Purple Your War Shade (contest)

I recently "purpled out" my War Shade, Squiddy Kitty. I posted about it in the Market Forum -- you see, the "casual player" who wants to "purple out" their War Shade has been a kind of running joke with people there for a while. It's shorthand for anyone who wants a dream build without working too hard for it, the person who thinks a top 5% build should be available to anyone. Or at least, them.

Unfortunately, I hardly qualify as a casual player, so while I'm having fun with my War Shade, I failed at "casually" purpling her out. What to do? Well, since I have the money, I want to go one step further. I want to purple out a causual player's War Shade. I want to hand a dream build to someone who could never otherwise achieve it.

Your War Shade, maybe.

So -- you've designed your dream War Shade build in Mids, but you don't have the 1.5 billion plus influence needed to make it a (virtual) reality? No problem! I'm here to help!

Rules:

1. You must have a War Shade level 45 or higher. No Peace Bringers. No regen scrappers. No fire/kins. No, "my War Shade is only 12, but I want to purple him out some day." I'm here to purple a War Shade right now, or reasonably close to right now. (If you're over 45 but aren't yet level 50, you will need a way to store 30 or so crafted IOs until you hit 50.)

2. You must post a picture of your War Shade, along with a short paragraph explaining how you qualify as a casual (and poor!) player, and why your War Shade deserves to be purpled out. And let's be honest, a truly casual player probably doesn't have a level 50 War Shade, and no one needs purple sets to be effective. But I know that there are a lot of poor War Shades out there who deserve to be uber, if only someone would lend them a billion or two!

3. In the interest of fairness, members of Hero Force on Virtue are disqualified. So sorry, but I'm your SG mate, so no dice. And for that matter, the two guys in Paradox Acropolis who only log in once a week, the two or three friends I have in Ultimate Fighting Champions that are mostly taking a long Summer vacation, and all those marketeer people over in Midlevel Crisis on Freedom -- you're all disqualified as well. Anyway if you're in a SG made up of marketeers then you can presumably purple out your own War Shade.

4. Deadline for entry is Midnight PST, Wednesday August 18th. Just after GR hits, right? ^_^ That's a week, that should give people enough time. I'll announce the winner a day or two after that, by Friday at least.

Delivery of prize will be worked out in person if you're on Virtue (or can visit), or via e-mail if you're not -- either e-mailed directly to you or to one of my alts on your server and then handed to you. We can work out details when we get there. (And correct me if I'm wrong, but I can e-mail to a European server, right?)

5. If possible, post a picture of your newly uber War Shade afterwards!

First Place:

There are many ways to build a top-notch War Shade. I'm not going to tell you how to build yours. I do suggest a tri-form build, however. But my own build contains a lot of expensive IOs that probably fit any good high-end build. I will be handing out (all IOs already crafted):

5 pieces Hectacomb (all but the Damage IO)
5 pieces Armageddon (all but the Damage IO)
5 pieces Apocalypse (all but the Damage IO)
5 pieces Ragnarok (all but the proc -- although I can't remember why that is)
5 pieces Absolute Amazement (can slot in Gravatic Emanation)
2 pieces Soulbound Aliegiance (slots nicely in Dark Extraction, 16% hp regen)
4 pieces Expedient Reinforcement (slots w/above in Dark Extraction, 6.25% recharge)
5 pieces Luck of the Gambler: 7.5% global recharge (level 30-33)*
1 pc Numina's Convalesence +regen/+recovery (level 30-33)*
1 pc Performance Shifter Chance for +endurance (level 30-33)*
2 pieces Steadfast Protection 4 points Knockback Protection
3 pieces Nucleolus Exposure (good for those 1-slot-only attack powers)
5 (or 6) pieces Obliteration (level 30-33)* (if needed for build)

If you can't use all of that to produce a nice top-end build, then you're doing something wrong. ^_^ I'm willing to help with other set IOs you might need to finish off the build too, within reason. I think I've covered nearly all of the really expensive pieces you'd want though.

*I buy and slot set IOs in the 30-33 range. This allows me to exempt down to at least level 30 and still be very effective -- and the difference between level 30 and level 50 IOs is not really that great. If you really must have level 50 IOs instead, we can probably work something out (for the Oblit and Expedient Reinforcement sets at least). But I won't have them on hand, I'll need time to purchase them.

2nd Place: 5 pieces Armageddon or 5 pieces Hectacomb, your choice.

3rd Place: 5 pieces Hectacomb or Armageddon (whatever isn't taken by 2nd place finisher)

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Bear in mind that I'm essentially picking someone at random from the available entrants, but a good picture, good story, and a clever name won't hurt. (Better than "Squiddy Kitty" at least! ) I will probably select those I like best and then come up with some random method for choosing a winner. Draw from a hat, roll dice, I dunno.

