The City Scoop ~ Front Page ~ October 10, 2008
By
Lighthouse_NA,
Posted on: 2008-10-10 17:50 in Announcements
Advice from the XGreetings boys, girls, and beings of indeterminate gender! It's your favorite advice givin', woman lovin' man about town, LiquidX ! Now, I know what you may thinking... " LiquidX , you handsome studly liquid based sentient lifeform, how come you never call or write anymore? I miss you and your super manly advice!". Well, that's a very good question! Y'see, being the super stud that I am, I've been quite busy kicking butt, taking names, loving women, and getting the T-Shirts. And it certainly has nothing to do with the fact that Snow Globe threatened to sue over things like "Breach of Contracts", "Deadlines", and that Noodle Incident from last month. Anyways, with that out of the way, let's get this advice giving show on the road! "Dear LiquidX , I've been wondering... I spend a lot of time working with various superheroes, and constantly hear the word "Retcon" being used. What's it mean? -Sincerely, Detective Junkers" Dear Detective Junkers, So glad you asked, Detective! You see, "Retcon" is slang for "Retroactive Continuity", a side effect that's commonly found due to time travel. Essentially, Retroactive Continuity is the phenomenon of present or future events being changed because of changes to the past. For example, if someone was to go back in time and change it so that all the plaques in Paragon City started referencing "That other villain group" instead of "The 5th Column", then that would be a Retcon. Retcon's can be both small changes (Such as a person's name changing from being spelled with a K instead of a C), and large changes (that involve infinate crises on infinate earths with the occasional Civil Wars and a Secret Invasion or two). Of course, there are also quite a few members of the Mystic community that believe Retcon's are actually the result of a mythical pantheon of "creators", who introduce Retcon's as a way to change parts of history that they no longer like or have an interest in. (Though if you ask me, that would be rather lazy of these so called "creators". And really, what's up with that? I mean, anytime you ask one of these so called "Mystics" about these so called "Creators", they get all Cryptic and start babbling things about "Champions", "Arctic Suns", and some nonsense about a Backwards Bishop always trapped in a box. It's quite stupid, if you ask me.) ...Anyways, lazy gods aside, the phrase "Retroactive Continuity" was originally used in reference to comic books, of which most Super's and Scientist types are typically fans of. The very first Retcon took place in "Stupendous Comics" issue 255, when it was revealed by the evil Babysitter Girl that Stupendous Man was actually the son of supervillainess Mom Lady. However, this was in direct contradiction to issue 35, where it was revealed that Stupendous Man was the only survivor of his planet when it exploded. This would remain in continuity for awhile, until issue 656, where it was revealed that Stupendous Man was also half brother to the hardboiled gumshoe Tracer Bullet from their very own "Detective Noir Comics" line of books. "Dear LiquidX , What's the secret to eternal life and happiness? -Sincerely, Captain Napalm" Dear Captain Napalm, So very glad you asked! It just so happens I know the secret. And it's so easy that you won't believe it... All you need to do is  | The Top TenReasons you should attend Hero ConHero Con is Next week, maybe? I think? I dunno I've been gone a long time. Not really, but no one reads what I type here anyway. Seriously. I could say, if you contact me and tell me what the 79th word I used in my article was I'll give you a free crate of Turtle Wax, no one would respond. But that deters me not, be cause this is the internet and your facts hold no power over me here. Anyway here you have it, the Top Ten reason YOU should attend Hero-Con. Number 10 - The Statesman Dunk Tank. Number 9 - Carnie Costume! Hello? Price of admission, covered! Number 8 - You've mocked your fellow players costumes, builds, and play style, now, you can finally go full Simon Cowell and mock their singing! Number 7 - Banquet Dinner = Best chance of your life to recreate the food fight scene from Animal House. Number 6 - Sushi and Sake Bar. I rest my case. Number 5 - Put *insert Dev name of choice here* on the spot when you *insert action of your choice* about *insert topic of choice* Yeah, I just went Mad Libs on you. Number 4 - Keep the camera rolling cause you never know when that 1 billion hit youtube clip is going to happen, and odds are, it will. Number 3 - FREEM! Number 2 - Because I'm going to be there, and you can walk up to me in person and quip about how unfunny I am. And I in return shall throw a biscuit or perhaps a corn muffin at your head as you walk away. And who Doesn't wanna be the guy or gal who Rasta hit with a Corn Muffin? Or for that matter the innocent bystander who I inadvertently hit. Maybe It will be Posi! And the NUMBER ONE Reason you should be attending Hero-Con is... It's your chance to finally meet some of the wonderful folks, and the brilliant game staff who have made this your favorite game for the last 4 years! Ok maybe it's just me, but I doubt I'm the only person who feels this way.
