More on I8

Quoth Positron:

Teleport fix should be in the next patch as well, as well as some code for memory leaks and other nastiness.

A fix for Group Teleport will be coming in I8.

Patron Respec issue should be fully solved in the next patch as well.

Dominators are getting a buff that should make them more desireable on LRSF in I8 as well.

Lt.s should be spawning in missions again (I don’t know if this is fixed in the patch, or was fixed in I8).

We are constantly datamining PvP, seeing which side is winning more. The results are not what you expect. One side wins, then the other side, then the balance shifts back, and then back again.

I had 2 PM’s in my box, back to back. The first was “Stalkers are useless in PvP” and the next was “Stalkers are overpowered in PvP”. The grass is always greener they say…

Our lead programmer has been doing nothing but fixing bugs since I7 was released. He mentioned to me the other day that he hadn’t written one line of code that was only in I8. We -are- trying to get the major issues fixed, but eventually the new issue has to come out, and that gobbles up the Training Room server, and we have to button down new fixes until that Issue goes to Live.

The next patch for I7 is not in NC Soft’s hands yet, but will be shortly. You can expect it on the Training Room once it has passed their internal QA process.

And yes, all of this bug fixing has pushed out I8 beyond the original “September” estimate I gave back in May.

Oh, and there’s a Hero version of Lord Recluse’s Strike Force a-coming … in I9.

Top Issues

Per Positron …

* “Looping Sound Crash” – We think we MAY have this finally fixed.

* “Invisible Players/Enemies on Map” – Again, we think we may have this fixed.

* Choice table for Lord Recluse’s Strike Force. – Upon completion of the mission, you will get a choice table, instead of the Enhancements simply being put into your tray (and if your tray is full, put into oblivion). You will NOT be able to pick the specific Synthetic Hami-O, but you will be able to choose a +3 level SO instead of the random SHOE if you want.

Yes this means that the Freedom Phalanx will drop SO’s again.

I don’t know when these will be hitting Training Room, but these will probably be the last big fixes in I7… onward to Issue 8!!!

The Devs have been pretty quiet of late … hunkering down for the push to I8. Looking forward to it.

And all that said — I’d be frelling happy if the damn trains got debugged! How long has that been going on now?

The Big Four-Oh

Dinged Hildegard, then Torchielle, to 40.

It’s only an enhancement level, of course (and not very exciting enhancements at this point — around 40, you start running out of things to drop enhancements into, as most of the exciting powers are already taken and fully 3- or 6-slotted, and the EPPs don’t start until 41).

Biut, still … as Doyce put it in passing. “That’s just wrong — Torchielle should still be running around Steel Canyon.” Yeah, it feels that way sometimes. 🙂

On a related note, I was … irked to discover that I was out of respecs on her. I used the I7 freespec already (to drop Super-Jump for Fly), so I’m stuck with Rain of Fire instead of Grant Invis. until another freespec comes along, or until we do an actual Respec mission (which might be a bit rough to do).

And, yes, it was fun to announce it on the Alliance OOC and have people cheer. No man is an island.

Anyway … forty! W007! Time to start hitting on Malta!

Par-tay!

From the Top5 Comics list, 1 September 2006:

The Top 7 Things Overheard at a Superhero Party

7> “HULK WANT HEAR ‘PURPLE RAIN!'”

6> “Do you think anyone should tell Sue Storm only her costume goes invisible when she’s drunk?”

5> “I found out the hard way that (a) the red chair was PlasticMan, and (b) he was really happy to see me.”

4> “Sure, they can fight crime, but just look at the Teen Titans now: Boys lined up along one wall; girls lined up along theother.”

3> “Supergirl and Powergirl came in the same outfit this year? Awk-ward!”

2> “With great power comes great responsibility… and my world-famous Spidey-Tater-Salad!”

and the Number 1 Thing Overheard at a Superhero Party…

1> “And let’s give everyone just back from the dead a big hand!”

And Honorable Mention to the Runners-Up List:

“Can you believe Elektra’s wearing white after Labor Day?”

“Hey! Whose idea was it to play Twister with Plastic Man, Mr.Fantastic and Elongated Man?”

“Maybe they wouldn’t put you to work in the kitchen every time, Cap, if you didn’t carry around a giant serving tray.”

“Please, Logan! Not in front of the Runaways.”

“So, what kinda mileage does the Batmobile get?”

“Because it feels so good when I stop”

So, a few days afterwards …

Life goes on. Sing o-bla-di-bla-da.

Actually, for me, it’s been such a perfect storm of … well, multiple storms … that I keep finding myself forgetting who’s miffed at who over what. Some CoX-related, some not, and some spinning off of work-related issues.

