Journal of a first-time MMORG player
By
187nut,
Posted on: 2005-01-20 01:10 in CoH and CoV General Discussions
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I dont expect you to post daily, but I check with a hopeful heart that there is something new to read.
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Now you know how Gilgamesh, the Dev that does the Paragon Times, feels 
Keep up the good work, TPull... I love reading your chronicles! /em thumbsup
Entry 44
Cramming in a little bit of fun before I leave for a week, Diamond Cut and I are joined by Chive, a Tank. We speed through a few missions, and just as Chive has to log, I level up. I take Aim for my power at 24, but maybe I should have taken Hover, at least that would get me over the wall in Perez. I can't jump that wall to save my life. I clear out some old missions, and am introduced to new contacts. Some of these are ones I haven't done before. Whoops, I out-leveled them as well! I'll have to go through this again as a Scrapper sometime so I can read their story content, go solo so I don't out-level stuff so much. How can power-levelers complain about lack on content when they're skipping past it all? There's too much for me to do on one character. My only saving grace is I've done most of it as Martial Master already.
I've settled on the idea that CRM won't be taking the Fitness line at all. At this point I have Recovery Aura six-slotted, and Hasten with one. As soon as I build up Hasten to a 6-slot, that should be great for me. I was wondering which character would be one of the easiest to skip that pool, looks like I found it sooner than I thought I would. Being free to take other powers certainly does break up the dreary prospect of taking five powers (Fitness and two powers to get your travel power) from levels 12 to 20. My plan when I revisit my other alts is to team more often and allow some "slack," if you will, so if Stamina is still recommended, I can put it off for a level or two, and add a badly-needed attack or other power in the middle of the build. the trick to this game is still finding good players to team with on a recurring basis.
Teaming is what it's all about. Two players working together, especially if you've already gotten to the upper levels like me and my friend have, drastically changes the game. I can barely solo Rugged sometimes as a Blaster, but combine my Defender with Diamond Cut, and we have to up the settings just so there's a hint of a challenge. The Archetypes genuinely compliment each other well. I've taken CRM from level 11 to 24 in just three days. I have no clue how long that took me with my Scrapper. My Scrapper even died a lot more often than my Defender. The current pace suits my style quite nicely. I'm not standing around doing nothing getting pl'ed, we're moving fast, kicking butt and taking names. We're going fast enough that it's not too bad a grind, and we're experienced enough that deaths are few. I'm also leveling at a fast enough pace that I can gain new powers and still understand how they work, and not get bored with what I have, or start complaining about how I don't have neat power X yet. Because it's coming soon enough, and I just got a new power today anyway! In short, I'm having fun!
I have an idea! No wait...it's just gas.
Hellscorp
Outside the Journal Commentary
This post is a little different from the others only in the sense that I just thought of it, as opposed to thinking of it months back.
I've been thinking about the risk/reward thing lately, and I think there should be one more measurement in the game. For instance, the Arena introduces chess-like ratings (that might be one of the best Arena-related ideas, in my opinion). I'm thinking the Mission Difficulty Slider should be called something other than Reputation, and we could have a Reputation standing. Or a Q rating, or Approval rating, or Honor Standing, or Prestige Level, Eclat, whatever you want to call it.
Instead of handing out more xp for a mission, let's take one of the Trial zones like Boomtown or Faultline. We don't go there often. What about missions that take you there, that are maybe a little more difficult, but they give normal or even reduced xp, but they give a bonus amount of Eclat. Your regular missions would give a very small amount, or none at all, even. Really, it's just a mechanism so we can have a little more content in the game, which is the magic word. Well, fun is the magic word. But fun content is the master spell!
Would the rating have to mean anything? Maybe not, but I figure Badge collectors like Diamond Cut and I would jump at the excuse to go do it and collect another thing. Maybe the more Eclat you have, the better your enhancements work, or maybe they unlock additional "secret" missions that make your Omega clearance actually mean something after all. Maybe they give this rating, and it goes for an entire story arc, until one final mission that does actually give some bonus xp or a badge. It's amazing how much we'll do for the sake of collecting a badge. It's a good thing we don't go after drugs like we go after badges, who knows where it would end? Coh is our drug, and we're happy little addicts. More, please?
I have an idea! No wait...it's just gas.
