It's good to hear stories like this every once in a while. Thanks for sharing!
Awesome! I was -in- that league for a couple stints. It was awesome!
Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's the transition that's troublesome.
Isaac Asimov
i love virtue and after switiching from champion server to vritue a few short years ago, i found the fun level went way up. when i was on champ server it felt a drag to play and too long to find teams for mishes. but when i switch virtue i found an awesome crew of friends that are in the sg i am. and i've met allot of awesome people and some sour grapes but at the same time the community has made coh so much fun for me. as a three year vet i love this server and wouldn't plan on play any where else
I'm still on Virtue because my friends are here and this is where most of my characters are.
@bpphantom
The Defenders of Paragon
KGB Special Section 8
There are times where even the most humble community members feel that they need to share their experiences with others. Not just out of growing pains but of joy as well. Now I have been playing on the Virtue sever for well over five years strong. There is something about this sever that I love to call it "home" for all my main characters I ever create on City of Heroes. At first I thought it was the population, and yet when I tried Freedom server it did not have that same jive that I get from the Virtue server. Then I thought it was perhaps the role playing aspects. While it's all fun and games, it's not that which drives me back to Virtue. It wasn't until recently that I found out why I love Virtue: for its people just wanting to have fun.
My epiphany didn't happen until recently. What started out today, as I thought, was a simple finish off a Halloween Event Costume Badge solo, just to relax, turned out to be more eventful and unplanned, unorthodox, chaotic, posse of heroes Trick-or-Treating in Peregrine Island that is best to describe it as one massive monster mash party.
As I was Trick-or-Treating in Peregrine Island, I do take a mental note of the players in the vicinity and those whom are shouting what on the B-Chat (Broadcast). Mainly I try to be courteous to others when I am solo (i.e. not to kill steal from others, or train mobs nearby others just to get them killed. ), but I also listen in for opportunities. Well one opportunity that I saw seemed to approach me personally. Another player was shouting for a ToT team, naturally as I was solo, I passed it off for someone else's bait. Moments later I got a tell from the same player, wanting to know if they could team up. As we all know typing and fighting don't mix, so as I was finishing off my mobs I contemplated my response. I agreed to let them tag-a-long and even let them know I was just in this for the costume badge. They seem thrilled just to be ToT'ing with a buddy and acknowledge my sentiments.
As fate seems to have it, another player, whom I just met hours earlier, wanted to join in as well with another possible Eochai help on the side. Okay, so I had a little fun with Eochai earlier and dragged him halfway across Talos map to the infamous hill near Talos Tram and help him get that badge, as well as for several other players as well. Needless to say, I knew I had an admirer and denial wasn't a good option. So I invited him along, but shortly after he arrived to Peregrine Island, with some of our directions, I got another tell to join up to ToT... That's when I mentally threw up my hands in the air and confess a mental defeat that I will not solo my badges... I'll get my badges when I get them. So after I have invited my fourth party member I went from being a social recluse to a party animal. I didn't have a specific goal anymore, I just wanted to have fun. So again I turned to the B-Chat and listen to those whom are NOW looking for a ToT Team. Being in Peregrine Island it's not hard to fill up.
As my team got bigger, I lead them to more opportune places to ToT at. One such place was the "Motel" by the Arena. One team was already there when we arrived, no big deal, we can take the other side and watch for add-ons. Yet within a minute from arriving their leader contacted me into forming up a league. Sounds chaotic, but fun... I'm in! After he invited me, we sent a few tells which results in him to pass me the "Big Star" and lead the league while he logs off for the day... I wish he could have stayed. We had so much fun.
Naturally, I find it very easy to lead others about, even in Leagues, and I trust my own leadership over many others. However I do have three mental rules: Keep the team busy, keep an open mind and listen to my teammates... and to keep friends together on the same team if possible... those rules has served me well to this day. Especially today. Eight hours or more is how long I lead that league, and we got as big as 40 people (max is 48) in our league. I was in full earnest to make sure that people were having fun. So many levels were achieved, so many shards were collected. Yet no one was complaining. Jokes were told, debates were made, we even took a few breaks to run two successful Banner events, one Zombie Apocalypse, and killed Jack in Irons and Eochai.
Near the end we experimented, with my group being the first team, running the Halloween tip mission to see if only my team can do it, the League, or if we get kick while we try to run it. Turns out to be, the League stays while one of the League's team can run the Halloween tip missions. So during all this chaos of picking up new people, listen in on B-Chat for new opportunities, forming the tip team, and maintaining balance for the rest of ToT team, I was still participating in the ToT fights, knocking on the doors and answering tells while trying to be playful and encouraging to my teammates and League-mates.
Attitude shows. Virtue has plenty of ecstatic people, and yet Virtue has its sour apples as well, but most of all they ALL have Spirit. These are the people that I get enthusiastic to play with. While I appreciate people we complimenting me for my leadership, saying they had a blast, I feel it was them whom made it worthwhile.