The City Scoop! ~ Front Page ~ April 27, 2009
By
Niviene,
Posted on: 2009-04-27 10:55 in Announcements
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City of Heroes 5 Year Anniversary Celebration!Official Announcement Five years ago a trumpet call rung out for heroes... From around the globe that call was answered and the streets, rooftops, and skies of Paragon City were filled with the widest variety of costumed crusaders ever seen. These stalwart players brought with them the courage, fellowship, and dedication that made Paragon once again a true City of Heroes! Since that fateful day much has changed. Enemies have fallen and new ones have risen in their place, proving that evil never sleeps. Threats came from alternate dimensions, mystical realms, other times, and even from our own world itself. Lord Recluse loosed an army of villains into the world, turning the Rogue Isles into the largest den of villainy in recorded history. His destined ones showed remarkable will, cunning, and determination in this City of Villains®. Heroes and villains came into direct conflict with PvP battles, uncovered new powers, found new worlds to explore...or conquer, broke through with new inventions, and flashed back through time. The most recent development has provided the tools for players to architect all new adventures and help take us into the future. Now it is a time to celebrate all the triumphs of the last five years and so Paragon Studios has cooked up some special gifts for all our loyal fans. Please join us for a month of celebration starting on our birthday, April 28th and continuing on throughout the month of May! In-Game EventsWe're not going to ruin the surprise...but suffice it to say that all CHAOS is going to break loose in-game on our anniversary date and you're not going to want to miss it! From 11am EDT on April 28th to 12am EDT on April 29th, get ready to re-experience some of the things that have made City of Heroes the great game that it is over the past five years! The festivities will be more fun than you can shake a stick at, and will include plenty of opportunities to earn merits, badges and XP. But that's not all... Some familiar faces will be hanging out on the Training Room Test Server throughout the day--ready to wish you a happy anniversary. They could be anywhere, but you're definitely going to want to check out Pocket D! So copy a character over and pay them a visit! Don't know how to get on the Training Room? Learn here. Global Anniversary Address From PositronAlso on our anniversary day, be watching around 8pm EST in-game (and shortly thereafter on the website), for a special Anniversary Address from everyone's favorite Lead Designer, Positron. He will certainly have some fun information to share! Anniversary Contests!For your participating pleasure, we've got two fun contests with cool prizes that will be launching on April 28th and continuing throughout the month of May! Details will magically appear on the website on our anniversary day, but until then, just start thinking about what masterpieces you might create for the following competitions: 5 Year Anniversary T-Shirt Logo Contest - where the winning entry *may* very well get turned into actual shirts produced for a limited run! City of Heroes® Video Homage Contest--That's right. We're going to challenge you to be as creative as possible and video tape yourself (alone or with friends and loved ones), paying homage to City of Heroes (in whatever way strikes your fancy), in two minutes or less! Then, you'll postal mail your video to us on CD or DVD and viola-- you'll be entered. Will you write an original song about the game and perform it for us? Perhaps you'll execute an interpretative dance in costume? The sky is the limit so get those creative juices flowing and watch for the specifics coming soon! | It's A Re-activation Week!We want everyone to benefit from our anniversary, so from April 28th until 11:59pm EST on Sunday, May 3rd, all expired retail and trial accounts that are in good standing will be able to access the live servers. Now is the time to encourage everyone you know to patch up and jump into the game so that they can experience with you our anniversary events, the new Mission Architect system and more! 5 Year Anniversary BadgeNow then...it just wouldn't be a City of Heroes® milestone event without a commemorative badge, would it? Beginning at 11am EST on Wednesday, April 29th and continuing until 11:59pm EST on Sunday, May 31st, we will be issuing each individual character you log into the game with, the following 5 Year Anniversary badge:  Just a reminder - this badge will be awarded per character, not per account! All the fun all begins on the 28th and we can't wait for you to join us! Thanks to you all for making City of Heroes® the success that it is. Happy Anniversary!  Tips from The ScoopGetting Events into the Calendar The City of Heroes / City of Villains forum has a global calendar, to which anyone can add public events. The City Scoop checks this calendar before publication and collects the information there, in order to publish it on the front page. We usually collect the information Wednesday evening before publication on Friday. One way to get your event onto the public calendar is simply to start a thread about it in your server's forum. If, for example, you were going to have a costume contest on Triumph, you would begin a new post in the Triumph forum. Include all of the information about where the contest would be held, when it would take place, and who the contact person would be. Also, include in your post any other information that you think is relevant, such as prizes and if there will be a party afterwards. Then, before you post the information, click the checkbox at the bottom