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Lighthouse
Community Relations Manager
If you have a specific in game, account, tech or billing problem please contact our Customer Support team via The Knowledge Base "Ask A Question" page.
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Fan Fiction Spotlight
I don't have much to say as far as a review for this other than the fact that it gives me a chuckle. This story is chock full of classic "Martian" clichés, and they're done well. Everything from Mars being a lush Eden to the main character being the ubiquitous "Little Green Man" is downright Victorian (and amusing), and Dark Harrier does a pretty decent job at making it his own and a part of the CoH/CoV world. Now, this isn't to say there aren't some serious moments. There are some pretty good descriptive sections detailing how Gashatantra's hands work or how Mars was turned inside out, but they play well with the overall tone of the story, which is largely "Fish out of Water... But that Fish is Jaws... With Ray Guns." It's definitely fun to read. I hope Dark harrier keeps writing it.
| The RedeemersOlive felt like she was in a dream. It was just like when she was trapped inside the body of one of the Devoured. People didnt understand what that was like Not unless you were a former victim who survived, and there were scant few of those. In the support group she was a part of she knew five others, just humans, and they all had such a terrible fear of plants of all kinds that she had to wear makeup to conceal just how altered she really was. Her misery at being unable to truly connect or help those people or herself was going to have to be pushed aside. She knew what had led to this moment, and she had to figure out how to get out of it. One twitch of her wrist and she would be able to- She felt herself get hefted into the air and something was digging into her arm. Somebody was shouting harshly, and suddenly there was light everywhere. When her vision cleared, she saw the Freakshow all lying all the ground, pushing themselves up, and there was fire everywhere. She cringed away, until she felt a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Relax. Its mine and cant hurt you. The floors yours for now," her team leader, Mider Caid, murmured, "Better hurry, that good feeling youve got doesnt last much longer than a minute " "Itll be a good minute," she replied before she flexed her forearms and a number of special seeds were deposited into her hands. She hurled the seeds into the midst of the Freaks. One leveled a shotgun on her but his blast went wide when a burning vine shot out of the ground and batted his arms aside. He looked up in terror at the fiery, sinewy thing and screamed as it wrapped around his waist, lifted him into the air and, in the same motion, slammed his head to the floor. Other burning vines did the same to the other Freaks with varying results. One turned his shotgun on the vine facing him and blasted it apart. No sooner did he do this than Danny Strik leaped over the machinery, his katana drawn in an aggressive manner, and deftly slashed through the gun. The ninja followed up his attack with a handle strike to the nose and a knee to the gut that put the thug down. Another Freak, this one armed with a submachine gun, started firing short bursts at Danny, and he twirled his sword about to deflect the rounds. "No way!" the man screamed as he swatted the weapon, "Come on you piece of-!" His sentence was interrupted by the glowing fist of Tommy Strik, who happened to have been a follower of the Green Ink training. He wailed on the gunner for a few more rounds before finally leaping up, whirling in the air, and dropping his fist right down on the goons head. The Freak bobbed his head up and down a little before falling over in a heap. A couple of the Freaks tried to escape, and they ran into their old friend, Johnny Slag. He was flicking his claws in and out of his wrists absent-mindedly, but when one ran by him, he kicked his foot out, tripping the man, and slashed out the Excelsior feed tube at the same time. He glared at the Smasher and looked over his one cybernetic arm. "One-on-one, punk," he growled, "You dont stand a chance." The smasher rushed at him, his big hammer arm in the air, ready to strike. However, this was just what Johnny wanted as he sidestepped and let his opponent crush a nearby crate. He then smashed his claws through the wrist and severed the heavy weight from the arm. The smasher stumbled backwards and fell on his rump, looking up at the extended claws Slag kept pointed at his eyes. "Whyd I become a hero, you ask?" he growled, "I like the upgrades." The front doors to the factory smashed in, signaling that Martins crew had arrived. In a blur, the Freakshow goons were defeated and piled up in a neat pile next to the machinery Mider Caid and his crew had previously been taking shelter behind. Thinking it was over; they started to attend to their injured and wounded. "You did really well there," Mider said to Olive, "Are you okay?" "I dont ever want to be knocked out like that again," she muttered back. "Well work on making sure of that," the wizard favored her with a rare smile; "Any chance you can get any of these guys