I Say Hello (I want you to read this/I want to give back)

This game allowed me to be my own private mini Stan Lee, because this game acted as my own personal Jack Kirby.
(I said that before in a reply and, with Ironik's confirmation, I felt like it really captured where I'm coming from as I look back on my time spent in this game - and out of it)

I love this game.
I love these forums.
I love this community.
I really love Paragon Studios and the people that made it what it was.

Thank you. Thank you so much. Not only for the fun, casual, crazy, exciting gaming, but for allowing me to tap into my creativity to give birth to an enormous roster of characters - Heroes, Villains, NPCs, family, contacts and their assorted, in-depth backgrounds, story arcs and overall significant meaning within my mind and heart (and sometimes in others as well).


I would not have stayed here if I didn't love and enjoy the actual game as so much, but I don't want that to take away from something that I feel is important.

Someone, somewhere along the way, in Cryptic or in Paragon Studios made the decision that the team was going to be friendlier, more open, more honest, more real... and show themselves to be one of us. Maybe it was accidental, happenstanc'ial resulting from certain employees just being that way... regardless, eventually it was seemingly adopted as a company credo.
And I think it did so much great for the game and this community.
Even resulting in costumes and powersets co-designed by the players themselves.

I never lost sight of who were the creators and who were the customers, but I appreciated the extension that the creators gave us, to pitch in, so immensely.


That attitude sort of brought me here

Before I joined this game, I was happily playing another mmorpg (from a galaxy far, far away... before the dark times... before the NGE).
However, my friend started playing CoH at launch and I got to watch a tiny bit of it over his shoulder one evening. I also got to play around in the costume creator.
I wasn't interested in switching games at all, but I did see some of the potential (yet, I didn't find what little I saw of the gameplay and gameworld to be appealing).

However, I did swing by the CoH official forums every now and then.
Is that crazy or what? I was a lurker on the forums before I ever played.
I think it was the Red Tomax site, but I'm not sure... I had it bookmarked and I would click on their Dev tracker to see what the CoH developers had to say, because I found it so interesting and, by doing so, I got to see how much fun they were and how silly and entertaining (in good ways) the CoH forums were (and compared to my nasty SWG forums... blech!).

The CoH forums were my lurking home away from my nasty home. I guess I was like a kid that wished he could be adopted by his friend's awesome parents, HAHA.

I remember clicking on a red name's post (I believe it was BaBs, but all unknown red name posts are attributed to him afterward), unknowingly entering into a great joke thread about "the generic rant" where everyone, including the Dev, replied in a descriptive general common reply without specifics. That and the thread that someone started about always killing a thread with their reply that'd never get replied to - to which followed a mass of replies to forever keep that thread alive. PRICELESS!!

A while later... shoved away by SOE and their game swap over what I loved... My wife and I set out to try any and every free trial we could find to see what else was out there.

I made a very silly decision.
We'll try this City Of Villains Free Trial FIRST!!
My wife and I downloaded, installed, updated and played...
And we LOVED it.
Within a week, we decided we were definitely buying it and moving forward with this game. As much as I loved my villains, I couldn't wait to make a hero within Paragon City!
We both got the GvE editions for both sides of the game and I even found a super cheap ebay listing for the Collector's Edition and bought it as well! (I later found more for my wife and some friends).


A Gap without CoH

Sadly, it was just a little too soon after the death of our previously beloved game (seriously, I played that game day in and day out and loved it a lot and then it was gone - and replaced by some... monstrosity using the same graphics and data... but it was like Chess turned into Checkers, with Chess being no more).

So, after two and a half months of playing CoH/V, we both felt that we needed a break from such games. However, we knew and agreed together that it would only be a short break before we'd be back playing CoH/CoV.
I did the obligatory WoW trial, just to appease some friends who really wanted us to like it like they did (We certainly did NOT).

That break turned a bit longer than we planned due to some sidetracks. I got involved in a great little role-playing community based around the Vanguard game that was then in closed beta (and they had released little-to-no information as to what the actual game mechanics would be like). Well, when I got into beta and saw that it was way too much of a familiar EQ/Wow class, loot/gear clone system, I had zero interest.