of the post next to "List as event in calendar on" and set the date in the next boxes. Go ahead and submit your post, and the event will be automatically added to the calendar. The other way to get your event onto the public calendar is simply to click the Calendar link at the top of the forum. That will take you to a two-month display, with a link at the bottom to "add event." Clicking on that link will bring up a form that you can fill out, describing your event. Make sure to indicate the server and the time of the event! If it repeats monthly or yearly, you can choose that, too. Unfortunately, you cannot presently set daily or weekly repeats (the best way to set weekly repeats is to set up four monthly repeats, one for each week, and link to a thread). If you have a discussion thread for your event, please be sure to include the link in the comment. If you want to see what events are happening, or to see who's having a birthday, on any given day, just click the Calendar link at the top of the forum, and then click that day's date. The day will come up with a full list of birthdays and submitted events. To list your birthday in the calendar, edit your personal information (listed under My Home), fill in your birthday, and turn on "Show birthday in profile?" The next time your birthday rolls around, a little cake will appear above your name in your forum posts, and you'll appear in that day's birthday listings. That's this week's Tip from the Scoop!   |
MArchitectually SpeakingWith the release of the new Mission Architect system many wonderful Story Arcs have been written for the game by the players. I wanted to interview users of the new system and find out how people felt about Issue 14: Architect. My first interview is with Dark Respite of Freedom Server. Dark Respite is a well known videographer and contributor to the Fan Fiction section of the Forums. So how did you feel about Issue 14 when it was announced, and how do you feel about it now that it is Live? "When they first announced the Architect, I thought, 'Oh if that does even half of what I want it to do, I am STOKED!' and of course there was all that rampant speculation, but now that it's live, I'm still stoked the possibilities are just endless!" With the ability to create all these wonderful Story Arcs what was the hardest part of making one of your own Story Arcs? "Oooooooh... the arc I was really looking forward to Creating most was "Dyne of the Times". The hard part, though, was bringing all the disparate elements of an arc together right map, right groups, right dialogue, right contact. Then it was, "how do I bring all this together into a story that people would want to play?" I didn't want it to just be a farm or a grind... and it took some research into canon too. "Actually, the REALLY hard part? Accepting criticism of it when I was done, but there were some really great folks in beta that were willing to really look at it and help me with it. I think that my arc, "Dyne of the Times" came out MUCH better as a result of their critiques. Do you think the ratings system for the Story Arcs are fair? "That's a hard one. In my opinion, it's too easy to abuse, either you offend someone and they one-star your arcs or you beg your SG mates to five-star your arcs. So it'd be fair if people were objective when they voted." What do you think the Mission Architect has brought to the game, both good and bad? "For good, that's easy - it's the chance to really open up and expand the plot hints and story lines we've seen in the game that just haven't really been explored. Certain factions are getting a lot more attention now, or contacts, or events in the game's history... it's wonderful! "The bad? It's one more exploitable system. Search the Mission Architect now and you'll find dozens of missions for grinding the badges, or tickets, or whatever; and unfortunately, with the sheer volume of stories getting produced i think a lot of potentially really great Story Arcs are going to get lost in the crowd. Though, if the Developer's manage to stay on top of things, and keep weeding out the Badge farms and Ticket farms, we'll see." Finally what would you like added to the Mission Architect system? "Hmm, there were maps a lot of the unique maps were removed for glitches, and I hope that Pohsyb and Ghost Falcon and the rest of the gang get those squared away so they can go back in. I'd like to see a 'comments' section for arcs to see what others have said about them, but that's just as abusable as the ratings system. Speaking strictly as a videographer? I'd love exact placements on mobs and bosses and stuff for filming purposes. That'd be so sweet. Use something like we do in bases - "I want this to go HERE" but that's REALLY a "wish" more than anything else." Any final comments? "It's funny people have been begging me to make trailers for their Story Arcs so I'm actually trying to determine how long it would take me, how much to charge, etc. The price I pay for fame, I suppose. But that is for the future. I love the Mission Architect and this is just an absolute blast - for making Story Arcs, for playing Story Arcs, and for filming. I'd send the Developers roses if I thought they'd appreciate them."  