MTeague

Guilty. I don't see WO's as acronym for WinterO's so my brain incorrectly autocorrected to ATO's.

I only buy SuperPacks and WinterPacks when I have enough influence for at LEAST six of them at once, plus 5-10 mil left over. So if I have 65 mil? I might buy 6 superpacks for 60 mil, and have 5 mil left over. Or if I have 155 mil, I might buy 6 winterpacks for 150 mil, and have 5 mil left over. Why save 5-10 mil after? I hate being totally broke. to afford market fees if I feel like posting anything for sale and/or to be my Seed Money for the next round of Converter Roulette Why buy 6 at a whack minimum? because duds happen. If you were still getting used to the market, still at a point where saving up 25 mil seems like a HUGE undertaking... then you don't want to spend all 25 mil on a single winter pack and be the unlucky guy who gets ZERO IO's and just gets a single booster and 80 Brain Storm Ideas for your rares. You'd feel like you just took a massive gut punch, you'd be burned and you'd never buy them again. But if you buy 6 or more packs, sure, you might get 1-2 packs with duds, but you also might get a few packs that contain TWO winter-O's per pack. I am personally convinced if you buy in bulk, you WILL get something like 1.4 Winter-O cards on average. I do not have hard data on that, it's just my impression / experience. it's just if you can't front the cost of buying in bulk, you'll have more change of scarring bad luck. Because some times the RNG gods smile upon you, and sometimes the RNG gods point and laugh at you. I also tend to no longer post Winter-O's for sale. I tend to mail them around to my alts, perhaps converting a few times first. Some of the sets are *Quite* nice for set bonuses when you Superiorize them, and are still Not Too Shabby even before then. Avalanche in particular.

That sort of feels a little too cheesy to use... but on the other hand.... when mobs plainly don't fight fair, I can rationize a certain amount of "Fine! Neither will I!" Though usually that's when I whip out a Pocket Shivan. The problem with Protean is the Shivan will stay in melee vs him. Soooo.... maybe elevators, if I ever do that arc again. We'll see. I'd probably do at least 2-3 tries without though. Still. It's good tactical advice, if I can bring myself to accept it. Thanks!

I'd be on board with a means to exemplar yourself down to the zone's normal range. I do not like the idea of everything scaling up. A great many mob types simply do not exist outside normal level ranges, and just adding more HP/To-Hit/Def/Res is not really the same thing as facing an enemy who was actually DESIGNED to go up to 50 and who actually has access to a complete array of powers in their powersets.

The fight vs Protean was not the most fun to solo on a Mind/Kin. Exemplar'd too low for Fulcrum Shift. Relatively lower damage. Used a GIANT pile of purples and reds, and still goofed up once, spending just a touch too long in the animaton for Siphon Speed and got caught in his Power Siphon. At which point he prompted healed up from like 33% health to 100% and all my prior inspirations were just WASTED. It happened again, on the next go-round. I invented some new words that day. Or at least new combinations of existing words. Got him on the 3rd mission restart though, being a LOT more judicious about what to cast when.

Honestly, because of this, I don't expect that sale, or any like it, to ever happen, ever again. Do I have any kind of inside information here? No, none at all. This is hunch and guess. But from various postings I've read, the tone seemed to be that it was regarded as a mistake to slash the price like that. And it's noteworthy that they did no such sale even on a temporary basis during Mender Derek's activation of the Winter Event.

IF such a change were made, I'd like to see it apply to single-target ally-only status protection buffs, too (Clear Mind, Increase Density, Enforced Morale, Clarity, etc) However, I'm also fine with none of the above being changed. Is it a hassle to maintain buffs on a good sized team and/or or your MM pets? Yes. Is it that big a deal? No, not really. It'd put it well after "Darn Your Socks" on the priority queue. But just bumping the duration (not casting to all, just the duration effect...) sounds like it's probably a *very* small lift.

