Better Times...

SHARE YOUR STORY TOO...

I have been thinking a lot of when I joined the game back in 2005, Atlas still had a "Skeletal" globe and the players on Justice were a force to be reckoned with.

In my 20's (level wise) I met Black Monday, an Ice - Ice tank who invited me to the "Exiles" SG. He taught me how to play the game properly, how to be a Blaster and how not to anger a tank with my knock back. His #2 in charge was Soulex, a real good guy who also taught me a ton. Everything we did was content driven and it took me almost 7 months to obtain my first 50 and my main, OMEGA-001.

When the "Exiles" went cold, I formed OMEGA SECTOR on January 16, 2006. I got one of favorite team mates Circuit Shock, to act as my #2. We built the SG initially with people we teamed with, as I ran full teams of 8 every night and for hours on end.

In just a few months our new SG exploded and we were filling up with members who would eventually become our core. People like, Cpt Stronghold, Mystic Flow, Ms. Mercy, Brakkion, XJ-9 Battleaxe, Ugly Thing, Synapse Overload, Foole, Moke, Aggro Magnet, WHOSYO, Altima and so, so many other great people.

A good friend of mine, Phantastik, showed me how to build a base and my friend Zappalina, told me about the TOP 100 list. Once I found out about it, it became our SG's goal to overtake the #1 spot from the "Missfit Villains", who held it at the time.

We worked tirelessly and accomplished the task in just over a year, making new friends along the way. With the introduction of issue 9, allot of old friends, including Black Monday, came back to the game and joined our SG. We now had a TS server and really got to enjoy each other's company.

My comp died around issue 12 and I was lucky enough to have Cpt Stronghold keep things running as he became the #2 in OMEGA SECTOR, now that Circuit Shock had left. The SG continued its pace for the most part and are core people were still a major force on the server.

By the time I had gotten back almost a year later, I had built a major gaming machine and was eager to test it out. I logged onto CoH and noticed some drastic changes I wasn't at all a fan of.

First, a lot of my friends had left the game. Great SG's we always had a friendly rivalry with like, Steel Justice, X-FORCE Atlantis, Blazing Justice Squad and more were either gone, or all but dead.

I kept having, what I would later learn were "AE babies" pestering me for money and PL. It was like the entire server brought over every idiot who ever played WoW. I was thoroughly disgusted to see, that the Dev's had either caved into all those players who didn't think they should have to earn it or just miscalculated the affect some of the newly released issues would have on game play.( I have always felt the Dev's have done a great job and even though we all complain from time to time and they are horribly slow to fix most bugs, they have kept this game going for a long time.) I felt like I was walking back into a ghost town, at least as far as playing with people who knew what they were doing.

My global list was all shaded out except for a few scattered names and it felt like CoH was in a major decline. I could tell server population was down across the board and those here had not run any content. The only badges they had were from AE for the most part.
I met up with Cpt Stronghold and it was good to see a familiar face. We talked for a while and came up with a plan to get things back in order.

Unfortunately it never quite felt the same as it had before I left. Some of the people on, the people I may call a friend, had become spiteful and malicious, constantly provoking drama from every angle.

The friendly SG rivalries for #1 on the server had gone from being competitive, to a laundry list of discrediting, deceit, hatred and malicious lies. What had happened to honor? What had happened to fair game play? What had happened to the reputation of my SG and I and why was I so hated all of a sudden?

I had been playing for 7 years, I had helped out and guided countless people in game like allot of other veterans on CoH; like allot of the leadership from my own SG. What was going on and when did CoH go from an escape from the reality of a tough day at home or at work to a job within itself?

Ever since, I have made some poor choices, I have fired back at maliciousness and ignorance, hoping that the truth and logic would be enough.

I, like so many others it seemed, forgot why I was here. I just wanted to have fun with people from all different walks of life. To push aside ones personal faults, whether it be attitude, personal appearance, social awkwardness, lot in life, etc.
I came here, to a place where everyone could live behind a mask and be judged only by the merits of what happens in game. To act as a hero and let the person you always imagined being as a kid come to life, even if only for a few hours at a time.

Now, all that seems gone and so is the enjoyment for me. Something negative that happens in game should not be with me when I log off, though so many are so childish and petty these days.

Cpt Stronghold, Circuit Shock, Ms. Mercy, Black Monday, Synapse Overload, Phantastik, Zappalina, Chrome Family, Brakkion, Mystic Flow, Minos, WHOSYO... even Ugly Knight. Thanks for being who you are and who you were, thank you for making the game and the OMEGA SECTOR what it was.

When the time comes, it will be difficult to say goodbye. You have all been great over the years and now that I'm almost 33 years old, I have learned to appreciate all friends in all forms.

PS thanks to all the Dev's for always working to make things better.

You are a terrific writer, Omega001. Thanks for sharing your story. My wish for you is that you remember the good times and forgive the bad. I hope you can keep in your heart the best that Paragon City has had to offer, because it sounds like you have had some wonderful experiences there. Do not look back and wish for the past; the past is gone. Look forward and make yourself a brighter future. Best of luck to you. I hope everything works out.

Um a Black Monday? I think that was the person who was with me when I got my first lvl 50. This is when he leveled and this is when I leveled

The one in the white is Soulex, were you in the Exiles SG too? The girl in the skirt (top pic) is Altima, who was in my SG for years, she was in my SG at the time of that pic, that was our old female SG uniform. Black Monday was in our SG during that same period, that is his newer uniform.

My toon was the blond girl that is lady side kick and she is in The Dark Hearts SG since the beginning, no never was in that SG.

When was the globe skeletal?

Cool Story

The ironic thing about it I pretty much forgot about my own SG (and I was a leader!) since it went inactive and your post brought back some found memories. I think I'm pretty much the only person from Steel Justice that still plays and I remember when the top 100 meant something with the exception of the obvious exploit users. Sounds like maybe I need to put that experience into words before the SG is forgotten

lol SG rankings