Hell, I can't solo the Zeus on most of my characters, much less a dedicated psi. The last time I seriously tried was on an Sonic/Energy blaster, and after five deaths I gave up and got help.

I got a Prima guide for CoH today as part of an Amazon order (it was a buck, tipped me over into free shipping). Interesting historical perspective...I hadn't even realized Peregrine Island wasn't part of the original game! For the first two months, they had no content ready for anyone who might get to L41+. Man. Granted, there was really no way to get to that level quickly at the time (as opposed to seeing L50s sporting ATs that were released that day like we have now), but still...

---Dave

I remember all of that. Hell, when they opened Peregrine, the trailer for that had a Kronos Titan blasting away at Portal Corp in the courtyard. I was thinking to myself "daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn I'm probably never going to see that thing, no way will I ever get that high".

And now most of my characters eat Kronoses for breakfast (the one at the end of Roy Cooling's arc IS tough, yes, but I beat solo on pretty much all my characters whom I brought on that arc)

Here's four more of my characters... glad you liked the others, Rust.



Tawnya Lyons
Archetype: Tanker
Powers: Invulnerability/Super Strength
Alignment: Hero

Profile: Some heroes have an elaborate origin story. Others, like Tawnya Lyons, are simply mutants, who chose to use their powers in defense of their home.

The daughter of deli owners living in Kings Row, Tawnya grew up exposed to the heroes of Paragon City... as well as all the criminals they had to face. Unable to stand it any longer, Tawnya decided to stop hiding her powers and do something, working to keep the piece in her local neighborhood.

Now she's ready for bigger and better things. To fight for more than just her hometown. But will her powers and a strong sense of civic responsibility be enough? Either way, some n'er-do-wells' heads are gonna get busted along the way, so Tawnya's eager to find out.



Scarlet Firebug
Archetype: Blaster
Powers: Fire Blast/Devices
Alignment: Hero

Profile: Shanna Friers is the daughter of David Friers, the 2nd hero to bear the mantle of "Scarlet Firebug." Unfortunately, her father was killed in the line of duty by her grandfather, the original Scarlet Firebug's, old nemesis, King Mantis.

Seeking to avenge her father, Shanna took on her father's identity, and using a combination of the gadgets used by both her father and grandfather during their respective careers. The problem? She's only 17 and has had little to no training in their use.

Nevertheless, Shanna is eager to prove herself, and with her father's pyrokinetic gauntlets and her grandfather's fantastic array of devices, she may just prove herself in this City of Heroes.



Fossa Fatale
Archetype: Scrapper
Powers: Kinetic Melee/Super Reflexes
Alignment: Hero

Profile: If you asked her, Debra Hillings would say she was from Praetoria, having defected from the decadence that was hiding in plain sight. But Debra would be wrong when she told you that, because she's from Primal Earth and doesn't even know it.

Part of the Portal Corps investigation that initially led to contact with Praetoria, Debra, a mutated human spliced with the DNA of a fossa, was lost without explanation. In truth, she was captured by Emperor Cole's forces and - after being made to forcibly give up all information she could on Primal Earth - was reprogrammed into believing she'd always lived in Praetoria.

One cannot be forced to act against their nature forever, however. Debra, or Fossa Fatale, eventually rebelled against the Loyalists and escaped to Primal Earth. With no memory of her previous life, she has no idea she's returned to what she left behind, only lingering suspicions she can't quite place.



Cap'n Super Dracula
Archetype: Corruptor
Powers: Radiation Blast/Dark Miasma
Alignment: Villain

Profile: No one knows who "Cap'n Super Dracula" really is, only that he insists he's THE Dracula, and that he got his (new) powers after being irradiated.

While everyone's pretty sure he's not actually Dracula, he IS Radioactive. And a vampire. And he can shape-shift. And turn into a giant demonic mutant bat.

Yeah, this guy's pretty weird.

----

Yeah... I deliberately set out to make something stupidly ridiculous with Dracula, for the record.

Ridiculously AWESOME you mean.

I really dig it

Heh, thanks.

His second costume is a homage to Leslie Nielson.

