Who influenced you in this game?

Well with Issue 21 around the corner I wanted to start a trip down memory lane by asking who has influenced you over the years in this game? We all started somewhere and where we started may be a lot different then where we are now. Let me start:

When I started the game the game the first character I created was a MA/SR Scrapper... which back in Issue 0 was fairly bad. MA had very long animations (Old Storm Kick...) and SR was very tough to solo with. I remember walking into a bunch of 5th Column thinking whoa who are these guys in Atlas Park. I didn't look at their levels since I was level 5 or 6 at the time and I proceeded to get owned. (And I got debt too back before the debt level was raised to 10) Now I realize that they were a left over ambush that attacked a high level person and they were left there. (Ambushes used to occur in Atlas Park, now they don't)

Anyways, I deleted that character thinking the sets were horrible and started to play around with other AT's and combo's. From Blasters to Controllers to defenders and to tankers I tried them all. I finally landed on a Spines/Regen Scrapper which I seemed to enjoy for the time being that I got to a "high" level 16... I still had a lot of trouble especially with those pesky outcasts in Steel Canyon because for those unaware Regen at the time had all of its power in IH which was a toggle. Integration did not provide any regeneration.

Ultimately, I found myself spending a lot of time on the forums trying to find the best build. I remember seeing a thread on Fire/Dev Blasters and how they were gods and tried that out but didn't like it. Smoke bomb was bugged and quickly corrected it basically floored a group's to hit so it was like being defense capped.

It was at this point I remember watching a few videos by a guy named "The Confessor." This guy had several Scrappers DM/Invul, DM/Regen, and I believe BS/Regen or Invul. Back then Scrappers had tanker caps (90% res, etc) and his videos showed him soloing Arch Villains. DM's Soul Drain could hit unlimited amount of people (Same with Invincibility) thus he would surround himself with a bunch of minions being at the defense cap and with Soul Drain put himself at the damage cap.

He was completely owning Arch Villains. He also showed the same with Regeneration this was when Instant Healing was a toggle and the full 800% heal could be enhanced. With no ED a Scrapper could get around 2500% regeneration with 6 slot heal enhancers. (Although it drained a LOT of endurance to be kept running, originally this was suppose to be the downside but people slot endurance reducers in it which is why it eventually got nerfed)

It was from that day fourth my mind was blown. I didn't think those boundaries could be broken. When I saw what was possible I vowed to try and find ways to go beyond what was considered the impossible.

With each nerf or change to the game, I wanted to show just how far a min/max build could bend the rules of "reality."

My Influence

The Confessor

Great idea for a thread. Not sure if I can narrow it down to just one influtential player though.

My 1st creation was my main Energy/Energy Blaster. I knew nothing about MMO's though and it was quite the learning curve. Around level 24 I was just about ready to give up and quit. I came to the forums seeking advice and discovered an entire world of answers.

I was doing it wrong.

SnipeFu, without knowing it, kept me playing for 7 years.

It was his original Eng/Eng guide that taught me how to properly play a Blaster. That I wasn't supposed to stand my ground and fight like a tank.
In my head, Heroes don't run. So I played my Blaster like that...
I learned from his guide and others on here about LoS and tactical retreat etc etc.

Temp_Extremes was a prolific poster back in 2005. I was more of a lurker back then though. One night I was running through Steel canyon and just happened to see one of his alts. I recognized the name from his forum sig.
I sent a tell saying "Hi Temp!" and he asked if I knew him. After I explained that I didn't really I saw the trade window appear. I had never traded anything at this point so I was totally lost. Next thing I know he'd gifted me $200,000 and vanished. Back in '05 this was a fortune! I was so broke I couldn't even afford DO's on that toon. I ran straight to the store and pimped him out fully!
To this day I haven't forgotten his generosity and have continued to 'pay it forward' with interest to anyone in need/ cool look/ new player etc etc.