For me, the Breaking of the Alliance (let’s make it sound exciting) isn’t nearly as traumatic as the Big January Brouhaha. Part of that is because I am slowly winding down on CoX. Oh, yeah, I still play it, and don’t plan on canceling my subscription any time soon. But it’s not a “I have to rush home and get on and hope the kid doesn’t drown in the bathtub and stay up way too late” 7-day-a-week obsession any more. If I decide to take a break and read, or watch a movie, I can do that
and not feel like I’m “falling behind,” or “missing out,” or “letting people counting on seeing me there down.” It’s a moderately serious hobby, not an obsession.

And, also unlike January, I don’t feel the need to Fix Everything. Some people did some crappy stuff, other people did some sort of crappy stuff, most folks are going somewhere else, and the people left behind are, frankly, mostly the people I’ve been having the most fun with anyway. Heck, if it were just Margie and me, it would still be good.

Or, put another way, most of the folks who have left are people who, while I miss some of them saying howdy on CC, I’m not going to cry into my pillow over. Acquaintances, mostly. And a few I’m more than happy to be quit of.

As for personal rancor … there’s a bit of it. Most of it is impersonal — folks who chatted behind backs about me and mine, mostly revealing more truth about themselves than about us. Some of it is more personal — but, even there, it’s not too difficult to let go. I do resent the people who brought it all crashing down, whether for good reasons or nasty reasons. But not so much that I have to hunt them down, or rant and rave and wail and gnash my teeth over them here, at least right
this moment.

And if I encounter some of those who’ve departed in a train station? Even assuming I can keep straight Who was Which? I’ll probably at least wave. If I get a tell from them, I’ll probably reply. Heck, if I get asked for assistance … I may very well give it. That’s what heroes do, after all, isn’t it?

Life’s too short. And, paradoxically, it does go on.

A semblance of normalcy

Two big missions last night, when all was said and done, for Torchy and Hildy.

First, wrapped up the Where Are All Those Paragon Protectors Coming From story arc for Torchy (complete with commemorative SO can’t use yet). We had things pretty well figured out against those guys, though Hildy still gets into orange/red for longer than I’m comfortable with.

I do very much like the final redressed lab with all the soon-to-be-PPs up in rooftop tubes, though it loses a bit of its uniqueness now that Arachnos is doing the same sort of fx. I remember it creeping me out when first I saw it, and it still is eerie.

Then off to a Rikti timed train mish (find the 8 people and a barrel of goo). Did fine, and earned big points clearing the map. Invis was helpful for scouting, even with all the Drones. I ended up like a quarter pip off of 40, and Margie was even closer.

Actually, started up the evening (not knowing how things were going to be on the Villain side) running a stale mission solo with Mister Thorne. Yeah, really not liking Masterminds solo. YMMV.

Character Updates

Because everyone does one!

  • 50 – Psi-clone – Ran the Shadow Shard #4 the other day. Barely managed to get in the groove with him, alas, it was so short. Wanted to (once again) buy him one of the new leather jackets, but didn’t get around to it. Not likely to come out again any time soon. He was considering taking a sabbatical, turning over control of the CoJ to some other folks for a while, etc. Then Paragon City blew up.
  • 39 – Torchielle – Soooooo close to 40. Wow. Have finally decided on her EPP (I think I decided on Flame, just so I can get Rise of the Phoenix like Hildy has). Still enjoying blowing things up. We’re running on one-step-below-Invincible, which gives us lots of bodies to herd and AoE — and just high enough to get us into trouble once or twice a week (see “Rise of the Phoenix”).
  • 32 – Lynn Calodo – Finally, finally dinged 33. I was going to shift her into the CoJ, and still might, depending on what’s going on with the Boomtown Saints (or, actually, if that makes any difference at the moment). I really hit stride with her last night, taking down DE and Council with aplomb.
  • 31 – Velvet Jones – Now a member of the CoJ. Forgot I’d bought her garish new boots.
  • 28 – Ho Ho – Still an annoying low-damage (but huge knockback) tank (see “Velvet Jones”). I do hope that we see more HH stuff in the coming weeks — she is just not a soloist or even (with a Defender) a duoist.
  • 21 – Fazenda – Um … when’s the next Knights Night?
  • 16 – Mr. Azure – Margie mentioned that we should promote the Azures to be the new heads of the CoJ. That would have been hilarious. Maybe need to play them sometime, though they do best with an audience.
  • 21 – Mister Ravenous – Would like to get back on and play him some more. Maybe tonight? (It will be interesting to see what, if any, dynamic is going on over on the CoV side in reflection of the CoH brouhaha.)
  • 17 – Mister Thorne – Almost made him moderator of both forums. That would have been amusing.
  • 16 – Eliza Dee – I’ve been feeling more Scrappery than Brutish of late, so more Lynn than Eliza Dee. We’ll see when that changes.
  • 10 – Maitre D’mon – If we ever haul out the Devils Food again.