This here is Vivacissimo, my Thugs/Sonic Mastermind. A man with dreams of becoming a world renowned vocalist, but couldn't carry a tune to save his life - Vivacissimo was embarrassed on a nationally televised singing program for his horrendous singing. Shamed and enraged, Vivacissimo made a deal with a demon to get revenge. While it hasn't changed his singing voice any, what it has done is cause anyone to hear him sing fall under a hypnotic sway and do his bidding - even going so far as to ignore certain kinds of pain or convince themselves to be left open to attack.


Also, the USAF has recently released the Mark II version of its "Thoughtforce" Battle Suit:

So, tonight I decided to see if I could go back to my oldest villain, an Earth/Elec Dominator, and make him work. Haven't done more with him than shuffle day jobs in almost three years. While I respecced him once (after discovering how horrible Speed was in the Isles), he was still riddled with horrible design choices. But I'd never deleted him, since I rather liked his high concept (and reused it with modification on a similarly-named Mental/Earth Dom later).



---Dave

Well, I might as well join in...



Geiger Girl
Archetype: Mutant Blaster
Powers: Radiation, Energy, Fire
Alignment: Hero

Fate was never that kind to Anna Boleman, diagnosed with Cancer at a young age... the life-saving chemotherapy succeded in more than beating back cancer, but also activated the girls latent mutant abilities; the power to absorb and re-direct radiation. Her condition only became apparent when her freinds and family where diagnosed with radiation sickness from her mere presance. Knowing that her powers put her the general public at large in danger, Longbow took her into protective custody. It was here that she was trained in the use and controll of her powers, to use them for the benefit of mankind. While she spent a great deal of time in quarantine, technicions eventually devised a containment suit that would allow her to safely travel into the open. This armor got it's first try-out durring the Shivan decimation of Galaxy city.

Since her debut, she'd cut a swath through the criminal element; from the Skulls to Arachnos, to the devastated slums of of the hollows... she hasn't made many freinds among evildoers.

As she's gained more experiance with her powers, and has more opertunities to 'unload some rads', she's gained enough controll to take unrestricted, although breif, trips out into the civillian world. Longbow researchers have also developed a sleeker (and far more comfortable) containment suit.

Note, this week is when the latest Loyalty Program goodies are supposed to be handed out. If you were a paying customer for (IIRC) the three months ending April 1, you get some costume pieces, a badge, an emote, and a non-combat pet. The costume pieces are helmets like (but not exactly identical to) those worn by Statesman and Lord Recluse. I think there might be a costume change emote in there too. No idea what the noncombat pet is, tho. It would be hilarious if it was Statesman's ghost, though.

---Dave

Edit: Link, I misremembered some of the details. Aura, not emote. And a chest symbol.

Been re-reading The Web of Arachnos at work, and you know, even after all these years - it's still a extremely good read, and I don't think it gets nearly enough credit both for the game itself and as a Super Hero novel in general.

I'm reading it for the first time right now, and I think certain parts of it are definitely no longer canon, notably those involving the Furies.

---Dave

Eh, They still work. Not sure where you are at in the book, but the Furies ultimately promised Marcus they were going to be "Hands Off" this cycle to determine if they used their powers wisely or brashly (Given their actions in the book, I'm thinking more the latter).

The bits with Nemesis are a tad more shaky though.

Just as he planned.

I'm thinking more in terms of how the Furies are portrayed in the First Ward arcs (and sequelae in Dark Astoria). They seem far less human than the sisters in Web of Arachnos, although I suppose a simple retcon would be that the Furies seen there are merely mortal reflections of the "true" Furies (in the same way Statesman isn't actually Zeus or Cronos).

---Dave

Wheee Staff Fighting.

How's the sound balance in the released version? If it's like the "battle inside a trash can" sound of the second beta version, I may have to hit mute on DfBs for a while.

---Dave

Sound seems fine.

For my Staff Fighter, I decided to do something a bit...odd. In my own personal comic-verse, my hero team has been wiped out, with the members either dead or missing. The only one left really is a young heroine named Jumpstart/Jumpdrive. After multiple failed attempts at reviving the Security Legion, she has turned her desire for justice inward...





Roger Dusfall is dead.
Samantha Connelly survives. And so...
Night-Raider lives!

Stick stick stick stick....