back on their feet?" He gestured to the remaining unconscious. Crag and Cinder remained on the floor. Unfortunately, Olive shook her head. "I have spores that can heal, but none yet to help revive friends." "Does anybody have any Lazareen?" Martin asked. "Yeah!" a voice shouted from the machinery as cyborg bodies started tumbling off the pile, "I got your Lazareen! Right here!" The heroes watched in mild concern as Blender pushed his massive bulk out of the wreckage of his goons. There was something different about him, though. Steam hissed out of his appendages and they looked "fragile" for lack of a better word. Suddenly, his arms popped open and an array of blades were spinning from the points where his forearms should have begun. "Something Ive always wondered about heroes," he growled sadistically as the blades sped up, "Will they blend?" He was like a walking buzzsaw. Worse, he was his namesake. They were tough, even Garm had earlier demonstrated that Trolls could stand up to Freaks when he took a Swipers hooked blade to the chest and promptly broke the mans cybernetic arm off at the shoulder and started beating him with it. However, this was worse than anything anyone ever faced before. This would be like taking a Nemesis Mole Machines drill to the face. Worse, there would be no way to stop him before he seriously hurt somebody. "Ideas, anyone?" Martin asked as he took a stance. Somber pulled the scrapper back and knelt next to Crag and Cinder. As Blender started to approach, the former Skull started muttering. If Sanders didnt know any better, he would have sworn it sounded like a prayer. [/color][/color] | |
Lighthouse
Community Relations Manager
If you have a specific in game, account, tech or billing problem please contact our Customer Support team via The Knowledge Base "Ask A Question" page.
Congratulations The Model Citizens (Triumph) would like to congratulate and show or sincere appreciation and love for our very own Syndralina. This amazing hero has just reached the monumental achievement of earning 3 million prestige for our SG!! Syn joined our little family about two and a half years ago and has been a constant source of fun, friendship, support and the more than occasional wisecrack ever since. Making this achievement even more spectacular is the fact that the majority of her earnings were accumulated well before both prestige and influence were given while in SG mode. Her willingness to sacrifice her own pocket book in favor of supporting her Super Group is a fine testament to her unselfish attitude and her generosity toward others. You can always count on Syn to be there when you need help, listen when you need to talk and make you laugh when you need cheering. She will even stand by your side and suffer through an entire days worth of endless and brutal Carnie missions to get you to your goal. All the while keeping you alive and full of juice. Now that痴 a hero! We consider ourselves extremely fortunate to have such a fine hero in our ranks. Syndralina has, in our opinion, indeed set the bar on what a hero should be. Thank you for joining us Syn! Thank you for all you do and for allowing us the privilege of calling you our friend and fellow SG mate! WE LOVE YOU SYN!!! | |
Pinnacle |
Lighthouse
Community Relations Manager
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Spring Knights | |
Who is your base designer and who are your supergroup leaders?  I (Redlynne) have done most (but by no means all!) of the work of designing the Spring Knights base, and actually implementing those designs in the base editor. If anyone is "held captive" by wanting to spend hours and hours just "playing with the editor" that would be me. That doesn't mean that this is a one-horn-band sort of effort though. I routinely solicit the ideas and advice of my friends and SG-mates as to what they think should happen next (base-wise) and whether things are "working" or not as far as appearance and usability go. This means that there have been more than a few offhand comments tossed around that inspired something that has actually been done. The Control Room for instance, complete with Loft Library and "Treehouse Effect" ... I blame entirely on Nostromo for giving me the idea to do in the first place. And yes, before you ask, what you see in there now is in fact the result of an off-hand comment that the room "looks a little sparse" as a big empty with almost nothing in it beyond the absolute essentials.  