Your bodyguards need not be human. You could do robot bodyguards if you wanted, etc. But I admit, the concept screams out to me "Thugs/Poison" for a Walter White. Or perhaps "Ninja/Poison" if you wanted an eastern twist. Also, I strongly recommend the "Experimentation" origin pool, since you can jab people with a needle for a few of it's powers. Poison has POWERFUL debuffs, but the splash area on them isn't huge. That wouldn't be a problem for default difficulty. But you might find this punishing if you wanted to crank up the difficulty to +2/x5 or so. There might just be too many mobs to reliably debuff all you needed to. So you can kittenize a boss and anything standing next to the boss, but if you have foes who are spread out, your thugs will be taking it on the chin hard. I strongly recommend getting good with pulling them back to a corner or door and unleashing the venom as they clump up. You would do right fine on a team, as long as someone else is soaking the alpha. Just be wary if you get a team of all damage dealers who wants your pets to tank for them. I had.... bad experiences.... with this way way back when CoV first launched with a Ninja/Poison character. It was pretty much the Debt Express.

That's Tar-And-Feather worthy design right there. If someone doens't want to answer they won't answer. If you force an answer out of them, they're not going to consider your question and give you good data. They're going to click the first choice, no matter what it is, just to get past this stupid popup that they want to close. So if you want a forced-answer-poll? then you should make sure the answers you HATE the most and sincerely wish are NOT TRUE, are the first answer. Just so that answer can be weighted extra hard, as punishment for creating such a bad forced-answer popup.

It's a great face for a Brute. I use it on one of mine. Can you imagine the wailing and gnashing of teeth if certain faces were restricted to certain alignments only? Plus, Going Rogue? Your face changes out from under you if you change alignments? Now a different sort order, I could get on board with. Or if you want to rename the face "Villain Face 1" while still keeping it available for characters of any alignment, then sure.

I probably woulnd't use it, because I wouldn't trust it when to use Empyreans vs when not but... depending... could be nice for the T1 and T2's.

You're assuming the NCSoft designers were not sadists .... 😉 Part of me likes it as it is, because, well, you're defending the mansion from an imminnet invasion. If you're overwhelmed and crushed, the rest of the midnighters aren't going to manage to hold them off while you port to a hospital, get fixed up, catch your breath, have an orange juice and some crackers and have the nurse make sure you're okay before you leave the infirmary. If your team wipes, the mansion is just LOST. If you wipe, I think it should just be Mission FAILED, and you should have to start over from the beginning. There's several missions I'd do that for, actually. Still. I'll acknowledge, that on any mission that I personally think should be a "Mission FAILED", nothing stops me from exiting the mission, changing to another mission and changing back to reset it. And I could still do that even if the Devs changed where you respawn at / prevented the enemies from chasing you.

Mine are now posted. 🙂 https://forums.homecomingservers.com/topic/21447-mteagues-characters-the-good-the-bad-and-the-gold/

Mine are posted: https://forums.homecomingservers.com/topic/21447-mteagues-characters-the-good-the-bad-and-the-gold/ Took a bit to get screencaps I liked and proofread some bio's but, it was actually kinda fun 🙂

Shadow Hand Origin: Science Archtype: Dominator Powersets: Dark Control / Rad Assault Alignment: Praetorian Character Description: Eric Rafael Morden is a smooth-talking businessman from the Imperial City. Always perceptive, always able to close deals for his 'associates', no matter how shady. There was... an incident. Or perhaps, 'will be'. Morden is not sure which. He knows the PPD woke him up and pulled him from a still-smoldering ruin he was told had been the center of a massive explosion. And he is periodically hit by waves of Deja-Vu, knowing what will come next. There was no trace of his partner...a man named Hakim al-Najjar. There is absolutely no record of any such person ever existing. Morden began to hear chittering darting whispers that he can't quite understand and recorders do not detect. Morden has POWER now. Shadows are no longer just patches of lesser illumination near him. They reach out and grasp his foes, or strike from his hands. And the whispers in his mind drive men to do his will. Power too strong to hide and too untrained to resist, he was conscripted into Powers Division. Additional Notes: 'Morden' as a smooth-talking deal closer for his 'associates' is of course, a Babylon 5 reference. There is NOTHING in B5 canon that I can find that ever given Morden a first or middle name, so I made them up. In this universe, he never went to Zha'Ha'Dum, never met the Shadows, never worked for them. Instead an experiment gone wrong has made him a conduit for malevolent Shadowy forces. I cannot tell you how badly I want an alternate animation for the T9 shadow pet that looks like a B5 Shadow. But that will never happen because copyrights, so I will have to make do with Shadow Puppy. His partner who created a space-time disruption is my only half-fleshed out Praetorian Time Defender. All his Rad Assault and Pool powers use a pitch-black with hints of very dark blue color scheme. I just didn't want the feathery fluffy look of Dark Assault, and I already had a Dark Blast character in Tithonos, anyway.

