And now to organize the Ding Party.
Next Friday night is out, but aside from that, after Monday night, we’re clear to navigate. Love to have as many friends along as possible. Any evenings up through next weekend anyone who’s interested and is a reader here cannot make it?
(Amorpha’s at the same level — 100 xp ahead of me, because, of, course, she’s that sort of competitve person, but that’ highly unlikely to cause us to miss a simultaneous ding.)
Category: Gameplay
Phalanx Prestige Day
Got to run Velvet and P-siren along with the several other Phalanxers on some fine missions for PPD today. Velvet ended up a good half-level higher by the time things were said and done, and I was feeling pretty jazzed about how she did. P-siren had a rougher time, including two unfortunate “What the hell happened to my mentor and why the hell are these bad guys suddenly all purple argh” incidents.
Oh, yeah — Velvet got the Nemesis Staff after the first mssion. Which is ironic, since I probably won’t have a chance to play with it for the next few days, but I took full advantage of it today.
It’s even more fun with ragdoll physics …
Took down Shadowhunter and Infernal, et al. Nice afternoon’s work.
In the left picture, you can see Velvet administering a nice upper-cut to Shadowhunter. P-siren’s up there sticking a psionic throwing knife to his brain. Sword of Asgard’s to the left, Justice Stryke to Velvet’s right.
In the right picture, Velvet lays some Nemmie Staff goodness on Infernal, while Sword on her left and [the other tank who’s name I forget] on her right lend a hand.
Actually, in both cases, Velvet spent most of her time just locking down the bad guy. The Nemmie Staff doesn’t really do much more damage than her Knockout Blow, but it was another nice arrow in her quiver. Good times.
Countdown – T-minus 1.7 and counting …
Quick jaunt on with Psi-clone and Amorpha (and Justice Stryke along for the ride). Actually managed to die, but sitll ended up at 49.83, with about 800K to 50. Another good evening or so of gameplay and we’ll be ready to set something up for the Big Party.
Purple! Purple! Purple!
Hostess Heroes tonight. Kitten was dawdling and downstairs as we started, and as we were tied into the final Doctor Vahzilok mish, we couldn’t take the time off to get here up into bed.
So she instead ran back and forth between our computers whenever she’d spot a purple mob. “Purple! There’s a purple there! Look out! He’s purple!”
Very … um … helpful.
The picture shows (L-R) the HH team: Twinkie Kid, Bear Claws, J A W Breaker, Princess Peep, Ginger.Snap, Ho Ho, Otter-Pop. and Ring.Ding. Not shown, alas, is Capt. Funyun, who mapserved (though not before getting victory credit and the SO).
Ho Ho and Princess Peep both dinged 18 over the course of the evening. Invincibility for me, some sort of PBAOE radiation debuffer for Peep. Invincibility, as I demonstrated on the next mish, needs a little warning label: “INVINCIBILITY: Note, does not convey actual Invincibility” — though it’s certainly a fine defensive power.
Need to get taunt. Currnetly slated for 22 (20, of course, is the desperately-needed Stamina).
I’ll be out next go-around (somewhere over the Atlantic, in fact). Week after that: Synapse (1, 2, 3).
0.27 … and counting …
(The above to be said, of course, in a slow, German-accented voice …)
Damn. With travel and anniversaries and that sort of thing, surprisingly little CoX play for me this week. Finally got on tonight with Psi-clone and Amorpha and hit the mother-lode: 7th Generation Paragon Protectors, all orange and red and utterly snackable, 2600 to 3400 a shot, plus the boss and the missions.
By the time we were done doing the mission two and a half times (one of mine, one of hers, and one mapserv-interrupted of hers), we were averaging 13K/min, had about 1.3MM to go, were up to SL 49.73, and were at an estimated 1:45 to level.
I figure one more good evening’s worth of beating on stuff, and we’ll be ready for a “concluding” mission — something fun and party-like, invite the friends and colleagues. Should probably start sending invites out now, given everyone’s busy schedules.
Looking forward to it.