I'm still leveling my warshade and I definitely don't qualify as a casual player, but I just thought this was a really cool idea. Nice work.

I suppose rolling a new Warshade today and leveling to 45 before the deadline would automatically disqualify me

Hmmm, would I qualify for this? This is an amazingly generous offer. I would love to "purple out" my warshade, as she is one of my favorites even though she's only been 50 for about 9 months. It took me about 3 years to finally level her up to 50. At this point, she has a mix of various levels of mostly common IOs and a few odd frankenslot pieces here and there.

I'm a long time player, but work keeps me from spending huge amounts of time in game. The most Infl any of my characters has ever had is 650 mil . . . but that was only because the one time I had stepped into a PvP area in about 3 years, I happened to have a PvP recipe drop that sold for 450 mil Inf. I used that Infl to fully IO my Ill/Rad with a perma-PA build . . . but he only has 7 purple enhancements (5 Confuse, 2 pet) -- he got most of the expensive IOs needed for his build through drops, random rolls or merits. I only have one character with more than 200 Mil -- that Ill/Rad who still has about 400 mil, since he only spent about 250 mil to get that perma-PA build. I tend to be a bit on the frugel side, even with fictional money.

That group of purple enhancements you posted as the prize is probably 4 times the number of purple IOs I have on all my characters combined -- and the ones I have are all from the cheap sets (confuse, hold, sleep, immobilize). I know I could earn a lot more through marketeering and farming . . . but I'd rather level up characters and experience new powersets. The times I get in game, my usual group of buddies are already on, and I get about 1.5 to 2 hours to do stuff with them before having to take care of things at home (4 kids).

I have been a long time contributer to the community, mostly on the Controller boards. (My Ill/Rad guide is one of the most popular guides on the forums.) The main reason I don't play my Warshade more is that she really needs a team to shine. Without maximum Recharge, playing solo is just not as good. But on a large team, that tri-former really shines. I use a full set of binds from CitiBinder, the outdated bind creation program. It allows me to easily form-change for mires and the huge variety of options on a warshade. Controlling, tanking and blasting, being the team "spy" with invis (Shadow Cloak + Super Speed) and Shadow Recall, my 'shade can fill whatever need the team has.

My warshade's name is a bit of a pun (like most of my characters). She exists to "shade" the citizens from the dangers around them and the wars suffered in Paragon City, and her name is taken from her powerset . . . "Umbral-La." As you can see from her picture, Lani was a huge fan of "The Dark Watcher" after he saved her from from some CoT once when she was a young girl. When she had the opportunity to join with a Kheldian, Lani jumped at the chance to be a hero to the community like her idol. She has a sister Warshade (on another server) who is only 31 . . . that one was created when a little girl named Sue Sherman decided to merge with a dying nictus named Shee D'Tahka. Together, they became "Sue-Shee." <yes, you may groan now.>

Wow, that's incredibly generous Organica.

I hope you get a taker. I spent most of a year purpling my warshade and he is completely insane now.

Increadable contest your running. Good luck to everyone.

If you feel you qualify, then feel free to enter. Mostly I'd want to avoid handing out first prize to someone who already farms or markets a lot and has plenty of their own cash on hand, you know. As I said, "casual" is subjective. I know I don't qualify, I play too much.

Hey, I'd like to enter the contest

I have a level 50 Warshade. His name is Warp Wasp. His backstory is sort of similar to that of the Blue Beetle if you're familiar with DC comic characters. I've had him for quite a while now and enjoy playing as him, but have never had the necessary inf to do anything beyond basic IOing for him. I don't get to play the game as much as I used to and the times that I can play are pretty erratic and tend to be during low peak hours. I can't play on the weekends at all really, so I have trouble finding tfs etc for him to run for merits/random drops to get more inf to ever hope to purple him. I enjoy playing Warshade and have seen the destruction purpled ones can dish out and always wish I could achieve those types of results from my Warshade, especially since I don't achieve them on any of my characters let alone one of my favorite archtypes lol. Maybe you can make my dream a reality if you pick me as a winner for your contest. Thanks for taking the time to read my entry and I hope your contest goes well!

Here's a picture of my Warshade: http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/3...0812133913.jpg

Like Local Man, I am a reasonably casual gamer who is plagued by the need to work a full time job and support a family. I have two decently IO'd characters, the first being my Dark Armor tank, which was done mostly on blood, sweat, and merits. Lots of merits. Then there's my 'shade. He has what I consider a decent set of IOs, but clearly not purpled. His IOing was made possible because someone paid for a mids build (I'm not kidding here, I got a ridiculous sum of infamy just to make a bots/FF build, of all things). I lost a bit to transfer it blueside, and I was surprised to find out how few LotG's it took to consume my entire budget.

