Clawdia's Build: Claws Fiery Aura Brute [Post Sunset]

Here to protect... or destroy?

So I'm playing around with another new build, my second post sunset character. For now, her name is Clawdia because, well, of her claws as the primary. I do really like the look of her!

I'm not married to her name or anything and will probably pick something else, maybe elemental related once the game is back.

She is a Claws and Fiery Aura Brute with Artic Mastery EPP since the -slow from the cold powersets pair nicely with Burn. She's probably going to be one of the first toons I'll play as the farmer. I think she would do well due to the low endurance cost of Claws and the AoE-ness of Fiery Aura, considering that we'd most likely all be starting over together from the beginning.

I did consider going with Electric Armor instead, but I do have a soft (or warm?) spot for Fiery as it's one of my favorite type of power. Maybe I'll make a Claws/Elect version anyway? Hmm.

Front view

Back view

I am thinking her background will be something tech related (obviously from her design) and that's how she has some control over the elements... or something like that. I do know that she's more cyborg than human. Maybe she's from the future? Like some future soldier or something. Or even PPD from Pretoria? We'll figure it out later. 

Action shot!

Omph!

As for her build, check it out below. I've never had a claws toon before, so I am not 100% sure of how it plays, though I imagine it wouldn't be too different from the other weapons set. The focus of the build is to be a decent jack of all trades, good for soloing and teaming.

The powers selection.

And some visual stats. 

She's not soft capped or anything, but not too bad either, I think? Here's the datalink if you want to download it to Mids.

And yep, she's hanging out in the city. I logged into Paragon Chat for a bit to futz around. Can I say how much I wish the game is back? I finally have a computer that can handle all the graphics setting pumped to the max.

The music made me super duper sad, like a punch in the gut. But running around wasn't as bad because it's a brand new character that I've never played before, so the attachment factor wasn't there. Now, if I was playing Ms Ann or Zazza (who was sort of my main before sunset) would be a whole nother story.

Anyway, have a Happy New Years! Stay safe and have fun! Here's to hoping that the good news will come in 2016!

Vixona's Build: Fire Blast & Dark Miasma Corruptor

I was lurking on the Titan forums the other day and was inspired to build a Fire/Dark Corruptor because someone had mentioned that you can basically solo 0/8 by level 10. Given the gobs of AoEs in Fire Blast and Tar Patch in DM, I wanted to see how ridiculous this build would be.

Oh lookie, I had forgotten that I had such a character. Her name is Vixona. I'm actually not entirely sure if I remember what she even looked like. Eh?

When the game comes back, I will very likely rename her since I am not too thrilled with it to begin with. She most likely will not be among the first characters I reroll and play, since I'm more drawn to the melee playstyle. If anything, the first character will likely be a Brute of some sort. They are just so darn fun.

At any rate, here's Vixona's build. Apologies if it's crap. I just finished a 25 page research paper and my brain is fried.

It looks ok? Right?

I'll be the first to admit that I kind of have no idea how to build out a DM character with the support role set. I did have a melee toon with DM in Paradoxic (whom I adore), but I've never played the support version (other than getting Vixona to level 15, apparently). I barely played Corrs in general as I thought Thermonuclea was my one and only (gosh I miss her too). Goes to show how much I cared about this character.

Ehh? Ehh?

My build strategy for her was basically throwing inf at her until she looks kind of right. I think it's a good build? Who knows. Gee, I wish I knew how she played (there's no Fire/Dark Corr videos on Youtube.. boo!). Here's the data link if you want to poke around. I'm open to suggestions.

I'm Back! With Random Screenshots!

Funny, it was about the same time last year that I slunk back to this blog.

Mind you, I didn't stop hoping, wishing, and pining away for the game. Grad school started ramping up with a vengeance. Taking 2 classes per semester (including the summer semester) while working 50 hrs/week at the day job doesn't leave me much time to think, let alone mull over the City!

But I am back! At least for a month before the spring semester starts up again. And I bring pictures! They are pretty random ones that were taken about 1-2 years into playing the game.

Exploring Striga the day of its release.