Hellscorp
Entry 45
I get back in town on a Friday night, and Diamond Cut asks to do some gaming. He has actually stuck to his word and not done much in the way of missions while I've been gone. He's been going after grey-cons to get badges. We play for a little bit, but the jet-lag has me off my game, and I simply have to get some sleep! The next day, however, is Task Force Day. We head over to IP and talk to Sister Psyche, who feels a disturbance. We are joined by the Scrapper Bishi, and two Controllers, NaS., and Foxfire X. We are Task Force Vixen! Another good team, and we make good time, although these things do tend to take between four to five hours.
After a break for food, DC and I get back online and decide to do the Respec Trial. I still have a free one for CRM from the Issue Update, but a second one can't hurt. We are joined by three Blasters and a Scrapper, and proceed to rock the house. DC is a little dubious at first, because to be honest, a couple of the Blasters were not the most experienced, from the way they kept drawing aggro. We had a few deaths despite my best attempts, but not too unusual for the first mission in most Task Force teams. We mesh much better after that, and proceed to the finals. Until we get to the dreaded Terra Volta part. Or rather, getting to TV, I should say. It's all fine and dandy for those with flight, or Regen or Invuln Scrappers who can survive rushing past purples, but what about little ol' medics? I die twice just getting there. Oh, my kingdom for somebody with Recall Friend! DC is laughing his butt off at us, since he has Flight. I told him it was his turn to take Teleport, but will he listen? Nooooooooo.
Once inside, we actually have our one Scrapper death, as our guest Scrapper gets too close to a Proximity Bomb. I end up down one more time from being too close to an exploding Sky Raider. Inside the reactor core, wave after wave launches at us, and we hold our own for the first five waves. Then it starts to get iffy. At some point, each of our Blasters is down, and later two are down at once. I've got the team menu up and Super Speed on, and as soon as someone gets in trouble, I toggle the auto-follow to them to start a heal. If two people are in trouble at the same time, though, they are not necessarily in the same place, and there are three deaths right when I'm casting the heal on them. As soon as we clear things a little, I get to use my Resurrect power, so it's not a total waste; it's a neat-looking power! I'm thinking of renting my services in a zone on a Medic Day, just running around asking for team invites to locations so I can rez people.
We get the job done, and all earn a Respec. I feel good about all the nice comments about my healing, but DC calls me up and has some even nicer words. He's been around several healers, and in a couple different MMORGs as well, but he says I did a fantastic job of healing. Which is great, but I learned something else in the core, too: I hate it when people die on my watch. I know it's gonna happen, but when I'm the primary healer, I still always feel I could have done better. I can't complain too much, though, because it was a really fun trial, and I know most of the deaths were unavoidable, and my knockouts will keep me from leveling too fast. A good night all around, and a lengthy one as well. I think I've turned into a power gamer again...
I have an idea! No wait...it's just gas.
Hellscorp
Great thread! Been my favorite work reading the last couple of days Got tired of CoH about a month back and tried WoW, found that to slow and boring and started GW. After reading this i started playing CoH again and is having a blast! Thanks for writing this. Keep up the good work!
Entry 46
Diamond Cut dies on purpose in a cave, because we want to do the Striga Task Force. The upper limit is 27, and we don't want to mess with Exemplar if we can help it. I resurrect him when I get there, and we coast through the mission.
CRM tends to offer a rez to any hero on the ground as he passes, but only half of them take me up on it. A lot of people seem to prefer to stay face-planted, but I'm at a loss for the reason. I always check around to make sure it's a safe area first, but if they want to look at dried gum on the sidewalk, more power to them. I hope it's not a pl'er who's always complaining about dps, though...
I'm seeing a lot of people with the Tiger motif now, with tiger usually in the name, and having stripes in their costume. There used to be only a handful of us, Martial Master only ran into three or four the first few months of the game that had stripes, and now I'm running into two characters a day. The latest one I encounter even has the same chest symbol. Maybe I can challenge him to PvP and loser has to change his costume...
We head to IP to take out 25 or 30 family, and I end up hopping into a tree accidentally. No matter how I change the camera view, I still have tree branches in my way, and as I target a Capo Gunner, it looks like laser blasts are coming from a tree to attack the guy!
As soon as CRM is online the next day, Diamond Cut lets me know he has died four more times intentionally. He's trying very hard to do the Striga TF without an Exemplar. I have to let him die a couple more times in-mission, and he still levels on our last outing, to 27. After that small number of missions to set us up for the Striga TF, Diamond and I log, but I am feeling real nostalgic for Martial Master. I log him on and take him into deal with Vanessa DeVore. Just before I get to her, I level up to 49. That was quick! I had no idea xp could accumulate that quickly.
