TheOtherTed

CouldBeWorse

I appreciate the comment, but that first team experience was quickly made irrelevant on my next team, and pretty much every team thereafter. It really was six straight years of "SB plz" that eventually drove me nuts. Granted this was all before Null the Gull and before SB was made AoE, but if there's any one thing that can "trigger" me, as the kids say, it's that one dreaded phrase.

Anyway, figured I should answer the OP's request and share my worst tale. Back on Live, it took me a while to team, mainly due to lack of confidence. I made a character devoted to teaming - a Kin/Arch defender - with Big Plans to be the best gosh-darn defender out there. Got to The Hollows and put up my shingle with "Kin/Arch Offender" in the description. I was almost immediately picked up by a team of 3 (IIRC, a blaster, a tanker, and a scrapper, with the blaster leading the team). We immediately fought a small-ish spawn (3 outcasts, I think), when I got yellow flag number one - the tanker said, "well I guess we're ok LOL." I throw out a single question mark but get no response. We go looking for another spawn, and suddenly I notice the scrapper is off to the side fighting a lone mob that cons red to me. I move in to support as best as I can, but my transfusion keeps missing. Oddly, my siphon power and my arrows hit just fine, so, you know, yay Offender! Suddenly I notice the blaster and tanker's health bars dip - and I realize I have no idea where they are. Just as suddenly, the scrapper leaves the team. I run to the top of the nearest hill to find the other two, only to watch them both drop in the middle of a very large spawn. I type question marks into chat, and the tanker replies "the heals were somewhat... lacking LOL." The blaster says some other things that I probably shouldn't say here, but it boiled down to me being at fault for not healing them both. Flummoxed, I lamely answer "But my description says Offender." Long story short, the blaster and I exchange words, I quit the team, we exchange more words, I suggest in no kind terms that he put me on ignore, and I promptly put him on ignore. So ended my first teaming experience in this game. I nearly deleted my character as well right then and there - the only reason I didn't was because I didn't want to give the blaster the satisfaction. Good thing, too, as I ran that character for another 5-6 years, with consistently better team experiences. Only saw that blaster once after that, while I was playing another character. ...of course, now I'll never run a Kinetics def, troller, or corr if my life depends on it, but that has more to do with "SB plz" than anything else...

I know you're not looking for advice, OP, but I'm posting this as a general thing to anyone reading this. The story should have ended here. Or, at the very most, here. Trying to cajole people into doing something they clearly don't want to do generally will not end well, especially when they know what they're in for. If they sign on in spite of themselves, expect passive-aggressive behavior, either because they're trying to make a point, or because they're amusing themselves at your expense, or both.

Dark/Dark corruptor = well nigh invulnerable.

Been hanging on to this low key little piece of nostalgia for nearly 9 years now...

Wow, good start! I guess I've never given Imperial Dynasty a fair chance before. However, the top is showing more skin than I'd like. Unfortunately, after playing around a bit, I found a couple of potential deal-breakers. First, the trim color on the "Top/Bottom with Skin" version of Imperial Dynasty is fixed. Second, that color is not available in the costume creator palette. Ugh. That limits my options for fixing the top. It's either 1) go monotone with the top, 2) obscure or overhwelm the leggings, or 3) take the tights version of the leggings. Here's one attempt at #2. Ignore the hair - I kind of like it, but it doesn't scream "space genie" to me. Keeping it as a placeholder for now. Also, the freaking boots in this game kill me. Still. BTW, went Dual Blades/Electricity Armor scrapper - never used Electricity anything before. Space Genie 5.costume

So I snapped at a co-worker today and said "Jaffa! Kree!" Here's hoping it doesn't get back to HR.

Random request time. I've got two insane-space-genie-from-another-dimension type characters, and I'd like to add a third. Long story short, I have three names that I recycle (in MMOs in which they'd fit - sorry, FFXIV). I've matched two of those names with costumes that I like, but I can't seem to put together third costume that retains the theme without copying myself. Since you folks helped me with the other two costumes, I figured I'd hold out my artistic begging bowl once again. Here are the two I've been running with: Both are corruptors - Dark/Dark on the left, Rad/Storm on the right. The first is the sly and sneaky type, while the second is the model of arrogant nobility. The unknown third would be a practical yet savage type - likely a melee AT, but I wouldn't rule out blaster with Ninja Training. Whatever she ends up being, she'll need a sword (or two). I'd like to show more of the third character's face as well, but I'm not sure how to get around the "scarring" on the Organic face. Having typed that, I just realized that instead of being an insane space genie from another dimension, Number Three could work as a near-human hunter of insane-space-genies-from-other-dimensions. That would free up the face limitation, but I'd still like the eyes (or at least one of them) to have some sort of glow that says "why, yes, I am from another dimension, and, yes, I am insane."