I spend all my time in SG mode to earn as much prestige as possible for the RPSG I'm involved in. I have a bit of alt-itis and run a subgroup of the SG Wednesday nights. These things make it very hard to actually earn influence, but I'm happy knowing the SG is better for it.

So with that, allow me to introduce Defying the Curse.

So... the beginning. Yes, it starts about a month ago. I'm not exactly sure which day it was, but I know it was a Thursday. I used to shoot pool or play a few rounds of poker with my friends every Thursday after work. I say "used to" because as it turns out, those friends moonlighted as demonic cultists. On that particular Thursday, they informed me of their involvement with the Circle of Thorns and invited me to join. I turned it down and joked "If nothing else, this explains your frequent "I have to be at church that night" excuses."

Perhaps that was not the wisest move on my part. Or perhaps the invitation was only a formality. Or maybe still, they should have mentioned that "Now that you know about us, we can't let you live if you're not going to join." I heard one of them babbling something just before my head started to hurt like I had a train running through it. I slipped in and out of consciousness for a while. Partial memories of conversation in languages I didn't understand. I was in a van, then in a park, and then finally tied down to a stone altar in a cave.

If you want the whole story, go here. Basically, the Thorns try possessing a human with both a demon and a Nictus in the hopes of being able to have a Nictus warrior under their control. Poor Tevan somehow regains control of his body, but is haunted by "the Voice" in his head telling him to fight and to drain essence. He has chosen the high road, to not give in to the madness... to Defy the Curse.

I do have another costume for him, which he wears when trying to fit in with the mystic crowd. As you can see, he needs more purple.

I've been so looking forward to this Organica!

I'll be cheering on the winner from the sidelines because I'm disqualified by so many criteria it probably isn't funny (not casual, not poor, in Midlevel Crisis, yada yada). And yeah, my War Shade is level 3 to boot.

Anyway, good luck to the winner.

And I'd like to add, as of tonight everything listed for prizes is already bought, crafted and sitting in my base, save for 1 piece Expedient Reinforcement and one of the runner up Armageddons. And I'm quite a bit poorer than I was on Sunday, heh. ^_^ (But not poor poor, mind you.) I only used merits to buy one LotG, and I may resort to buying the missing Expedient Reinforcement if a level 30-33 one doesn't pop up over the weekend.

Holy Frick.

I'd love to get that for my 2nd build on AlienOne (his tri-form build), but I sure as hell am not a casual player....I basically wrote the guide for purpling out a Warshade! (haha)

Seriously though, it's awesome to see someone do something like this for the Kheld community. I think this is great! A friend I know has been working on his Warshade for months and months now, and I just told him about it, so maybe he'll give it a shot.

Good luck to everyone involved!

"Alien"

Quote:

Originally Posted by Infernus_Hades The way you play changes your IO slotting..

Wow, this is an awesome contest! Thanks for running it.

I got my warshade up to 48 back before IOs came out and then promptly abandoned him to play a villain. I left the game for a while and have come back, but I don't really have the dedicated time to devote to a character like this. Most of my time comes in half hour chunks at best, so running TFs for merits for all this would be pretty tough to do. I do play with Repeat Offenders frequently, but I hate begging for help. I suppose the fact that this is a contest makes a bit more palatable for me.


Without further ado, here's StarShrike:


Uploaded with ImageShack.us

And here's his Bio from his original Supergroup, the Dawn Patrol.
Department of Defense Personnel Dossier
Form DD-214 (11/14/02)

Name: McConnell Joseph D
SSN: ***********
Service History
Service Branch: United States Navy, Aviation.
Rank: Lt, Junior Grade
Duty Status: Inactive Ready Reserve, Honorably Discharged under chapter 12 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (Physical limitations placing him beyond the capacity to execute his duties)
Joined Achilles Program 12/22/06.
Joined Dawn Patrol SuperGroup 12/30/06.

Background:
Entered US Naval Service in 2004 after graduating top 10% of his class at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis Maryland. Majored in Aeronautical Engineering. Placed in the top 25% of his initial flight school training, qualifying him for training in Carrier borne attack aircraft. Temporarily assigned to VF-101 Squadron for final familiarization with the F-18E SuperHornet. Was ranked top 10% of his attack aviation class when an accident during takeoff forced him to eject from his aircraft. Nerve damage to his left hand necessitated his removal from the flight program and he was placed on temporary duty pending honorable discharge.

Joined the Achilles program which sought to align suitable hosts for Kheldian aliens. Initial training and bonding with the former nictus "Star's Whisper" was more than satisfactory. The joined being is presently known as "StarShrike".

Personality Background:
The two personalities seem quite compatible. McConnell's aggressive, "Can Do" attitude is reigned in by his Kheldian symbiote. Positive outlook maintained despite physical setbacks. Displays exceptional aptitude for utilizing the various super abilities and the human host appears to enjoy the free flight granted by the Nictus entity form known as "Dark Nova".

