TheOtherTed

I'd been watching a training video for work, and had youtube at 1.5X speed to save my sanity (painfully slow narrator). Took a break, popped in here, saw this, one of my favorite "nostalgia" songs, and eagerly clicked on it. Got confused as heck when the tempo was much, much faster than I'd remembered... Anyway. Took a penny, so now I'll leave a penny. Might even be kinda relevant, too... Gnarls Barkley - Crazy

Wow! Still waiting for MoM 2...

This thread doesn't disappoint... oodadoo's post inspired me to recreate one of my characters from one of those other games - maybe not "the best," and I doubt I'll play her, but the exercise was fun!

Nope. I remember the regen bug, and I didn't join until after I6. Good times, though... if you were rad or kin!

Heh, been there, done that - and went back, Jack, and did it again 10-20 minutes later...

Eh, would love to respond, but I think I've derailed this thread enough...

This was in the days before IOs, when all your inf came from mobs and selling enh to vendors. That said, the cost of DOs and even SOs are pocket change nowadays compared to the sale value of orange (and even yellow) salvage and recipes. While I no longer buy TOs, I do still buy DOs - I usually have more than enough cash by then, and they do make a noticeable difference in those awkward teen levels. So maybe I'm still being stupid, but, hey, you know what, whatever...

Yeah, you read that right.

Dumbest thing I did was on my first character on live (well, second - the first one never broke out of Outbreak). I bought TOs. Obsessively. Every time I leveled, I bought new TOs to keep them maxxed out. It even got to the point where I was foregoing DOs in order to buy TOs - I couldn't afford DOs (I wonder why), and I figured TOs were better than nothing, so, you know, financial genius at wrok. Yes, I said "wrok."

Partly true, but I think both were stymied by Cryptic Studio's early push to market itself as a MMO factory. I recall there was a lot of bragging about the engine they developed, that it was so powerful they could go from "concept to game" in less than 2 years. However, content suffered for it, in both games. Content takes time. As a result, CO had at least one huge leveling gap, and STO content was just terribly written, often counter-immersive, and for the Klingon faction, it just wasn't there at all. But, yeah, I think STO had (and still has) the bigger draw, so resources got diverted to it to the detriment of CO.

Consider also the fact that COH Homecoming may still benefit from the "homecoming" effect. I can't speak for other players, but I know my own cycle with MMOs follows a standard pattern: Phase 1 - playing as often as I can and trying out new things Phase 2 - playing regularly, but not as frequently as before Phase 3 - popping in once or twice a week to catch up with in-game friends Phase 4 - popping in once a month (or even once a year), mostly for nostalgia's sake Phase 5 - (very rare) well and truly done with the game; zero interest in even poking my nose in. I had hit phase 4 in the original game a couple of years before shut-down. I'm still in phase 4 with regards to CO (and a few others). Now, however, I'm right back in phase 1. Had COH stayed "alive" all these years, there's a good chance I would have reached phase 5 by now.

I'd guess "Tiger Mom," but not sure what the bomb refers to. Either it's N-quite-SFW, or it's a mom with a perpetual cold.

Ok, here's my first pass - a rough "stealth suit" theme for your character. Fair warning, I'm not great at complexity, nor do I usually do auras. Also, I didn't do anything with the scales - just used default height and build. Hopefully, though, this will jog the creativity of other folks who "jive" better with the costume you've posted. In particular, I tried to get a "civilian" costume together, using either a trenchcoat or the Baron or Victorian jackets, but just couldn't quite make it work. Anyway, pics and costume file follow: DarkityDarkStealth.costume

The "The" may not have been deleted, but rather treated as an honorific. It will disappear in the character creator, but it should still show up in-game right where it should. However, I have no idea whether it counts as part of the name (thus making it more unique), or as an add-on like a title. All I know is that NPCs will drop the "The".

Reading-wise, I've been on a "classics" kick lately - bunch of stuff by Jules Verne and H.G. Wells, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, Edgar Allan Poe's detective stories, an unhealthy dose of H.P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard's Kull and Solomon Kane stories, and currently reading Sherlock Holmes. I'm digging the old-timey language as much as the stories, to be honest. Besides all that, I also read Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien and Morgoth's Ring recently. The first was very cool (from a Tolkien nerd perspective); the second, not so much.