I'm still kicking myself for sleeping in on 3/14/15.

Do newer versions of the The Hobbit have appendices? I assumed that Cardinal Cut was referring to the LotR appendices - I can't recall The Hobbit having any in the editions I've read. Anyway, I was not in any way trying to justify Jackson's treatment of the book. His movie trilogy is one of two bits of film where I realized that I could not judge the work on its own merits (the other being "Star Trek: Into Darkness"). Too much random, irrelevant, and out-of-place junk thrown in, combined with too many shout-outs to the source, as if to say "no, really, this IS The Hobbit! Really!" Jackson & crew mucked it up big time, as far as I'm concerned. All the more disappointing as I really enjoyed his "Lord of the Rings." I guess the point I tried (and failed) to make was that The Hobbit didn't need the material from the LotR appendices to be great book on its own, and nothing in the appendices really adds much to the story, IMO. The Hobbit can stand on its own merits, whether as a book or a movie, without getting into all that "off-stage" stuff.

I don't wonder about that at all. Tolkien came up with The Hobbit as a fun diversion for his kids. It was a standalone fairy tale, not really linked to anything else he was working on at the time. The Necromancer was just a necromancer (and a convenient way to get Gandalf out of the story), wizards were just old men with pointy hats and a few tricks up their sleeves, and the disputes and battles between Elves, Dwarves, and Orcs were only mentioned in passing to provide tension, and maybe hint at some vague history. When people pressed him for a sequel, though, he decided to incorporate The Hobbit into a much larger narrative that he'd been writing and re-writing for a good long time. Doing so lent the sequel the sense of history and consistency he needed to write a serious epic. From what I can tell, that's when he really established who (and what) Gandalf and the Necromancer actually were, how far back the history between Elves, Dwarves, and Orcs went, and a lot of other random information. Eventually, that all became published as The Silmarillion, and the appendices in LotR were a rough summary of that larger story with a few extra notes about Dwarves and Hobbits. Long story short, the material in the appendices was a post-hoc way to tie the events of LotR to The Hobbit, and had little (if any) bearing on the events of The Hobbit itself. He did rewrite the second printing of The Hobbit to set the stage for LotR, but as far as I can tell, the main difference between the 1st and 2nd British editions was how Bilbo came to possess his ring. (Side note, I'd love to get my paws on a copy of that first printing for that reason. We Americans only got the 2nd and later editions.) Keep in mind all of this is from fuzzy memory years after reading stacks of nerdy Tolkien books, so I absolutely would not mind corrections from sharper brains. That said, I'd strongly recommend The Letters of JRR Tolkien to anyone who wants a peek into the Professor's creative process.

True chaos is an Illusion/Storm controller.

Here's a beautiful rendition of a song I'd all but forgotten about. Maybe you've forgotten it too, but I know you'll know it immediately from the first few notes. It's a little sad, a little melancholy, but also uplifting and empowering. I hope you enjoy re-living it as much as I have. Matt Mulholland - My Heart Will Go On (original song by Celine Dion)

I appreciate everyone's input - it was all very helpful - and especially the writing samples (always fun to read!). After cogitating on all the above, and reading up on the spoilery bits about the Praetorian Hamidon, I think I've got a core of an idea, or at least a justification and a focus for something that's been fermenting in my head. Un-artistically put, my ex-Seer has a genetic mutation (or several) that attunes her psionic abilities to a much lower frequency than the "usual" psionicist. As a result, she finds it extremely difficult to tune in to the Seer Network, and to do Seer-type stuff. However, her natural range of sensitivity allows her to sense, and tap into, strange psychic energies of which Seers are not typically aware. After some testing and experimentation, it was revealed that a portion of Hamidon's own psychic carrier frequencies falls within her range, and it just so happens that the very low amplitude signals given off by plants and fungi are in this range as well. However, she has no particular love (or even like) for Hamidon, or plants, or nature in general. Plus, she reports that there are "other voices" that no one has yet been able to confirm, and that she can't (or won't) describe. In the end, it was decided that she would be better suited for service in the Powers Division than as a Seer, and that's where her story begins. I'll probably write this up as snippets of a third-person technical report explaining the decision. However, if people would lke to bounce ideas off the above, I'd love to read them!