Addendum:
StarShrike has joined with the Dawn Patrol Supergroup as of 12/30/06. Appears to be well adapted to life as a hero. Continued monitoring necessary. Continued rehabilitation of left hand appears to show some progress. Possibility of normal levels of functioning within 6 months, although outlook regarding high function of delicate motor skills is not positive.

Wow, great contest!

I hope the winner enjoys his/her purpled 'shade as much as I do.

Every well-dressed 'Shade needs to wear purple.

Hi there. Long time forum reader, but never a poster. However, your amazing offer was incentive enough for me to shake off the doldrums and offer myself as a contender.

My Nightcap has been around for years and is a founding member of the SG The Drinking Buddies on Justice (hence her name). Ever since I first dinged 50 on my blaster and unlocked epics, I’ve slowly worked her up. I truly love the versatility and dynamic nature of kheldian play. It’s always shifting, always fast and frequently on the edge. I’ve never had a vast reservoir of cash, instead working slowly towards certain goals on my builds. The most cash I’ve ever had at once was 400 million infamy from a triple Apocalypse that dropped for my dominator when running in the RWZ. In fact, I had to borrow cash from a buddy to cover the posting fee on the Black Market. I’m a good player and have a lot of fun with the game, but I certainly don’t have the resources to outfit a toon in such an aggressively purple fashion. The chance to supercharge a warshade in one massive burst is incredibly exciting- I’m certain whoever is selected will be grateful as anything. Thanks again for your fantastic offer.

Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/13978115@N04/4890963631/

Hello,

Firstly thank you for giving us such a great opportunity.

I currently have a level 45 Warshade. My Warshades name is 'Kheldian Shadow' and he will be my second level 50, once he reaches the level. I have been playing for three months so far and only have one level 50, so I think that I can classify myself as a casual player. Since I love being a Warshade I stated that this will be the first character that I am going to IO, however influence does not come cheap these days. I am going to redo the slots and powers on my Warshade because I wanted to try all the powers first and choose which ones I wanted, rather than just copy a guide off a forum.

Picture:

http://img837.imageshack.us/img837/5299/shadowq.jpg

Deadline is tonight at Midnight, everyone! ^_^ (PST)

Hi!
I'm another long time reader and almost never post. I played on opening day and quit slightly after the roaming hazard zone sized packs of Ralaruu eyeballs in kings row put my Dark scrapper into about 6 levels of debt, at level 8 no less. =/

I had a co worker who told me about ED and the GDN happening and IO recipes and things you can sell to make money so you can actually afford DO's and SO's from those early days. So I rejoined right before the crazy AE bro haha as it started.

I used the massive tickets from that to stupidly buy SO's direct from the ticket vendor. I sold any normal drops I got for 1 inf a piece.

I got better once I learned the new system. You know what franken slotting is, the soft cap, things like that. Well I had some 50's and I remember the introduction of the Kheldians (from the comic no less =p) and decided I wanted to try one.

In all that my favorite characters are my TF leveled Traps defender and the warshade I made after that defender hit 50, Astral Shadows. The Warshade is perhaps my best slotted character. I just could never justify the cost of entire sets of well anything.

Astral Shadows is the only character I could justify a build with. I made one. No purples at all because that seemed completely hopeless (before GR patch notes that is). I did it on my own and actually think its a good build. It will probably take me a year to make enough merits to afford the whole thing but it's do able.

Purples seem an absolute lost cause. I also hate fire/kin and shield scrappers so no farming for me.

Kari Windrow was one of the IT party girls from the 1950's. Coming into contact have with the Nictus, Astral Shadows, after a near fatal car accident, Kari and Astral have joined forces to overcome the Nictus attempts at overthrowing the earth.

Here is my girl Astral Shadows. Now at security level 47!

P.S. Sorry for the late post, forums went down last night.

Woo! Deadline for entries is past!

I'm at work at the moment so I won't really get a chance to pick a winner until sometime tonight, but I think everyone is well qualified! I'll just need to pick randomly from those that entered.

So unless I'm mistaken, we have:

1. Local_Man's warshade Umbra-La
2. FuzzyWonder22's warshade War Wasp
3. Dechs Kaison's warshade Defying the Curse
4. Valorin's warshade StarShrike
5. Redlynne's warshade Ms Terry
6. Wildlight]s warshade Nightcap
7. Mirthra's warshade Kheldian Shadow
8. Late2Party's warshade Astral Shadows

Will post results tonight, if I can avoid logging into Praetoria for a few minutes. ^_^

Yes, thanks so much for this contest! Good luck to all and somebody is going to end up with one Bad-A__ MFing Warshade *bow with a flourish to the previous poster*