Coatl Origin: Natural Archtype: Stalker Powersets: Ninja Blade / Ninjistu Alignment: Praetorian Character Description: The assassin known as Coatl was born Benedict Stefan Morgan, on Praetoria. His family was the result of decades of genetic engineering by the 5th Column... and were freed when the 5th Column was consumed during the Hamidon Wars. His family joined the crew of a cargo ship, transporting resources from the wild to Imperial City. Disaster struck at age 12. The Devouring Earth attacked, and he watched in horror as everyone he knew, including his sister Jessica, were taken and infested. Benedict survived only because Praetor Sinclair and his forces arrived and slew the Devouring Earth... and then all infected ...including Jessica. Coatl was trained by Chimera ever since. A separate wing of Project Phoenix, each unknown to the rest. After he was fooled by what he saw too many times, Sinclair took his eyes. To their surprise, Coatl reacts better and faster without them, "seeing" without sight. His training complete, Chimera has assigned him to infiltrate Powers Division. But how loyal is he? Additional Notes: his dead sister Jessica is the Praetorian version of the Primal Earth woman who grew up to become Trifid. On Primal earth, it was Benedict who died young, one reason primal Jessica became withdrawn and avoided people. he was not merely blinded by Chimera. He no longer has eyeballs. They were removed. I haven't fully worked out all the handwaving needed for him to read signs and documents and operate computer terminals other than a nebulous "second sight". If his primal earth reflection of his sister was a powerful latent telepath, he could be one too. such telepathic infusion of his will into his blade is why it can cut steel or stone, or harm incorporeal spirits.

Grayshade Origin: Magic Archtype: Sentinel Powersets: Ice Blast / Dark Armor Alignment: Praetorian Character Description: Tara Helene Fisher is a citizen of Praetoria. She harbors no illusions about Emperor Cole or his Praetors, but she is keenly aware how close humanity was to being wiped out forever by the Hamidon. Cole may not be benevolent, but she is certain that without him, none of them would be around to debate better ways of life. Tara is also a mutant, though she did not know this until this year. Twenty Devouring Earth attacked Tiberious Point one Sunday. Over a hundred people died, including most of Tara's family. As they reached for her, she felt a frigid emptiness within. The Devouring Earth froze to ice and shattered upon touching her. Her skin, hair, and even clothing had become gray, drained of all color. All light, all energy, kinetic, sonic, thermal or otherwise was simply sucked into her and gone. She laid waste to the Devouring Earth in her rage. Her powers have NEVER manifested so strongly since, but TPN called her The Gray Shade, and Powers Division has her registered under that name. Additional Notes: Her powers are tied to her emotional state. Feelings of loss, betrayal, hate, rage and cynicism, all strengthen her inner conduit to the Netherworld, and the cold emptiness that she uses to power her attacks. Friendship, joy, and hope weaken her powers. To be more and more powerful, her life has to suck worse and worse. In my Final Showdown, she will be the one who stops Hephaesto, quenching the endless fire within him by leeching it all out and into the endless hunger of the Netherworld. This will only be possible because of who Hephaesto has killed in front of her.

Sagitarrius Origin: Natural Archtype: Blaster Powersets: Archery / Tactical Arrow Alignment: Praetorian Character Description: Dawn Marigold grew up as a protected and priviliged child in Emperor Cole's capitol city. With no real need to work, she chose to focus on athletics, and social climbing. Dawn excelled at archery, winning 1st place in every contest she entered, without even using her family connections. She lost her arm in a car crash caused by the Destroyers. She was still recovering in the hospital, adapting to the horror that her arm had been severed and a prosthetic put in it's place, when she was informed that she was being conscripted into Powers Division whether she liked it or not. Her skills already made it borderline, but with the strength of her robotic arm added, it was now REQUIRED, in the Emperor's name. Dawn is determined to claw her way back to the life of idle wealth and easy living that she believes is her right and due. Additional Notes: name is mis-spelled, but I didn't realize it until she ws lvl 17, and decided to let it stand. did mostly Power and Crusader arcs in the 1-20 journey will end up Redside has no desire to end up in some kind of standoff between Emperor Cole and the super-powers of Paragon City By the end of the 1-20 arc, she realized she'll never ever have a cushy life on Praetoria again, so she's leaving. Plus, the idea of a world without Hamidon on Steroids has it's appeal. will feel right at home in St. Martial

