Free Server Transfers!

When I first heard about this Christmas present from the devs, I was excited. Then a little bummed 'cause I paid to transfer Ken (Sleetsquall, ice control/kinetics controller). Then, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that nearly all my alts on other servers are single-digits levels or barely over 10 at most. Easily just re-created rather than transferred. We'll see, but for now, I'm thinking of 2 transfers:

Ryu Tatsu (ninja/trick arrow mastermind)
Guardian --> Virtue

Butcher of the Pit (dual blades/fiery aura brute)
Triumph --> Virtue

Of course, that means I'll need to either axe a couple characters... or go ahead, break down, and buy another pack of slots for Virtue. Since I already have plans for 3 new characters when Going Rogue is live, I think I'll just buy another 5 slots for Virtue.

...oh, you want to know what the 3 new characters are? Sure: Praetorian EVAC, a Vagz to visit Praetoria with, and Praetorian Will. I'm not deciding on powersets yet 'cause I'm thinking we'll see more proliferation, but E and Will will probably be corruptors (Will might be dual pistols). For Vagz, I'll have to decide between corruptor and dominator, but there will likely be fire and/or electricity in the powersets.

Made

Cpt. William Piett, level 50 Mercenaries/Force Field/Mace Mastery Mastermind

Almost... There...

Well, from the sound of the Dev posts on the official boards, even closed beta of I12 is several weeks off. With open beta a few weeks after that and then a few weeks before going Live, I figure we still have about two months before I12 at least. That means plenty of time to get to 50 red-side, especially since I'm not sure I want to create a new Wolf Spider character the day the issue goes Live. Mercy Island is going to be PACKED with Wolf Spiders and Blood Widows, so it might be easier to wait 'til that first crop has moved on at least to Port Oakes if not Cap Au Diable. We'll see, though.

Fyre-Hex and Cpt. William Piett hit 48 this weekend. Will is now a bit more than half a level away from his final power at 49. Then another level to 50. My first red-side 50 and my fourth level 50 character overall. I'm enjoying the Black Scorpion Patron Pool (Mace Mastery), and unlike my other 50s, I'll be grabbing all four powers from the pool. Having the armor has been great. The AoE immobilize is helpful, and the hold is turning out to be very handy. Between Fyre, Havoc, and Will, we can keep large groups of enemies right where they are. We've even held a "Hero" through stacking.

It's funny, though. It seems like so many people go after Ghost Widow's Patron Pool (Soul Mastery). I was originally thinking that would be the pool for 'Ware Wolf, but now... well, I'd kinda like to see some of the other pools. So for that reason alone, the wolf might end up with Scirocco or even Mako as his Patron. Just for something different.

Who knows, though. I don't play the wolf, and I don't see a reason to start in my future. I love the character, but... well, he may end up deleted.

I don't have to make that choice yet, though. I've got a baby blaster I can easily delete from Virtue. And Derick Darklight may get the axe once more for the same reason as the wolf, but since he's lower in level, he's easier to delete. That'll make room for DefenderVagz and my Wolf Spider. :)

Welcome to Grandville

Fyre-Hex and Cpt. William Piett have finally hit 40 and started up in Grandville. After the last couple levels of nothing but newspaper missions in St. Martial (interrupted at one point by working with Johnny Sonata), it's nice to have new missions, new contacts, and new scenery. And on top of that, Will is my highest-level villain with 'Ware Wolf still languishing at 36.

Now, I've been to Grandville twice before. Both times, I was taking advantage of Hide and Superspeed (it's good to be a stalker) just to be all touristy. Now I'm able to really get in there and explore, and Grandville is amazing, grand, and disturbing. A perfect evil HQ for Arachnos. Lots of people complain about extra lag, but I don't find there to be that much extra. I mean, I notice it, but it's well within tolerable limits. 'Course, I'm missioning in Grandville, not street-sweeping.