When others from that group told me they were going to play CoH, I was like OH YEAH!!! Doh!

Oddly enough... the night I created a new costume for a new villain character... who I could not decide on which AT or powers to take... I had a terrible, excruciating headache that got worse and worse (I'd had those now and then over the years, but this just did not go away for a long time).

After a very long struggle of dealing with that lasting for 10 days, unending (seriously, going to sleep with blinding head pain, waking up to that same pain, day after day)... and doctors not knowing why... And a longer ordeal of us thinking it was something that it was not... While my debilitating headaches would come and go...
...At least I came up with the powerset for my newly created villain - Mind/Psi Dominator - He suffers from excruciating migraines as side effects of his mutant powers and automatically projects those same symptoms onto others... My favorite villain was born! MALFAZ lived!!
Yet, I could not look at a computer screen without my eyes burning and my head splitting.

So... no games for me... for about 1.5 years.
Until we finally... stupidly... discovered that I had major sinus problems (dur).

Anyway... I finally came back to CoH/V after that (April of 2008, I think, while still recovering) and have never let my subscription lapse since.

And never planned to let it lapse.

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If you recognize my name, my avatar and/or you've ever taken interest or enjoyed anything I've said here, I want you to read this. I want you to stay in touch.
That's just the way I am. If it's not for you, that is fine, but if you're interested, look me up, keep in touch, give a shout, et cetera... If you think there's something there... believe me, I do too. (I mean, I'm married... I don't mean it that way! Haha! Sorry, I felt the need to make that clear!) I just like to share our time on this small globe together. I'd rather know you than not.

I have this whole other thing written, but it doesn't seem right now, so I'll go with this instead:

I guess I should talk about how I started playing and coming to these forums and what I loved about it and all of that. And I'd love to share that with you all (and plan to).


I want to give back

I have to try and explain this...
Since the shutdown announcement, a number of people have sent me very kind messages, some of them from the shadows of longtime forum lurking, just to thank me for my contributions and whatnot. That really means a lot to me. I truly appreciate it.

It's funny though, because I feel more like a visitor here. I didn't really contribute much of anything (and I generally feel like certain people know this and don't really care for me because of it, haha).

I didn't have the maths or the game knowledge or put the work and effort that others have done to make guides, spreadsheets, programs, videos, arts... and so on. All of these things, I have received from our community and benefited from greatly and appreciate so very much.
All I had to offer was some jokes, silliness, hopefully a few smiles or laughs, maybe occasionally an intelligent thought... sometimes I could help someone with a simple question or a problem I may have known the answer to... but that was it.
So, I really just tried to be on top of that stuff... I tried to give back the positive atmosphere that I enjoyed so much here, by being positive back (albeit, sometimes aggressively against someone I thought was being mean-spirited to others).

Music

I do have something else to share though. I just never wanted it to seem like I was using this community for my own advantage outside of anything to do with the game. My music is so very much the bulk of who and what I am. It has dominated my life, for good and bad. Most people have always been very enthusiastic and positive about my abilities and creations, but I understand that music has become an extremely opinionated field. And I, often, am trying to do something that does not entirely fit up to expectations and standards.
The people who enjoy my work tend to love it. I suppose the same extreme may be true of those who do not.

Regardless, I am somewhat versatile, so I truly hope that each of you may find something that you enjoy.

I say this because I would love to give back just anything to you (the Red Names, the guide-writers, the fansite makers/contributors, the min/maxers, the RPers, the writers, the video-makers, the players - tanks, buffers, damage-dealers, healers, debuffers, loners, masterminds, mez'ers, the posters, the lurkers... ALL OF YOU) if you happen to enjoy it.

Sure, I'd love to have more fans around the world (who wouldn't), but that's not why I'm sharing this now. If that were the case, I'd have been using this place and community to do so all this time. I never felt that would be right of me (perhaps foolishly, on my part). You all were here to play a game, not for me to throw my music at you.
Also, to be honest, whether or not I get any of you as fans isn't ever going to stop me. I'll be doing this with or without support. So, it's not about that.
The reason I do what I do is because 1) I have to and 2) it's what I have to offer.

