The Goodies in the City

I know, it's been a little while since the last post. School was starting to ramp up (taking 2 graduate classes right now), so I got to the point where I couldn't procrastinate anymore. But now I'm back, because I just finished big class project lol.

Here's a continuation of my screenshots nostalgia. This time, it's all about the little goodies that you can get from the game.

Pick your poison!

Crey Pistol

Flight Pack

Banished Pantheon Axe

The Cameleon 

"Hey, it's a living."

Random Screenshots of Some Bad Guys

It's the weekend. I have to study right now, so what do I do? The usual, going through some old screenshots and procrastinating from my work. Most of these were taken from 2004 to 2005. Enjoy!

Clamor! She was the final boss in Sister Psyche's TF. I think this was like my second encounter with her ever. I took a bunch of screenshots, but really liked this one of her in particular. She's been working out her buns!

Fake Nemesis! This was significant because this was my first encounter with the Fake Nemesis when I was playing in Victory. I was playing as my AR/Dev Blaster who had the cloaking device so I was able to get a nice close up shot. Of course, you know that he's a dime a dozen in the later levels. Nothing special, but the moment was special to me in the sense of "omg, so cool!" I forgot how the fight itself went, but I remember that initial feeling. 

This was taken the day that Issue 2 released with the Terra Volta Re-specification Trial (I think? Correct me if I'm wrong). It just looked so neat and pretty with all the Sky Raiders floating about. I was soooo scared to jump!

We all know this guy. Vandal is the AV in the Citadel TF. I was playing in Victory at this time, since I recognize my alt, Theophana. She was a Bubble/Dark Defender. Good times. 

And finally, I give you a zombie butt! Or the Dry Husk or whatever from the Banished Pantheon. This was before the ragdoll effects were implemented and before they decided to put some pants on these guys. Just a silly screenshot of a pantless zombie. Haha!

Halloween 2010

So the City of Heroes/City of Villains Halloween event is upon us once again!  This year, the new thing is a Trick or Treat tip mission and a bunch of badges you can get from them.

I think after all that is done, the most important part (to me at least) is that this is a great time to quickly level up that hard-to-level-up (for whatever reason) character. People are just more receptive to form teams because of the event, and all you do is just park and click on doors, which cuts down on travel time in between missions. Thats how I got Annzilla and Theophelia through their leveling slumps years ago.

My dilemma is who to level up now? (other than my current Tanker project, Anwyn)

I think I am leaning towards working on my Plant/Rad Controller, Ambrozia. I tend to have a hard time leveling up Controllers or Doms since their low level game really do not fit my playstyle at all.

Or should I roll a totally new toon?

Screenshots! Version: PWN'd

So after taking some screenshots for the Anwyn post, I realized that I had a bunch of other screenshots that I had meant to post up, but totally forgot about it. So here it is, my adventures in Paragon/Rogue Isles:

Tropica PWNs Romulus and gets the MoITF badge at level 48. 

Zetsumei in her first Hammy Raid ever! PWNing the Monsters and getting those EoEs!

Zetsumei PWNs Hammy. 

Then she PWNs the Hydra Head in the Abandoned Sewers Trial. 

Lastly, Zetsumei PWNs zombies... and got a couple of badges!

Meanwhile.....

Ms Ann gets PWN'd by this guy in the Cathedral of Pain Trial. 

Master of Imperious Task Force

Woohoo! Got the badge on my main hero, Ms Ann.

It was pretty much the first night back from my mini break and I get the badge. Good times.

Pictured above (L-R) is Master Kronos [Elec/Stone Brute], Kokuin [Ice/Ice Tank], ACFU [DM/DA Scrapper], Ms Ann [Inv/BA Tank], Pyroplasm [Fire/? Blaster], Al'verde Beskotin [Spider], Athene Aegis [Fire/SD Scrapper], and Blood Wrath [MA/Regen Scrapper] is the guy with no pants on.

I started attempting the MoITF about 6 months ago, with many different team builds, but it was alwasy very difficult to find success. Problems ranged from team members who lacked the experience, team members who are running the TF for XP (not the badge), poorly built/slotted team members, too many squishies on the team, horrible lag (glad they finally fixed it!), or a lack of aggro and damage mitigation. I probably attempted it about 10 times or more, all failures.