Will's already putting together a lengthy list of contacts. I developed a habit in St. Martial of clicking anyone who might be a contact, just to see what they'd say. And I've accidentally picked up a couple contacts that way, including the Rikti delegation standing in Recluse's lobby. Will won't be working with them, so they'll just take up space in the contact list. :)

Things are getting tense for these two. I hesitate to reveal details here yet, but Will's story is basically told and now, it's Fyre's story and Will is guest-starring. I'm loving the RP, and I can't wait to find out what happens next.

Oh, and I'm loving the fact that, after all this time playing "City of...", I'm playing missions I've literally never played before, fighting enemies I've never fought before even. I'm loving it!

David Styrm - Important Info

Keen's latest post combined with a few things that happened as we played made me think it might be helpful to everyone (myself included) to remind the players of a few things about Styrm. Keep in mind, some of this is stuff the characters might not know yet.

Styrm is a Genius
The player is most certainly NOT, but I try to play Styrm with a Lex Luthor/David Xanatos kind of genius. Brilliant technically, tactically, and financially. The battlesuit he's wearing now, he managed to build while imprisoned in the Zig. With a few upgrades made on the way to the Rogue Isles.

Styrm is Insane
Yeah, that fine line between genius and insanity everyone talks about? David has crossed it a bunch of times. Remember that the reason Team 2.0 went up against him in that giant mech is because his plans had been thwarted too many times. In response? He got into a giant battlemech and tried to smash his way through the War Walls to get at the people who got in his way.

Styrm is Evil
He is charismatic. He is smooth. He has a way with people. But what he really wants is the power and the resources to do whatever he wants, whenever he wants. He will try to eliminate anyone who stands in his way. He can sound very nice... but he's evil to the core.

Styrm has People
Styrm is big on minions. Generally-speaking, he doesn't like to get his hands dirty if he doesn't have to. He has people for that sort of thing. Before now, he rarely took to the field himself if he didn't feel he had to, sending his Nights to do the work for him, leaving him looking much "cleaner". Now that he's a known and wanted criminal and his empire is once again in ruins, he's in the field because he pretty much has to. But he's still going to prefer that his people (that'd be you guys :) ) do a lot of the work.

Styrm is a Father
Thanks to genetic tampering, E and Styrm are both the father of Eve and therefore of the clone. David named the clone "Dawn". E called her "Jennifer". Eve's mother (and therefore, Jen's as well, sorta) is E's ex-wife, the psycho who tried to shoot down an airliner with a bazooka just to kill E.

Styrm has Goals
Now, he's not sharing these with anyone yet, but what Styrm wants right now is to rebuild his own assets and organization, and build his new Nights up to strength. Once he starts to feel confident about those things, his goals include taking Jen back and making E, Frost, Fyre, and Masonry pay for their roles in thwarting him. But that's long-term.

Which is not to say that Styrm won't pop into Pocket D for a drink...

Just a Random Post

Fyre and I were on Derick Darklight and Hex Raven a couple days ago (before Mas joined us on Idaho). We zoned into the Hollows and staring us in the face, wearing a black trenchcoat, was a character named "Styrm". I blinked, and the character leaped past us and headed into Atlas Park.

Well, really the character's name was "Stryn" (I'm glad Fyre's eyes focused faster than mine), but still: it caused quite a double-take. My villains that I create for my table-top games do have a way of intruding on me while they're being played, but Styrm does seem to enjoy popping up and saying "boo" once in a while.

My focus lately has been on Will (both Cpt. William Piett and Captain Peterson) and on Derick.

I really want to get HeroWill up to epic levels so I can get him a rocket launcher out of the Munitions Mastery pool. I know it's quite a ways off, but I can't wait. I want to get Piett up to 40 so we can get to some new missions, specifically ones I haven't done before. I've heard all the complaints about Grandville, but I've only been there twice, and both times it was just 'Ware Wolf running around Hidden so I could see the place. Will's RP has been a lot of fun and very interesting for me. I'm not entirely sure where he's headed. I'm just kinda playing with it as it goes for now.