While I loathe labels/categories, to possibly help you find something you'll enjoy: pauldamonthomas.com

This first link may sound a bit more familiar:

Upbeat Bluesy Rhythmic Modern Rock (someone once said this stuff sounds like Jimi Hendrix playing old Metallica songs) - After falling in love with the old blues masters (Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, Memphis Slim, Elmore James and others), I started writing my own take of the root of Rock and Roll.

If you want a quick and simple sample of my guitaring, you can check this youtube (photo slideshow) recording of me playing Hendrix's Red House live. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pU2OIQ2AGzc

Cosmic, poetic space blues rock progressive pop (One person called me Pink Floyd/Pearl Jam - which I had to admit made sense to me) - This is really just the type of music I want to create. I mean, this category actually is far ranging, within itself. And this is not at all an exhaustive example. Honestly, this is just the tip. I only somewhat recently broke free of everything to focus on what I truly wanted to do and these are the fist samples that I've managed to create, all on my own, within my own home studio, which I am still learning to control and produce with. Again, every instrument, every bit of engineering and producing is just me entirely on my own (Yeah, the sad life of a perpetual soloer ). Honestly, I think the production is still something that is holding my songs back right now. I've had many people love my live performances much more than my recordings.

A good start is the song Worlds Apart

Acoustic singer/songwriter - This player has some of my more acoustic songwriter stuff along with some of this and some of that. Some of the stuff on here are songs I wrote on the spot and shared online, all within an hour. So, the recordings/performances are sometimes quite rough. Somewhat like pencil sketches. Some songs are far more produced as well though.

Tough to pick one starter (as they're all very different), but try this downer one - Shroud
Or this video of a more aggressive acoustic song - Mutiny

I also have a few classic pieces that I've written, but still haven't done full orchestrated recordings of them. I do have these rough piano renditions (I was in a friend's studio, they were testing new mics and I just played these two pieces of mine without having practiced them or played them for a while before that... so they are what they are).
Classical Pieces - On Piano:

• Saturn
• Skeleton of A Symphony

I can't promise you that everyone will like any or all of my material, but I can promise you that it does not suck.
So, please, do give a listen and feel free to contact me about it (I love hearing back... silence is death!).
Thank you and I truly hope that you enjoy.
And, of course, you if you really enjoy it, please, by all means, support, facebook me, email me and help me spread the word.


A little background on that:
I've been playing music since I was little, really. I taught myself how to play the guitar and the drums around the same time (started seriously working on them around the age of 13). I also taught myself piano and keyboards and bass guitar and I sing. I also play a mean kazoo, lol.
Saxophone and cello are two instruments that I have been meaning to learn, but teaching myself them has proven more difficult and I just haven't taken the time to get them down yet. One day I will learn them... (Maybe two or more days...).

All of the above recordings are songs written entirely by me (Jimi Hendirx blues cover aside) and all of them except for a few live performances in the PTB player are me on each of the instruments, recorded, engineered and produced by myself (I don't say that to brag,m but rather to explain why it may not be perfect sounding!).



Uggh, I REALLY did not want such a long section being ALL ABOUT ME and coming off as though I am simply hawking my ares on you.
I truly, honestly am sharing this because it is what means the most to me and what I have to offer you in return for all of the joy that you have given me during my time in this game and on these forums.
I honestly regret that so few of you will likely see this.
If any bit of my art touches you, inspires you or just pleases you ever so slightly... I would be immensely glad.

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<reserved for more rambling>

http://www.virtueverse.net/wiki/Electric-Knight

I wanna ramble about the Electric-Knight.

When I got CoH in the mail and went to make a hero, I tried what I figured would be the impossible (I like doing that btw).
I figured I'd see if I could recreate a super hero character that I designed and imagined when I was a kid.
By the time I was 17ish or so, some friends introduced me to playing a tabletop RPG game, Marvel Superheroes RPG (in-between playing D&D).
I created my hero based on one I'd imagined as a child, but modified a little.