Right now, in just the last month, we've added a new 5x5 Meeting Room to the base, which actually represents more than half of the usable area of the entire base plot. It's intended to be used as a "sandbox" for base design by the SG members, not just myself or other "senior" members of the SG. This means that the biggest room in the base is essentially reserved for people to try out their skills at base design and working with the editor should they be so inclined. The intent is that "every now-and-then" when we get tired of looking at the big room, and we agree that it's time for a makeover, the right to delete everything out of the big room and start from scratch will be awarded to whomever shows the most interest in undertaking such a project ... and we all get to participate in the creative process by offering feedback as the rebuilding progresses. As far as SG Leadership goes, right now Spring Knights is small enough in membership that there's no real need for a hierarchy of leadership. Although my main, Redlynne, holds the only Rank 5 (Liege) position, all of the other members in the SG hold Rank 4 (Champion) ... so it's not as if there are "leaders and followers" in the SG. Nostromo and I are the most active players though. What server is your base on? Virtue server. And although Spring Knights isn't in a coalition with Hero Dawn, the most prestigious SG on the Virtue server, that's mainly been a function of the fact that Hero Dawn's coalition list is basically full. That said, all of the players with membership in Spring Knights have a long (and in my case, going all the way back to Issue 2 (or was it 3?)) history with Hero Dawn, which continues through to this day.  When was your supergroup established? 20 June 2007. Oldest member: Ms Givings (SG Founder) Unfortunately, a friend of mine discovered Tabula Rasa in the fall of last year and "infected" me with interest in playing that (which was a bit of "Revenge!" since I'd gotten my friend into CoH back in Issue 3), so we wound up playing Beta through Launch together and on into Deployment 8 of TR until around April/May this year. Then I decided I missed playing City of Heroes, because you couldn't customize stuff in TR like you can in CoX ... and besides, I'd had all these (outrageous) ideas for (what I thought was) a really nifty 3D base design for over a year by this point. Those plans would never see the light of day if I kept playing Tabula Rasa all the time. So I came back to Paragon City and started building up my SG's prestige account ... enough to start actually *doing things* beyond having an Oversight Room. Once I actually had enough prestige to start "being cool" and 3D in my designing, it kind of snowballed from there in a sort of virtuous cycle, where I was motivated to play just so I could add the next bit of amazingly nifty piece of architecture and functionality to my SG's base.  As of this writing, Spring Knights has no coalition partners ... although my partner in defeating crime, Nostromo, did briefly toy around with the idea of creating a coalition SG for Spring Knights. The motto for Awesome Incorporated was, "Why be merely 'Good' when you can be AWESOME!" How many players are in your supergroup? Five players, two of whom are heavily active (myself and Nostromo), who combined contribute a grand total of sixteen alts to the roster. Three of those players have only a single alt in the SG, so the membership is mainly Nostromo's and my alts. At present, the SG very much a laid back and casual thing for me and my friends, with no real obligations in terms of demands or duties. We're just doing this to have fun. What is the approximate value of your base?  At last check, it was just a few thousand over 1.6 million prestige. It's still not "complete" yet though, so as prestige rolls in more workshop services are getting added. I fully expect the Spring Knights base to tip the scales somewhere around 2 million prestige when it gets "completed" though, when we've got all the workshop services we'd "need" for a PvE SG base (and they subsequently get Lifted Into The Sky, just to make it more interesting because 2D is boring). I'm guessing that of that ~2 million prestige approximately 30% of it will have been spent on decorative items by the time we're done. That's a not inconsiderable chunk of change when talking about a (mere) 8x8 plot of space holding only six rooms. Good thing rent is cheap at this size! How much time do you spend working on your base? How much time have you invested so far? Depends on how much prestige is available! ^_-  Personally, I tend to prefer to just "zone out" and have fun messing around with the editor. There have been times when I've basically spent an entire week doing the prep work for laying out a room and then spent all day implementing that plan. That's ultimately what happened with the Control Room. I literally spent about a week building and re-building and re-re-re-re-building the uppermost level of the control room in, of all things ... Notepad. The reason for using Notepad was because it evenly spaces all characters equally, so it was perfect for keeping track of spacing and doing layouts on "scratch paper" before moving into the editor. This also meant that I could be doing layouts for my base while I was at my day job (with no one the wiser!), so that when I got home I'd actually have time to play ... rather than work on my base (prep). So far, the Control Room has been the most intensely planned part of the entire base, and it took the most time out of all of the rooms to actually implement. I actually spent pretty much the entire double XP weekend for Positron's birthday implementing the Control Room you see in these screenshots in the editor. Just getting the uppermost Loft Library and the landing on which the Magic Axis is located finished took approximately 18 hours that weekend on Sunday ... and that was how I spent my double XP weekend, building a Control Room.  