Derick is doing the same old missions I've done hundreds of times (or so it seems), but I like his story, and as fun as it was to play the semi-newbie with Will, Derick is a Paragon citizen who's suddenly found himself one of the heroes. Total newbie! On top of that, his regular partners are even greener than he is, both Raven and Idaho barely knowing their own origins and having been conscious for maybe a month now each. It makes me laugh to imagine these three bumbling a little, and it just makes my jaw drop when I really read some of the things your contacts expect you to do. Defuse a bomb, deactivate a portal, retrieve a cursed artifact... "Wow," Derick is thinking, "you people are nuts!"

It's Been a While...

A lot's happened both in-game and out. I'll likely confine myself to the in-game stuff, though. Bear with me as I try to summarize... and probably go off on tangents.

Will
Will is now walking the line. Mostly because of the example set by Fyre (granted, kinda in reverse), Will went back to Paragon. He found a PPD desperate for more men, especially experienced ones who, at least from a legal standpoint, had only been on a leave of absence. They shoved his badge back at him, got him a Hero ID so he could make full use of his talents and equipment, and threw him out on the streets. For all intents and purposes, William Piett and Bill Peterson are two entirely different people. And so far, Will's keeping it that way. He's slowly finding the "protect and serve" that he lost when the Rikti wiped out Baumton, but so far, that's not actually making his time spent with Fyre in the Isles any harder. At the level we're at, the foes on both sides of the fence are pretty much the same: Thorns, Carnies, Devouring Earth, Nemesis... heck, Fyre & Will are even getting "rescue the citizens of St. Martial" missions.

Mechanically, Mo is turning HeroWill into a killing machine. With her buffs and healing, he's not squishy at all and his snipe is Fortitude + Build-Up (+ red insp) + Sniper Shot = instant death for yellow-cons and below. He's even one-shotted a few orange-cons. As a companion, Mo is a lot different from Fyre. She's more open and more into magic. Will's family is Welsh, so he grew up hearing stories of the Fae. He didn't believe them until recently (yes, even with all the weirdness of Paragon and the Isles), but he's slowly remembering things he'd heard and trying to find the books his grandmother gave him. He teases Mo some and expects her to tease him back. To him, they're team-mates. Partners. And so he acts toward her much the same as he would toward a fellow officer.

Things with Fyre are a lot different. Will sees her as a friend, although he worries often that she doesn't view their relationship the same way. He finds her easy to talk to under almost any circumstances, and he feels like they have a lot in common, especially after the most recent revelations. But things have gotten a little awkward, and Will himself has been having his share of issues. Rikti, Boomtown, and a recent problem with Nemesis messing with him has kept Will less focused than normal. Maybe he just needs a vacation. :)

Team Cold
I'd write out the SG name, but frankly, I can't remember it. :-P

I have fun creating alts and trying out new power-set combinations. I also have a blast coming up with and playing new character concepts or working with old ones to come up with something new. The recent attack of Altitis Sundays replacing Task/Strike Force Sundays has been a blast. This ice-based team is so far my absolute favorite. The characters all have stuff in common but all have a lot of differences, too. There's a fairly good-sized pool of ice powers to choose from, so even the thematic overlap hasn't left anyone feeling redundant (I don't think). I gotta say, I'm glad Mason decided to create the tank, though. I would've done it if we didn't have one, but I stink at tanking. That and a brute have been the only archetypes I just can't seem to get my brain around properly.

In any case, it's tough waiting for nights where we can get the whole team together 'cause I want to play the ice guys (and girls)! I'm looking forward to a bit more development character-wise, but since I've already seen glimpses of it, I'm not worried. It'll happen.

Miscellany
It feels like a lot more than that's been going on. Maybe it's the depth of the plots Will is involved in. Maybe it's the RL issues that I don't feel like talking about right now. I've had some trouble focusing on the game sometimes. I find myself getting a bit distracted mentally and realizing I've gone through entire missions without saying a word. There's been a lot on my mind lately, and one of the things I do to deal with it is play games and hang out with friends. Yeah, even if it's hanging out in a virtual world.