Ho … ho … ho … zzzzzzzzz …
Stayed up way too late last night playing CoH. Well, I wasn’t planning on staying up that late, but when I signed on I saw the Hostess Heroes were up and about, so I just had to join in the fun.
A long, exhasting slog — literally, as I was both very tired and Ho Ho was chronically short on endurance — but I got her up to 17, which was fun. Good team which managed to avoid deaths despite some very red/purple characters and no Princess Peep (or other strong healer) to keep us going.
A Virtuous interlude
Hung out at Doyce & Jackie’s last night, and played CoH with Jack. Champion was down, so we fired up a couple of toons on Virtue (Honor the Flag and Copper Mountain) with Jackie bringing in a Kheldian named Rejoice and, eventually, bringing in a number of other player toons, including one of Mal’s and one of Rufus’s. A fun, if short, time.
So … want … to ding … 14 …
Countdown – 0.47 …
Despite only running one mish last night, Psi-clone got up to 49.53, largely because of going back to Maria Jenkins and getting his arc conclusion credit for the Praetorians.
Started late, ran the mish, the spent the rest of the evening with Zazi emptying his pockets of about 400 lbs. of salvage. Yeesh.
Countdown
Finished up the Praetorian arc last nightj with Psi-clone and Amorpha — Dominatrix and Marauder, followed by Tyrant. Took many fun pictures standing next to Statesman, who looked quite rugged.
I’m of mixed feelings regarding the whole AV/Elite Boss thing. On the one hand, it let us duo the whole grand story line, which was convenient and fun. On the other hand, they were almost too squishy — Tyrant was red, and, frankly, no real match for Amorpha even without much help from me.
If we redo the arc via Amorpha, I’d like to play with the settings a bit, to see if we can make them nastier without bumping them to AV level. AVs I’m pretty sure (given past experience, and their recovery rate) we can’t duo, but we should be able to find a way to make the EBs more of a challenge.
Now at 49.45.
Timing is everything
Freedom Phalanx Day — which I look forward to as a great reason to play Velvet — is Sunday afternoon …
… just when I’m leaving on a business trip for the week.
Knights Night — which I very much look forward to as a great reason to play Fazenda (in her new costume, no less) — is Thursday night …
… just when I’m flying back from my business trip.
*sigh*
Bit and pieces
Ran with Ho Ho and Princess Peep last night, getting both to 16 and beyond.
I’ve decided, in retrospect, that I really ought to have gone for Taunt — the “Bite Me” aura is good with Invuln, but Axe is way too slow for punchvoke. Since my job is, often as not, trying to hold/control aggro for the biggest nasties (followed by standing up to same), not having Taunt is a problem.
Alas, I’m in the High Teens Rut (appropriate for Ho Ho), so this time I got Health (leading to the desperately needed Stamina at 20), and next time I have to get Invincible. Then Stamina. At 22, I start backfilling some of the Resists, but I’ll reevaluate at that time to see if I need to get Taunt (since the best Taunt is, of course, staying on your feet).
Until then, guess I just have to keep wiggling the butt and asking to be bitten.
Gameplay went pretty well — were in some nasty Lost mishes, but I (barely!) managed to stay on my feet. Unyielding rocks vs. Aberrents — never got mezzed once, and that was a good thing.
Afterwards, we pulled out PC/A to finish our (4th) costume mission slot. That should get us an added free costume token today, when the /cov fix goes in. Margie went on to do something similar for P-Siren and Araware.
Roleplay
So as I was going through my Character Update, I realized there was something missing, largely, in what I was writing.
Roleplay.
I mean, this is a MMORPG, right? And the Alliance is an RP group, right?
Well, frankly — my RP is just plain old turning to be largely situational. Posts when I think of it (I have a couple lined up for Torchielle and Lynn, and another one or two nebulously out there for PC), and always in RP character voice online, and open for RP chats if they come up. But I really don’t have strong, compelling stories to tell with these folks. Or, rather, I have too many other things going on to carve out time for strong compelling stories with them — especially since there’s the distraction of, well, gameplay. PC has a big story. Torchy does (or could). Most of my characters have strong backstories that could lead to something interesting.