Typically, I like to do base editing in long stretches when I can get away with it ... like 4+ hours at a stretch when possible. By now, what with all the building and re-building and re-re-re-building that I've done as I've gained expertise (through making mistakes, and lots of them!) and coming up with better ideas after finishing a revision and so on ... I'd estimate that I've spent at least 2 man-weeks just editing the Spring Knights base since May when I came back to playing CoX. What is your favorite base item? Least favorite? Favorite Base Item (currently): MAGIC DESKS Specifically: Rustic Flattop Desk Without the Rustic Flattop Desk, I quite literally couldn't do even half of what you can see in my base. It's borderline impractical to do right now ... but because the Rustic Flattop Desk can be stacked pure vertical, it's merely tedious rather than excessively onerous to lift things off the ground. I'm also quite fond of Bookshelves, Shoji Lamps and Trees. I make extensive use of these three elements in my base designs for everything from suspended floors (Bookshelves *and* Shoji Wall Lamps), to controlled lighting (Shoji Lamps), to carefully placed visual blocks so as to keep the starkness of the stairs and open spaces in my layouts from being so deplorably bleak/obvious. The trees especially allow me to hide/camouflage some of the more egregious compromises you simply have to make when placing stairs above the ground. Plus, when you're building in 3D, the inclusion of trees can give you a very definite "Treehouse Effect" depending on how you design your layout (in 3D, naturally!). That said, if Positron (and friends) ever develop an editing tool which allows you to rotate *and* translate through X, Y, Z in 1 foot increments selected items *freely* ... let's just say that as a layout artist I'd never touch the Rustic Flattop Desk ever again.  Least Favorite Base Item: RAID PATHING To be honest, a lot of the limitations that Raid Pathing puts on you can make you want to scream at the monitor and give it a good shake sometimes (or in my case, all the time). Raid pathing is the one thing that can turn a perfectly good room layout that works on paper into something that can't possibly work inside the editor. As far as I'm concerned, Raid Pathing is "2D stupid" as far as algorithms go ... although I can understand why, from a programming perspective, it works the way it does. I just wish that Raid Pathing was a "feature" of PvP enabled bases only, since for PvE bases all it does is get in your way and prevent you from doing everything you might otherwise be able to do. What is your favorite thing about base editing? Least favorite?  The sheer creative scope of what you can do is simply awesome. Even something as simple as atmospherics and the "mood" of a room can be controlled to an astonishingly exacting degree. In the Spring Knights base, I wanted to create a sense of "vastness" in space ... even though I'm only working on an 8x8 plot with a bunch of 2x2 rooms. I was able to achieve this through a carefully considered combination of heights, styling and (most importantly) lighting. By carefully controlling the lighting (global lighting completely "off" and only local light sources illuminating things) I was able to achieve a sort of "islands of warmth and comfort" type of effect, while at the same time de-emphasizing the walls that bound up the various spaces into their (little) boxes. That's why even though the Spring Knights base is *objectively* small (a mere 8x8 plot), it actually *feels like* it's far larger than that. This is because your attention is drawn away from the walls bounding the space of the rooms ... resulting in far more value being given to "walkable area" rather than just the raw square footage given to each room. Needless to say, I'd never have been able to do the sort of stairway access you see everywhere if I hadn't figured out a way of using the arcane Stone Plinths you see in the base to be able to have my stairways "reach" all the way down to 0' height through a "bridging" floor object which can lift you up within range of walking naturally onto the lowest (elevated) stair (at 3 feet high). This then allowed me to have minimum height floors and maximum height ceilings throughout the base, thus yielding the most "spacious" of possible bases (given my limited plot size).  My least favorite thing about the editor is the way that it sometimes seems to have been purposely programmed to drive me bat[CENSORED] insane! Hotspots to "grab" things (such as floor and ceiling heights) are in THE MOST bizarre locations ... and since there's no visual indicator that the (wrong!) hotspot is THERE it can be extremely frustrating to find the right camera angle to avoid grabbing hold of something you don't want snag. And Magic Desks can be absurdly finicky about both cursor AND camera position when you're trying to stack them. It seems like you can't keep them from stacking when you DON'T want them to stack, and like they'll absolutely REFUSE to stack unless you put the cursor on *EXACTLY* pixel X,Y (margin of error, zero) on your screen. Oh and the fact that there's no Undo/Redo feature in the editor is a sticky sore point for me. What is the highest thing on your wish-list for new base items? Water Fountains Windows (to the outside world) Telescope/Observatory NPC Staff A Pipe Organ (cue Toccata and Fugue in D minor...) Emplaceable sound effects A Mission Computer that does more than consume power and control If you could give just one piece of advice to a new base editor, what would it be?  