This was in Victory on one of my 1st characters, AR/Dev Blaster.

Also admiring myself, obviously. 

And... hanging on top the mountain-hill thing in Striga. 

More playing around with my AR/Dev Blaster before the nerfs. 

My very first foray into the new (at the time) cargo ship map. 

It was a distinct memory. This was on my Fire/Fire Blaster in Victory. 

My Fire/Fire Tank in Victory as well. 

She was a mutant origin if you haven't already guessed.

This was also a time when DOs mattered.

And my first character and my main in Virtue, Ms Ann. 

Not the most, creative name, I know. 

And here's Sixty, my second character in Virtue. 

Not a big fan of Positron back then when the TF was a 5 hour ordeal. 

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."

In the City of.. to Champions Online

Annzilla!
Everyone's favorite lizard lady!

I've had a Champions Online lifetime account since the first week they announced sale of it. I forgot how much I paid for it, as the price now is $300 and I am not sure if I paid for it when it was on sale or not. So let's just say I paid anywhere from $200 to $300 for it and thought the game will be my be all and end all.

I leveled my main to the max 40... and then I kind of got bored of it. The Freeform AT was kind of overwhelming at first, but it also broke the game because you can make some really OP characters at that time.. and you can make some really gimped characters if you didn't read up on the process. Also, for some reason, it just wasn't as fun as the City of.

She translated nicely to CO!

Champions Online lacked that fun and powerful feeling that I received from playing CoX... a feeling that I describe as "crunchy." CO was not crunchy enough for me. The game-play felt sluggish. And tried as I might, I just couldn't click with the CO community, so I didn't stick with the game for as long as I had initially hoped.

The Lifetime Sub was a real regret of mine at the time as I was in between jobs then. The amount I paid for it was a stretch for me. I could have used that money elsewhere. =/

Sixty, ready to hand out the
SB cookies! If only...

But now that I am getting a bit desperate to make a character and beat some faces in a persistent world, I've recently logged in CO.. and found out that I had made Annzilla way back when. She's still level 2. I'll play her when I remember how to play again. I think I'll have to make a new character to re-learn everything.

Sixty also exists as a Freeform character in my CO account as well. She is currently sitting at level 6 and will probably continue to sit there. I'm not sure CO has a Kinetics/Speed Boost type of AT/power. I'll need to do a bit of research.

Not the best CO remake. And the
shade of pink is all wrong!

Having the Lifetime subscription inactive and forgotten about these many years had left me with a bunch of Zen points (the CO "real money" currency) once I logged back on. I feel so rich in-game and can buy all sorts of neato costume pieces, vehicles, and other things. That should keep me occupied for a little bit.

I'm still somewhat overwhelmed with Freeform, because I forgot everything since the last time I've played. I am stuck with the problem of overchoice that leaves me with a case of inactivity due to indecision. And of course there were nerfs and changes and such.. and now they have actual archetypes. Maybe I will re-start with one of those.

Either way, I guess this is an OK alternative to getting some superhero action while waiting for the City to come back in the meantime. It still doesn't give me the crunchy feeling I want. But I suppose it's better than nothing.

You know, I really wished that the Perfect World/Arc bought the City of Heroes IP instead of NCSoft. Why couldn't they buy CO instead...

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!

Meet Electradoll, Electric Armor & Electrical Melee Tanker

Does she look familiar?

This feels a little weird. This is my first entry on a post-sunset character. Yes, I know there were re-builds, like with Ms Ann's. And deciding on the new main, an SD/FM Tanker, but the difference is that re-building is just selecting new powers, though the concept is still the same and playing with builds is just that, because I really don't even have a name or a concept for the new main. She's just a build at this point and doesn't even have a face. This one feels weird because she does actually have a face, name, and a background!

I was thinking back to the If the City Came Back... (also had a little screenshot hint there too) entry on February 12 on my plans for the Tanker Project, specifically the Electric Armor tank that I would be rolling. I decided on pairing her with the Electrical Melee, because why not? Most of my elemental-ish primaries have been paired with it's melee counterpart (like Tropica and Iceminx), so I thought it was a good idea to try the Electric sets together.