I'm Back!Greetings loyal readers! It has been almost a year since I left The Scoop to take care of things in the real world and I am finally able to come back. I will be starting up my old series of interviews again. If you would be interested in being the subject for one please send me a PM and I will schedule an appointment. Below is a list of my series. Behind the Mask--My first series. This is a one on one interview getting to know the players of the City of Heroes/Villains game. All questions are about the player rather than the character. Couples That Play Together--A series that started from a Behind the Mask interview long, long ago. This focuses on a duo of players that have a romantic relationship and play the game together. Bonding Experiences--a personal favorite of mine. This series explores how the game has brought (usually) an older player closer to a younger player. Most of the time, this is parent/child, but can be best friends, siblings, uncles/aunts and niece/nephew, or cousins. MARChitectually Speaking--A new series. This one explores the creative process of our talented MArchitects in the game. I look forward to meeting the wonderful people that make up this community. Hugs, kisses, and booty pinches Teldon |  Life inside the StreamPlaying entirely in Architect EntertainmentLike a lot of surprisingly good ideas, this one started with a sarcastic comment. On the Forums whenever someone wanted silly things like getting large zones removed from the game, or instant travel to every mission all the time, I'd often respond with a comment along the lines of "Why don't they just make a magic door where you click on it to enter a mission and then once you're there just have a room that spawns enemies for you?" Meaning the people didn't seem interested in a real game world simulation, they just wanted all the convenience and none of the verisimilitude. So now we have Architect Entertainment. A Hospital, a magic Contact that gives you all your missions, and a magic door that takes you right to them. I'm not claiming credit for the idea or anything, just saying the parallel amuses me. Because in this case, I really like the implementation. It makes sense in the context that it's been set up. That leads to my big idea. My girlfriend and I were talking prior to Issue 14, and we thought it would be a lot of fun to see if we could make specific characters that played only in the Mission Architect. We've played for a long time, and the thought of playing totally new content from 1-50 was very appealing. I love the game and the game world, but picking one pair of alts to avoid the world as much as possible seemed like a neat way to get some variety in our gameplay. The idea tickled us, so we decided to make a new Super Group and invite anyone who was interested to join us. We brainstormed the name MetaGamers, and we have about 20 members now. In the first week of playing, she and I have gone from 1-20, and are funding ourselves completely off things we get using Tickets. I'll be writing more articles as we progress, but this first installment is about how we set ourselves up and how we managed through the early levels. I have some personal ground rules I set up for myself, but we don't hold anyone else in the Super Group to them if they don't want to. We've gotten several players who are completely new to the game and it would be unfair to restrict them based on our own decisions to play in an unusual way. We settled on playing in Steel Canyon. It has an Architect Entertainment building, a Wentworth's, and a University for crafting. My personal goal is for that character to never leave the zone before I hit 50. That means only 2 costume slots, and all my enhancers will be gotten from the Market. Everything we needed in one place, and while it's a little dangerous in the early levels it's safe enough with a little care. I've also decided that my main leveling build won't even have a Travel Power. There's no real need since I the longest trip I need to make is to Wentworth's. So far, things are going really well, with only a couple of minor hiccups along the way. The first problem we've been running across is a distinct lack of lowbie friendly content in the early days of the Mission Arcitect, and no easy way to find the arcs that do focus on a lowbie friendly experience. We've done a lot of Forum hunting, and that helps, and so does getting creative with our searches within the MA. My girlfriend realized searching for Skulls or Hellions or Outcasts or other low range foes works quite well. Now that we're a bit higher level a lot more options are opening up to us though. Even while avoiding Farming/Power Leveling maps, I've found that it's really nice having the choice to pick a mission that bumps everyone up to 15 or 20 for the duration, since the people we're playing with have different schedules and aren't always together. The second problem we ran into was also quickly solved with a little thought. As it stands, when you solo a mission in the Mission Architect, you get a lot more Tickets than you do on a team. The difference is remarkable. However we didn't want to solo. Not only is soloing not that fun on lowbies, we had new friends to team with and the new content gets more interesting on larger teams. So we made the conscious choice in favor of not maximizing our Tickets in favor of socializing most of the time. Originally my plan had been to buy Recipes using Tickets, and use the Influence from missions to buy Salvage at Wentworth's for crafting purposes. We may still do this at higher levels, but for now it has turned out that doing the reverse is actually easier and more economical. I already knew that Bronze Recipe Rolls were a pretty good value from the Test Server, so I rolled on those with some of my Tickets. My girlfriend made a discovery and she grumbled at me once I shared it on the forums, but rolling for Common Arcane salvage then selling it is a very good way to feed the market and get a good income. Thus far we've kitted ourselves in level 15 and 20 common IO's and will use them in conjunction with some SO's we get from the Market once we hit 22. From there we will level to 32, and use our funds and tickets to outfit in level 35 IO's, which should get us comfortably to level 50. I still have hopes that an upcoming patch will fix the "Ticket Penalty" but I don't feel that anyone should actively avoid teaming unless they're specifically going for Ticket Badges. None of the issues we've run into so far were insurmountable. In fact, getting past them has been a big part of the fun. The new missions we've been playing and enjoying are great, and the new people we're meeting have been a lot of fun. In a future piece I plan to introduce you to some of them and talk about how we've been doing. This has been a great alternative way to play City of Heroes, and I encourage anyone who is interested to try it out. Either come join us on Pinnacle, or start your own character and group. Our Super Group motto is "Gaming the game within the Game" and so far it's been a fun ride.  |