I check out her bio, and she's at level 50. She sees me! I'm dead! Anyone watching me would have thought I was a chicken with my head cut off the first time she hit me. I wasn't using Elude for any of her minions, and I got disoriented, so I couldn't see the way clear to get out of her range. 99,000 is what you get at level 49, hmm? I use an Awaken, because although I know she can definitely take me out, I haven't really had a good test against her yet. And I could care less about any debt at this point.
I do start thinking about the difficulty levels, though. Without an AV, Invincible seems too easy still, at this point. It would be one thing if I was using Elude, but I didn't use it once. I even turned off Focused Fighting (FF) halfway through, and still nearly got through to the end without stopping once. I'm wondering if the Devs can makes level 49 and 50 a little bit tougher in scaling up the bad guys, or if it's only a few select classes, like Scrappers, or the commonly-mentioned Fire Tank. But the fact that my FF is only slotted with its default slot, and I wasn't getting too hurt by red-conning Iron Strongmen without it makes me wonder if the high-end game might be unbalanced in our favor. Or the players have just gotten too good, better at using their powers than anybody originally thought they could be. It does feel right out of a comic though, with me tearing through the warehouse, batting away the cronies to get to a final showdown with the dreaded arch-villain! Heck, she's already given me a beat-down first, just like commonly happens in comic stories, before I rally back and put her in her place!
Well, maybe. First I head in to get a couple screenshots, and she sees me again. I pop Elude, but she's still hitting me pretty good. I slink away (at Super Speed, natch), and rest up so I can quit fooling around and get back to business. Then I figure, hey, why not go train up and get Quickness now, and start to see how much of a difference that makes in my attack sequence. And I might as well upgrade my enhancements... I didn't want to go to bed anyway, did I? I've got one Bewildering of Hermes in with Eagles Claw now, to help with Disorient. Not sure how to measure its effects, other than to hope it helps some. Ugh! Two failures in a row on my attempt to combine range increases to Teleport. No fair!
I have an idea! No wait...it's just gas.
Hellscorp
Entry 47
I get a blind invite while buying enhancements. Really? At level 49?!? I have no problem with that if my team seek is on, but you are seriously going to issue a blind invite to me when I'm not looking for anything? While I'm typing about it, he invites me again! There really should be an etiquette section in the tutorial everyone is required to take. There oughta be a law! Gotta watch out, I'm starting to sound like old people. I'm doubling-up on enhancements, going from 50 to 52, and it's taking a while. I'm hoping after a couple more updates, the Devs will let us transfer greater amounts of influence, and also work on a streamlined way to combine enhancements, at least for the higher levels. I play around with it some more, and have fun with the Reset button, since I haven't heard that sound in a while. I like to put two enhancements in the combination slots, hit the Reset button, and watch them each make a beeline for their respective places along with the neat sound. If I click fast enough, I can trigger the sound twice in a row on one combo. I am obviously stalling to keep from going to bed at this point.
Finally filled up on enhancements, I head back to the mission. Was there some sort of timer? All of the goons are back! Oh well. Time to test Quickness and work off some debt! As I go through, I stop using Hasten, and turn off my Super speed as well. I clear away over 60k of debt just going through the minions, even though they con lower to me now. Once I get to the Boss, I put on everything, Elude, FF, S Speed, Hasten, the whole kit and kaboodle. I also pump myself up with candy! Now let's see who's boss.
Not even close. She hits me first time out of the gate. I forgot to pop Elude! Okay, that's better. She still hits me, and her bar barely goes down a quarter before I'm running out of greens and End, and... hospital! Okay, my experiments on AVs have not gone well overall, I haven't soloed one yet. I send out a Broadcast, "An AV put me in the hospital. Help me get revenge! Please send tell to Martial Master if interested." Wait a couple minutes. No response. "Will nobody help me to avenge my defeat at the hands of Vanessa DeVore?" Crickets. Sigh. Well, it is early in the morning now. I'll have to grab some assistance at a later date. I leave beaten and battered, but unbowed. The next time we meet, I'm bringing some friends, and I will be victorious!
I have an idea! No wait...it's just gas.
Hellscorp
Entry 48
Diamond Cut and CRM are cutting through Striga mostly to try to get to the TF, but I like the additional story elements they have added, and the Striga zone is my favorite over Talos and IP, the nearest level-equivalent zones. We also break occasionally to do missions in other zones, but only because they are badge missions. One thing that makes Striga especially nice is that all the missions are actually inside the one zone, you don't have to go traipsing all over Paragon to get somewhere. At this stage, when you've played as often as we have, that's a real blessing.