Mason, if you're reading this, when we say we understand about you being distracted, pre-occupied, needing to tend to RL, etc., I want you to know I'm not just saying that. Been there, been through that, and heck, it still happens. Don't feel bad. It's a game. We're supposed to have fun, not feel obligated to play it. :)

Update

Yeah, it's been a while since my last blog post. Things have been going on in real life to keep me distracted, not the least of which is losing my job and then starting a new one. I've been enjoying just playing the game. Which is not to say I've just been power-gaming. On the contrary, a lot of new RP has been opened up since my last entry.

Ryu Tatsu
We got T3 to level 27, but... well, it's looking like the team isn't going to go anywhere. The characters are too different, too disconnected, and the disinterest, I think, is growing. I don't know what will become of the rest of the team, but for me... well, ever since revealing Ryu's reasons for being in the Isles, it feels like... well, it feels like he's done. There's not really anything else there.

Cpt. William Piett
New things are popping up all the time for Will. Fyre is proving to be both a good and bad influence on him at the same time. I expected one or the other, but both? It's weird. Fun, interesting, and leading to all sorts of story... but weird all the same. I've already created an alternate Will which prompted a nice piece of RP. Hard to say exactly where it'll go.

There's also some complications with Ges, one of the Nazi characters Masonry has. Will was willing to ignore the kind of person Ges was because all he wanted him for was another fighter. And he's definitely good at that. Unfortunately, and both Will and I were dreading this, conversation came up and discussions of Ges' background came up. Made for some fairly uncomfortable moments. Yet somehow, less uncomfortable than "Master Masonry". :)

The Grey Wizard
After a conversation between Fyre and Vagz, I re-created "VillainVagz". He's a fire/cold corruptor, and so far, he's only level 8. Re-kindling a connection to Angel Noir first established during the Winter Event, it was definitely an interesting duo. Although for some reason, Mal'ing down Angel had a rather nasty effect on the XP I was earning. But yes, Vagz is visiting the Rogue Isles once more.

Corvus Venator
I deleted him to make room for new alts, but missed him almost immediately. I liked the look I'd made for him. When I found myself stumped for a look for a "fun" alt over on Triumph... well, naturally I re-created him. He went from a claws/SR scrapper to a TA/Archery defender. Other than that, I intend for him to be the same character.

Also deleted and missed is Derick Darklight, my warshade. I liked the story I'd crafted for him. He had a great look, and I would've liked to RP him more... but I wasn't playing him, and I was starting to not look forward to more warshade stuff. Oh, well. Maybe eventually he'll come back.

Proto-Rikti

The moment I'd been waiting for with Will finally came. Well, one of them, anyway.

Even though Fyre tried to tell him very early on about the connection between the Lost and the Rikti, he was in complete denial over it. He used poorly-founded arguments, stupid little details, and ultimately just blind denial to keep from having to acknowledge that she was right. No, not because it was Fyre. Statesman or Recluse could've come to him and told him every detail in person, and he would've mustered the exact same amount of resistance to the idea. Possibly more with Recluse.

To recap, back when Cpt. William Piett was Cpt. Bill Peterson of the PCPD SWAT, he lived in Baumton ("Boomtown"). He had a wife, two kids, a dog, and a whole lot of friends and relatives, all living in the same area. In early 2002, he was working a lot, away from his family and friends, trying to help clean up the street crime that plagued Paragon City. Except for a few of his co-workers that he was chummy with, everyone he loved and cared about died in the Rikti invasion. He hates the Rikti as the aliens that took his life away. To a far lesser (and strictly subconscious) extent, he hates the heroes of Paragon for not saving his family as well as blaming them for why he wasn't there to protect his family. He and some of his co-workers, each with their own reasons, left Paragon City. They are the mercenaries.

So why the denial about the Lost? Will could deal with an alien invasion force trying to wipe out humanity. He deals with it badly, but it's... acceptable, I think is the best word for it. Finding out that the invasion force is a group of mutated humans? That most of this second invasion is made up of humans from our own world? It's not so easy to deal with the idea that one of the gangs that lives on the unmarked graves of his friends and family is basically trying to hook up with the people that razed Baumton in the first place.