Loggy Bloggy

So with the impending demise of the Alliance website (mutter mutter mutter) comes the question of what to do with the materials therein.

I’ve already done a “Save As” for all my individual character entries cross-SG. So the most important material (kindasorta) is safe. (Haven’t done that for Margie’s stuff, but that’s thinner on the ground). Question is, what to do with it.

I could post it on the new AoC Lite forum I’ve put together. Problem is … well, I’m not sure that’s ever going to be much of a community, more like a place to hang and post stuff that needs posting in a place that’s not, well, here. To be perfectly honest, while I look forward to continued CoXing with other members of the remaining AoC groups, I don’t see any of the current folks going into a big membership drive mode that would require a forum to support it.

I’m inclined to think, in fact, that we are in the end game, so to speak, of our (individual) CoX gameplay cycles — the remaining Alliance people will play a bit here and there, slowly decreasing, and gradtually wander away, gently, into that good night.

Okay, that was more depressing than I meant it to be.

At any rate, I’m not sure how much effort I want to put into recreating a Little Slice o’ the Alliance if it’s mostly a half-dozen or so people and their casual passtime. Feel free to disabuse me of my interpretation of the sitch.

The alternative, moving to a more personal style, is to post that character material here, on the Blog of Heroes. Put a pointer to it, perhaps, from the forums (in case someone goes looking), but take the individual posts and either do them up in a single block, or else, plug them in, dated appropriately, and have their own categories (“Log / Psi-clone”) here. The material stays at hand, in a probably-more-persistent format.

That’s the direction I’m leaning, at least for the character stuff (which I care most about). Thoughts?

A minor victory

Whilst Margie was out, I finally got Lynn up to 33. It’s been a while — I’ve been using CoH Hero Builder for a bit, and I still didn’t have one set up for her. Did some quick replanning for her later levels, then called it a (way too late) evening.

AoC Lite

I’ve created forum space (titled “Alliance of Champions Lite“) for use of those who are — left behind? opted out from? left to stew in their own cliquish juices? — from the Final Alliance Implosion.

Anyway, I’ve created space for the CoJ, the SK, and the BS. If you create an account there (assuming you want something different from your CoI account), and you want moderation rights over your subgroup, let me know.

I’m in there, btw, as Three-Star Dave. Life’s too short right now to create Multiple Alt IDs>

I’m going to be doing some digging about converting from phpBB to SMF. If I can work that, I can pull over the group stuff en masse (I hope).

Munched

Did manage to hop on last night for what was to be Avocet’s fairwell Monday Munchies/CoX appearance. No sign of him, but Ho Ho and Peep and Ginger Snap and (briefly) Bear Claws did get some Striga time in — until (a) folks had to hop off to deal with character-booting brouhaha, and (b) Freedom started mapserving. So folks went off and soloed or did other stuff.

Doyce speculates whether — given changing schedules and interest and involvement — the Hostess Heroes (or Devils Food, for the two times I’ve seen them play) have much future. I hope so, given that they’ve been a light way of enjoying some teaming with good people, but the numbers have been dropping and, honestly, I’m not so dedicated to Ho Ho (or tanking) that I’m going to out soloing or duoing with
her. So we’ll see.

City of Junior High Cliques (Part II)

So …

Well, I still don’t know the whole story, but clearly a second Katrina hurled into the Alliance, sending what rather remarkable rebuilding had been done flying into the air like Dorothy’s twister.

Casualties this time, beyond the immediate body count, appear to be the AoC forum, freedomphalanx.com, and the core Alliance, most/many of whom seem to be hieing off to the CoC forum and so on and so forth. The AoC forum evaporates along about 10/24, along with anything written there. And any further discussion there is currently moot, given that Stateswoman has locked the forums.

Joy. Another project (backing up that material).

So far as the Alliance goes, according to Captain Atomyc, “As of today the Freedom Phalanx, Crusaders, Noctem, and Virtue are leaving the organization. Any remaining members of those teams are welcome to continue on as such if they wish.” Which is rather remarkable — I guess, while I was sleeping somewhere, the FP became one of … well, saying “them” makes it sound awfully factional, but …

For the record, that “leaves” the Consortium of Justice, the Prelude to Justice (though I think they’re leaving, too — at least Cap mentions that Halorin’s trying to organize some sort of all-Champions RP alliance), and the Storm Knights. And the Boomtown Saints, so far as that goes.