We're alternating his missions and mine, and one "destroy portal' mission is over so fast I'm dizzy. We start the mission and DC is there ahead of me, so literally ten seconds after I enter, I get a mission complete sound and 2000 xp and Influence. Nice! The Holy Shotgun Shells we have as a temp power is great for where we are as well, the extra attack comes in very handy for me. Oooh, and the Wolf Whistle now! Can't wait to try it out once, and then hoard the other charges for Hamidon or something! This is why I can't understand people who complain they've gone through all the content already. Temp powers are great fun, and there are all sorts of neat effects you can try on your pet with the buffs, and teleporting him into strange settings and taking screenshots, there are just tons of things to do besides just play the game. Speaking of screenshots, I take a dive on purpose, since DC has done so many (I lost track after ten suicides), and take a screenshot of myself dead underwater. The water in Striga is so clean, that seems wrong, somehow. DC is away from me, and watches my health go down. "Homey?"
"I have 7 bubbles," I tell him. I don't want to hit 27 until we're actually doing the first Striga TF. I love to level up in the middle of a TF! We log off and he comes over to hang out for a few minutes in real life, and we start discussions on our next tag-team duo, starting from Outbreak together. He convinces me to plan for a Stone/Energy Melee Tanker, while he wants to roll a Rad/Rad Defender on Virtue server. We talk about letting me finally read all of the Hollows story content, and tracking badge missions and temp power missions, so we can get as much of the fun stuff we both like into each character as we go. And we make jokes about doing CoV together, and how much damage we'll do. What is the technical term for the disease you have when you gather to start plotting for future plans of virtual world domination...?
The next night my buddy's computer is brought over to me for maintenance, so he can't play (nyah nyah!). I log in Martial Master to do what Diamond Cut suggested and change my settings from Invincible to Heroic. Now DeVore is a level 48 boss instead of a level 50. I get her health down a lot farther, but no matter how much candy I pop, she still takes me out. Guess I should've gone in with more than two respites, I might have actually been able to pull it off. 229,817 debt. Eh. No biggie at this point, even though it is the most I've ever had. If I leave the settings the way they are, my buddy can help me with the Praetorian story arc with all the AVs in it. I go back to the login screen.
I browse around the servers and decide to take Counterbalance for a quick spin, he's my level 4 Natural Scrapper with Katana and Dark Armor. He's my runt character, a guy I made small to see how much faster he could run around town to get places. This is my first chance to see the Council missions at the lower levels, with the revised warehouses and such. Not sure I care for the dim lighting (or the Council, meh!), but some of the props that are leftover from the 5th still look cool. I love my contact, Susan Davies. Every time I go back to her for a mission, she asks me, "are you ready for some action?" Oh, yeah...
I run across a red-con, he's level 6 to me. I remember always avoiding those when I was a low-level character when I first played. Now I'm thinking, "Hmmm..." I pop some candy, turn on my two toggles and plunge ahead. Got him! One definite thing has changed since I first started this game, I'm a lot less hesitant to try and test my limits than ever before. Orange-cons used to hand me my head at low levels, and I instinctively ducked and covered. It's good to know it hasn't become an irreversible habit to avoid potentially tough situations. I get a blind invite and think what the heck, sure. Oh no, it's one of those hero-who-is-really a-villain guys, I just made a sarcastic post on the boards today about those types. He drafts a third person to do a warehouse mission, and I actually level up in it. Oh no, I can get debt now! They both seem to be relatively inexperienced, but they get the job done easy enough. I realize I need to sell and go look at my slotted enhancements. When did I decide it was a good idea to put two slots in Rest? Man, I hope I didn't do those bonehead things to all these characters way back when I first rolled them, or I'm going to use up all my Respecs fast. On the other hand, it's a wonderful thing that I had a dozen characters already rolled up, because they all have free Respecs! I'll try to save this one though, it's not worth it to move around just one slot. Bah, it's already past my bedtime, how did that happen?
I have an idea! No wait...it's just gas.
Hellscorp
Entry 49
Diamond Cut still doesn't have his computer back, but it's been days since I've played. I log on CRM, just to clear out a mission or two. If I do some of mine solo, he won't level up as fast. Yeah, that's why I'm doing it. It's nice to solo at a leisurely pace, one of the few drawbacks to teaming is you're usually moving fast almost all the time. I'm also curious to know how well my Defender will do when five of his powers are designed only to help others. Those are the ones that are slotted up, not my attacks. Turns out my Healing Aura is all I need to keep me going, it works better than trying to solo a Blaster. Radiation Blast may have an advantage, its first two attacks cycle very fast, and I'm still loving my Proton Volley. Hover helps out with a yellow-con, Recovery Aura keeps me moving, add in Aim and my biggest problem is finding the blinkies. Wish they still made a sound. What's neat, though, is when I go to get a bird's-eye view of the cave area, and I can see the blinkie. As I get closer, there's a wall in the way, but I know the blinkie is somewhere behind it. I'm glad for that feature, at least. I complete the mission, but tackling two white-conning Council goons gets me in the hospital. Cute. Eh, I needed to go sell my Enhancements anyway, this is quicker. Debt fades away without me noticing once I'm on a team. Still, two white-cons taking me out reminds me I have to be very careful on my own.