He was a young kid that, while rescuing his little female playfriend's cat out of a tall tree during a thunderstorm, got zapped by lightning... but didn't die and instead it activated his super powers to generate and control massive amounts of electricity.

I need a name?
I never had a name for the character... Okay... Electric Knight!

And his real name is... Eric Knight! Yeah, that's awful enough to fall in love with! Woohoo!

Two things were sure to go wrong:

• I wouldn't be able to make him look right (certainly not exactly the way I imagined and drew him... and probably nothing else would satisfy me... right?)
• And surely, even if I could live with the way he looked, there's no way he'd actually play like he's supposed to in this video game!

Well, I couldn't quite capture the same exact look - Not the right hair and not the right eye things for his mask... But the rest of the outfit was super simple (all black, all tights plus black full mask... yeah, shaddup... I wear all black all the time and this guy was taking after me, apparently. He knows cool when he sees it, LOL).


Hey look what all this nostalgia has done... it made me dig up all notebooks, with crude pencil and pen sketches where homework and notes were supposed to be done (YES!).






Maybe I'll try and clean these up and use them as the base of new, better quality drawings. And yeah, sometimes E-K would start to run out of juice, after a long fight, so he'd tap into outside sources to charge up again and zap the villain into submission! (EVEN the ENDURANCE BAR and SAPPING worked, but that's for later!)
Anyway...

Yeah, he had spiky hair (he'd wave his hand over his head to make it stand up) and a pony tail that poked through the back (It is NOT a mullet!!).

I suggested such hairstyle options, rather surreptitiously over the years, but no dice from Jay and David... Maybe Dink would have been my savior!

Oh, well... I tried just using the Spiky hair, but it never looked right (the sides needed to be gone, while wearing the mask... and the loss of the pony tail just killed a certain visual aspect that fit the character).

So... the topknot hairstyle... and some "Slopes" goggles instead of the triangular eye-lenses... and... voila:




Okay, it took me a little bit to fall in love with the different look, but, for the most part, I liked it and rarely looked back. Bottom line, it absolutely did not impede my believing that this character was my very same Electric-Knight!

However... how the powers play out... That'd never work out, right?!
Okay, I know the suspense is killing you, because surely you haven't heard a hundred times already that I absolutely loved the way that Electric/Electric Blaster played in this game.
The animations and the sounds... exactly as I'd imagined!! I don't think I imagined the electricity quite so purple... however, Return Of The Jedi electricity worked for me without any questions asked!

Something about the playstyle, learning to play this game as a solo Elec/Elec Blaster (I played a lot by myself in the early days) just played out exactly the way I'd expect E-K to feel.
I had to be smart, because things could hit me hard and that'd be no good. I had to use my electric fences and zap, zap, zap!
I had to peer around corners, pick them off, separate them, run away...
It felt right.

Like I said, even the endurance bar felt right (not like I really ran into problems with it anyway).

As I progressed... Tesla Cage? That was a "power stunt" I had to achieve in the old Marvel Super Heroes RPG - a cage of pure energy that would completely hold a foe within it.

And, finally, in the epic power pool, I could get my Energy Sheath (Charged Armor).

Oh... and Flight... holy flight! (Yes, I'm quoting Roger Waters - Amused To Death).

So... not only was I sold on this game through all of that...
My childhood hero returned to me, fully realized and alive like never before! (I'm not really that corny... I just write that way)

I made several other characters and loved so many of them, but I always had only one main hero... And I tried to continue playing him more than any other all throughout this time.

As my time available for gaming shrank, I went back again to hopping on for 30 minutes or so at a time... two or so solo radio missions with Electric-Knight. I could seriously continue to do that for many more years to come. And would gladly continue to pay to do so.


I was also extremely fortunate to meet some terrific role-players forming a new SG on these very forums!
Some of the bonds and friendships I made through those players gave me some of the most fun times and experiences within this game, greater depths to my favorite character, experiences and feelings I never imagined I'd explore with him and friendships that will last well beyond NCSoft's miserly shutdown.