And then... Electradoll happened. Here's the visuals on her build:

Just going for the cheap, because don't have much experience with Electric Armor.

So I didn't really try to soft cap and I wasn't too sure how to build her out or what's useful (other than what I can determine from the descriptions), because I have never rolled an Electric Armor before. I kind of sort of imagine that she will play similarly to Dark Armor, Fiery Armor, and Ice Armor - in that it will be endurance heavy, that I have to find other means to mitigate damage, and it might be a rough ride up for a tanker.

And the extras.

At least I am somewhat comfortable with the Elec Melee, so I can try to manage the deficiencies that way. Probably. Also, EM is a really fun melee set. Here's Mid's Data Link if you want to check it out yourself. Feel free to critique!

Bzzzttzztz goes Electradoll!

So does she look familiar? Other than giving a sneak peek in last week's entry, I mean. She's basically has the same origin as Combustidoll, my Fire/NRG blaster (who was so dang fun to play!). I also had an alt named Flambedoll and Infernadoll. If I recall correctly, they were supposed to be a fire project of sorts (if you can't already tell), but I think I can make an exception for Electradoll.

They're all a part of the same malfunctioning (or not?) doll collection that was created by one of my tech genius alts that got deleted (I think she was a controller of some sort). I just loved playing as these little dolls. They are on the shortest end of the height slider and packs a HUGE punch!

When the game comes back and if the Electradoll name gets taken, that's fine. I'll just think of something else electrical related that ends with "-doll." I guess people are not too keen on playing as toys!

Annzilla's Old and Updated Build

She's one of my favorite alts, a Stone/Fire Tank. She was the first of the Tanker Project after Ms Ann (my main). I recall that leveling her up was really tough for me because of Rooted and the sluggishness of the Stone set in general. It took some time to get used to TPing into mobs and managing aggro from afar. The speed debuff is much less forgiving to teammates when they do not stick by the tanker. Stonies are too slow to be able to run to a teammate to tauntlet the foes away so I had experienced more teammate deaths that way.

Funny thing.. I also never understood why so many people chose the Stone set until hitting 32 for Granite Armor. Basically, it's tanking on easy mode. For me, personally, it got kind of boring at that point, but I get why people are drawn to it. You just don't have to worry about managing health or mitigation at all. You're a big stone slab that punches things.

I just wish there was a female form for the stone armor. I'm not talking about hyper sexualization with the boobies and all, but just not as masculine as the Granite Armor as it existed. Oh, and I was't too fond of grunting like a man, either. Hah.

At any rate, with all the posts I have done on Annzilla in the past, I realized that I have never actually posted up her build.

This build was as of mid-late 2011.

I don't believe I rerolled her at all, so this is probably the sunset build as well.

Here are the stats, with Granite on, duh.

You can grab Mid's data link for the old build here. Or you can check out the new build with the fitness inherent below:

Pretty much the same. 

I didn't bother putting the other data bits for this build because it's basically the same. The new build is a bit more expensive, but is mostly the same, but Greater Fire Sword removed (dps for incinerate is better, and I always felt that she had more attacks than needed), and a few more "nice to have" powers picked from the pools.

If I were to replay her, I will probably stick with the old IOs since they are super budget and easier to get and revert to the new build if I play her more than expected.

Data link for the updated build here.

Cathedral of Pain Screenshots, Circa I18

It's that time again, more old screenshots! I believe this was taken in my very first attempt at the Cathedral of Pain trial, when it was re-released again in I18. This was when I was in the Paragonian Knights SG in Virtue. The screenshots were dated 11/20/2005.

The portal

The SG getting ready

About to enter the portal

Everyone zoning in

Getting ready to attack the pylons

Another view of the pylons

Not doing too well!

I believe this was my view after getting faceplanted

(One of my most favorite screenshots ever)

Regrouping for another attempt

We got it!

Ohh shiny!!!

I think these screenshots were for this blog itself. Unfortunately, I don't remember much about the trial itself to really give any pointers.

Anyways, happy Friday the 13th!