Yu'lon Origin: Magic Archtype: Scrapper Powersets: Staff Fighting / Willpower Alignment: Praetorian Character Description: Toshiko Harper lived a fairly normal life in Praetoria. As normal as life gets in the city of Emperor Marcus Cole, preserver of humanity. Tosh worked as a surveyor and researcher, in the dangerous task of charting out the subways beneath the city, and tunnels that lead off from them. In one such foray, her team and the PPD guard were completely overrun by ghouls. She ran, down tunnels and access corridors, looking for a way to the surface. She ran into a dead end, in a triple-sub-basement of a ruined museum. Rubble blocked the stairs up. The door she locked behind her was denting as the ghouls howled in rage. Among the artwork and statues in basement, was a serpentine Jade Dragon, holding a bladed spear. Tosh was no warrior but the door would not hold long, and a spear was better than nothing. As she touched the spear there was an explosion of power. She found herself armored and filled with martial skill. She was Yu'lon, the Jade Serpent. Additional Notes: Toshiko and Harper are both references to Torchwood This Yu'lon is the Praetorian version of the Yu'lon that Cygnus made a pact with to contain and destroy Zhang Li. In Praetria, Yu'lon succeeded, and Zhang Li is no more. Toshiko is now the human avatar of this spirit. She will stay in Praetoria, as a Praetorian, never choosing Hero or Villain until lvl 50. Headcanon, feeling an echo of Yu'lon is why Cygnus asked Blue Avatar and Bluejay to enter the TUNNEL. In my imaginary Final Showdown of characters, her appearance on the battlefield will send Zhang Li into a Villainous Blue Screen of Death

Jack Spades Origin: Technology Archtype: Blaster Powersets: Dual Pistols / Devices Alignment: Rogue Character Description: Call me Jack Spades. No, of course that's not my real name. I'm a professional. Real names just cause trouble. Jack Spades is memorable, is an easy calling card, won't agitate any former associates by sounding too much like one of their callsigns, and won't be confused for an MHI. You went through some trouble to arrange this meeting, which means you want work done. Untraceable work. Maybe extracting data or personnel, maybe planting one or the other. But much more likely, you need wetwork done, in a manner that can't get back to you. I can also tell you're new at this. Nothing goes on paper. A man's word is his bond in this business. Also, you may be interested in these photos of your home and kids. Don't get any ideas about trying to 'tie up any loose ends' after the job's done, clear? You pay me when the job is done, I go my way, you go yours, and everyone lives happily ever after. Well, except the people you want dead. Additional Notes: ex Malta agent who managed to go freelance without a price on his head. does not talk about exactly how he managed that. has kept Malta's secrets under extreme duress. Some speculate his "exit inteview" may have involved selective memory erasure. is able to keep in touch, presumably with a series of dead-drops or an emergency call line. does not appear to have any hostility toward MHI's, considers prior interactions "nothing personal, just business".