A blind invite comes, and I join just to see what's up. The communication isn't very quick or clear, so I let them know I'm in the middle of a mission in the Wolf's Throat, and quit. After I complete that, a tell comes from someone else, asking if I can help them out. Tells are much better, so I say sure. Nice big group of eight, most around level 27 or 28, plus a couple lowbies. Everyone is very responsive from the start when I ask to gather for buff, and let my Recovery Aura go off. They must all know what is does... It's not the best coordinated at first, so I have lots of healing to do. Which is fine for me, because I've learned I can even keep up with bonehead maneuvers from some people, and keep them alive anyway. I keep everyone alive during the first wave of enemies, and everyone is really impressed, complimenting me on the heals. That never gets old. We have one Kheldian with us, and he does drop once while I'm healing a couple others, but that's it for the whole mission. Debt-free! See how easy that was?
After the mission, half the group leaves, like always, but we pick up a couple more and have two Scrappers, A Blaster, and the leader Tank. The Tank has to sell, and we have a lot of downtime, so I suggest we take out three turrets, which is my mission. Easy as pie, but I couldn't have done it on my own. I level up as we take out a turret, and then it's off to a warehouse mission, as the Tank leader grabs more people until we're back up to a team of eight. It's a lower-level mission, and seems to take longer than necessary, but nobody is ever in any danger of dying, or even really needs my heals. After it's over, I go train up. The team mechanics were not so great, very little communication, and no fun chat, either. I tend to stick around longer if there's lively discussion, or even bad jokes. Hey, wait a minute. Level 27 means I can get level 30 enhancements! I just get a couple, because I'm still a little broke, but I put two damage in my new slots for Proton Volley. If I'm gonna solo more today, I might as well make it count. I get some for Heal Other and X-Ray Beam, and that almost breaks the bank right there. How am I supposed to keep up with the Joneses (or the Statesmans) on this budget? What level is that again where I'm supposed to have money coming out of my ears?
I'm not sure if it's because I'm a Defender, but I seem to receive more requests for teaming. Task Forces, Respec missions, the works. If I had more free time I'd be tempted. It's probably a good thing that some of my alts also have Empathy, then. That was the only power set I duplicated among all of my alts. I didn't know why I did that at the time, other than a lack of powers to choose from among the Controller and Defender power sets, after I had chosen most of the rest for my characters.
I spot a dead blaster and offer a rez, since I haven't used it in a while, and no sooner does he accept and I bring him up than he's under attack. He was trying to log when he got ambushed right by a Striga Contact, and we end up in a free-for-all with Council goons all around four heroes. One guy goes Local and says, "Oh, man, is this your ambush?" He thought it was his. We all share a chuckle, and the Blaster tries to log again, and is ambushed again! By Warriors this time, so I help him polish off those just to let the poor guy log. My next mission is deep in enemy territory in the Council Base, and up high, which makes me resolved to get Fly for my next power, just in case I was tempted to get something else. Hasten is still only two-slotted, but in teams my Recovery Aura charges about as fast as I need it to, so I'll put those slots off until 29, I like having a little more bite to my Proton Volley. I go through one more Council mission, and realize it was much easier. If I had my enhancements all up to the max, I probably would not have been challenged that much at all. I have bigger trouble sneaking past the purple-cons just to get to the mission in the first place.
I receive four more blind invites, two each from the same person, one of them gives them 15 seconds apart. The second person at least sends me a tell after the second invite, but it's for a TF, and I don't quite have the time. I just want to take out 15 Council members. One council goon is distracted by a sky Raider, a red-conning Sky Skiff that comes after me when I take out his sparring partner. Why not? I burn through half my candy, most of it green, but I take it out. Cool! Who says only Scrappers get to have that kind of fun? With one bubble of xp on level 27, and several missions gone through without Diamond Cut, I'm hoping we can get to the TF without him getting to level 28.
I have an idea! No wait...it's just gas.