What sort of dark? Castlevania dark? Batman rogues gallery dark? Klingon opera singer dark?

I'm a big sucker for "myth made modern" themes. As soon as I read your post, I immediately thought dark red (maybe purple) business-y pants-suit, with the "cellphone" and "wait" emotes on a hotkey bind. A young professional who's all too eager to show how busy he or she is, but with a halo and wings. Edit: Attaching a screenie and costume file for a quickly thrown together idea. Went dark red with orange highlights; also went with Vanguard sword and shield for extra orange-ness. Business Angel.costume

Steely Dan - Time out of Mind

In terms of power mechanics, I learned most by playing different ATs with different powersets in groups. I didn't really know how to scrap, for example, until I played a controller, or tank until I played a couple of different types of defender. Teaming with others is critical - you won't appreciate your characters' true strengths (and weaknesses) until you see how they "fit in" on a team. Keep in mind, however, that a team might not get its act together until a full wipe, but, in my experience, they often rally after that. As for other mechanics (e.g., IOs, optimal builds, financing, etc.), I wouldn't worry about those until you're higher level, and have a decent breadth and depth of the gameplay mechanics. But, as starter advice, I'd say don't buy "training origin" enhancements (TOs), get familiar with Wentworth's, and know what vendors pay for different tiers of salvage and recipes.

Dr. Stephen Fayte: "I am merely a gifted surgeon, and nothing more." This line, and this alone, is the main reason I do radio missions.

I only have two. Lee Three, a super-spy working for an agency that's so secret even I don't know what it's called, is a direct fusion of Melinda May from "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." and any of the main characters in "The Heroic Trio" (ok, not a comic - sue me). I realized after watching both that the one thing missing from my MMO life was a character who could kick arse in painfully awkward heels. The second started as a name only - The Paralegal. I couldn't think of a concept to save my life, until I played one of those other superhero MMOs. Suddenly I realized that the name was the answer to the question, what would Zatanna have become if she'd gone into law instead of show business? Other than that, I did have a couple of characters who were accidental knock-offs of some comic or other. I deleted one as soon as I realized what he was, and the other I was too invested in by the time an SG mate pointed it out ("so, basically, Wonder Woman, but with a bow and actual clothing"). I also have several characters who would fit just fine in the Gotham universe, and one who would make perfect sense in a Luke Cage comic, but, again, not intentionally.

I know I'm late to the party, but perhaps your son would prefer elegant music from a more civilized age...

I had a lot of fun with a Dark defender on live - reasonably active (but not too active), surprisingly safe, and a pretty good AoE heal once slotted. Weak on team buffs, and requires a bit of positioning and situational awareness, but some very nice AoE debuffs with decent controller-y elements. I recall on live, however, that Dark defenders were a bit undervalued - not sure if that's still true. I personally wouldn't recommend Kinetics. I played one for years, and got thanked for all the wrong reasons.

My solution to the naming problem is to dip into other languages for words (or, if I'm lucky, actual names) with meanings relevant to my character. It can take some digging, but I can usually find something that I like the sound of. In the end, I'm the one who has to "live" with the name - whether someone gets it or not is secondary (although it is fun when I get a random /tell from someone who does). Sometimes, I'll come up with a general idea for a name and dig around to see if there are similar types of terms in other languages. For example, I wanted a cool name for a secret spy character, so I looked up whether other languages had equivalents of "Jane Doe" (i.e., a tag for an unidentified body). That led to two character names I've used a lot - "Jeanne Truc" and "Lee Three" - which in turn helped me fine tune the character concepts. Again, not so concerned if other people don't make the connection - I like how they sound, and I like the concepts they convey in my head. Anyway, here are two of my favorite sites for name inspirations: https://www.wiktionary.org/ https://www.momjunction.com/baby-names/all/

Thanks all for the input - it helped a lot! Still not quite sure about the boots, but for now I've decided to hide the problem by going dark red from knee to sole and figure it out later. Thanks again!