MArc My WordsMArc # 75605: "A Brother's Betrayal" By @Vanzarko  2 Missions Neutral Levels 1-54 Difficulty: High (4) Pacing: Moderate (3) Storytelling: Poor (2) Replay Value: Moderate (3) Mood: Pre-emptive Strike Canonicity: Player Backstory MArc Rating: 3 stars Captain Vanzarko's brother, Lord Vanzarok, is planning to kill him. The obvious solution is to take out Vanzarok first, a task for which you are employed. The story is not inherently bad, but the delivery is not handled well. The fact that the arc is tagged as "Neutral", yet the contact meets the player with a "Greetings, Hero" isn't a huge deal; more stressing is that nothing is explained. If you don't read the Story Arc description, you don't have any idea what's going on when Vanzarko asks you, "are you willing to do it?" There are two steps to defeating Vanzarok: One, find out where he is by beating up his right hand man, and two, defeat him, and rescue his sister from the clutches of his minions. Where did the sister come from? The best explanation is that the author had the sister character as part of the backstory, and added her as an ally to help with the EB. Vanzarko certainly doesn't mention his sister being captive in the briefings. The first mission is simple enough - defeat the boss, and defeat all enemies on the map. Fortunately, the map is a fairly small Warehouse, so it's not an onerous task. What can trip people up are the Thermal Radiation minions buffing their allies and healing them, and the fact that the boss has Ninjutsu for a defensive set, increasing his damage by far too much. Some players may have difficulty surviving the encounter, but this is less a fault of the author, and more a fault of the current state of Mission Architect. In a disconnect from the normal gameplay, the clues are all written in the first person ("I found...", "I should..."), rather than the second person "you" which is more common. That by itself isn't bad, but since the Story Arc has an actual Contact rather than pretending that the character is making all of the decisions, it seems like an odd choice. The final mission is similarly simple - rescue the sister, and defeat the brother. The sister helps you in the Elite Boss fight, though it isn't very necessary, as Lord Vanzarok poses little actual threat. He does revive himself after being defeated and shouting out his not-quite parting words of "I'm Invincible...", but that just gives you a second chance to lay the smackdown on him. If the writing is cleaned up a bit, and the contact's dialogue more fleshed out, explaining the situation before sending the player off, this could certainly be a 4 star arc. It's a look into the backstory of the author's character(s), and while that may not appeal to everyone, it's certainly better than many of the arcs available.  | MArc #61606: "Dolls Factory - Outbreak" By @Lepper  4 Missions Neutral Level 45-54 Difficulty: Moderate (3) Pacing: Molasses (1) Storytelling: Poor (2) Replay Value: Little (2) Mood: Mystery Canonicity: None MArc Rating: 2 stars Lepper's dolls are out of control, invading Paragon City, and he doesn't know why. They were originally programmed as toys that play with people, but they've run amok. The story is hard to follow, as it appears English is not the author's primary language. Lepper's dolls are forcing people to play with them nonstop, and they're spreading throughout the city with ships (Longbow Chasers) of Lepper's design, but at the same time they're running a war-game, and have taken over his doll factory. Lepper's "dolls" are in fact the lieutenants from Battle Maiden's Praetorian faction, omitting the minions entirely. So, while the spawns are full of numerous lieutenants, they're not exactly the toughest opponents in the world, either. Strangely enough, the "citizens" that need to be rescued in the first mission are also Champions of Battle placed in the "Bandit Dolls" faction. All four missions take place on large outdoor maps. If the only objective in the missions were the primary objective listed (save the citizens, destroy the ships, destroy the control box, and search the factory mainframe), that would be a perfectly fine setting - the dolls are invading the city, after all. However, all four missions are also Defeat All, which makes the process of completing them extremely slow. In particular, the final map (Siege's Factory) has many spawns up on catwalks, which they can fall off of, which means you'll have to either follow them down to the ground, or backtrack once you've finished everything to kill the stragglers you missed. Additionally, the factory computer on the final map has a 30 second interaction time, where you have to sit there, doing nothing. Removing the Defeat All requirement from the missions and getting a friend to help improve some of the broken English from the contact would do wonders for the quality of the Story Arc. A more interesting enemy faction, especially one with all ranks of enemy rather than just lieutenants, would improve the arc even further.