This team, which is not the most "conventional" team make up for a MoITF, I finally got the dang badge. Our team had zero support characters (no h3al0rz!!1) where the only "support" type is the Spider with the team buffs. But to make up for the lack of support, our team was a damn sturdy team, with plenty of aggro management.

I guess, it also helped that there was about 4 other team members who have been running those MoITF attempts with me previously, so we were able to learn together from past mistakes.

The team also included a few members who were not all level 50 (I think 3 people dinged during the TF), or had fully IO'd builds, but it went pretty smoothly because the team actually worked together and there was communication and follow-through. There were a total of 3 *heart attack moments* but we've recovered otherwise, and I'm proud to finally be sporting my new badge!

Next on the list is to get the Master of 5th Column TF on for Ms Ann! Given the fact that I've been running that TF ad nauseam before my mini-break, that I have a pretty good handle on how to successfully complete it.

My City of Hero & Etc Updates

I figured I ought to post in this blog after a year. =)

I've been busy working mostly and haven't had much time to play any sort of game. With that, at best, I would just reactivate CoH once a year when work is slow to check things out.

The reactivation weekend recently passed and I was able to get in 2 days of playing time. I managed to level my Gravity/Kinetics Controller, Theophelia and my Ice/Ice Tanker, Iceminx to 50. They were both hovering in the high 40s so it was not a hard thing to do given the double XP going on. I did also get my Fire/Fire blaster to level 22. Not much really, but it was nice to be able to catch up with some friends there.

I actually spent most of the playing time buying IOs for Theophelia and ended up spending about 50 million in influence. I think I have more fun doing that than actually playing. hehe.

Well, I guess that's it for the updates. I hope everyone is well.

Until the next reactivation weekend, I bid you adieu!

The Faultline Story Arc

If you haven't run it already, do check out the Faultline story arc. The story is pretty good and the missions were fun. Its also nice to check out the scenery.

Below is a pictorial entry of my adventures in Faultline running as my Dark/Dark Tanker, Paradoxic. Enjoy!

Yes, the good doctor is much taller than me.

Looking for that boss to pwn.

Villainous propaganda!

Is he that wimpy, or am I just that awesome?!

A nice shot of the hideout interior.
The submarines are not shown, I already destroyed them =)

"Listen Buddy.. "

Getting ready to save the world -again!

Guide: Positron TF Speed Run

I've been meaning to do this for some time now. Before you consider running the Posi TF Speed Run, please read this post on the team requirements.

1. Mission 1: Test Your Mettle (Defeat Boss)
   
   • The leader stays with Posi while the team heads to the mission. Once in the mission, the Invis+TPer finds the boss, ports the teammate over for help (if necessary) and defeats the boss for a mission complete.
   • Vahzilok is the enemy in this mission.
   • Once both members exit, the team leader waiting at Posi can start the next mission right away.
   
   
2. Mission 2: Save the FEMA Workers (Lead out 2 hostages)
   
   • This mission is best to fight through(quickly!) so that the team can lead the hostages back to the mission entry door.
   • There will be spawns after a hostage is freed
   • Circle of Thorn is the enemy in this mission. Their –accuracy debuffs may get annoying so packing some accuracy inspirations will help.


3. Mission 3: Find a Piece of Clockwork that is Still Functioning (Find Clue, Defeat Boss)
   
   • The Invis+TPer goes to find clues & boss and ports the team over once the boss is found. Defeat the boss for a mission complete.
   • Clockwork is the enemy in this mission.
   
   
4. Mission 4: Check out the Fake Company (Find Clue, Defeat Boss)
   
   • The Invis+TPer goes to find clues & boss and ports the team over once the boss is found. Defeat the boss for a mission complete.
   • Vahzilok is the enemy in this mission.
   
   
5. Mission 5: Check out the Circle of Thorns Hideout (Find Clue, Defeat Boss)
   
   • The Invis+TPer goes to find clues & boss and ports the team over once the boss is found. Defeat the boss for a mission complete.
   • Circle of Thorn is the enemy in this mission.
   