(It does make me wonder if it would be easier for the CoJ and the Storm Knights to simply get somehow kicked out, instead of everyone else leaving, but …)

Where/what next? Questions.

Assuming we’re basically talking about the CoJ and SK …

  1. I will probably pull Velvet out of the Phalanx. I’m not sure who’s left there that I’ve a big interest in playing with, anyway, and she’s not a very active toon, and so forth.
  2. Do we need or want forum space somewhere? I can set up space where I have had have the CoI. I don’t know nuthin’ about transferring over old material. And it’s an SMF forum, not a phpBB. And it may be moot, anyway. My own interest in maintaining ties can be (and has been, of late) handled in non-forum fashion, via e-mail, IM, this blog, or others’. And so long as I keep CoXing,
    this blog will stay up, and so (from a Dave-centric view), that’s most of the forum that I need.     Folks feel free to chime in on the subject.
  3. Assuming the CoJ gets dropped from coalition with the others, I plan to maintain CC with the Storm Knights (some fine folks over there, including a couple of my own). Anyone of my “little circle of friends” (as SB so delicately put it) is welcome to a slot in the CoJ, as a place to hang their SG hat. Don’t worry about IC reasons — we can work something out, and, frankly, that’s right now the least of my worries. Indeed, I’ve spent about, oh,
    all the time I’ve spent on it this morning more time than I really had to spend on it. But it seemed worthwhile doing so.
  4. Again, I don’t know all the skinny of what happened, save what I’ve been told by friends. That said, I’ve not seen anything in the forums that makes me doubt anything they’ve said, which makes the whole episode appallingly sad (and angering) and a lesson to be learned by us all on something or another about human nature, maturity, the Internet, social systems, politics, or whatever.

  5. I plan to continue to play CoX as opportunity presents and inclination inclines. I will continue to play mostly with Margie, just because that’s the most convenient and the most fun. I’ll welcome the opportunity to play with any of those who I’m interested in playing with (and who are interested in playing with me).

See you all in the funny papers, heroes.

City of Junior High Cliques

I actually had a life over the Labor Day weekend — aside from the Shadow Shard on Saturday afternoon.

Sometime thereafter — Sunday night? — evidently there was some sort of Great Januaryesque Brouhaha in the Alliance. I was unaware of this since, well, I wasn’t on when it happened. And when I did sign on later Sunday evening, the CC and Alliance OOC were quiet.

When BD came over for dinner this evening, he mentioned that there had been some complaints, public posting of private stuff, people making threats, folks getting booted, and general brouhaha. And when I got on later tonight, I learned that some folks I know quite well had been booted from SG groups they were long-time members of.

So … what the …?

I really dislike this kind of finger-pointing name-calling faction-forming “Give in to my demands or else I’ll take my ball and go home” kind of crap. And were it not that there are quite a few folks I enjoy playing with on occasoin, my inclination would be to simply withdraw from all of it and simply continue to do solo and duo stuff with Margie.

I mean, really, folks — this is supposed to be City of Heroes. and, frankly, for all the drama I sometimes see with the Avenges and X-teams and Justice League, none of it seems to hold a camel to the immaturity I keep seeing around here.

(And, for what it’s worth, if various associates who find themselves homeless would care to apply to the CoJ, give a holler. And, heck, if folks need new forum space … let me know.)

Shadow Shard #4 (at last)

Finally wrapped up Shadow Shard TF #4 (Saga of Lanaru), after about a month off. Baphomet went down quick and hard — despite the final attack being a bit less than well-coordinated than preferable, given that Phred sort of jumped the gun. And Lanaru, after we took care of all his outer circle
of hangers-on, and most of his inner one, was really no big problem. Doyce mentioned it was a 30-40 minute multi-death battle when he last did it — for us, it was more like 5-10 minutes, one death, no worries.

Controllers (cough) rock. We had four of them, many buffs/debuffs/pets, and Lanaru was toast.

Fun times.

In the pic, L-R: (ground) Sword of Asgard, Noelle Frost, Amorpha, Puck Bunny, Monstress; (airborn) Malcalypse, Hang Time, Psi-clone.

Good vs. Evil

A new joint CoH/CoV bundle will be on sale soon. Spiffy enough — except for the exclusive bits going to those who decide to drop a bundle on the new bundle.

