poison... okay, so I originally wanted a name like "Poison" or "Venom," but those were kind of taken. Go figure.

Yes, those are double eye-plugs. They removed her eyes during her training, because she can see without them using psychic senses.

Just wanted to address a couple things.

First, I'll admit that Clear Mind-like powers don't need to be on continually, but they certainly help.

One of my complaints about this power in particular (because I haven't messed with the others) is that when I am employing it, I get to sit around and stare at health bars, team-member buffs and my recharge bar. I really don't get to observe or engage in the scene at all.

Giving Clear Mind, and similar powers, an extended duration might lead to exploits, but it'd also give players time to focus on other aspects of the game, instead of staring at team buffs and health bars.

Here's another alternative I'd like to propose (I'll see if I can add it up top too):

3) Make it an Aura. If team-members are within X-distance of the Defender, apply the benefits of the buff.

NOTE: It sounds like some defenders have a power that works similar to this, but I'm not familiar with it.

The idea is that by making it an aura, the Defender has to actively engage in the scene to keep everyone protected, instead of standing around, staring at team buffs and health bars, which is, ultimately, what I want.

Clear Mind - and similar powers the prevent debilitating debuffs - an ability I've found to be extremely valuable. Keeping this ability on every team-member possible is a great thing to do, except for the person who actually has to do it.

Why? Because they have to reapply this buff to every team member every 90 seconds. And when you're also expected to be healing people, it becomes a real pain.

I'd like to propose two alternative ways to handle Clear Mind - or similar powers, not including Stimulant:

1) Make it a longer lasting buff. Like 5 or 10 minutes. Ideally, the Defender throws it up at the start of the mission, and it lasts until the end.

2) Make it simply counteract debilitating debuffs, and remove the duration. The idea being that a Defender will see someone get held/stunned/immobilized/whatever, hit them with this, and it frees them without any longer-lasting effects.

EDIT: 3) Make it an Aura. If team-members are within X-distance of the Defender, apply the benefits of the buff.

I'm wondering if anyone else feels the same way I do, and what reactions to the proposed alternatives are.

First, people are mentioning this issue in other threads.

Second, I am not about spend my free time (which I would prefer to spend playing the game) compiling an expansive list of player accounts of this situation. This is a problem for the producers. I am merely stating that I'm being effected by it, and want a solution.

It is my hope that other people, who are currently experiencing (or have experienced) problems with the Consignment House, voice their dissatisfaction about this bug as well so that the necessary actions can be taken to correct it.

If this bug does not effect you: 1) I'm am jealous of you. 2) Post in another thread.

Widespread disconnects and crashes resulting from the use of the Consignment House is an error in computer programing.

Let's just ask to get it fixed so we can go back to enjoying our games.

I started a thread in the Player Questions forum to see if the technical issues surrounding the Consignment House was being addressed.

My initial observation was that, on clicking on a Consignment House Representative, the game loads the entire database of transactions, which often causes long wait times and map-server disconnects.

My question is: Why are more conventional ways of searching databases not being used?

Generally speaking, when faced with a database, the user inputs search parameters and the program returns only the values based on those parameters. Forcing everyone to load the entire database seems very inefficient.

It is my hope that other players, who feel - as I do - that there is a serious problem with the quality of experience with the Consignment Houses, voice their concerns in a effort to persuade the Developers to take action.

Many players suffer from frequent crashes associated with base-development and Consignment House usage. Will the expansion, City of Heroes: Going Rogue, address any of the stability issues with the the game?