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In The ScoopI made it into the office early with my pet, Deviant, and begin another week of rummaging through the threads of the exquisite artists. As I sit at my desk sipping my cup o' Ghost Widow Brew, which is a very strong concoction to kick start my day with, I happen upon a thread where Juggertha has posted some awesome images! I delve deeper into this thread and find that Juggertha must be my next scoop. I write out a letter to Juggertha in the hopes that I get back a quick reply. I drop the letter into the drop box, and decide to call it a day. The next morning, Deviant and I make it into the office a tad late. I check the mail drop and find a reply back from Juggertha. I sit on the window ledge with Deviant and open the envelope. Enclosed are fabulous images of Juggertha's artwork and a letter. "Thank you for your interest, VexXxa. I have enclosed some of my images and a little bit of info about me. Enjoy! Juggy" As I read through some of the papers and images, I learn that Juggertha has been around the City of Paragon since the early days of Paragon City, making him a very seasoned and talented member of Paragon. Juggertha doesn't know when he became artistic, only that he "grew" into it and that all of his old work was done purely by paper and pencil. The new stuff is done through various other canvases. Juggertha gets his inspiration from everywhere. "A lot comes from the game, a good portion comes from the people on the forums, and of course I'm a good little consumer and I eat up all the stuff on television and in movies. When I draw, I usually have Heroes playing in the background," he shares in one of the notes he left inside the envelope. A note attached to one of the pictures said that he and a friend came up with his first creation. They created a "whole line of characters and comics in elementary school with Handbooks and everything." After High School, he created Spidey and the Lizard. Attached to another picture was a note from Juggertha that said that one of his first City Of Heroes pieces he had created was that of Mardun. "I had to go look waaaay back in my gallery for that." | As part of a longer letter, Juggertha states, "I'm working on a piece with a hero named Erudin taking on the big baddy Rularuu the Ravager, but I haven't even started the sketch yet." One note attached to a picture was a tad eerie since it seemed as though he knew the question that I would ask him if we were face to face. "My best? Ah, I'm not sure if I can say. I honestly usually dig my most recent just because it's often a culmination of lessons learned. So with that in mind, I'll say that my most recent pic of Statesman is my fave - Mako vs. Statesman In his hand written letter, Juggertha wrote, "You can check out my main art page and take a peek at my gallery - http://juggertha.deviantart.com/ , but what also might be interesting for some is to see my scraps section. I often post up-and-coming pieces there, or personal references I use for my art (such as pics of my hands in various poses, if you're into that sort of thing). I also do commissions once in a while. I pause in taking them if I get too busy in real life, or have a creative itch I need to scratch (lately I've been tinkering with 3D stuff in ZBrush). But over the years I've worked with a lot of people trying to bring their creations to life. And while I may not have always been spot-on with 'em, I think that most have come away happy." Finishing up, Juggertha observes, "I've been thinking a lot about the commissions and requests for art in relation to this game. We've got a really good community going on here, and as I said before, it's one of my biggest inspirations. But I want to throw out a cautionary note about all who are considering entering the world of Art Collecting. Buyer Beware! If you are purchasing art for real money, treat it as you would any other transaction. Would you give hundreds of dollars to some anonymous vendor online? Would you pay hard earned money simply to wait on a wait list? Honestly, be a little careful with how you approach the subject and this is coming from a guy who's already been stiffed a couple of times this year. Make sure that there's some give and take in the arrangement. Just my two cents." I spend the remainder of my day writing about this fantastic artist! I submit the article to my editor and pack myself and Deviant up for our ferry boat ride back to our home. Tomorrow is another day. And who will be my next feature?  |
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Vol. 2, Issue 43
April 27th, 2009
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 Niviene.