If there's a thread that helps people "workshop" bios, let me know and I'll post the following to it. If not, here goes my plea for help... I've been playing a Dark / Nature Affinity controller for a bit, and in a move that's unusual for me, I never had a clear idea of who or what the character is. I randomly assigned her the Magic origin and didn't think anything more of it - just enjoyed the weirdness of the powerset combination. Recently, though, it occurred to me that the combo might make sense for a Seer who has either joined forces with, or been contaminated by, the Devouring Earth - but I have no idea how or why that would happen. My gold-side lore is shaky at best. Also, it seems like Mutation or Science might be better origin choices theme-wise. Mutation might explain why she may have latched on to some DE vibe that other Seers could ignore, for instance, while Science might hint at some chemical contamination that screwed up her Seer conditioning. Or something. I know origin is pretty meaningless, especially in Praetoria, but my small mind craves consistency. So - any thoughts on what might cause a Seer to gain vaguely DE-themed powers and suddenly decide to go rogue?

Ok, so, nearing the end of season 2, and I'm starting to warm up to it a bit. On the Star Trek scale, I'd place it a step ahead of Voyager, maybe two steps ahead of Enterprise, and about a mile ahead of Discovery. Objectively speaking. *looks for the "shifty eyes" emote without scucess*

Heck, I'd be fine if they come noisily, as long as they... wait, that sounded wrong...

Highest level character I ever had hit 46 on live, when suddenly the myth of "Bridge?" /tells became reality and I lost all interest in the character. Here on Homecoming, I have a few mid-20 characters that are just waiting for me to get a better network adapter so I can actually join teams. They might have to wait a bit longer.

Hope you folks don't mind a two-fer, and I apologize if these have been posted. While doing the WFH thing today, I started my Pandora queue with this first song just to see where it would go. The song "clinched" the name for one of my favorite characters in this and another MMO - the name being close enough to the title that this might as well be her theme song (or one of them): Crosby, Stills, and Nash - Marrakesh Express I let Pandora do its thing, and just as I was finishing up my work, this next song hit my ears. The first time I heard this song is the only time I ever said "...whoah, man" (non-sarcastically, anyway), and may very well be one of two things that gave meaning and focus to my natural asociality: America - A Horse with No Name

If this was a "last game on Earth" situation, and I only had one character slot, I'd be reading a lot more. Maybe even re-learn Latin, like I've been threatening to do for a couple of decades.

Call me crazy, but that was actually really jarring to me. Even with the remastering of the crew scenes, part of me expected the dated special effects in space. My brain was anticipating classic 1960s technicolor ("Now with Blur-O-Vision!"), and what it got was painfully hi-def imagery of the ship flying past all-too-realistic looking planets. Ugh. But anyway, I've put Babylon 5 on my watch list because of this thread (making myself watch season 2 of SG1 first). It had its rough moments, but all in all, it's one of my top 3 sci-fi series. I probably won't watch the remastered version, though. Sorry, HBO.

My reading of the OP is that he mentioned not being able to do anything at least 3 times before quitting, possibly a 4th. That doesn't condone the team leader's response at all, but my own reaction would probably have been to say "Ok, best of luck" and kick him off the team - most likely after the 2nd mention. There's not much point in sticking with a team that's a bad fit for you. The better option is to politely say your piece (once) and leave.

That's fair. My experience with it was on a Kin/Archery defender. Pop Fulcrum Shift on a speed-boosted team, tap RoA to take advantage of the damage boost, and by the time your animation ends, everything's KO'ed and your team is ten miles away. Meanwhile, a sad trombone plays in the distance...

Forgot one! Rain of Arrows, for that embarrassed yet bemused "well, it would've been cool" feeling.