Fixeur Origin: Mutant Archtype: Defender Powersets: Empathy / Psychic Blast Alignment: Rogue Character Description: Remi Marchand has cultivated deep ties with the Family, owed many favors by many powerful individuals. He is famous in some circles, but the wider public has never heard of him, and Remi prefers it this way. Most who know him, know him as a shrewd businessman, an excellent negotiator who always seems to find a way to leave all parties believing that they came out ahead. In truth, Remi is a mutant, with a powerful telempathic gift. He can read and manipulate the emotions of others, and he has no hesitation or remorse in doing so. He can heal, and he can use his power to turn people into near-unstoppable combatants... and he uses this, together with his basic telempathic gift, to coerce others into doing his dirty work, while accruing owed favors from mob bosses who know they would be dead but for his intervention. Never realizing he arranged for them to be wounded so that he could put them in his debt. A "Fixer" in every sense of the word. Additional Notes: is in many ways a sociopath. Due to his powers he can understand what others feel and why, but they are all simply playthings to him. Toys to be directed and manipulated however he wants them to be. used his telempathic powers to gain the trust of Henri Lessard, Deepfathom's father, and to ensure Henri never questioned for even a moment whether Remi might be a mutant himself. has no desire for world domination; can't be bothered with it. ruthlessly uses his powers to ensure he has all the best things in life. Wealth, women, respect, adulation. much of this fell apart when he was caught in large scale Family bust / financial sting. While being processed he tried to use his powers to convince the officers he was entirely an innocent bystander and they should want to let him go. But Cygnus felt it, and rendered him unconscious, and on Cygnus's word he was brought to a special holding cell for telepaths while they investigated further. Eventually he was sent to the Zig. in the Zig he called in many favors to gain preferential treatment, and eventually escaped with Arachnos.

Deepfathom Origin: Mutant Archtype: Corruptor Powersets: Water Blast / Sonic Resonance Alignment: Rogue Character Description: Danielle Fleur Lessard, was heiress apparent to Henri Lessard, a fanatical mutant-hater and financier of the Earth For Humans movement. Days before her wedding, for no reason except perhaps karmic justice, her latent mutations went into full bloom. At a party in front of everyone, her pale skin deepened to an angry bruise. Her blue eyes turned a baleful red. Her brown tresses shifted to sky-blue. She grew fangs, and her fingernails became claws. Dani shrieked at her reflection and glass shattered and water burst from the ground around her. Her father disowned her on the spot, avowing that no child of his could be a mutant, publicly accusing her mother of infidelity. Her friends and fiance, far more enthralled by her father's money than her, immediately agreed and rejected her. Dani threw herself off a bridge. But she did not die. Enraged at almost killing herself for her father's hate, she swore revenge. Additional Notes: One of my more sympathetic redsiders. Arguably, she never did anything more wrong than be born into money and believe everything she was taught growing up, hook, line, and sinker. she was never tested for mutant genes growing up, as prior to her mutations manifesting, her father would not even hear a HINT of his little princess "being some kind of tainted abomination" (as he would have called it). So there was never any chance of her being brought to GIFT at an early age and learning to control her powers until they flared all at once. As she's adapted to her new reality, she has become friends with Medusa Girl and Feril, feeling a kinship of being freaks and outcasts. She still wants her old life back, and knows full well that can NEVER happen. Still maintains contact with Remi Marchand, a family friend and confidant, who in truth cares nothing for her but plans to use her to murder her father after Remi manipulates Henri into changing his will.

Gloomspinner Origin: Natural Archtype: Night Widow Alignment: Rogue Character Description: Rebecca Hanson grew up in a poor family in Port Oakes, wondering why the United States allowed the Rogue Isles to deteriorate so. Television showed a near idyllic life on the mainland, after all, and surely the nation that won so many wars, fielded so many heroes, and driven back the Rikti, could spare some effort for Port Oakes. Eventually she realized the truth. The United States simply didn't care. Not enough. Rebecca studied judo and karate to be better able to protect herself, but her fate truly shifted when Arachnos noticed she had moderate psychic abilities. That, plus her athleticism, allowed her to join the ranks of the Widows. She has never looked back. It's a far better choice than being a clerk at a hardware store, helpless and preyed upon, or being the dame of a Family tough, and enjoying their protection only while still young and pretty. She would once have preferred a simple, peaceful life. But if she can't have that, well, it's better to be the hammer than the nail. Additional Notes: because yea, why WOULD Recluse be given such free rein to do any darn thing he pleased in the Rogue Isles except that no one cared enough to stop him, or would otherwise be focused on a more Cold War geopolitical outlook where "we can use Recluse against X, Y, and Z". And I tried to think, okay, say you were a normal everyday person living in the Rogue Isles. Why WOULD you join up with Arachnos instead of catching the first boat or plane out? Beacuse a Widow isn't just a freelance villain. A Widow has SIGNED UP WITH Arachnos. Who does that? All I could come up with is no one is willing to take them in. You join Arachnos to have some measure of protection, because otherwise you're easy prey. So you have to make whatever faustian bargain you need to have a half-decent life. Or at least, that's what you tell yourself AT FIRST, as bit by bit, day by day, you're a little bit more corrupted by the power, and a become a little bit more ruthless to guard what you have. Has zero TRUE loyalty to Arachnos. Serves for the abilities to defend herself, to be able to boss others around. Was VERY interested in Praetoria as a possible safe haven to run to, until learning of what became of anyone with a hint of a psychic gift. Being a Seer is not her idea of happy fun-time.