A few more shots of my main man:


He eventually added some color to his outfit, due to being sick of people reacting to him as though he was a villain, all dressed in black.


Eric explains why he was late (again!) to his boss at Cookes Electronics.


I always liked this rolled-up mask look... I realized, I needed this costume option for when he ate and drank amongst other heroes (he didn't let most know his true identity).



After some nasty defeats, I'd sometimes get EK all beaten up... Until Chrysame and DQ mocked me so much and DQ's character (Lotos Rose) fashioned him a fancy microfiber superduper costume... silly fancy heroes... real men wear real tights... okay, maybe not. Also... I did fix the hair eventually and changed it back to the topknot for this damaged outfit (It looked MUCH better than this silly hair, haha).


Ever have this guy show up to do some emergency repairs on your electricity?

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<reserved for more rambling (it is cathartic)>

I want to ramble about Malfaz!

As I explained up-thread... When I was attempting to begin playing this game for real, I created a new villain and discovered the true nature of his headache-inducing powers in real-life in order to come up with his powerset and full background (and creepy demeanor).




This fiendish, mad villain was born a relatively normal looking child. Sadly, he was plagued with head pain from a very early age.
The doctors, that his single mother could afford, tried this and that, but nothing really seemed to work. In fact, most of their medications brought on more side effects and chronic illnesses causing nausea and the like.

What they did not know... Was that the young boy had very weak mutant powers. He had no control over them and they manifested, almost entirely, as pain, inflicted upon himself.
As he grew through puberty and into adulthood, his features morphed.
His skin grew pale as bone, his eyes receded inwards, blackened and shriveled, his jaw and teeth grew into a constant hideous grin or grimace. His brow forever furrowed; his body was ravaged, weak and weary.
And his mind... his mind grew more and more twisted.
Unbeknownst to all, his latent mutant psyche powers slowly and subtly affected those around him.
Doctors and nurses grew more miserable around him... but none were ever consistently by his side like his single mother was.
His entire life, the only person that was really ever around him (during his shut-in, sickly childhood through the teenage years and into early adulthood) was his mother, taking care of him. And this would take its toll on any mother, but, sadly, his powers twisted her mind into madness as well.

Finally, she was institutionalized herself, and young Malfaz (Malcolm Fazworth) was taken into custody by a rather corrupt institution.
There, they studied, used and misused Malcolm.
After long torturous years of such treatment, a certain doctor believed that he had found a way to capture, mimic and focus this strange mutant power of Malcolm's.

As they performed the operation procedure, and implanted the equipment they hoped would help them control his power...
Malfaz was born. The device amplified his own power.
And he rose from the operating table, as the doctors, nurses and staff writhed in agony.

Malfaz harnessed another power that was a secret... he could read the thoughts, memories and experiences of others... and they would remain in his own brain. Full personalities, knowledge and experiences of other people... like cloned duplicates existed within his mind.
He knw everything there was to this new tech implanted within his brain. And he now had the knowledge and skills to tinker with it.
And tinker it to amplify his powers more and to give him greater fine control over his powers, Malfaz did.
Then he strolled out of the hospital, driving everyone within it completely mad.



I later had some of the most in-depth, insane role-playing sessions based around Malfaz.
I brought him into the mix with Electric-Knight and his friends. And it was fairly insane. (Sadly, I also ended up playing a lot less, while so many things were still in flux, and for that, I totally suck!)

Malfaz was attacking hospitals and institutions and the Electric-Knight showed up to one of them before Malfaz had left. I did a video of this to launch the role-playing that would result involving everyone else. That was a blast and Malfaz was given a full voice.
Everyone in the Paragon Universe SG was so great and we had some quality stuff together.
My one friend, who I'd worked with together before CoH, loved Malfaz so much that she asked if she could create a hero to be his nemesis (to which I said ABSOLUTELY!). She created a vigilante psychic that was a trained psychologist, yet had a rather dark side. Their paths eventually crossed and she hunted him down and found him after EK and Malfaz met (and EK was left devastated from the encounter).

