Journal of a first-time MMORG player
By
187nut,
Posted on: 2005-01-20 01:10 in CoH and CoV General Discussions
Entry 134
Long-time readers might remember that the Positron Task Force has been a major trial for me, in that my teammates tend to disappear, and the team crumbles before it ever gets finished. Well, Martial Master has never gotten that Task Force complete, although I have with other alts. So I log on determined to succeed. Wouldnt you know it, I can get a team started but they cant stay the whole night for the TF. I decide Im going to handle it solo, so I stay on as the rest drop out. I also die on the first mission, but thats because I have it set on Invincible still. Although its possible to beat, as I trash the purple-conning Eidolon, I decide to bump it down a bit for the rest of the missions.
I changed the setting too late, so Im going up against Circle of Thorns goons at the toughest setting, which means orange-con Archers, red-con Spectrals, and purple-con Mages. Gah! I have to turn into a Blaster and take out one at a time, retreat, then come back for the next one. Half the time I get knocked out, as the Supression and being inside a cramped building allows them to take me out in a couple hits while Im trying to get away. I could do this all night, but Im afraid I dont have as much free time as I used to. If I felt I still had anything to prove, Id just do the whole thing on Invincible and tough it out, but I want to do other things in the game too!
The Clocks on the next mission are a piece of cake, as the reduced setting has gone into effect, but after that, Im up against the Vahz, and I literally run out of Endurance after knocking out a Reaper. The one drawback to doing this TF, I dont have my Stamina. The stop-and-go of it would grate on my nerves, but since Im alone, I can go do a bathroom break, catch the phone, or type up my adventures while I recharge. It makes for a longer mission duration, but relatively little true downtime.
Since I cant use my Eagles Claw, I swap it out in the Power Tray for Sands of Mu, which comes in handy on occasion. Going up against an Eidolon at this reduced level is definitely a challenge for me, and its a near thing whether it was going to be him going down for the count or me. I lose count of the number of times Cobra Strike saves my bacon. One Archer goes down under my Sands of Mu, and it looks like Im beating the crap out of some poor unconscious dude. Heh. And, of course, I always get a chuckle out of attacking a ghost, and hearing a solid thunk as he falls on his butt after I knock him down.
Whenever I can manage to in the thick of battle, I start rotating my view constantly in a 360 degree sweep, and it gives me a cinematic view of the fight scene. Almost makes me feel like Im in the Matrix (which I havent played, so who knows?). I also lose track of how many times my Health goes into the red while my Endurance runs low, in the middle of fighting all of these mobs. A few hours later, I have done it! I receive the Task force Commander accolade at last, and fill in the embarrassing gap in my Task Force badges for Positron.
I finally decide to join a few COH-related websites and start tracking my badges. I get the sense that if I want to obtain the Invention badges, Im going to have to use some other means of tracking everything, other than just my memory. As much as I wanted a game simple enough to just log in and play, it looks like it has gotten complicated enough that I need to use the web community as a support group to help me keep track of everything. But first sleep
I have an idea! No wait...it's just gas.
Hellscorp
Entry 135
Playing Martial Master gave me a taste of my favorite character, so I felt like taking him out for a spin again, but without the handicap of being limited on a level 15 task force. I head over to Peregrine Island, and am surprised to see two server locations to choose from. Everyone and their dog must be on today! Then its a trip into the war zone, because I havent done all of those yet. One thing to be said for being away a long time, this game changes fast enough that there are things to do at every level. I crank it back up to Invincible and go on Part 5 of the Vanguard missions. I make it to Serpent Drummer, but fail the mission. Im guessing its because the Fake Nemesis attacked the hostage instead of me, and then he turned immaterial. As soon as I looked at the hostage, it booted me out of the mission! Ptheh! I hate it when they dont give you a proper sense of the pass/fail parameters of the mission. Not fair!
I come back another night to do these Rikti War Zone (RWZ) missions. The War Zone is proving to be very popular, as I find I can enter it at RWZ 1 or RWZ 2. I am hoping this means the game is growing, because multiple occurrences of the same zone has been fairly rare over the life of the game. I like the continuation of the Rikti, their forces make for a very good opponent, and the Vanguard Merits give you a little something new to strive for, just in case its not enough to just have a few more missions that your level 50 character can go on. The one depressing thing is that there are no proof-editors for the flavor text. I want to scream every time they mess up its and its.
I wander around the RWZ, just taking in the sights, exploring and getting a couple badges, looking at all the new costumes and reading the background about the different NPCs in the zone. A jolting surprise lets me know that the Rikti Pylons get a little uptight with you if you get too close. Its neat to watch the Vanguard HVAS attack a group of Rikti, and I think the Rikti Heavy Assault Suits are maybe the coolest looking things in the game right now. I want one!!!! I go after a second one, and it uses the terrain to get out of my range and run away. Cool!
The badges are a nice surprise, I havent consulted a website to find them. I just found them naturally in my exploration of the zone. I may need to go peek at a website later to make sure Ive found all of them. The good news/bad news is that Im getting that feeling again. Ive been successful at playing the game once a week, regardless of the real-life stuff that always pops up, but now I want to play longer and more often. Thats good, because it means the game has grabbed me again. Thats bad, because how do you squeeze more time out of the day? When is that Time Manipulation power set coming out, anyway
I have an idea! No wait...it's just gas.