But … that “could” will probably largely remain shallow, not going much beyond hints and motivations behind chit-chat and related activities.
I know there are folks who spend hours just standing around with their toons RPing. And I accept, respect, and, in fact, admire that. But I also look to CoX a lot for the opportunity to just bash on bad guys/opponents. I’m happy (in fact, more than happy) to do that IC, but I really … sadly .. am not going to be acting out the Great American Novel as part of the game. It doesn’t fit with what I want from the game, nor the circumstances in which I usually play it.
Hrm.
Character update
Current status of my various toons:
- 49 – Psi-clone: Continues the slow rise to 50. We’re playing him and Amorpha around 3 days a week, interfered with by fatigue, travel, and other commitments. We’re still making steady progress, though, carving through AVs-as-Elite Bosses. I do want to respec him, though — the Mental Blast from the Mind Mastery Epic Pool has been pretty wussy. I can do better. I also, once I7 hits, want to do something fun costume-wise.
(Hmmm. Just heard from Margie on something about that. More in another post.) - 31 – Velvet Jones: Hrm. When’s Phalanx Prestige Day? Hrm.
- 27 – Lynn Calodo: My ongoing solo character (though I’ve ended up on a few teams and conversations with various Shrike alts). She’s still deep in Striga territory, but doing quite nicely on Heroic, thanks much. As a solo character, not sure what, if anything, I’m going to do regarding TFs. Or, for that matter, respecs, though I don’t have anything I want to respec her to/away from.
- 26 – Torchielle: I can snipe! Yay! Having continue god-awful-area-damage fun with Hildegard. I find working with them to be relaxing.
Did a costume change on her, in conjunction with getting her a cape. That meant changing her hairstyle, which was only partially successful.
I am looking forward to a respec, though — I want to change her over to Fly from SJ. I think it makes sense for her, given her background, and I’m coming to decide that I like the flexibility of Fly. - 21 – Fazenda: Still need to show off my new “illegal” costume. The next Knight Night should be … probably while I’m on a business trip next week. Urg.
- 15 – Ho Ho: Missed out on her last week. Looking forward to playing with her this week.
- Mr. Azure, Amethyst Crown, Honor the Flag, Big Lungs, Al McGordo, Fr. Frank: Nada. I’ve been tempted to do a bit of soloing with Honor, but went with Lynn instead. And I’m looking forward to getting back to the Azures in the future.
- Mister Thorne, Mister Ravenous, Eliza Dee: Again, sadly, nada. Maybe a bit more on the CoV side once we’re done with PC/A’s rise to the top.
Countdown
Psi-clone and Amorpha are at 49.42.
Tonight we took down (as Elite Bosses, to be sure) Black Swan, Siege, Nightstar, Malaise & Mother Mayhem, and Diabolique and Infernal. (For those wondering, those guys as Elite Bosses generally are netting around 4K, with the missions earning around 30K.)
The Malaise/Mother Mayhem mish not only got the award for the Creepiest Set Dressing in CoH (the Asylum), but netted us the Portal Jockey Accolades.
Slow but sure …
Else-alt …
Hildy & Torchy dinged 26. Snipe!
Lynn dinged 27.
Blue Point dinged 37.
Countdown
Psi-clone and Amorpha are at 49.32.
Ran a slew of AV missions, though down at Heroic so that they were manageable Elite Bosses. Infernal, Dreck, Battle Maiden, Daibolique. Only the first gave us trouble — and two deaths each of debt (largely the result of my eventually drawing aggro from the room full of demons and Amorpha either dropping after I was down or dropping trying to save me).
Still … slow, steady progress.
Creeping upwards
Psi-clone and Amorpha got to 49.2 last night.
A tiny recap
Not a lot of CoH news of late — my travel and other Real Life concerns have been sort of interfering with the Important Stuff.