The RP sessions that resulted from our collaborations were scary, insane and thrilling (Malfaz was now in EK's brain... and the reverse was true as well). And I plan to do something more with all of those (just as I had before we played them out) some day.

That's the weirdest thing about that collaboration.
I've never before role-played through things that I had gone through in my head previously... as a writer... that had certain definite conclusions that would continue the plot.
Somehow, we managed to spontaneously fill in the blanks (and add more) while being completely in the moment and found ourselves concluding exactly where we had planned to go without consciously adhering to anything.
This was in great contrast to the pure spontaneous role-play that I was accustomed to and enjoyed GREATLY with my Paragon Universe friends. Malfaz just called for something different. And it was amazing in its own way.

Anyway...
I want to share the many faces of Malfaz with you all.
Some of these were mental images within his brain (that actually appeared within some of the role-play sessions). Some of them are different costumes and some are even from futures not yet reached.

A host of aspects within Malfaz's mind:

Malfaz's Hero Ego (influenced by Electric-Knight), the leader Malfaz the villain, The doctor, poor Malfaz the tormented victim, his Mother (ruler and destroyer), the nurse (confused compassion), the sick child, the manipulative nun, the Family gangster (flipping a coin,waiting for the right opportunity), and mostly unseen far right the King (actually the regent from my friend's hero's past - she lived long ago in medieval times and was tortured and abused by the evil regent that took over in the king's absence).





I posted this one short scene writing on Malfaz repairing the tech implanted in his brain after the confrontation with Electric-Knight... And was delighted that so many of my friends found it cringe-worthy!


Malfaz playing the part of the evil regent, re-tormenting his old victim, Psyonika (my friend's heroine).


Every boy's got his fantasy, no?


Mother's gonna make all of your nightmares come true...


Malfaz wishes he could be more like the Electric-Knight...


... But the real result of Malfaz's hero ego is this monstrosity! (which would eventually be unleashed)


I'll admit it... sometimes it's done just because it's creepy.


Although, Malfaz does learn some other avenues of manipulation...


He's got a bit of a Ceasar complex...



And Malfaz has definitely siphoned some of the wrong brains...


Although, some Family wiseguys haven given him the street smarts he needed to become a criminal mastermind...


And a criminal mastermind kingpin he would eventually become! When that facet was able to take and keep control for extended periods of time.


And he adopted the roles of various criminal masterminds that he had the chance to... deal with...





Sometimes, Malfaz disguised himself as a hero... Captain Nomadder!


Sometimes he just wore a trenchcoat and hat to blend in...



Most people didn't know this, but Malfaz really only developed a playful side after acquiring Electric-Knight's personality and experiences.


Malfaz appeared within Psyonika's mind as a former psychologist colleague of hers... that he killed.


Like all of us... Malfaz is really just a child at heart.


...And a tortured soul.


This was what he would have looked like when he was finally arrested and held in special anti-psychic gear... much to my friends' collective chagrin... we never made it to this point.



The idea of a Praetorian Malfaz crossed my mind. He was found and kept by the Resistance as a secret weapon to unleash on the psychics.


I occasionally offered some holiday greetings from Malfaz:

Hope you're having hysterical holidays!!


And he tries to keep that patriotism alive too!




Lastly...
I messed around with some potential FUTURE INCARNATE MALFAZ looks:






I hope someone possibly enjoys that...

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<And one more reserved for more rambling>

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What she said.

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The Alt Alphabet ~ OPC: Other People's Characters ~ Terrific Screenshots of Cool ~ Superhero Fiction

Where's the rest of the rambling? Dammit, Paul, you know how impatient I am! I hope you're playing or kissing on wifey if you're not playing. Speaking of wifey, give her a big kiss from me. You don't have to mention my name, she'll know.

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I sooo tried to like electric blast in this game. You figured with soo many people asking for changes to this power set, it would have gotten done. Another example of how the devs quickened the death of this game. Too bad.

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Doom.

Yep.

This is really doom.

Please pay no attention to that madness and kindly pay attention to the madness added up-thread.


Some details about Malfaz added in.
And, if you didn't see... original sketches of the old E-K and all that silliness.

It's been a wild ride!

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