Hellscorp
Entry 136
The day has come at last! My new girlfriend sits down and has a little fun with the character creator, and we end up with a new super-villainess called Yellow Feather. We started with a random character design, but just about every aspect was changed as I took her through the different things you could do. The breasts actually look like they were put on by the plastic surgeon, but what can you do? She enters the game and laughs as her character runs into the wall, and I am sitting next to her, probably sounding like a frantic driving instructor, Back up! Back up!
She skips reading a lot of the text, and wants to get into a fight, so I rush her through to the outside. I guide her through the first fight, and it is fun to watch her reaction as she gets attacked. I help her figure out that she needs to be hitting the right number keys on the keyboard to do her attacks, as she screeches a little in despair every time a prisoner hits her. She talks about being tired, but as soon as she finds out she gets to go attack two more people, she runs back to the yard and gets into another fight. See how easy it is to tell yourself youre going to log off, after you do just one more thing
She finally gets tired and turns the game over to me, and I bring out Martial Master who runs through some more RWZ missions. The graphics are very cool now, but sometimes I wonder if things are getting too realistic, as a Crey lady falls down on a wall at the same level as my characters head, with her legs spread. Yipes! Soon after, I knock a Crey Voltaic Tank up on a roof, and when I go to chase him, I speed off the top of the roof and deliver the knockout blow from the ground. So cool!
Red Havens evil alter ego, Emprex, joins me in RWZ to go up against the renegade Vanguard. I have no idea how many times he tells me to watch out for their accuracy, but I did not fully understand. If Im not running Elude, I am toast! I am starting to suspect that the game at this level requires me to have all of those set bonuses from the Inventions that I am missing, and my slotting dates back to I9, so I am most likely not optimal anymore.
We start a team over in Peregrine Island, because I have the goal to finally complete the Praetorian story arc that has Statesman captive. Do events in the game reflect that I have had this mission for more than a year? It would make sense, if Statesman has been held captive for a year, since I have all these crimes I have to solve myself
Lets assume (for the sake of hoping Statesman didnt get tortured for a year or so) that just like in the comic book universe, game time is different from real time! Emprex switches to Red Haven, but expresses doubts about the team. Just like most teams, though, after a rough patch for the first few minutes, everyone settles into a good groove, and we bust AV after AV, until Statesman is free, and I finally have another accolade that boosts my hit points and endurance.
We go back to RWZ to tackle more Vanguard, and a Blaster from the old team comes with us, but we are trying to earn another badge, so for one of the rare times in the game, I want to do this mission over rather than complete it. I explain this and the Blaster agrees, but when I am sent ot the hospital, he completes mission and quits without a word, and does not respond when I try to ask him whats up. He played silently most of the time, but I really dont know why he would have agreed to tag along further, just to mess up my plans. Things like this are the reason Red Haven does not like pick-up teams anymore, and prefers to play only with people he knows. Considering this was one of my first real pick-up teams since starting up the game again, its left a spoiled taste in my mouth as well. Theres really no reason for that conduct in a game like this, but the rest of the previous team were cool, so I try to remind myself that theres always one bad apple, but it shouldnt overshadow the other five good ones. Ooh, and Issue 11 comes out soon!
I have an idea! No wait...it's just gas.
Hellscorp
Entry 137
Another weekend, and I run around throwing the bad guys on their collective kissers. One member of the Council ends up hanging off the TV in a break room, dangling up on the wall. Another place, a Hellion gets knocked right back into a light pole. Ouch! But enough of that, the new power sets have come out! I already have combinations of all the other types in existence, so I have no problem making a character with the two new ones together, Dual Blades and Willpower. I must admit, I love to have additional powers in the form of the opening low-level power and the Veteran Rewards powers. The idea of slogging through all the low levels while waiting for your one or two measly powers to recharge is just depressing. For people who have done it once or a dozen times already, the Veteran Rewards powers are a small blessing.
Ok, so my character is called the Spirit of Paragon, and he is the living embodiment of the city. Imagine Uncle Sam (DC) or Old Soldier (Astro City), but only on a city-wide scale. I give him a top hat and a trench coat, two clothing options that we didnt used to have. The character creator has a ton of options now, and I am already thinking of how many different costume slots I have, and what I can change my heroes into later. Everyone and their alter ego is on tonight, most of us trying out the new power sets. So many heroes around, Paragon City is really clear of crime tonight, at least for Atlas Park and Galaxy City! Sometimes I have to go for entire blocks before finding crime!
As I go along for a couple hours, I keep trying to hit the combinations involved with the Dual Blades. I tend to miss on one of the three attacks, or I use Typhoons Edge at the last, but it ends up being the final blow, so the Weakness effect cannot be used. After I manage to activate it and still have bad guys to experiment on (note to self: when did I start sounding like Dr. Vahzilok?), I want to see if I can activate yet another power before the last power in the combo, and still have the orange ring lit up so I can activate Weaken. This proves harder to orchestrate, but later, I finally manage to hit the Weaken combo, hit on Nimble Slash and Ablating Slice, then activate the Nemesis Staff, and still use Typhoons Edge to cast Weakness again! Satisfied that it can be done, I dont focus on it as much, but settle back to enjoy the game, without much needed in the way of further testing.
The animations look great. For other power sets like Claws and Spines, I tend to get a little bored with them, but it really looks like the developers tried even harder to make an interesting animation for each of them. Im sure there may be drawbacks with some of the later powers, or I may find some quibble with something in the Willpower set, but I have no complaints about the first handful of powers.