In any case, at level 30, "Lost" missions become "Rikti" missions. So as you do "Lost" missions at level 28-30, increasing numbers of the mobs will be true Rikti instead of the mutated Lost. We had our first one of those last night. Will's been building up to this because, as Fyre pointed out, the Pariahs are pretty much short Rikti with hoods. He's been trying, consciously and unconsciously to ignore what they meant. Then we rounded a corner and found Rikti Infantry and Drones. It was a shock, and part of his brain shut down. He started babbling.

In the next room, there was a Rifleman, more Infantry, and a Communications Officer. Will lost it. He started shouting and running from room to room, gunning down or pummeling every Lost and Rikti he could find, acting recklessly (and thanks to Fyre and the pets, not getting in any danger) and finally the mercs had to tackle him and pin him to the ground to make him stop. Lt. Sinatra (the commando) talked to Fyre. She didn't say very much, but it seemed clear she understood to an extent what Will was going through. Even later, while Will was still partly off in his own little mental world, she still seemed concerned.

What comes next for Will vs. the Rikti? No idea. Just gonna play it by ear. :)

The Leviathan

If you have never done the CoV story-arc revolving around the "Cult of the Shaper", I highly recommend it. The storyline is interesting, but the real pay-off is getting to visit these caverns.

Some think this is a mouth or... other orifice. Personally, I think it looks more like an eye socket...

And then there are the teeth...

Oh, Captain, my Captain.

I know I've started a lot of posts this way lately, but...

It's hard, sometimes, to play a character who is an outsider to your own story. It's difficult to separate Piett from what I know from playing E for so long. And lately, I've had some moments where I've had a hard time remembering what Piett has heard or been told versus what I know because I was E. Heck, I'm pretty sure I've screwed up that separation a few times, usually erring on the side of "he doesn't know", leaving others to remind him (IC or OOC) that he really should know by now.

In any case, the Rikti are definitely not freaking Will out as much as I thought they were going to. They are freaking him out, especially when he's hip-deep in them for too long, but he gets back to "normal" pretty quickly. Does that mean he's all right? Hell, no. It means he's in even more layers of denial than I thought when I created him. And it actually gets easier to bury himself in denial when there's more people around. More to think about, more to keep track of, and more reason for him to put on his game-face and focus on the work.

No, I'm not suggesting less teaming. Don't be paranoid. I love the teaming.

When it comes to Master Masonry, Will doesn't trust him in the slightest. Mas keeps asking some very (to Will) personal questions. The probing just makes him that much more determined to keep his own council. There's something seriously wrong with this "hero" who leads a pack of thugs around, breaking their necks when he's unhappy. The only thing Will knows for sure right now is that he's got to be ready to try and take Mas out if it becomes necessary. How? Well, he's got some ideas...

Then there's Keen Havoc. Fyre and Mas treat him like "instant friend" because of his relationship to the other Keens (Stronghold and Frost). Will thinks they're nuts to do so. He's very obviously his own person with his own (hidden) agenda and plans. He seems like a decent (if rude) fellow, but the more decent someone on the Isles seems, the less likely they are to actually be decent.

As far as Ges and Schlachtfeld go, Will thinks of them as decent soldiers and somewhat useful. If they actually are Nazis... well, there's worse on the Isles. So long as all they're doing is work, it's fine. Just... don't want to get into a political or philosophical discussion.

Then there's Fyre-Hex. Will feels very protective of her, but he's confused as to whether he's having bodyguard feelings, fatherly feelings, or if he's developing a crush. She is quite capable of handling almost anything the Isles can dish out at her, and yet... why is someone like her on the Isles in the first place? He's taken rich idiots into dangerous places before, usually to see them lose their lunch and beg to be taken home. He's worked with heroes and villains before, but Fyre... it's like she's both at the same time. The player obviously knows a few things the character doesn't, so the character is still pretty confused about the whole situation.

Oh, and after last night's conversation, I think I pretty much have to put some more levels on my newest Virtue alt Lost Phantom. The RP idea that made me create him in the first place seems like even more of an interesting idea now. I just have to find a way to get some more levels on him so I can pull it off.

*chuckles evilly*