If you would like to do a feature article, or join "The City Scoop" team please PM Snow_Globe.
If you would like to place a classified ad or have an event covered, contact Cende, EnnVee, or Lemur Lad.
If you need some "Advice" contact Lady_Athyna, would like to "Ask The X" contact LiquidX, or need help with fashion, "Ask Arbiter Fabulous."
If you have a base you would like featured, please contact EnnVee.
Finally if you have a Recipe you would like included please contact Barron_.
The City Scoop
How City of Heroes
Changes Real Lives
By Kyo-chan
I have to tell you how this article started. I was in the grocery store with my mentor, Steampunk Charlie, when an older woman with a walker accidentally bumped a display and sent a lot of oranges rolling to the floor. Without thinking about it, I helped her out and picked the oranges up for her. Afterward, we talked about it. I realized that a year ago I would never have helped a stranger like that. It's not something I like to admit to myself, but it's true. Charlie said, "It's because you're a Hero of the City!"
That got me thinking. I realized that for many people, City of Heroes is not just a game. To some, it's a very large part of their real, everyday lives - not just because they play City of Heroes - but because playing City of Heroes has somehow changed their lives. To celebrate the upcoming City of Heroes anniversary, I asked readers of my Get Involved! series to send me the ways in which City of Heroes had changed their lives, be they great or small. Only three brave souls replied.
These are their stories.
Vol. 2, Issue 43
April 27th, 2009
This Issue:
Community
City of Heroes 5 Year Anniversary Celebration!
Tips from The Scoop
MArc My Words
MArchitectually Speaking
I'm Back!
Life inside the Stream
Arts
In The Scoop
Comic
Masthead
CelticTitan said:
"How has CoH changed my life? Well, most of all, I met my wife on CoH. We started out as friends of course, but our conversations went quickly from small talk to real life situations, past relationships, etc. One day, she blurted out "We should totally date!" and it went from there. Since then, I've moved 1700 miles across the country to be with her and May 31st will be our first anniversary. Goes to show, ya' never know where love will pop up."
"And then there's how CoH helped me. Before I found CoH, I was really ADD and OCD. I'd been able to keep them under control through school just by slamming my head into my books the whole way through college. Consuming one book after another. But after that, I didn't really have anything left to focus myself on. So, I became all kinds of a pain in the butt at work, either spacing out or being way too much of a control freak. Always going to either extreme. Thankfully, I got involved with 2 different SGs. One was full of original beta testers who were MAJOR min/maxers. They showed me how to build my characters so they'd be the fastest and most powerful. That plus my first 50 was an emp defender. It was so great for my OCD to have to stare at the team box, watching health and buffs, for hours on end. I'd be meticulously watching for buffs to wear off, keeping an eye on team mates' activities. I had a blast.
"My other SG was an RP SG. They were VERY active and VERY creative. We'd be running our story lines in SG chat so we could interact with each other make our stories have more depth. So, I used my ADD productively. I found that I could focus on the stories in SG chat, the team box, team chat, various Global channels (for GM spawns, TFs, etc.) all at the same time! And, seriously, who doesn't want an emp defender who can pay attention to a hundred things at once. I even had time to watch how everyone else played their characters. I saw their strong points and weaknesses, which was extremely helpful when it came time to find other toons to make.
"Handling, and darn near curing OCD and ADD all at once is one heck of a trick! They should really put CoH in the pharmacies! "
From Sister Flame, a young Heroine of the City, as told to her dad, _Wyll_:
"My name is Sister Flame, I am eight years old and I am a Super Hero.
"My Dad tells me that I began my heroic career as a crime fighter when I was four and a half years old. Dad was playing City of Heroes and I asked if I could play. He picked me up, put me on his lap, and he showed me how to move his Hero around Atlas Park. Once I had the hang of it, Dad sat back and let me play. I'd only walk around for about fifteen minutes before I wanted to Dad to play again and I liked curling up on his lap to watch him fight evil. I think Dad liked having company when he played his game.
"When I turned five, my Dad decided we would get a second account so we could play at the same time. I would sit beside my Dad and use his laptop to play. He told me it was important he could keep an eye on me in the game and he taught me proper game manners as well as some safety rules. I all ready knew that rules are important and I like to tell my friends that rules are there to keep us safe, especially when grown-ups are not around. It was good lesson I learned from my Dad.