   
6. Deliveries
   
   • Player #1 heads to Positron (then stays there)
   • Player #2 goes to Atlas Park to see Azuria
   • Player #3 goes to Kings Row to see Paula Dempsy
   • Player #1 who is still at Posi, delivers last message
   
   
7. Mission 6: Stop Zombie Boss and his Guards (Defeat Boss and Minions)
   
   • Patrol: Find the Clockwork’s Base of Operations
   • The team will be patrolling in Perez Park. The next mission will spawn here as well.
   
   
8. Mission 7: Defeat all Villains in Office (Defeat All)
• Clockwork is the enemy in this mission.


9. Mission 8: Check out Possible Circle of Thorn Hideout (Defeat All)
• COT is the enemy in this mission.


10. Mission 9: Defeat all Villains in Sewer (Defeat All)
• Vahzilok is the enemy in this mission.


11. Mission 10: Protect the Substation (Defeat All)
    
    • This is the last mission! You will be fighting Clockwork, COT, and Vahz.
    
    

Stone Tanking in the Statesman TF

Ran a Statesman TF today as my Stone/Fire Tanker, Annzilla (I'm the green lizard lady sitting down).

The team consisted of mostly folks who never ran it before. You can imagine my anxiousness as the team leader. I really want it to be a good experience for folks and running a TF with the possibly of team wipes is not the ideal situation.

Needless to say, this run nearly could have been a Master of Statesman TF (with the exception of one death in the first mission). Yes, we kicked butt that much.

Its also worthy to note that I have never run the STF as a Stone Tanker before. I couldn't believe how freaking easy it was compared to running one an Invulnerability Tank. Stone Tanks got it easy. Seriously! I'm looking forward to running it as other Tanks. =)

Paradoxic Hits Security Level 18

Sunday was a much slower day in terms of leveling and overall gaming activity. I just ran a bunch of missions solo at my leisure and was able to get Paradoxic to level 18. It's just one of those days, I think.

Tonight's run was mostly uneventful, not that I'm complaining mind you. Of interest is the Montague Castanella story arc. In terms of the writing, its a good story, one I actually enjoyed going through.

The best (most novel) part was being able to cure the Lost with the use of a wand that is created by collecting items from the missions. I wish they had more missions like that.

Annzilla Reach Security Level 50!

Like I said in the previous entry, I have a lot of posts to catch up on. I've actually managed to get Annzilla up to level 48 since the last time I wrote an entry on her. As a tanker, it is stupidly easy to level up once I hit security level 45.

Not because that is the optimal level to get power leveled, which I did not, but it is more so because I am finally able to get Maria Jenkins as a contact. Pretty much every single mission Maria gives you has an Arch-Villain in it, so that just means gobs and gobs of XP.

Its doubly easier for me, because I am a tanker, I create my teams, and run the missions like a well oiled machine. I basically power-leveled/power-game myself (and the teams). That is how I was able to get to level 48, just in time to run the Lady Grey Task Force with some friends.

The team is assembling by Lady Grey. Unfortunately I did not write down the names and I had forgotten to coerce the team into posing for a picture. =(

So the task force starts out pretty good. The team starts out by saving Penny Yin's butt. And then going on to fight the Clockwork King.

I just want to quickly mention how much more fun Annzilla is to play after being fully IO'ed up with level 50 IOs. She is slotted with as many +speed/travel as possible, so playing her is not so unbearable anymore due to the travel/speed restriction while in Granite form or with Rooted enabled.

For me, it took her 47 levels to mature, and by that time, I was so delighted at how awesome she played.

And if you're wondering, yes, I am one of those perma-Granite Stone Tankers. There are different schools of thought on perma-Granites due to the -Acc and -Damage debuffs that go along with Granite form, but as a Stone/Fire tanker fully IO'ed, I don't have a problem in either accuracy or damage output of my attacks.

But I digress. Back to the Task Force:

So in the next mission where we are to save the chatty twins and lead them out, I level up!

Caught the very tail end of the ding animation again. =(

That particular mission was rather unfortunate because one of the hostages we were supposed to save died right at the Arch-Villain and the mission failed. Previously, the hostages could have died, but I guess they changed it in the i12 for a mission fail. I suppose now that a mission fail is in place, one could farm the LGTF to auto fail the mission for a shorter TF run.

Something to think about I suppose. But on to the next mission! This is where we fight a neutered version of Hamidon. We did beat him up (with some snags along the way) and I caught the 'dying Hamidon' animation. Its always so pretty to watch so I thought I'd share it. (sounds kind of morbid, doesn't it?)