- I actually managed to get to the hotel in time on Sunday night to play a bit with Margie (in and amongst late-night conference calls). We have a mic set up on Margie’s machine now, along with her headphone; with my notebook on the other end, we were able to use GTalk to do voice communication. Fun time running around with Hildy and Torchy. Watching smouldering piles of bodies at Hildy’s feet never gets old.
- Margie’s got Blue Point up to 35.4. Nice. She’s actually getting up high enough that her experience is guiding some design changes for Amorpha.
- Margie headed off to bed early last night (after Space Night), so I spent a few hours soloing with Lynn on Striga, getting her up to 26.6. Yay. Easy times with Council (including Vampyrii and Warwolves), a bit rougher with Banished Pantheon (like everyone, I fricking hate Storm Shamans).
Need to get some more time in, in particular with Psi-clone and Amorpha. I’ll make a note of that.
Ding-ding!
Psi-clone and Amorpha double-dinged 49 at the same time last night. Can’t imagine we’ll manage to time it that closely for 50, but that would be pretty keen.
Only (now) 9.5 pips to go! Start planning the party!
Monday, Monday
Hostess Heroes time, with both Ho Ho and Princess Peep dinging to 15.
Did a few KR mishes, then a couple of Perez mishes. The latter of which were both very low level, but we did get a chance — my first time — to fight the Kraken.
Which was, frankly, a bit of a disappointment. Nobody really took any damage, and he was not nearly as impressive-looking as I’d expect.
Still, cool times. Alas, next Monday I am out of town (or, rather, traveling back in town), so likely won’t get on. Which makes me sad, because right now Ho Ho’s one of the slightly more experienced in the group, which is helpful for a tank. Oh, well.
Also need to keybind some witty one-liners for her.
Weekend Review
FRIDAY
In the afternoon, Lynn, who I got up to 26 (and the “SOOOOOOOOOOUL DRAIN!”). Need to do some journaling with her
Bopping about with Psi-clone and Amorpha. Ran a couple of AVs (as Elite Bosses) with very little trouble. Then headed over to the Cascade Archepelago for some of A’s missions.
I am hereby announcing plans to respec all my players to Fly, if we plan to spend any time over in that neck of the extradimensional world. Watching Amorpha try to SJ her way between various contacts and the like was frustrating (for her more than for me).
And the kora fruit mission we eventually got? I mean, even if you could still farm them the way you used to, it would still hardly seem worth it for some top-tier Inspirations. Bah.
Back to the AVs (and clearing out all the Infected Scientists and demoic cohorts by Portal Corp).
SATURDAY
Torchielle and Hildegard on Striga. Who can ask for anything more? We both hit 23. Hildy did encounter some debt problems as she gets used to the different level of defenses, but we’re still leaving piles of smoking bodies behind us.
We teamed up late in the evening with Major Rogers, who was a couple of levels above us. Nice to add another person to the mix, even though it made me very aware that we have a pretty fixed MO (no moreso than, I suppose, PC/A) that needs to be flexible for guest stars. And that will need to be flexible in the future for critters we can’t (or don’t want to) just herd-and-fry. Torchy has some alternate flame powers coming up (her snipe and her boom), but when we start facing some of the exotic bad guys, we’re going to need to be more flexible.
Lots of good fun. Think I’m going to add Stealth to her, just to aid in the setup. (I’d add Invis, too, if I could find a power slot. Thinking of Stealth for Lynn, too.)
SUNDAY
In the afternoon, more Torchy/Hildy stuff. No more deaths, two instances of Maestro, and Torchy dinged 24 (and another fire blasty power, yay).
In the evening, we brought on Psi-clone and Amorpha. Did a couple of mundane mishes, then brought in T’lauro and Pizzaz as SKs and took down three AVs (as actual AVs, since that’s what happpens when you have four on a team): Dreck, Bobcat, and Neuron. A few deaths from the melee types, helped by having two Empaths on the team, plus buffs and holds and good stuff like that.
PC/A are about 2.5 pips from 49. Yay!