Tithonos Origin: Magic Archtype: Corruptor Powersets: Dark Blast / Dark Miasma Alignment: Villain Character Description: "Never more shall I be free, escape these chains of life. For I have dined on honey-dew, and drunk the milk of paradise..." Ages ago in the Scottish Highlands, Cormag Dunbar bargained with the Sidhe. His wish: To Never Die. It was granted. He bargained... poorly. If cut he still bled, and he did not heal faster than any other man. He still aged. Caught in a blaze his flesh will blacken and char, but he can never die. He has been buried alive in a mudslide, trapped for 80 years, his body invaded by worms and burrowing things, driven mad by confinement, but he can never die. Cormag has learned enough necromancy to suck life from others to grant himself temporary youth, but above all he seeks a means to break his curse, to be allowed to die. His greatest terror is that the world will end and he will drift helplessly in the void. Forever alive. Forever alone. Forever tormented by vacuum. Wishing he could die. Additional Notes: quote at the beginning of his description is an adaptation of the lyrics at the end of the Rush song, Xanadu. I just swapped out "Caves of Ice" and added "Chains of Life". The song still seems quite appropriate for a mad immortal man seeking above all a release from life, but forever denied it. the name is reference to a figure of Greek mythology, and is sometimes spelled Tithonus. But Tithonos is used too, and this is the spelling I could get. Cormag is not meant to ACTUALLY be Tithonus of Troy, he simply felt the name appropriate after reading the poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson and took it as his own. Cormag is entirely uninterested in world domination or riches or other classic villain goals. He just wants to be able to die. Hephaesto employs him, using his power in a favor-for-favor exchange to recover certain artifacts, locate various wizards, etc. His outlook may change upon gaining Incarnate power. Right now he has to suck the life out of someone every few days to not age into a withered zombie husk. Combat drains him more, requiring him to draw life (Twilight's Grasp) from his foes several times.

Zhang Li Origin: Magic Archtype: Mastermind Powersets: Ninjas / Cold Domination Alignment: Villain Character Description: Zhang Li is a sorcerer from a forgotten age. There are still legends in China of the "Winter-King". But on the eve of victory, he was cast down by an outlander sorceror, Cygnus. To prevent him from re-forming his essence, Cygnus had made a pact with Yu'lon, the Jade Dragon, a protector spirit that could not defeat Zhang Li on it's own. The spirit Yu'lon took physical form of a great statue of a Jade Dragon curled about a pillar where his soul would be imprisoned and devoured. Zhang Li knew he was doomed, but fought on. For thousands of years Yu'lon ate away at him. Even as the statue was put on a freighter and carried across the oceans to the Overlook Art Museum, they fought silently. He was near final death when the Faultline incident smashed the statue, sundering Yu'lon, and freeing him at last. Though weakened, he has taken on flesh once more, and summoned his Storms, ninja-spirits bound to eternal service to him. Zhang Li will recover his power, and subject this world to his dominion. Additional Notes: inspired by Lo Pan of Big Trouble in Little China, but with an ice-mage twist. Serves Hephaesto for now, while he remains weakened. Fully plans to overthrow him, and bind Hephaesto to serve him in the fullness of time. Hephaesto is fully aware of this, and has multiple scenarios planned out to deal with him when the time comes, some relying on Feril, some not. Hephaesto has even kicked around the idea of allowing Zhang Li to triumph, and coat the world in ice, so that people might turn to a figure of living flame as a rescuer. Cygnus is not yet aware that he is loose upon the world once more.