---Dave

For whatever reason, when I first thought up the idea for a "Female Night Raider" this is the villain I saw her fighting in my head:




The Tungsten Titan

Once the mafia boss Victor "Vinny" Chetti (aka The Monochrome Mobster), now a unstoppable mechanical menace whose new found immortality makes it unlikely he'll merely settle for just a piece of the action...
(Seriously, why won't Clockwork legs work with Monstrous feet? Why, I ask you?)

A lot of costume pieces never got made available for Monstrous Legs. They're one of those legacy pieces designers don't like wasting time on. And some never got made available in the first place for some reason, like skirts.

---Dave

So, the vanity pet component of the loyalty pack is a tiny glowing version of Rularuu called the Wellemental or somesuch. I'm calling it Scootaluu the Stalker.

---Dave

I was in full badge mode yesterday.... both my chars earning day jobs 2 day-job related bages (Midnighter/Alchemist and the two involving the university and hospital), one running through the Midnighter scavenger hunt, while the other got her 5th flashback mission that had 2 badges in it.

HIGHLIGHT to view:
Man that mission was depressing. Am I the only one who figgured the blade-weilding D-bag was a traitor the whole time?

though I do have a question.... I know there are some missions, like with theiry, where you can choose what to do with your target.... what happens when you cross the line?

Regarding spoiler: No, I thought that was a pretty obvious plot point in that mission.

Regarding moral choices: the only time such choices have a significant effect on gameplay is if you're running a Morality Mission, and you get a lot of warnings that doing so will change stuff. In the case of things like Thierry's mission, at the very most it might change what some of the random NPC chatter about you is. Otherwise, choices like "Threaten him" vs. "Break his arm" are just roleplaying color.

---Dave

So running back and killing theiry will just give me 'street cred'?

Basically. No matter how that arc ends, Thierry is off the street for you and you will be unable to get in touch with him from the Inactive Contacts tab. Jail or morgue, either way he's gone. But it's a tutorial arc, so it's designed to give a range of experiences. Kinda like how Habashy gives a choice of two contacts and you can only run one, that models how most regular contacts will at some point either give you a choice of new contacts or give you a random contact from a list. (Some zones are very linear, like Croatoa or First Ward, with only a single chain of contacts you follow from start to finish, but most zones have branching contacts.)

Praetoria probably has the best-developed "your actions have consequences" endgame, in that when you prepare to leave for the Primal Shard you can talk to your old contacts in the portal room and catch up on what they've been doing...but only if you finished their arcs, and only if they survived. Crusader Resistance people have very few waiting to talk to them in the portal room....

---Dave

Now I've snuck into Praetoria before... wandered a teensy bit... found some badges. Now, mission-wise is that a ViP zone or what?

And what is this 'first ward'?

Mission-wise, it's either VIP or you separately buy the content. Only paying customers can make Praetorian characters and only Praetorian characters can get missions in Praetoria.

First Ward is basically Praetoria's version of Croatoa, only worse off. Weird mystic stuff and a single long set of contact-based arcs. I'm not sure if free players can get missions there. As a hero, go to Talos's arena, on the northwest side is a swirly portal with a masked glowing woman next to it. If she'll talk to you, you can get missions there. Note, however, First Ward is L20-29, so if you're L30 or higher you can't get First Ward missions regardless of whether they're available to free players.

Issue 23 will see Night Ward, a L30-35 extension of First Ward with more mystic weirdness and outright "living spells". Same basic map with a few tweaks and eternal nighttime, as it's a magical shadow of First Ward that borders on the realms of the dead.

---Dave

I always took Night Ward to be the Praetorian version of Dark Astoria...


Speaking of Praetorians, one thing I've always been kinda confused about is the ability to be a "Sleeper" either for the Resistance or Loyalists and several missions even say "If you are a member of the Resistance/Loyalist go see <Contact> now."

But...I have no idea how to do that, and being a "Sleeper" doesn't work since like for the Resistance, you always get Resistance missions after you finish up with Praetor White.

If you all Marchand or Scott while doing a cross-faction mission, it sometimes changes the parameters slightly (spawns a new glowie to click, gives you a different NPC helper, etc). The real problem is that not all of the arcs can be done cross-faction...some of the contacts are either locked inside faction-specific locations (most of the Resistance ones in Imperial City, for instance) or simple won't talk to you (the Power arcs for Loyalist won't talk to Resistance at all).