Don't be afraid to DREAM! It sounds simple, but it's really a lot harder than that. It's actually somewhat easy to get discouraged, when it comes to base editing. Sometimes it feels like you're never going to get finished ... and even if you do, almost no one is ever going to appreciate (fully) what you've built. You think about all the hours and hours of your free time that you're sinking into this endeavor, until eventually you start thinking about what you could have accomplished (and earned) in that amount of time if you'd been playing the Game instead of messing around with the Editor like this. The thing is ... all of that blood, sweat and tears (and yes, rage) that you spend playing the "mini-game" that is base editing will in fact pay off if you're willing to invest yourself in it. I've been giving base tours to friends of mine that I know, who aren't SG members, and just watching their reactions as they wander through the place in stunned amazement is worth every minute I've spent wrestling with getting everything "just so" in the editor. As I like to tell visitors, especially first time visitors, to my base ... Your pleasure is my reward.$$em fancybow Ultimately, if your base is going to be about anything beyond being a transportation and/or storage hub, it's going to have to be something ... a space ... that "moves" people on the emotional/artistic level. It's going to be about mood and atmosphere and (yes, dare I say it) ... dramatic staging. And you can't pull off that sort of an effect on people if you aren't willing to "dream a little" yourself.  The flipside to this of course is to not be afraid of (and also, not beat yourself up over) mistakes. Everybody makes mistakes. The trick is that not every mistake is a complete waste of time. I know that I've spent hours and hours trying to get a particular feature to work "just so" only to find out that it doesn't "fit" with some other element or there's a Raid Pathing issue that prevents it from working out the way I'd like it to or SOMETHING that makes stuff not work out right. The trick is to learn from those mistakes in ways that actually add to your repertoire of skills, rather than getting upset with yourself over how much time you've (now) wasted. Because I'll tell you this much. Sometimes, you need to make a really spectacular mistake in order to make a discovery that will open up whole new possibilities and give you new ideas for all the cool things that you can (now) do. Anything is easy so long as you know how. It might be *tedious* ... but that's a whole different problem. Half the burden with having (big) dreams is knowing how to make them a "reality" for other people to enjoy. But with inspiration and motivation ... everyone can share their dreams, even despite the setbacks you'll inevitably encounter along the way. So my advice is ... don't be afraid to dream ... because you may be surprised to see where your dreams can lead you, and the sort of impact they can have on other people that you share them with. After all, it's the dreams that inspire more than ourselves that make this all worthwhile ... even beyond our own wildest dreams ... |
Lighthouse
Community Relations Manager
If you have a specific in game, account, tech or billing problem please contact our Customer Support team via The Knowledge Base "Ask A Question" page.
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Time TravelWell I think it's about time we here talked about something scientific-y. You guessed it, time travel. If you didn't guess time travel you need to lower your standards of me. I'm not THAT well informed, and frankly the reason I chose time travel is because it is the one topic I can comprehend to some degree. Granted I know as much as a chimp and all the experience I've had has been from comic books and movies, but come on. I'm a middle class journalist with a degree from community college. AND LOOK AT ME NOW! Ha! They said I couldn't make anything of myself, and they were WRONG! Back to time travel. Here in Paragon we've been host to some spooky phenomena, ghost ships and such to prove a point. But time travel is quite possibly the most fascinating thing to happen to this place since the Rikti came back, at least in my opinion. I tried to get my own first-hand experience and travel back in time, but to no avail. Apparently I need to be either a Midnight Club member, or have a hero license. Since I am neither a hero nor a Midnighter, I settled on hunting down a hero who would tolerate me enough to talk. Luckily I ran into a familiar face, Avengening Speceter. Now I know, I know, it's not spelled right. But there are apparently 18 Avenging Specter-type names in Paragon so he had to settle for this one. Rest assured however, he is well informed Scoop Man: Ah! Avengeing Speceter isn't it? Avengening Speceter: Indeed. SM: Thanks for taking the time to talk with me. AS: My pleasure. SM: As you can see, I've been standing outside this place for some time