"A lot of great things have happened to me because I play City of Heroes. The game has given me a lot of practice with my reading when I started looking at the words the contacts were saying to me. My Grade One teacher was really impressed at how well I could read and I told her it was because I play this really cool Super Hero game. I don't think she understood what I was talking about, but she told me to keep doing whatever I was doing. It was kind of cool to have your teacher tell you to play a computer game because it was good for you.
"One of the best things that ever happened to me in my life was when I met War Witch in Pocket D. Dad told me that she sent a message saying she wanted to meet me in the game, so we logged in and I led the way to where she was in Pocket D. When we got there, War Witch started moving around and talking to me. I was so excited! I ran and got my family to show them War Witch. She talked to me for a little while and I showed her my other costumes I made. She had to get going, but she wrote me a real letter later and sent me her autograph. I took them to school for show and tell and I am proud to tell everyone I meet that I am special friend of War Witch, one of the "makers" of City of Heroes.
"It sounds kind of weird to say, but I have been playing City of Heroes for half of my life. I have had so much fun with the game and I have learned so much. I hope the game goes on for a long time so that I can play with my dad for a long time. We have had so many adventures together and we have our own little City Of Heroes jokes that we say to each other that no one else gets. All of my friends have something special they do with their dads and I am happy to say that playing City of Heroes is the special thing I do with my Dad."
And last, but not least, from Timothy2day:
"My wife and daughter refer to CoH as "daddy's game." To me, however, CoH is much more than than just a game. It is part of my therapy. My name is Tim, I'm 43 and I think I am one of the few severely disabled people in the player-base. I have a severe degenerative neurological disease. I won't say which one because it is both complex and very rare. Suffice to say the disease has slowly robbed me of my ability to walk and speak clearly, and has all but eliminated my fine motor control. I don't tell you this to get sympathy - I don't need that. Rather, I say it so you'll understand some of my play-style if you ever encounter me in-game.
"I have a BS Degree in Journalism from Northern Arizona University. In the past, I have been a newspaper reporter; a teacher; and a computer help desk analyst - all jobs that require an active mind and good speaking skills. Since I had to stop working, I needed to find something to fill the void. I saw the game at Walmart, and thought I would give it a try. I found I didn't always need lightning reflexes to play. I spent a lot of time remapping keys and figured out how to play about 90 percent with the keyboard. Things were going well until Issue 13 hit. I nearly quit, but it had nothing to do with PvP. I had to fast-click to do anything - closing dialogs, selecting items, selling, buying, etc. Prior to Issue 13, I could click slow and leisurely and was ok. After going several rounds with support, I found the solution in Windows. I maxed the double-click speed and remapped my 5-button ergo-mouse.
"I get my 36-month badge on May 3. I started playing right before Issue 7 went live. I started on Liberty and my very first toon, an elec/elec blaster, is still there. He hit 46 last 2XP weekend. My first 50, an arch/emp, also is on Liberty and four more 50s live on Triumph. Currently, my focus is on Infinity where my main, Magic Taxi, participates in the Paragon Taxi Service. Even though I play a lot, I'm not interested too much in the underlying mechanics of the game. I play to have fun. Just by playing, I am exercising my hands and my mind.
"Ok, my game play. I bring this up because it was a sore spot when I started with a SG a while ago before they knew about me. I don't type very well and other than binds and macros, I am sort of quiet on a mish - especially when I play an emp and spend time buffing and healing. I'm not being anti-social. If the team is moving really fast, sometimes I follow - I'm not afk, I'm just trying to keep up. If I do something particularly egregious, please let me know. My old group used Vent and that was good. It allowed me to speak. I talk slowly but after awhile, people understand me with little difficulty. My old group mostly left to play Diablo, so meh!
"CoH is important to me. It not only provides me with a source of awesome fun, it gives me therapy on skills many people take for granted. My board name is Timothy2day, my global is @paramed. Look me up. Chances are I'll be on with a ranged toon. I would love to find another patient Vent group. My playtime is during weekdays and weekend days and evenings, EDT."
There you have it, readers - City of Heroes is more than just a game. Think about it - has playing the game changed your life somehow? Have you made friends you wouldn't have made, learned something about yourself, tried something different, or helped someone you wouldn't normally have helped because of it? And while you're thinking about it, say thank you to the developers of City of Heroes.
After all, the change wouldn't have happened without them.
Hericane by rhardo