---Dave

Note that it IS possible to do ALL Preatoria missions on the same character - Sharpe Shooter (Operative Sharpe's Preatorian double) is Resistance and I managed to get him to do all resistance and loyalist missions/contacts. Fusillade (Amazon Grace's own double) is Loyalist, and she's also done it all.

Basically, while they started on one side, each and every time they got to a "critical choice mission", I had them switch. So Sharpe Shooter became "loyalist" and vice-versa for Fusillade. They did the next arc chain for the side they were "on" (which allowed me to check out the "if you are truly a resistance member/loyalist, call Scott/Marchand now"), until the next critical choice - then flip back. That allowed me to do all the "locked" contacts with both characters.

People looking to do this have to be careful as one of the Resistance contacts gets killed in a Loyalist arc, so if you want to run his arc, do it as a resistance member before you do it as a Loyalist.

However, as long as Praetorians can't participate in Death from Below (or a similar lowbie farm) or AE, and free players can't start in Praetoria, it's gonna be the next best thing to a ghost town on most servers. Solo, or bring your own team in. The novelty has worn off, and player density has dropped way below critical levels needed to sustain pick-up grouping. At the moment, I only have one character still stuck in Praetoria, and I'm thinking of just deleting that one.

---Dave

What I don't understand is how to switch. I was given the option to go talk to Marchand about a Resistance Mission and I know Marchand is in the Loyalist Club Tower...which I can't access, being a member of the Resistance.

Also, I still have Pierce as a contact, but he's still in the Tutorial Precinct Five.

Whee, respecced my 50 (mostly just dropped Confront for Hasten and moved some slots around) and I easily owned the previously-problematic first elite boss of Who Will Die. That was a pretty fun ride, all told.

You can switch at the end of a story arc: you get a solo mission where, after the setup, you get a cut scene that ends with 2 choices. Pick the one that makes you switch.

Also, if you want, you can immediately do Loyalist stuff without waiting for that to come up: just walk to the PPD guy (can't remember the name) who is the contact for the Responsability Arc. Click on him, he'll give you missions just like if you were a loyalist.

Did have an odd thing during the final fight in WWD. The boss was a yellow Elite Boss, but then suddenly jumped up to orange and one hit killed me, from basically full with my Unstoppable and everything on.

I popped my Paragon Rewards rez and turned my toggles back on. He was back to yellow and I handed him his ass without a need for my capstone.

Was weird.

So... they say we're getting a free Respec today.

Anybody know where you find it?

You just type "\respec" and it should bring you to the respec screen

This is distinct from any respecs you may have sitting in your Account Email, which you have to claim and then (IIRC) go to a specific guy to use. And it's /respec, not \respec. If you already had a freespec from the last time they did this, they don't stack...the code is just set to yes/no, they didn't code it to save up freespecs.

---Dave, notes the confuse power in Darkness Control is badass.

ETA: The new Market stuff is up. They've got the 99 cent VIP starter sale on again, so if you've been playing free and can find a way to get 99 cents to them, you get to play as a VIP for one month and thereafter will be Premium at the 1-month level if you decide not to keep paying (which unlocks a few things). New accounts only, can't be used to get an existing Premium back to VIP for a month. But could be used to make a second premium account, if you're into that sort of thing. Come to think of it, it provides a code so you could probably give it as a gift....

As badassed as exploding Kunai would be... I might have to turn Moritori into a spawn clone.

I have asked around, and it looks like the VIP trial thing does provide a transferable code. I forget, Bubbs...have you ever moved from Free to Premium? If not I can get one of the codes for you, it'll at least upgrade your play a bit after the month runs out. (You won't owe me, a buck here and there is down in the noise for me.)

---Dave

Note on those who (like Bubbs) have trouble with getting money to NCSoft: you don't need a regular credit card. You can get a Visa or Mastercard gift card, use it to pay the 99 cents for the VIP Starter and validate, then let the account lapse back to Premium and spend the gift card money on other stuff.

---Dave

You would think with the VIP system they would provide some kind of time card that you can buy.