It is still the little things that make me amused and delighted as I play. I accidentally line up three Vahz in a row, stacked on a grocery cart, and hit them all with Sands of Mu. They are three stooges, all of them dancing to my tune like homeless bum villains on their shopping cart. With only Sprint, though, I not only look like an old man (by design), but I feel like an old man while Im running, and Im pretty sure I look like an old man running. Perez Park is tough solo because a bunch of higher-con Madness Mages are waiting in the mobs, and I just cant take them out by myself. I have to take out 10 Thorns, so I kamikaze to take out a couple at a time, because there is no help when I ask for it in Perez. The team element of the game is still present, Im sure, but not on Freedom Server that night! I get nothing but crickets sounding in the park. And theres another Madness Mage; seems like the game is trying to prevent me from getting the last Thorn. I leap in and try to pull just a few of the 8 Thorns standing in a circle. The whole group runs after me anyway, natch. The Madness Mage comes after me, too. I fire and fall back with my ranged weapons, and I manage to get my last bad guy before face-planting. Yay! Log off at level 7
I have an idea! No wait...it's just gas.
Hellscorp
Entry 138
My girlfriend gets to play again, and she gets out of the Breakout area, but she notices that she had to attack men in police uniform. Am I a bad guy? she asks, smiling. Hey, I tell her, you were the one who had a choice, you could have been a hero. But nooo, you chose villain, so this is your life now, committing crimes and busting up cops. Get used to it. She laughs and plays on. I forget she is afraid of snakes, though, so she wiggles a little bit when we get to the first couple of missions. She catches me yawning once, and claims she is tired herself, so she turns the game over to me to play, despite my protestations.
My main goal is to get some more exploration badges, and I am surprised to see that Warburg is blank to me, dark on the map. Then I remember that everything I experimented on when PvP came out was all on the test servers. I havent gone into any of the PvP zones on the actual game. I hit all of the sites, including the newer one, Recluses Victory. I visit Bloody Bay first, and run through the missions by myself to get a Shivan. Im so excited at getting my Shivan, I exit the zone before I realize I havent gotten any of the Exploration badges! I head back and take care of that, and after Ive hit them all, I notice only Warburg is really populated that well with other heroes and villains. In Warburg, everyone seems to have Super Jump, and I hang out for a while just to watch them all run up and down the map like little jumping beans. Maybe its my imagination, but I dont see what all the excitement was about PvP. Maybe the Arena is better? Here its all just a big setup for hit and run tactics, and thats pretty much it. I get bored easily here after I get all the exploration badges.
In Recluses Victory, I take command of a Cataphract and take over one of the way stations, and broadcast to everyone in the zone that this is my first time, and does anyone want to come and show me how they can take the way station away from me? I get bored from the non-response, and go badge hunting. Then everybody appears and tries to ambush me, of course. Apparently gone are the days of good-natured relations. I remember in older times, a bunch of veterans would have been hanging out, and would have even risked death just to give a new guy an introduction to the zone, and show a good time. Its not very serious either, since we have an announced debt wipe coming up. Oh well, I get my badges and leave the three or four villains ganging up on me in the dust, unsure what their constant hounding of me does at this point. Ill have to come back with a team and take over a bunch of way stations to see what the real thrills of the zone are. I think I will need a team to do the Sirens Call missions too, it seems hard to get a scientist out of danger all by yourself.
I have an idea! No wait...it's just gas.
Hellscorp
Entry 139
My computer is newly refurbished, but I have so many programs open, switching back and forth slows things down. Lets see, Herostats
activated! Excel chart tracking how many of each type of invention I have created
up! Word open to write the journal entries
check! Website to look up any new questions that pop up
running! What? Out of time to play the actual game? No way!
Tonight there are tons of log-in problems with Freedom, but all the characters I really want to play are on that server. My new one, or Ultra Meltdown, or Martial Master
ptheh! I finally choose to log on Star Hawk, and I spend a little time choosing and organizing all of my new powers and rewards, but before I can play, my dad calls, and another half hour disappears. Hey! Ive still got a Discipline! Anyone know if it will still work?
Tracking down some badges, I use my Jump Pack to get the Keen Sighted badge, and level up! Forogt they give xp for discovering badges now, too. Ive got Hersotats up every time now, its becoming a habit, and the statistician in me (dont we all have one) stops to check how much debt Im paying off every now and then, or what my xp per minute is. In the meantime, a Vahz knocks me out and stays right over me so I cant use an Awaken. Stupid mission. Who installs a safe down in a sewer anyway?
I lose connection to the mapserver and decide to look on the CoH website. It is after normal maintenance hours, but half the servers are down. Freedom is back up, though, or so it says, so I try to get to the Spirit of Paragon. Success! I take him up to level 10 and realize its after midnight. Hmm, that always seems to happen
I have an idea! No wait...it's just gas.
Hellscorp
Entry 140
Its time to examine just how Ouroboros is set up. The layout of the zone is very beautiful and peaceful. I notice that there appear to be other rock formations outside of the protective bubble, and I wonder if there are any plans for those
The limits on these adventures make things interesting. Im already on Invincible and they want me to limit myself further? Okay. I set my first mission for 5 lives and the Bronze time limit. I finish it in about half an hour, with only one death (I really wasnt prepared for how few hits I could take with my lowered hit point total), and earn my Exalted badge for paying off 20,000,000 in debt!