now. I'm not a Midnight Club member, but I wanted to see what this whole deal was with the time travel in there. Unfortunately I can't. Can you shed some light on the whole issue for the rest of us who aren't privileged to experience this wondrous thing? What's it like? AS: I personally puke every time I go there but other than that it is quite pleasant. SM: O-oh Well let me ask you this. Does the whole idea that you are able to fix things that happened in the past seem a little godly? AS: Yes, and no. No because when you think about it, everything we do everyday might be considered godly. SM: Ah I see. Isn't it dangerous to play with the fabric of time though? AS: Yes it is. Fortunately there are certain safeguards in effect to minimize the danger should something go wrong. SM: Like what? AS: Well I don't trust them at all, but supposedly the organization known as the "Ouroboros" recruits heroes to fix these mistakes. But even then things can go screwy. I've got a PhD in advanced physics and it's tough to translate the dimensional research to time travel. |
SM: Why don't you trust them? They seem to be recruiting the people who are the most capable at handling the situation. Heroes have shown threat they can handle a lot. Why not this? AS: Well the phrase "Who watches the watchmen" comes to mind. And remember, it only takes one rogue cape to change it all and I heard they may even have black masks working for them now. Ask yourself, are you comfortable having villains screw with time? SM: Villains are there too? It seems that there isn't anything they can't get into. Have they proven a threat so far in the plans? AS: Well as I said before, there are plenty of heroes to keep them in check most of the time SM: Let's rewind a bit here and go to the Midnight Club again. I hear that there is a portal in there that leads to Roman times? AS: Indeed a nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there. *he rubs a bruise on his left side* SM: Rough kind of place? AS: Yeah. I got into a scrap with some locals after a "visiting" villain convinced them I was some sort of demon sent by Hades. SM: Why is there a portal to that place and that place alone in there? AS: Well one of the head Midnighters managed to "borrow" a portal from the Ouroboros I guess. Apparently he feels the same way I feel about them. At least that's what I think. SM: Gotcha. I guess we'll really never know then huh? AS: You know those magic users and their secrets. SM: Totally. Thank you for your time AS. AS: Thank you. And those that would do evil to others should remember my name Well that sure is a lot more than I knew before. As for this "Ouroboros" organization, I'm not sure how I feel about it. It sounds a little too omnipotent for my tastes. An organization that has the power to travel in time and change history, that employs villains and heroes to do IT'S work sounds way too sketch. And what is the point of this organization in the first place? Sure fixing time is all well and good, but why have they felt that NOW was the best time to talk to us? So many questions and not enough answers for my taste. My kind of scoop. Now I'm going to see if I can find more answers for you all. Like I always do, I find someone from the less reputable side of the law to give me their side of the issue, and I plan to deliver |
Lighthouse
Community Relations Manager
If you have a specific in game, account, tech or billing problem please contact our Customer Support team via The Knowledge Base "Ask A Question" page.
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Hey again folks, Hope you enjoyed the things I came up with last week. This week I have more to share! My next one comes from Ex Libris, Ex sure loves Chicken with creamy or cheesy sauces on it, and Peanut butter as well as lemons and grapefruit.... Let's see what I can whip up on this one.
A great side to go with this, my personal fav is Caesar Salad. Personally I been staying away from Croutons all the carbs and stuff, I usually take a few slices of apple and slice it up on top skin and all, quite refreshing! Now for dessert! Yes, has to be ....... COOKIES!
Hope that helps! Stay tuned next week! Until then keep those recipes coming or those kitchen meals you need help with! Thanks! Mistress Noire [/color] | |||
Lighthouse
Community Relations Manager
If you have a specific in game, account, tech or billing problem please contact our Customer Support team via The Knowledge Base "Ask A Question" page.
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Lighthouse
Community Relations Manager
If you have a specific in game, account, tech or billing problem please contact our Customer Support team via The Knowledge Base "Ask A Question" page.
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Lighthouse
Community Relations Manager
If you have a specific in game, account, tech or billing problem please contact our Customer Support team via The Knowledge Base "Ask A Question" page.
Vol. 2, Issue 18
October 10, 2008
The City Scoop a publication for Supers by Supers!
Read the latest publication and then join in on the community discussion!
- [*] If you have concerns regarding the content of the Scoop please direct your comments via PM to Lighthouse or Ex Libris.