There is apparently some issue with the time cards. They'd like to have some, but something is blocking them at the moment. If you can find old time cards online, they still work, tho.

---Dave

I have not. And this'd be to get thoes reward points and aligment things going right? Sweetness.

But to clarify, it'd be a month with the two extra slots that will go away once it lapses... or do they let you keep thoes two (the first one's you get for ViPing)?



Questions here too...

a) which model of the Giftcard is needed? They have multiple varieties of each.

b) would it work at the market so I could buy more slots?

c) would I be able to keep using different cards after the first one runs out?

While you're a paying customer, you get over a hundred total character slots (11 per server as a baseline). Once you drop down to Premium, you pick N slots to keep (I'm pretty sure there's a page on the wiki for figuring that out). Any slots you buy directly (such as during this week's sale) you keep when you drop back to Premium. So if you bought the 99 cent pack and bought five slots, you'd have at least 7 slots when you drop to premium (maybe 8, I haven't looked too closely at the formula). You don't have to pick the same ones you had before going paid...if you decide to retire Geiger Girl for a while, for instance, you could leave her locked until some later date (and either buy VIP again, or buy a slot).

a) Anything that has a sixteen digit number and a Visa or Mastercard symbol should work.

b) Yes.

c) Yes.

I suggest finding one that can be refilled, since it's usually cheaper to add money to a prepaid card than to buy an entirely new one.

Also, regardless of what you do on this front, head over to mmorpg.com and see if there's any costume codes left for the Alpha and Omega sets. They're pretty nice.

---Dave

Mkay... So... how we do this?

a) allright.

b) kewl, I hope it applies to gear as well.

c) kewl

I'd thought about it, but then read the details on the back of one of the rechargeable cards. I don't really plan on getting too many peoples... and the prospect of subscribing to the card is a put off. I might as well get an actual credit card.

Damn I hate going on these sites for the first time, can never find anything

As long as you have a card, you can buy points. Points spend the same on everything, regardless of how you got them. So you could load up a card with, say, fifty bucks or so. Buy the 99 cent trial, then drop the rest on points. In the month of VIP time, try out a few of the things you'd need to license (Praetoria, Controllers/Masterminds, etc). Then lapse back to Premium and start spending points as needed. Really liked your Demons Mastermind? Buy that license. Buy a few character slots (I misremembered, they're not on sale this week, but they do go on sale every so often). Maybe a power set or two, definitely get Ninja Run or Beast Run. Etc. Use the month of VIP time as a test drive to see what "not for freepers" stuff you'd like to spend your points on besides character slots and a few utility powers.

At the VERY least, get a card and sign up for the 99 cent deal, it'll be worth whatever fee the card charges to get in the first place. Then you can always spend the rest of the card on groceries and enjoy the slightly improved benefits of having a month of paid time under your belt.

---Dave

ETA: Okay, I looked it up. The 1 month gets you 1 Paragon Rewards token. If you buy any points at all, that's another token for your first purchase. If you spend $45-50 on points to get a nice big wad all at once, you'll get 3 more tokens, which will fill out tier 3. That'll get you permanent access to: All global channels, full email, @tell, ability to play Architect missions (but no rewards), ability to join Supergroups, increased inventories, trenchcoats, kilts, and a few other goodies. Plus you'll have about 4000 points to spend (1600 normally gets you 5 extra slots, 1200 unlocks Praetoria, 1000 for each epic archetype, 1200 for controllers or masterminds, 1200 for alignment system). 3 more tokens (3 months paid play or $45-50 more in points, same basic cost) gets you tier 4, which unlocks the auction house, reward merits, vanguard merits, and full Architect play (but no writing your own).

.... sweet. I do have ideas for people who need trenchcoats.

And I just buy the points when I am either selecting charrecter or logging in, yes?

You buy the points from your NCSoft Master Account screen (webpage). Once you have the points, you spend them on store button in-game. You can also assign your Paragon Rewards with the other button (the one with the starburst pattern). Your in-game email will drop Account and Character rewards based on some of the Paragon Rewards picks.

---Dave

Mkay.

I did set up the account a while ago, though I'm wondering if I should have selected the 'only access this account from this computer' option. Is there a way to remedy that?