I have 59 minutes left, and the next mission is done quickly. It takes about 3 minutes to take out 10 Clocks. After that, its searching for clues, which leaves me with 50 minutes, then a 3 minute trip to return to Atlas Park and give a note to the city rep. Next to last mission is in Perez Park, but switching back and forth between my journal and the game has triggered the Alt command somehow, and my other power tray is taking my numbered commands, causing me to accidentally summon one of my Shivan Shards. I take out a purple-con Howitzer, whose Gears force me to retreat and Rest, but as soon as they catch up to me, they take me down in to the red for health again. Then I stumble across a red-con that nearly takes me out. I run around and take out all the remaining Clocks, and manage to rescue Lou. 30 minutes left. I go to check out Lous shop and get sent to the hospital. 22 minutes left! A fourth Clock is hiding among some boxes in a corner, his ranged attack was probably what sent me to the hospital. A purple-con Cannon Knight! Hospital again! Gah!!! I head back quickly, find the Key that opens the way to the back part of the warehouse, and start to super-speed past everyone else.
I attack with low health, and get sent to the hospital again! I free Lous mom, but attract attention from two extra Clocks, and have to take out all four, pumping candy furiously. I finish at 1:21:22, with 4 deaths. Theres still an orange star on the mission at Ouroboros? Red Haven lets me know I did things backwards, and the star means I have it already. I need to be doing the blank ones!
The next time online, I spend most of my time getting inventions, and then doing a Respec of my character. Lets see, how do I want to set this up? 3 lives, 2 hours, no enhancements, and no temp powers. Piece of cake! The first mission does go like cake, but the second mission is to defeat ten Trolls. I take out one on the edge of a mob, and attract the attention of all the others. Which would have been fine, but I had a blue candy in my F1 slot instead of a green, so instead of being just healthy enough to retreat, I take a trip to the hospital. I come back a second time and try out a group, and take out about four of them, only to have a yellow-con Caliban come over and knock me out again. Everything has a tendency to go south right at the moment when you cant run to safety. I stalk out two groups that I think I can take, in among a slew of greater-difficulty mobs, and another player zooms in and poaches them right in front of me. The next group I can find, I pump up on candy, but they pummel me so fast, I cant click on greens fast enough! I figure I can get the last two I need, but the Trolls manage to get me just enough, even as I am clicking greens and running away, that they take me out a fourth time! Tonight is just not going to be an easy night, is it?
I may have misjudged what damage I can take at the lower levels. I am so used to being in tip-top shape with Martial Master, it is hard for me to judge accurately what my limits are. I may have chosen the worst possible limitations, as I have no temp powers to fill out my attacks, and since I limited my enhancements, I have to wait a long time for the ones I have to recharge, and I am missing more than I can ever remember!
So I end up failing on the part of only 3 deaths, but I earn the Curtailed badge for not using any temp powers, and the Debilitated badge for not getting any bonuses from enhancements. I decide to embark on the next mission without any of the other limitations, but to set myself for an hour time limit, and try the no more than 3 deaths thing again. I try to speed up the first mission by taking out only the troops around the Superadine canisters, but as soon as I do that and take out the crates
they change the mission parameters on me!
The first two missions go well, but trying to take out 10 Igneous all at once proves my downfall. I seem to have this problem with Martial Master more than any other character
the hero in me just never wants to run away! My first hospital trip. I pump myself full of candy and jump in again. Second trip: I forgot to bring some Respites along, whoops. I get to the Atta mission and skip ahead to his cavern. Hes in the last cavern on the map, the last place I can possibly search. Im pumped up with candy, and he takes me out anyway! I run back with seconds on the clock, and hes fully healed! I jump in, and my keyboard has gone wonky, and my attacks are triggering my second power tray instead, so I turn on and off my Focused Fighting and Focused Senses a couple times before I figure out whats going on and play around with my keyboard a little to fix it. I watch the clock run out
and then defeat Atta. And then find out there was one more mission, and it didnt matter, I would not have completed in time anyway. Ptheh!
I have an idea! No wait...it's just gas.
Hellscorp
Thank you for that installment of "The Orouboros Portal, Debt and You". 
Entry 141
Yellow Feather is having a little fun, but this really isnt her thing. I can tell that she will not really be playing but once in a blue moon. She turns the game over to me, and I register all of my heroes and villains for Christmas and badges, then play Ultra Meltdown in Croatoa until hes told he cant get any more missions until hes level 30, and then I play MM II for a while. Do I really have 40 characters of my own?
The next time I play, its at Red Havens house in a nearby state, as Im hanging out with him for the holidays. Its cool to run missions with him in the same room, as opposed to a couple blocks or a state away. He tries to get me up to speed on a lot of the changes that have been taking place, since Ive been too busy to consult the boards the way I used to. We have some fun in Pocket D, and he leaves me trying to get some of the ski badges.
Most of the Christmas vacation is hanging with relatives and friends, so there is not a lot of game time during the Christmas break, but I do have a few hours one night back home, and Martial Master goes for the slalom badges. Hmm, someone keeps giving him Speed Boost at the wrong instant and throwing off my rhythm. The first badge was easy, the second badge was exciting, but the third badge is killing me. No luck at Red Havens place, and three hours gives me no luck here either. It feels like the surface of the ice changes at one point, as my character seems to start sliding a different way from the last few runs. I mess up on one part and concentrate on figuring out how to angle myself for the rest of them, so as long as I can get that one part where I messed up, I can get all of the others. Turns out, I keep messing up in different places each time.