[*] If you would like to do a feature article, have an event covered, or join "The City Scoop" team please PM Snow_Globe
[*] If you need some Advice contact Lady_Athyna or would like to Ask The X contact LiquidX
[*] Finally if you have a Classified Ad or Recipe you would like included please contact: MistressNoire[/list]
Lighthouse
Community Relations Manager
If you have a specific in game, account, tech or billing problem please contact our Customer Support team via The Knowledge Base "Ask A Question" page.
The City Scoop
Behind the PvP Mask
MaXimum
Interview by
Neuronia
Can you tell us a little about yourself? Age, occupation and your natural
habitat?
Well a few things about me. I am 37 years old and live just south of Madison
Wisconsin. I worked for General Motors for 9 years until 2 and half years ago I
took a buyout and went back to school to be a computer/network technician. I
now work for TDS Telecom as a technical support advisor. I sit in front of a
computer all day. I have been happily married for 10 years and am a proud
father of 3 little girls ages 8, 6, and 4.
Have a favorite movie?
My favorite movies have to be the Star Wars and Matrix movies hands down.
How about musical tastes?
I don't listen to much music but when I do it's the groups from my time
Metallica, The Beastie Boys, Run DMC.
When did you first discover PvP in City of Heroes?
I have been PvP in City of Heroes since it hit test server. My first toons I
PvPed with where my Perma Elude Martial arts scrapper and an Illusion Storm
controller.
Any PvP experience outside this game?
I have always loved player vs player more than PVE. I guess it started sitting
around playing Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, and Killer Instinct on console
with my roommates. The first computer game I played and PvPed on was Star Trek
Birth of the Federation, which I played for many years and was considered a top
player on it. After that I played Command and Conquer Generals and the
Expansion, along with Battlefield 1942 for a long time.
Which Test PvP groups have you been a member of; could you tell us about
them?
My first test PVP group was the Freaks of Legend which eventually I became PvP
Captain with Ajax and Aura. The Old Freaks where possibly one of the best teams
I ever played with. The entire roster had all star players through it. The
Freaks accomplished a lot on the villain and hero side and I will be always be
proud to be part of that group. It was a good ride but losing a lot of core
players hurt us in the end. After a short stint with Goraths Most Wanted I
joined Renegades and have since became PvP Captain of that group. The core of
Renegades came from liberty from a villain group named Bedlam. Spec and Raz
also recruited a lot of other players and Renegades where born. The Renegades
are a lot of good people who will help in any way they can. There are some
people who have never been in an official match ever that I know of but offer
to power level and work out in practice. One of the key to success of the
Renegades is the how much all the members care about one another. I also a few
months ago joined Old School hero side. I wish the group would of stayed around
for a while there was a lot of potential there.
Your favorite role in the Arena and most challenging?
My favorite role in the arena is the Stalker. It used to be a lot easier but now
is the most challenging position I have ever played. The reason it used to be
easy was I was on a Regen for years but that doesn稚 work anymore so I had to
switch to Energy Aura. Having Mastermind pets, storms, and enemy Veats chasing
you around makes it very hard to land an assassin strike.
What is your most memorable Arena moment, team or otherwise?
My Most memorable moment was when we beat VORI for the number one title. When I
was with the Freaks we only lost one villain vs villain match ever. I felt a
little better after avenging that loss.
Your villains seem pretty "Max"ed out. Any story behind that?
My first villain I named Maximum and the name kind of stuck. Now most of my PvP
toons have that in their name. Maximum Strike (VEAT), Maximum Spike (Blaster),
and Maximum Warfare (Stalker). There is really no story behind the name.
Vol. 2, Issue 18
October 10th, 2008
This Issue:
Advice From the X
The Top Ten
Community
Fan Fiction Spotlight
The Redeemers
Community Notices
Base Showcase
The People On...
Food & Recipes
Classifieds
Comic
Upcoming Events:
October Weekends
Champion
Shardtober
'08
October 11th
Triumph
Guardians
of Soul Society: Faathim the Kind
Champion
Shardtober
08:
Sara Moore
SHARDTOBER
'08:
Masochist Party
October 12th
Virtue
Puppy
Appreciation Day
October 18th
Santa Clara, CA
Hero-Con
'08
Guardian
PvPEC:
Gimps Against the World!
Justice
The
Three Amigos Event
Triumph
PvPEC:
Gimps Against the World!
Lighthouse
Community Relations Manager
If you have a specific in game, account, tech or billing problem please contact our Customer Support team via The Knowledge Base "Ask A Question" page.