Hellscorp
I'm sure blinkies still make a sound now. It's slightly softer but it's still there. Every time I solo my blinkie missions in cave missions, I turn off Super Speed and any other "loud" powers other than Superior Invis and just crank up the volume to help me locate those darn blinkies.
Keep those entries coming
Yes, keep these entries coming (quicker, darn it!! 
) I'm enjoying them very much!
-Gil
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I'm sure blinkies still make a sound now. It's slightly softer but it's still there. Every time I solo my blinkie missions in cave missions, I turn off Super Speed and any other "loud" powers other than Superior Invis and just crank up the volume to help me locate those darn blinkies.
Keep those entries coming
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Actually, I wish blinkies had sparklies like Thief III had.
Still here, even after all this time!
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I'm sure blinkies still make a sound now.
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Yeah, Red Haven told me I had my sound turned down way too much. for a couple days there, I had thought that the Devs had changed blinkies!
I have an idea! No wait...it's just gas.
Hellscorp
Nope, the audio clip they used changed. It's harder to determin the direction of the blinkie now then it was before, but they still make sound
Play with sound people. You can actually hear the DIRECTION of an attack. Very helpfull in a crowded area.
tpull, just read this here thread of yours from top to bottom. Keep it up
Wish I'd done this for myself. Though I'd NEVER be able to remember peoples names after a play session.
In one of your posts you stated you wish you could have made a demo. Check for info on the in game demo function.
Once you've made a demo with what ever you want recorded, you can use software to actually record it so others can view it with Windows Media Player, or Winamp, or VLC or something.
OR you can just export you're ingame demo record of it.
Happy 50th Entry!
Oh, no, you have to go away, Gilgamesh! They're all going to come here and start pointing out all of my mis-spellings and poor grammar! Move along folks, nothing to see here... (Gil, when are you going to write the expose that shows the Union is on the Families' payroll for using the University construction as graft for the mob? We want new story arcs for I5!)
I have to tell a personal story real quick about one of my first attempts at publishing a piece of work in my high school creative writing magazine. An English teacher passed out copies of the magazine to his class and asked them to write about their favorite work in the issue, and their least favorite. Half the class wrote about the story I wrote! I wrote a satirical piece making fun of Star Trek, basically in a movie script fashion, and I'm sure I ripped off a line or two from a Mad Magazine before I even understood what plagiarism meant (good thing to learn on your own when you're a freshman, though, saves you lots of grief from a teacher pointing it out in the future).
Anyway, the class was divided into four camps. The first group loved Star Trek and loved my story, thought it was hilarious. The second group loved Star Trek and hated my story, treating my teasing of the genre as heresy and sacrilege. The third camp loved my story because -get this- they hated star Trek! The fourth outfit hated my story because, well, they hated Star Trek, and anything to do with it.
So it was at a very young age that I learned people approach your writing with their own view as a starting point, and you have no choice but to go along with the ride. I was amused at all of the equal, disparate compliments and criticisms, and took none of it to heart except the realization that I was able to get most of the class to comment on my work rather than anyone else's. One thing was clear, I had managed to grab peoples' attention.
I hope to continue to hold your interest. I appreciate that you could be doing a million other things with your time, and my ideas have been worthy enough to merit your attention. Again, many thanks for the great encouragement and compliments. I'll even try to speed up my posts! Here's a long one, since we're at...
Entry 50
Is the game too easy now, a year later? Well, once you get a good team together, it usually is. It's easy for the most part, but I've been palling around with a Regen scrapper, and then an Invul Scrapper for the most part, and before that I was on top of the world - and doing backflips - with Elude. It seems most players do actually go after the easiest xp in the game. Sometimes that's street-hunting because you don't want to spend time running all over the map. Sometimes it's missions, which is great, since I like the story flavor, and I enjoy doing that content, despite some annoying map designs. The way to make things interesting may be harder to code, though. We want things like maps that affect our powers. Your latest power you just got? Surprise, in this map, it doesn't work. The next map, hey, guess what, you have reduced Accuracy throughout the whole thing, due to a special device the Boss you're hunting has cooked up. They've done things along this line with the Vahz wasting disease, and the exploding Lab Equipment that gives you Temp Powers, so I don't know how much harder this would be. But it would be unexpected, it would shake things up. You could even have it randomized, so that not every mission does this to you. Or at least, it wouldn't be the same mission each and every time.