How many hours have gone by? It has turned into one of those nights where time has gotten away from me. I stopped blinking a few hours back, and my body tries to tell me to take a break, restroom, food, sleep, anything. I ignore it, and Yellow Feather arrives the next morning to find me still up, and she is slightly amazed. I tell her I have to finish this. Ive been so close so many times. I have no idea how other people are getting 16 seconds on this thing, but Im thankful at least that I dont have work later today!
My mind goes into a state similar to when Im in the groove on missions. Its CoH zen! When victory comes, it is as automatic as it is unexpected. I get the gold badge! Oh, to be able to go to sleep! Oh, victory is so sweet
I have an idea! No wait...it's just gas.
Hellscorp
I offered to get the badge for him, I had the gold medal on 4 other characters at this point but tpull is stubborn..... 
That's right, it was a matter of MMORG principle. The badge must be earned by that player (others have their husband or wife get the badge for them. Spousal exceptions are permitted in the gamer code, but he/she will always know they didn't do it on their own; oddly, most people are perfectly fine with this).
Red was actually online when I did it, I shouted out to him in the text box. I think he had logged on and typed in, "Are you still on, homey?" A little later, I tell him, "I DID IT!!!!!!" Then two seconds later, "G'night."
Even though it was broad daylight.
I have an idea! No wait...it's just gas.
Hellscorp
tpull wrote:
[ QUOTE ]
How many hours have gone by? It has turned into one of those nights where time has gotten away from me. I stopped blinking a few hours back, and my body tries to tell me to take a break, restroom, food, sleep, anything. I ignore it
[/ QUOTE ]
I was nodding in agreement. We've all been there.
--NT
They all laughed at me when I said I wanted to be a comedian.
But I showed them, and nobody's laughing at me now!
If I became a red name, I would be all "and what would you mere mortals like to entertain me with today, mu hu ha ha ha!" ~Arcanaville
Entry 142
The Spirit of Paragon wanders into Pocket D, just because Im not sure how long the snow will be on the ground. He gets two badges for the slalom! I only give it a couple of tries for the gold medal, because no way am I going through that time-slog again! Maybe when all of my other characters are up to level 50
I try to get Martial Master invited to a Statesmans Task Force, but they only want two melee types, so I resign myself to finishing off Crimsons big story arc, World Wide Red instead. Then, I catch wind that the next upgrade is going to lessen debt incurred. Hmm, so if I want to level up slowly, its going to be a little harder, and it will take longer to earn the debt badges. Great. I can only hope this is what the majority of players like, because I am not fond of the move. I disappear for a month.
Ok, confession time. I bought Ultimate alliance for the PC, and Ive been playing that the last couple weeks whenever I get a chance instead of CoH. Does that make me a bad person? The double XP weekend makes it irritating for me, because its not really a treat. My goals are not to level up as fast as possible, but to experience entertaining content. Double XP messes me up and makes me skip more content! Plus, it adds a ton of lag to my play, despite the server upgrades. The loading process alone seems to take ten times longer. After quick loads with a simpler game, I feel impatient; it is always in the back of my mind that I am paying for access to the game, and there is always the possibility that if I feel the service is no longer comparable to what I am expecting, I may decide to pack things up and go home for good. When I first joined, I figured nothing could ever make me quit, but the growing pains of the game have dampened my enthusiasm somewhat over the years. For example, it was taking so long to simply enter a mission, I switched over to type stuff up, and when I finally got in, my character was already dead. And me with no Awakens
This is my first time on since the server upgrades and the announced server cap. Speaking from my current perspective, it smells bad to me. If I was still a teenager, and spent all day long playing, I could understand if there were fifteen minutes every week or so that was too busy for me to get on and play. As an adult with little free time, for a game that I pay every single month so I can gain access, the lockout of my most-played server is not very acceptable. If its a slow day, I can always play on other servers, but the point is that most of my friends are on the main server on which I started playing, Freedom. When a holiday hits, it is one of the few times we can coordinate and join for something big like a time-consuming task force. The idea that limits are going to lock us out on the very day that we have been planning to play together for a week is, well, another thing that makes one stop to consider if the hassle is worth it for the enjoyment one gains. It must be noted, though, that this thought process occurs mostly because things are tight financially, and luxuries are the first thing to go. If I was flush with cash, I admit, I would probably not be having the mental consideration to quit.
Next time
a task force!
I have an idea! No wait...it's just gas.
Hellscorp
Entry 143
I link up with Red Haven and his wife, who are playing Granite Haven and Revigrof, respectively. We hit up the intro missions to Ouroboros, and just have some fun palling around for a while, when we catch wind of a Shadow Shard task force. Oboy! I have heard tales of how long these can take, but I announce that as long as I get a food break, I can last. We go join the party for Faathim the Kind. We start with eight members of course, and that almost never lasts. I have prepared for this by teaming with Red Havens son earlier and getting my jetpack from the first Safeguard mission. Plus, I have a valid reason to use my Assemble the Team power. Awesome! Truth be told, everyone else except me had Fly, so it wasnt useful more than twice, but I was glad I finally got to use it to save time for a group.