  • Exclusive in-game bonus items!
  • Jump Jet Prestige Power
  • “Pocket D” VIP Card Teleport Power
  • Exclusive Hero and Villain Costumes
  • Full versions of both City of Heroes and City of Villains
  • DVD bonus digital items: City of Heroes comic books, Prima Issue 7 Strategy Guide update pack, movies, game trailers, screenshots, and more!
  • Exclusive two-sided poster featuring Paragon City and Rogue Isles maps
  • Twelve character slots per server (four additional character slots)
  • All content updates including Issue 7: Destiny Manifest
  • NCsoft game trials and other offers
  • First month of play included

Most of the tchochkes don’t rile me that much — but exclusive costume and jump jet power stuff? I cry (provisionally) foul.

More (Official) I8 news

Straight from the Site.

Safeguard Missions (Heroes only)

Vandals are creating mayhem and destroying Paragon City while high profile villains are attempting major bank heists! Emergency broadcasts from the new Police Band scanners (see below) call Heroes to action, resulting in a frantic new twist on Mayhem Missions. Heroes must stop the mayhem (in massively destructive versions of Paragon City zones) and prevent the heists from occurring.

I still hope these are less annoying than the “protect the glowy” missions. Taking down villains (who are willing to fight you) before they can do something would be fun, but balance is going to be critical here.

Police Band (Heroes only)

Offering similar functionality to the Newspaper Missions in City of Villains®, new Police contacts throughout various Hero zones grant Heroes Police Band access, opening a plethora of new missions and rewards.

Good stuff. Will help people get “fresh” material.

One of the items that was tied to this, conceptually, was the idea of folks levelling past content. I’d think this would have to be tied to the (previously mentioned) skip-a-mission technology. Also, this was tied to people exhausting story content too quickly — so maybe this means that Shared Mission Credit will come to CoH. Huzzah!

Pocket D Arenas (Heroes and Villains)

For the first time, Heroes and Villains can officially battle each other using Arena kiosks set within the neutral ground of the Pocket D nightclub.

As Abe Lincoln said, “Those who like this sort of thing will find this the sort of thing they like.”

Hmmmm … Abe Lincoln as a tall, thin, bearded, top-hatted Axe tank. Hmmmm …

Faultline Reborn (Heroes only)

Faultline transforms from a hazard zone to a city zone! Paragon City’s Measure X has passed, reconstruction of Faultline has begun, and the effort has revealed some major surprises.

Excellent. We should get our teleport beacons set up for this now.

Which reminds me — what’s the explanation again why I can enter a base from any zone with a Base Portal in it, but can only exit out into the same zone? Weird.

Veteran Rewards Program (Heroes and Villains)

Launching together with Issue 8, the Veteran Rewards Program retroactively* rewards City of Heroes and City of Villains players for their past active playing time. Specifically, for each increment of three months played, players will unlock special costumes, powers, badges, and more! The program is retroactive by player account and rewards will be applicable to all characters within each respective account.

*This means time that players have already played counts towards their rewards!

Very, very cool (and in keeping with the “Keep the Installed Base Happy” rule they’re now following). And I hear trenchcoats are Item #1 …

Ding! Crackle! Cough!

Caught Torchielle up with Hildegard last night (with a bit of help from T’lauro, thanks) at 39. Finished sixing out Blazing Bolt and Flame breath with some added damage. Because who doesn’t like more damage from their blaster?

The two of us also finished up (thanks to a mission full of Seventh Generation Paragon Protectors) the necessary pre-requisites for the Crey Pistol! Woot! Look, Ma! We’re controllers!

Even more so, since I finally decided I’m going to go with the Flame Mastery EPP at 41, starting with Char as an Immobilize. That, I think, will come in handy, as long as it doesn’t get in the way of my blowing things up.

Battle Cries

Fun thread on the boards about battle cries and “color” tell-binds. My favorite:

Whenever I make a bot, my battlecry is always “Error 404: Battlecry not found.”

Brilliant.

I actually haven’t use Battlecries for some time (I remap that F-key to the “Typing …” bind, which I also regularly forget to use), as saying the same thing over and over again is (except in the above case) boring.

I do, though, love to create cascading tell-binds (pressing “T” says something witty and then loads another keybind file that resets “T” to say something else witty next time). I started that with some of my “team” toons — Ho Ho, Fazenda — but have it now on most of my regular toons (except, ironically, Psi-clone). The most right is Mr. Ravenous, with 29 different ones; I try to limit myself to doing it no more than once a mish (usually against the big boss), so that the humor stays fresh.

My only regret is that it’s so annoying to manually generate the files for them.

My personal favorite is one of Ho Ho’s lines:

“I call this the Venus Butterfly Axe!”

Cracks me up, every time.