This particular mission went well for the most part. I honestly still haven't run the i11 (or was it i10?) Hamidon raid when they changed the mechanics of it (again), so I am a bit clueless as to the how-to of going about killing the thing.

Aside from never being sure on which mito's to defeat first with what attack, Hamidon has an unresisting damage type which cuts me down like butter.

So the team did a great job. I say the team, because I was on my back drowning in the water the whole time. Go team!

The final mission is when we have to fight a mutated and brainwashed Hero 1. If you know the stories of Hero 1 in the CoH/CoV universe, its a sad story.

During this particular mission, we plow our way through to get to Hero 1 with ease. The problem is actually fighting him. We did not have anyone in the team with any regeneration debuffs to debuff him when he goes (his version of) unstoppable. When he does so, he becomes resistant to all types of damage and is basically in god-mode. Our problem was being unable to get his health points down enough to beat his regeneration when he does go into god-mode.

This one screenshot is just too cool, love the vivid colors!

After he went into god-mode and regenerated his health points to nearly full for the 5th time, I along with two other team mates had to do a quick run to Bloody Bay in order to get some Shivan pets to aid in defeating him.

Shivans do have neat little -regen in many of their attacks so it really made a difference.

The whole task force was clocked at about 3hours and 45 minutes until completion. 45 of those minutes was likely during the Hero 1 battle.

So after the TF I hung around a bit with some Paragonian Knights friends who also ran the TF.

Yes, I am the one with the afro.

Prickly Tiger, aka @Yaki-Sama had also dinged 50 during the TF. The PK folks had a neat little ceremony to honor the new 50's.

All in all, it was a fun TF (my first actually, with Annzilla) where I was able to finish leveling my Stone Tanker. She'll be shelved until needed and I will be starting a new Tanker!

Thermonuclea Achieves Threat Level 50!

I've been really sick for the past few days with the flu or a really severe cold so I haven't been able to play as much as I'd like to, being high on cold medication and woozy and all.

However, tonight I played as my Radiation Blast & Radiation Emission Corruptor, Thermonuclea. She is just tons of fun. When casting the Radiation Infection power with gobs of accuracy debuff on the enemies, it feels like I'm playing a tanker sometimes!

She's been sitting at threat level 49 for the past 8 months, so its about time to get her to 50!

I literally had about 2 bars of experience til level 50, might as well finish level her up with a bang and run that that nifty story arc from my patron, the Black Scorpion.

Getting the missions from Black Scorpion. He's quite a condescending, arrogant jerk.

I was able to enlist some help from my good pal @CX2 with his Stalker, Night.Blade.

He's been away from the game for some time as well (playing the Lord of the Rings MMO no less) so we both were taking our time readjusting to our powers.

We did get the hang of it eventually and started kicking butt and taking names. There wasn't much of a strategy aside from casting the debuffs and charging in blowing stuff (people) up. All goes well during the first few missions until.. Silver Mantis shows up as and politely (or not) rips us a new one.

Why the floor is quite comfortable, why do you ask?

After a few tries, @CX2 decides to bring in the big guns in the form of his scary Troll Brute, Jutala, who's apparently hopped up on that superdine and ready to rip stuff (people) to shreds.

We kick Silver Mantis' butt, and in the next mission we kick Black Scorpion's butt to finish the story arc.

But of course, the crowning moment was when... (drum roll please) Thermonuclea finally reaches threat level 50!

I was only able to catch the tail end of the level up animation, bleh.

All in all, it was a very fun and productive night as well as a nice break from leveling up Annzilla.

Saving the Reactor Core from the Freakshow

Annzilla and a few good friends ran the level 34+ hero respecification trial tonight! The trial, also known as a "respec" trial is a series of instanced mission with the last mission being a trip to the Reactor Core in Terra Volta. Its a unique map and its pretty darn neat!

For characters that have not run the trial before, upon completion, it awards the character a chance to respec their powers. What this means is that you can choose different powers in your primary, secondary, ancillary, and epic power pools, as well as being able to slot them differently.

Almost to the reactor core. Dashing through the halls.

The respec trial for any first timers is very exciting. Like I said, there is a new unique map that you do not see anywhere else as well as very interesting and engaging gameplay during the core itself.