How about a save 5 hostages mission, and the boss has declared you are not allowed to use any travel powers (just as an example). All your travel powers don't work on that map, just like you can set up for the Arena. And it's a timed mission. Aaaagh! Good luck! As we pass level 25, go ahead and shake us up. Not by nerfing the power sets permanently, but by temporary situations that throw us off balance. Right now, anyone who has played for a while is like a police officer training all on all the same simulator scenarios. We're getting perfect scores because we know how and where everything is. Pop a hostage in front of the normal criminal cardboard, and watch what happens to the veteran officer. Does he go on habit and fire anyway? Or is he experienced enough to react and adapt to the suddenly-changing situation? Just some thoughts that occurred to me as I was thinking about which direction the game should go. Might be interesting. Not that I'm bored right now, but from a first-timer's point of view, we are ready for a challenge, but it's more fun for us when we don't know precisely what the challenge is. Give us some mystery and see what happens!
One thing that took a while to sink in: this game will change. My entire experience has been computer games, learning how the rules worked, and which ones I could "break." The only new things to learn came when an expansion came out, with new forces and abilities, but the old framework was always in place, and all of the old units still worked in the same way. In a MMORG, the powers can change, the maps can change, an entire Task Force can disappear... anything is fair game, really. And just as different people like to read different books and see different movies, different personality styles will like or dislike a particular change.
All I can do is observe my own reactions. I loved Elude, but am hoping future changes to the SR line will make me want to go back a third time to that power set, my first and original favorite. I loathed the -ACC on travel powers, and can deal with the current Suppression. I have no problem with the length of Task Forces, even though it's a rare day when I can pull one off, time-wise. I like the Positron TF, and detest that I can never find a good team unless I assemble it myself. I don't mind debt, even at the lower levels, and don't initially like the idea of getting rid of debt for the first ten levels of play. I don't mind the challenge of the Sewer Trial, or think it's too hard. I think Hamidon is boring, and wish there was a limit to the amount of people that were eligible to take him on at once, or at least that there was a limit to HOs (/e refrain from perverted comment). I'd like Fitness to become Inherent someday. I want Flashback. I want to be able to rent a jet pack in the Shadow Shard.
I prefer missions and good story content, I love the new Knockback feature, and although it's an additional challenge, something about it makes me really not care. I'm turning from one of those stodgy people who hates change into a good player who is ready for additional challenges and can adapt to things that others might consider "un-fun," or fun-ruining,' like the Elude change, the Suppression, and the Knockback. Or at least, I'm more willing to keep an open mind about it. Oh, and I'm officially excited about City of Villains.
I have an idea! No wait...it's just gas.
Hellscorp
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I'm sure blinkies still make a sound now.
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Yeah, Red Haven told me I had my sound turned down way too much. for a couple days there, I had thought that the Devs had changed blinkies!
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Actually they did remove the glowie sound completely some months back, whether intentionally or not, and some point in the last few months it was put back in, as a different sound though. It was really annoying for the time that it was gone, though now that it's back I don't need it, being level 50 with no missions. But glad it's back.
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...I never confirmed that it was a she except through my continued conversations with her.
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I always get a kick out of trying to figure this out. I think I have a pretty good handle on it (many men play women in "stereotypical" fashion, whether subtle or not, where women "feel" different when they interact -- it's hard to explain).
Of course it goes the other way too, since some women obviously have male alts.
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The only other main detail I can think of is that her idea of what happened changed over time, from her telling me, "Are you saying I'm a (censored)?" to her actually believing I straight-out called her that instead of hinting at it by calling her popular. After apologizing three or four times she still wouldn't let go...
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This "mental rewriting" is sometimes not even purposeful. There are certain types of personalities that tend to color and/or even revise their memories to fit in accordance with what they are feeling at the moment, and it's difficult for them NOT to do it. (One of my three kids has this problem. Especially if he feels hurt by something, he can revise a circumstance to benefit himself, and actually believe he's telling the truth.)
It's annoying as all-get-out to deal with, though.
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It is worth noting that this is the only problem I have had so far in the entire game like this. Most others have a better sense of humor...
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Same experience. Majority of people are great about not being hyper about social missteps, or else they nip them in the bud early on in a way that doesn't cause more conflict. (Then you get the occassional nut who's smoking up the Broadcast channel with profanity and just gets belligerent when you ask him to shut his yap or take it private.)
Running a girl alt, however, gets interesting when the men start dropping innuendos. Is THAT what it feels like to deal with that sort of thing? Ugh. Usually I roleplay either coy for a moment (because it's amusing) or I simply ignore it and converse normally.
As far as I can tell, all the women players (I THINK they were women) have been great and also have a good sense of real-life priorities versus game priorities (a wisdom that some of the guys, so intent on gaming, don't share).