Finally, while not a person per se, a giant influence for me was the SG
Paragon City Search and Rescue.
My 3rd day playing I was sent to The Hollows. Armed with my trusty sprint I attempted to make it to my mission 4 or 5 times, each time getting a little closer before dying. On my 6th run back from Atlas I was getting pretty ticked off. My anger led me to a swift death in the hills though.

I layed there for a few moments, trying to decide if I should hit the hosp. button yet again or just turn the game off. Then this bright orange Hero appears over me and raised their arms. I was lifted off my feet and brought back to life! The NPC conveyed the PCSAR greeting and offered further help if needed. I was amazed that the game designers thought to put a Paramedic service for Heroes in the game! Then the Hero landed and I realized it was an actual player! They proceeded to TP me to my mission door and buff me up. They informed me to send a tell when I finished to be TP'd back to the gate and then flew off. I stood there staring into the sky amazed. Sure enough, when I finished she quickly TP'd me back to the gate and before I could even mumble a thanks she zoomed off to rez another fallen Hero. The thought that other players would take the time to help others instead of actually playing the game changed everything.

It was then that I realized this game had so much more potential than just beating up bad guys! When I was actually recruited into PCSAR years later... I'm still honored by it.

Those would be the 3 biggest influences for me.

When I first started 5 years ago I was on Defiant not knowing that no RP took place there but I had started some toons and wanted to see them through. Of course they were all horribly built and under enhanced.

I ended up joining the SG The Legion Supreme and then things became much clear. My toons were much better built and got my first toon to 50 through their regular teaming. If it wasn't for that team I probably would not have lasted long on the game because this was my first and only MMO at the time and just did not catch on right away with the MMO mentality.

Sadly one day the majority just vanished. I decided to move over to Union and start again looking for the original intention of RP'ing. For the last few years the bulk of my friends and regular teaming has been from the RP community, not to mention allowed me the freedom to create a collections of characters that now have some detailed backstory and development.

CBeet get special mention for coming up for some crazy, unkillable build plans that lead me to do crazy things to be able to create those builds.....you know.......FOR SCIENCE!

Dark Respite, aka Samuraiko gives inspiration that one day I will get round to taking storyboard ideas I have laying around here into demorecord vids.

And I probably should give a mention to the girlfriend Alexia who I met through this game. ;-)

A bunch of the marketeers. Also, special credit to SPTrashcan, whose discussion of how he "enjoys punching dudes" was the catalyst for a change in how I thought about MMOs, leading me to create:

http://www.l2pnoob.org/

(Note: The name might be taken a little ironically.)

And Silas, whose amazing support guides influenced my decision to write guides for CoH. Mine aren't as awesome, but I wouldn't have written anything at all if I hadn't had so much fun reading his.

I tip my hat to Local Man, Enantiodromos, Oedipus_Tex,and magicJ. I started out playing controllers and their guides, answers to questions, and guidance to other players all helped me fine my way in a complex AT. So if any of you happen to read this, thanks.

I wouldn't say one person has influenced me in this game. If anything, I'd say the Scrapper forum and the community that surrounds it has done the influencing. Its a microcosm of min-maxers, casual players, number crunchers, and story-tellers - all mingling together. It is by far the most active Archetype forum on the CoH boards.

Long before there were Incarnate powers it was highly desired that a team was built a certain way for a Statesman TF. I said "Pancake it, we're doing an All Scrapper STF." We brought home the Win. That went on with the All Scrapper Apex and Tin-Mage TF, when people were saying that bringing a Melee character to the Apex TF was useless in the Battle Maiden fight - or at least frustratingly difficult. I think we even managed to get the "Already Dead" Badge for defeating Battle Maiden in less than 15 minutes.

Whether it's sharing builds, sharing Challenge results, or sharing Scrapper stories, we're always having fun. Enforcing violence and chaos all in the name of fun, since 2004.