Coalstone was our tank, and he was great at it. Red Haven held back a little sometimes, so if I wasnt auto-following Red, I was auto-following Coalstone, who was just as fast on a map, a big help for directionally-challenged Scrappers. As a result, I tended to jump into each battle two seconds after Coalstone, leaving it for the rest of the group to catch up to us. Reds wife has switched to CMeNOt, a controller, and MurderOne Alien is a level 50 Peacebringer who originally started the TF. We teleport to different places in the Shard, most of which are new to me. All this time, my main character has been without flight, and there has always been something else to do besides go exploring.
The Shard is beautiful. Nice music, unsettled mysteries, and some places have level 50+ enemies, so now I know where to go if I want some mindless keypad number-crunching battles. I still have some phrases hotkeyed, and occasionally I think Im typing a message, but Im not. I explain that I have the keyboard equivalent of Tourettes Syndrome, and we definitely need a computer equivalent name for that disease.
The group moves fast and well together, and if things get tricky, I trigger Elude or retreat for a few seconds to remove agro. Only once during a mission do I get cornered by a purple-con Gunslinger. I usually need a green or two to get me through a battle like that, but I have none! Gah. Another time, a Controller teleports me apart from the main group, so I pop Elude and jump into the middle of a mob standing between the two of us and everybody else. I announce how odes of glory will be written about this day, as I single-handedly hold off the forces of evil to save a teammate. Red and his wife tell me to dream on, as the rest of the group finds the last mob and joins me in finishing them off.
My game play is fine when in the shard itself, but I experience lag like no other when we have to zone back to other places. I shut down Herostats, as one of the missions is almost over by the time I get to it. I can only hope it was something local, and not representative of how the new servers handle a heavy load. I lose mapserver connection two or three times for the night. In a Train mission, we locate three objects and leave the team, while Red Haven and I go off to find the fourth. Each one has a mob around it to be cleared, so as Red starts, I catch up to him with my jetpack and join the fight. Mind if I drop in? I type, sure that he catches the corny pun of me falling out of the sky, and I know hes just shaking his head at his computer, fighting not to grin as he doesnt bother responding, simply smashing enemy after enemy like the sturdy worker he always is. I chuckle to myself and help him, even though he doesnt really need any help. This is all just to speed things up.
We lose two Controllers along the way, but Qulator and CMeNot are both with us, and the six of us proceed to the final mission, ready to take out Lunaru. Task Force Lamune to the rescue! Except Coalstone dies just outside the Storm Palace, and does not show up for ten or so minutes. People are talking about packing it in for the night, but I demand to enter and at least take a look around. Elementals galore, and Lunaru himself, protected by an inner circle. We reconnoiter the area, and discuss it real quick: we will try once, and if we wipe, we will call it a night.
So five intrepid, shaking heroes go forth, no tank in sight, as Red Haven starts drawing the attention of the elementals one or two at a time. We dispatch the outer ring of enemies, and regroup. We succeed, and go to take out the inner ring of defenders, as Lunaru starts to take us out one by one. I flip Elude on, but its no use. The others fall, and Im halfway dead, so I retreat, with Lunaru coming slowly after me. At the entrance to the mission, I use my Assemble the Team power again to summon the corpses of all of my friends. Lunaru fires a couple of potshots at me until he loses interest and wanders away. Madness! We have a self-rez, then everyone else is brought back, and we want to try one more time. My Elude is not fully recharged, but everyone else is ready, so we jump in full speed. I eat every candy I have, and the entire team goes to town. We get him!!!!
Heres the cool part: Coalstone was able to log back on from his disconnect just before we took Lunaru out. He doesnt get a reward, but he does earn the badge, which relieves all of us, for all his hard work he put into things. I am distracted by his reappearance and the joy of an unexpected win that I take an Enhancement for a reward instead of a Recipe. Doh! Make a note to myself for next time. The team exits the mission, everyone making global friends and such, talking about what a great group it was, and how its one of the best people have experienced in a long time, etc. Red Haven drops off the edge and heads back, and I pop Elude and jump into a bunch of Brutes, figuring Ill wake up in a hospital soon enough. The rest of the team follows me! We have already disassembled at this point, but the Brutes cant touch us, and I just play for a few more minutes until eventually Coalstone asks if Im ever going to port out of here. The others have finally called it a night, so I chuckle and trigger the Ouroboros portal. It took us six hours, seventeen minutes. Now Im hungry for the other Shard task forces.
I have an idea! No wait...it's just gas.
Hellscorp
[ QUOTE ]
Now Im hungry for the other Shard task forces.
[/ QUOTE ]
That's how they get ya....
The Alt Alphabet ~ OPC: Other People's Characters ~ Terrific Screenshots of Cool ~ Superhero Fiction
Was one of the best TF teams I have had in awhile, except of course for tpull. The 5 of us left taking out Lanaru was just a pumped experience. I don't think any of us thought we could do it. For a pick-up TF was an awesome team, with only my 2 master runs for STF and LRSF the only teams to compare.
Over the last year, I have read every entry in this thread while at work. I can honestly say that this thread and the "Whay my 6 yr old has learned..." are my favorite threads. I never hesitate to read this one when it gets updated a few times. I commend your dedication, Tpull, and hope to read more of your fun and exploits in the near future.
Gasp! You're reading at work?!? Oooh, I'm tellin' your boss! (Unless you're your own boss. In which case you already know.) Thanks for the kind words, that's what gets me pumped to write more!
I have an idea! No wait...it's just gas.
Hellscorp
Entry 144
Its a lazy Sunday afternoon, and for a change I dont have any chores, appointments and all the rest of that real life stuff. The Spirit of Paragon goes out on patrol, wading into the sewers, of course, to take out a bunch of Clockwork. How DO they keep this sewer gunk from clogging up their parts?