I know this is an old post, but I'm having a great time going through your journal. You've got a great reflective style and good analysis of the experience(s). Keep going!
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Actually they did remove the glowie sound completely some months back, whether intentionally or not, and some point in the last few months it was put back in, as a different sound though. It was really annoying for the time that it was gone, though now that it's back I don't need it, being level 50 with no missions. But glad it's back.
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Gaaa. I can't imagine NOT having the sound (and it's actually location/direction sensitive) -- otherwise we'd never find the blasted things!
Especially with Dark Armor running. Blech.
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Actually they did remove the glowie sound completely some months back, whether intentionally or not, and some point in the last few months it was put back in, as a different sound though. It was really annoying for the time that it was gone, though now that it's back I don't need it, being level 50 with no missions. But glad it's back.
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Gaaa. I can't imagine NOT having the sound (and it's actually location/direction sensitive) -- otherwise we'd never find the blasted things!
Especially with Dark Armor running. Blech.
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Heheh always made me chuckle when my friend had the same problem with the new glowy noise and I was like "Theres a glowy noise?!". I turned the sound fx down to 15% along time but seem to have a 6th sense of knowing where their gonna be hidden on the maps now.
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Actually they did remove the glowie sound completely some months back, whether intentionally or not, and some point in the last few months it was put back in, as a different sound though. It was really annoying for the time that it was gone, though now that it's back I don't need it, being level 50 with no missions. But glad it's back.
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Gaaa. I can't imagine NOT having the sound (and it's actually location/direction sensitive) -- otherwise we'd never find the blasted things!
Especially with Dark Armor running. Blech.
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Heheh always made me chuckle when my friend had the same problem with the new glowy noise and I was like "Theres a glowy noise?!". I turned the sound fx down to 15% along time but seem to have a 6th sense of knowing where their gonna be hidden on the maps now.
Great journal tp and I look foward to reading more.
Just read through the whole archive this afternoon at work (damn you for keeping me from my beloved Tanker forums!)
Very nice. I love the perspective used and have to sympathise with you on CRM. My main is an Emp/Rad/Psi and I have felt your pain. I also feel for MM as my main is slowly plodding forward to 50 and is currently 45.6 with no chance of completing 90% of my missions solo anymore :/
Anyway, keep it going!
@bpphantom
The Defenders of Paragon
KGB Special Section 8
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The beginning is this: I am a comic book fan, and my best friend was addicted to EverCrack. I stayed away from every online game, playing only vs. The computer for things like Starcraft, Warcraft, etc. I resisted Star Wars, and all others. For I knew a super-hero MMORG was in the works, and that was going to be my new hobby. I have a real life, so I have to pick and choose.
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Felt the need to quote this because thats exactly how I approached this game
This is a song about a super hero named Tony. Its called Tony's theme.
Jagged Reged: 23/01/04
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I'm sure blinkies still make a sound now.
[/ QUOTE ]
Yeah, Red Haven told me I had my sound turned down way too much. for a couple days there, I had thought that the Devs had changed blinkies!
[/ QUOTE ]
Actually they did remove the glowie sound completely some months back, whether intentionally or not, and some point in the last few months it was put back in, as a different sound though. It was really annoying for the time that it was gone, though now that it's back I don't need it, being level 50 with no missions. But glad it's back.
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IIRC, there used to be a sound but there was a bug whereby the sound won't disappear even after clicking on the blinkie. I guess it wasn't so abd in the lower levels but in huge mission maps with multiple blinkies, it must have been pretty annoying. So they removed the sound altogether. Good thing the sound is now back.
I still wish I could turn off the "hrmmmmmm-drmmmmm" of Super Speed tho. It's louder than those blinkies. Oh, not to forget the entire DA set which is a mess of buzzing and droning sounds that when I switched it off, I realised that the game world is really very quiet, hehe.
Anyway, back on topic; keep writing away
Gratz tpull on this thread and your impending 50 for Martial Master (it feels like I know him.) I started reading this thread sometime in February?? and it is excellent reading for both its style and content. Most of the situations you described have rekindled old memories for me. I too have been playing now for a year and just got my first 50 .
Keep up the great work and I can't wait to read MM's hitting 50 post. I wonder if you will have the same emotions that I and others like us have had? (BTW, so far playing a Warshade is kicking butt! It is breathing new life into the often staleness of new alts.)
Pyro King - 50 Fire/Fire Tanker
Same here!
"Goodbye, Jean-Luc. I'm gonna miss you... you had such potential. But then again, all good things must come to an end..." -- Q