The only areas I can really think of where I've been influenced (at least knowingly influenced) were silliness on the forums providing the names for a couple of my characters: Pretty Strong, and MURDERDOOM. I guess the general wisdom of building for the defense soft cap has been incorporated into a lot of my builds too.

Otherwise I'm a pretty self-contained loner type (though paradoxically I *far* prefer teaming to soloing...) in my own little world, and while I'm sure subconsciously I'm influenced by other people and external factors to some extent, on the surface at least I've always just done my own thing regardless, in real life and the game.

It was my second day playing city of heroes when I got a message from a player called White Knight. on the union server. A friend of his was joining up and he messaged me thinking I was his friend. We got to talking and after a few levels he told me about DOs, lead me to the mutant store and gave me the inf to buy my first set. He explained about the fitness pool which was a life saver on my blaster and recommended aid self. Later he told me about SOs and where to get them. He really made getting into the game a lot easier and i met some of the best friends I've had in game through him.

AOL: First Tip - Featuring City of Villians.

My first character I've ever made was named Frostbite V. I thought the game was fun, not the most fun, but not boring. It was just a cool game I could see myself playing for 6 months or so.

One day while playing, I met a random character named " Baby Frostbite " and we ended up grouping almost every day, thus being by far the most fun time I have ever had with the game. Leveling fast or anything didn't matter, as long as we played as a duo with whoever wanted to join with, usually a guy named Snake's Inferno.

I eventually had to cancel my subscription in 2006 for a long time as I had to focus on personal issues and football, but even when I resubscribed the first thought to my mind was wondering if she still played.

So, if @Kat Solbeck still plays and reads this, send a global friend to @Frostbite V, for being my influence in making this game my favorite MMO, and one of my favorite games I have played.

Seeing a demorecord of Bill Z Bubba's Claws/SR solo the towers in the last mission of the ITF inspired me to work on building and leveling my own Claws/SR (mind you, she is still not level 50 due to a terrible and crippling case of alt-itis). I wish I could find where he posted it on the forums but I think the post has been purged by now.

Mephe's Fire/Fire tanker guide was just what I needed after giving up on my emp/psi defender.(Regular teaming partner at the time ditched me because didnt need me anymore after he got IH)

That was the last time I played any character that couldn't solo reasonably well.

So despite people kicking me from the team on my fire/fire tank because it was too squishy and no good for teams, I played on. Then I got burn. Then the same people that used to kick me wanted to be pled by me.

And I took them. Back then, it was the only way to get bigger spawns.

So thanks Mephe. Playing that toon kept me open minded to playing other less than ideal builds (I know, it sounds ridiculous, but back when he wrote that guide, fire/fire really was shunned)

Other than that, I would say I have been influenced by all of you, and many people who have never even been on the forums. Your idea's, good and bad, always make me think of new and interesting things to roll and ways to play them.

I tend to dip my hands into several areas of the game, and so there are several people who have influenced me in those parts.

Videos

Gibbain - not sure of his city of heroes name, this is what he goes by on YouTube. I was so disappointed when my favorite video of his - Daydream - has been taken down due to copyright claims. This is my second favorite - Dance Gun.

Samuraiko - Of course, but not only are her videos great, she is extremely friendly and helpful when I actually started making my own videos for CoH.

AE

Policewoman - One of the first along with Venture to start doing reviews for AE arcs, which help inspire me to start doing my own AE reviews. She gives a ton of great advice on writing and mechanics, and great to team with.

Trick Arrow

Luminara - One of my early characters was a Robotics/Trick Arrow mastermind. I picked Trick Arrow because I wanted a lesser played powerset, and Lumi was a big part in me wanting to make it to level 50, and not only that but to write my own guide for the set.

Fan Art

This one's a lot harder to narrow down to one person, as it was really the community as a whole, so I'll just toss out a few names - Juggertha, ImagesByAlex, Eddy Swan, LadyJudgement for their art. VexXxa, Dark Ether, and Ironik for the community.

Twilight Avengers.