There are 3 different respec trials with different enemy groups for different level ranges. The bad guys spawn at doors on the top platform surrounding the reactor core. Their objective is to attack and destroy the core and the heroes' objective is to protect the core from the attacks! There is about 10 waves of spawns to face down to successfully complete the trial. In between the spawns, the squishy heroes need to get protection from the radiation in the form of a red bubble while they are in the core or else they lose Damage over Time. The sturdier heroes, like Tankers and Scrappers can do without it because their regeneration outpaces the DoT in the reactor room.

I remember my first time running it, it was some heart pumping fun! But then again, it was crazy hard back then since the devs seemed to have rushed the trial release where testing was inadequate and the difficulty was not scaled correctly. After actually completing it through many failed tries, it was my first feeling of real satisfaction with the game.

Nowadays, the respec trial is not too difficult and you do not have to build the "perfect team" in order to succeed. In fact, any decently coordinated team can beat this trial with ease.

The team kicking butt and protecting the core. I'm the Stone Tanker with the brown, poopy looking stuff around my feet.

But after running it a bazillion times throughout the years, it does get rather predictable and tedious. To spice things up, I have this personal challenge that I create and try to beat. For the level 34+ respec trial, I try to shoot around the 1 hour and 30 minute time limit. It's just a fun little thing to do to keep it interesting.

In the end of this trial run, as expected in a "who's who" team of kick ass heroes, we obviously kicked ass with a Respecification Trial successfully run in under 1 hour and 15 minutes!

Manganese Hero, Polar Vengance, Annzilla, Jane Flame, HardKore

More ToT Grinding

After 3 more hours of ToT grinding, Annzilla is now level 40. I didn't think I could do it, but I guess I made 40 by the end of this week after all.

Tonight's grind was so much better than last night's because I created and ran this team. Meaning, I made sure the team consisted of decent players and that I was on the lower end of the team level range. I was about 2 levels lower than the average team level, which means more XP for me! Hey, as a tanker, I can do that because even at my lower level, relative to the spawns, I have the defense and resistance to make me useful and keep me alive.

I am going to attempt at ToT grinding with Annzilla as much as possible before the Halloween event is over (presumably on November 1st) and will probably run Peregrine Island Archvillain missions thereafter. You know, Hero's Hero story arc with gobs of AVs? Yeah. That one.

And if all goes well, Annzilla will be all done and I will be starting my new Dark Maisma & Energy Melee Tanker, Paradoxic.

More Halloween Grinding with Annzilla

As the title says, I trick or treated all night with my Stone Armor & Fiery Melee Tanker, Annzilla. I started at 10P.M. (give or take a few minutes) and grinded with a full team of 'pick up' folks and reached level 38 by about 1:30 in the morning. I was level 35.4 when I last played her so a 3.5 hour grind isn't too terrible for about 2.5 levels. It makes me very glad that I am that much closer to 50 for Annzilla. I am probably going to continue to milk the trick or treating as much as possible. I really would like to start on the next Tanker Project already! And if you're wondering, its a split between either Willpower, Dark Armor, or Fiery Aura. Most likely it'll be DA because its new!

3.5 hours of just standing around clicking doors may sound rough, but the folks I played with knew what the heck they were doing and they were also a hoot. It was actually very fun!

After the ToT grind, I ran to Wentworth's to craft some goodies and noticed this along the way!

I had no idea that NCsoft is now advertising in-game. I have been away for 6 months after all.

I do have mixed feelings about it. I think its neat because of its novelty, but it is a little annoying But my fear is that the in-game advertising will morph into a more intrusive form like "pop-up" ads or in-game email spam. Don't ask me how I think that'll be possible, but I just don't want my games to get there. Ever.

And Lastly, I've finally decided to build that base for my Super Group! The group consists of all my alts and my brother's characters (who's account is inactive at this time). I have no intention of inviting anyone else to the group. It's just a personal base for my characters so I don't have to rely on other people to transfer items or influence between my characters.

So far, there is only the entrance and the energy room -and NOTHING else! I couldn't afford it. I think I'll only be able to afford one big item per every two gaming sessions so the base is not going to be functional for another month I think.

Its okay though, I'm in no hurry!