I notice Im stopping to heal a lot, and using the Nemesis Staff and Sands of Mu quite often. At level 11, the recharge rate is slow, and Endurance fades fast. I have no clue how I stomached the pace without the temp powers from the Veteran Rewards. It seems inconceivable, but I know I sat through it, waiting for one of my powers to recharge. I complete the mission and level up to 12 at the same time. Ah, timing, gotta love it. The Jump Pack and the Flying I earned from the Safeguard mission have also been helpful, but I tend to want Super Speed on almost every character, so Hasten it is. Is it bad that I cant break myself from that choice?
I decide to counter the reduced difficulty that has been put in place with the latest update, where it takes less experience to level up, and debt is reduced, by skipping some of the mobs in the missions. My attempt goes awry, as I take on a couple bad guys while two goons I skipped catch up to me. I gobble greens down, but my luck runs out, because Im whiffing a ton, and my Endurance runs out! Well, thats one way to keep from leveling too fast! Things continue in the same vein for the next hour, as I jump into one mob after the next, barely pausing to rest, and generally taking on more than I can chew. Only one more hospital trip, though.
I also notice my whiffs more than I used to. This is a byproduct of the combo attacks from Dual Blades. On any other power setting, there is no big consequence to missing your opponent, but with Dual Blades, if you miss with your first strike, you dont want to use your other two powers. Thats how I roll, anyway (That's right, I said it!). I switch to the temp powers and then try my first strike again. If you miss on the second or third combo strike, you do not get the benefit of the bonus effect, and that happens more times than I would like to admit. My other characters, I might miss here and there, but I take notice of Dual Blade misses to a much higher degree. Hmm, not too far from doing Positrons task force
I have an idea! No wait...it's just gas.
Hellscorp
Entry 145
Martial Master hasnt had enough screen time lately, so I put him in Ouroboros, making sure my settings are on Heroic. I may want to do a strongman sometime and run on Invincible, but only if Im dying for a hard challenge with few powers. I tend to want to do the really challenging stuff when I have a little more than just Thunder Kick. I try for the Trolls story arc with zero defeats and only thirty minutes, and make it all in under the wire. Phew! I wasnt sure how things would go at first, since it seems to take my zones a long time to load. Running back and forth for some of these missions, I see that Atlas is packed tonight. Anyway, I happily take note of my All For One, One For All and Gold Medalist badges.
Next, I select a Skulls/Clock mission, where inspirations cannot be used. Wow, am I slow! It takes me a few minutes to get to the mission, and even though I didnt set a time limit on it, the mission happens to come with an hour time limit anyway. I enter in kings Row, take out a few Clocks, and have to rest immediately. Then the next batch of Clocks goes down, but my power hasnt recharged yet. For others it can be a big pain; for me, it means I have time to type things up before I go on!
Im actually back to the stage where I switch off my Sprint to save on endurance, and man, do I feel like a turtle. Its a good thing Im doing these low-level missions now, because I really want things to pick up after this! I dont get any badge for this mission, nor for the next, the save the mystic mission, wherein I also selected not to have my enhancements count. I figure its because these are badge missions instead of full story arcs, but it takes a call to Red Haven to find out why they are not starred off my to-do list back in Ouroboros. Theres a bug still on them?!? Weird.
I noticed something lately, playing both CoH and running through my Warcraft III for the first time in years: Im a packrat! I always took too much time to figure out which item to leave behind and make room for in my inventory, just like I dont want to sell all of my Salvage or Recipes when I get them. What if theyre rare? What if I can go use them? Im a packrat in real life, so I guess I shouldnt be surprised that the habit followed me into game life. Still, I think I need to practice better materials management in both worlds.
Its been more than two hours already, and it flew by like ten minutes. I run along Kings Row, intimately familiar with the music, and when I get back to Atlas, that majestic introductory type music sounds off as I run and fall off a wall. Yes, theres nothing so cool as mistiming a jump, and listening to the grandiose music when you fall into a dumpster, and run out amid the trash
I have an idea! No wait...it's just gas.
Hellscorp
I keep thinking of you as a newbie, but I have to remind myself you've been playing for 3+ years lol. Probably the thread title that does it.
The best comics are still 10�!
My City of Heroes Blog Freedom Feature Article: "Going Rageless?"
If you only read one guide this year, make it this one.
Super Reflexes: the Golden Fox of power sets!
WARNING: I bold names.
As always: Good job Tpull.. you always do such a great job. Keep us posted.. you inspire many of my own writings or at least desire to put down my own thoughts.
City of * For the Win
Entry 146
Who to play, who to play
? I meander through the different servers, not feeling like playing the vast majority of them; most are levels 6-15, and with Ouroboros, Martial Master is in that range too. Back to Freedom server, and Ultra Meltdown comes out for a shakedown flight! I have done a Respec on this character more than any others, so it takes a couple seconds to make sure I remember which powers I settled on for him by level 29. Hes got a little debt on him, so I decide to see what I can do to pay it off. Cause thats the kind of armored hero I am!