Well I guess it might not be one person, but many who influenced my main Rift-Dancer. She quickly became my favorite, and remains my favorite to this day.

Her influence oddly enough came from the MFing Warshade. However I hated playing the warshade so I just took the story, morphed it into something else, and became a Grav/FF controller, but gave her teleport, colored her powers similar to Warshade colors and said she mutated.

It was an appealing option as well because people said that this combination was much disliked, and generally not super strong together, but gradually she became my most powerful.

So, my influence was also the fact that she might appear to be an underdog, and with the learning curve before me, she became my 2nd 50 and my first incarnate and I have never looked back.

In terms of gameplay: Arcanaville. Obviously. Arcana's guides to accuracy and defence and continual explanation of how in-game systems work and what math to use in which case have helped me get not just a very good grip on the game and its subsystems, but also on game balance in general, as well as understanding of a game's structure. For this, I am very thankful.

In terms of costumes: Zombra and Sevevus (per chance he hasn't change his name). Zombra was probably the first person I met who was not just willing to disagree with me on costume design, but take the time to explain what he liked and disliked, why some things worked and others didn't and generally actively and consistently help me figure things out. Serevus, on the flip side, is the reason I make female characters today. His awesome female designs inspired me to not just want to make my own, but also to see the breadth and depth of cool female costumes that I, as a dumb guy, could never have even imagined.

In terms of character concepts: The Vulpish One and Nuclear Toast. The Vulpish One has shown incredible introspective insight into not just character motivation but also personality and the way both history and circumstance play a role with this, and he has donated so much time helping flesh out esoteric designs it's amazing. Nuclear Toast, though we don't seem to have played any of the same games or watched any of the same movies, has shown super-human patience in me retelling my ideas to him and has a knack for giving me just the right ideas to spark my imagination, so that I may then proceed to run away with it.

Right now, I'm a little loopy and a little ill, so if you helped me out but I forgot to mention you by name, I apologise. But do feel free to remind me. I'd like that

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arcanaville Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.

Feel better Sam!

My first try at playing CoH was on Guardian, and I didn't do too well. I took a short break to try EQ2, but soon came back. On my return, I decided to try Virtue, as a friend of mine had played there and said good things about the people on that server.

It wasn't long after I started playing on Virtue that I ran into two people that pulled me headlong into serious RP, which is what keeps me around to this day.

King Cheetah: I started RPing with him on my character, a Grav/FF controller. It was fun, and really got me into RPing as a character instead of just having a vague idea of how to RP them. A stray comment from him inspired me to make a mouse character to run around Atlas and be scared by the various felines. (Note: This joke character was not to go past level 1. He became my first level 50.) Right after I made the mouse, I heard a call go out for an animal-themed costume contest. Running in to join the fun, I quickly ran into King Cheetah's SG leader...

Tigris Twins: One of the founders and leader of the Superheroes of Paragon City, America (ASPCA). He and the rest of the ASPCA gave my character a home, and helped to motivate me to flesh him out. The results were outstanding, taking me far from the simple joke he was intended to be. Tigris also helped me get the hang of all sorts of RP tricks and styles, including breaking down some of the reservations I had about certan things and themes.

Tigris's player is set to come back with Freedom. Sadly, I've not heard from King Cheetah's player in ages, but I still hope to see him in game once i21 goes live.

My supergroup (the All Stars) influenced me heavily. They Helped my love of roleplaying grow to this date. Here on the forums I have been influenced by a plethora of the regulars; Arancnaville, Snow Globe, Golden Girl, Bass Ackwards, etc. Thank you one and all for the friendship and knowledge to date and into the future.

If I hadn't been invited to the Team Awesome global on Justice so I could talk about and do stupid stuff with the droogs in there, I probably would have grown bored of the game long before now. Maybe.

In terms of character design, the Justice Server Roleplayers channel, while not doing much for the time being, did help shape my ideas on what 'believable' characters and character backstories could be.