I try to make the most of the couple of hours I have, spending a few minutes running around town, and then mopping up a bunch of arrest 30 of type x missions. It would take too much effort to hunt down the right xp, so I just run up and down Independence Port, strafing any villain type hapless enough to be in my way. Much of the content at this level is not too interesting, so after I clear the mission board once, I switch to Radio missions. With as much content as they have, some of the storylines and Contacts could be condensed. If the Devs made a book series that had all of these storylines in story format, I would so buy it. As it is, tonight feels a little like a chore, just mopping up some lower level goons to get the missions clear for some real meat. I wanted to play a higher-level character that had more power choices, but it takes a while before I can get a more interesting mission.
The Freakshow provide a somewhat more exciting challenge, what with their ability to stun me and put me to sleep. I super-speed through one mission and take out the boss and a couple guards, but the next one is a defeat all, so to mix it up, I go take out the boss first, and then pretend to be on clean-up detail, working my way from the inside out. When the game fails to provide variety, make your own! In the old days, I might have gotten knocked out a time or two, but the hit-and-run, snipe-and-blast tactics seem to have become ingrained in me, no matter how long I leave my Blasters in cold virtual server storage.
As busy as I am, I tend to fall behind my own desired schedule, with issue updates coming faster than I can keep up. Ah, to have six hours at a pop again! Even with that, I still have some idea that the Devs would be well-suited to take the mid-point levels where some of the missions are obvious repetitious slogs and change them up a bit. With Radio missions, there is little need for many of the others. The biggest need is for newer players to have a reason to explore a new zone for them, such as Terra Volta. Instead of forcing them to do a defeat 30, why not have a couple more way-station missions, or a courier mission that takes you to/through an interesting location on the map? Or you could incorporate the plaques into an optional mission, and set the plaques as waypoints on a history lesson one of the Contacts sends you to complete.
If it sounds like I am looking for some mission variety besides street sweeps, its because I am! There has got to be a couple other choices that can lure players across the zones to help them become more familiar, without them all being fight missions, or even necessarily for xp. The missions could be flagged at the Contact before you choose them, so players who only want to fight would know to choose the second mission option, and just leave the pesky exploration/courier mission untouched, or vice versa, in case the player wants a break from button mashing. Bonuses of mission-only clothing articles, or even the meaningless souvenirs could spark some of us to go spend some time on them, just because its different.
Im hoping that the Devs will come to a phase where they realize that zone redesigns are fun, new zones are great (!), but that some of the earlier stuff they did for missions in the slog levels (as I call them) desperately needs an update. I am very pleased with all of the attention the lower levels have gotten, from Hollows to Striga and Croatoa. Its not that Im looking for changes to the maps or the graphics even, just that some of the less-fulfilling stories and overly-repetitive missions be updated with something more interesting. I hope I didnt repeat myself too much
I have an idea! No wait...it's just gas.
Hellscorp
Repetition is just the nature of MMOs. If they change things up, it'll seem great at first, but it wouldn't be long before it felt like just part of the routine again.
I like what they're doing with the Hollows. How many new players has that zone cost this game? We'll never know, but we know there's at least a few (and very likely many more). The revamp should help with this.
It's ironic that two of the best maps blueside has to offer (the office-on-fire and the drug factory) come at so low a level, leaving mostly cookie cutter maps from there on.
The best comics are still 10�!
My City of Heroes Blog Freedom Feature Article: "Going Rageless?"
If you only read one guide this year, make it this one.
Super Reflexes: the Golden Fox of power sets!
WARNING: I bold names.
Entry 133
My temporary Sky Raider costume looked dorky before, but now I have Flight! Sky Raider and the Golbricker costume look so cool now. Im flying through the Hollows, and cant resist taking a potshot at a Madness Mage. Unfortunately, his nest of supporters doesnt like that too much, and they take me out in short order. I use an Awaken, then pop a purple, then a blue, and Im off and flying away! And then I lose connection to the mapserver, it messes with my keyboard, and I goto hospital anyway. Sigh.
I head back to the Hollows because this is actually the first time I have finished Julius the Trolls missions. Every other character, for some reason, I didnt go this route, I left and never learned what happened to the policemans son, Sam. Im still underestimating the damage the Trolls can do, Im always trying to hit a green Respite one action too late. I check Veteran Rewards to se if theres anything else useful in there, and accidentally click on a free tailor session. Oh, I hope I didnt just waste it. Will it let me change my costume for free, and last until I get to the tailor? Or does it fade away or become useless if Im not at the tailor already?
Igneous are tough! Although its not a hard and fast rule, I have been attempting to see how much of these I can solo as a Blaster, and its going fairly well, but if you dont scan 1800 degrees, you get ambushed by Trolls, by Igneous, by tons of stuff. Id like to see some equivalent zone for level 50s that is similar to Grendels Gulch. Aside from the pvp areas, there arent too many set-ups that allow for villains to come attack you from behind. If the developers are worried about complaints, they could make the ambush b villains that are a level below the character, and make it something you have to defeat quickly but not something thats an automatic massacre if you cant react quickly enough.
I finish all of the Hollows missions except for the Trial, because I know at this hour, its unlikely Ill be able to get an eight-member team going. Outside the Hollows, the Rikti invade, so I stop to defend the city for a few minutes. Real life interrupts soon, as my phone rings, and my portable phone has died. While I talk to my girlfriend, some Clocks beat me up inside a mission. There are so many ways to get xp, though, I dont mind dying. Without debt, its very easy to out-level a lot of your missions, what with Halloween, the Rikti invasions, and so forth. Halloween is over, and the costumes really made it more enjoyable than ever before. Hopefully we see that again!
I have an idea! No wait...it's just gas.
Hellscorp