TheOtherTed

Back again with another request. This time, she's a French jewel thief who fled to Paragon City to avoid trouble with the Unione Corse. Her cover is an Art History student, but she can't stay away from the action, so she uses her skills to go a-heroing. Or a-villaining, either works. Archery will be in there somewhere, but still debating if I want Trick Arrow, Tactical Arrow, Devices, or something else vaguely "Radio Shack tech." She'll be picking up the Combat Jumping and Acrobat powers as well, and possibly Stealth, all for RP reasons really. I'm thinking "techno street chic," but I haven't been able to translate those words into an actual costume. Any ideas would be welcome.

Thanks, all, for the input. Turns out I just needed to rework the costume and hairstyle for Lee Three, make her more "street" and less "flair," and she's plugging along just fine now as a Martial Arts / Ninjutsu scrapper. That said, I am filing away the ideas you all expressed for a rainy day (and names to go with them). I might even try a Mastermind again. I mean, it's been 15 years or so, and I didn't even wait that long to start watching Seinfeld (I hated Seinfeld when it first came out).

Another thing that annoys me - people who continue a conversation without losing steam after a mod said to knock it off...

As for things that annoy me, the first are people who not only expect this game to follow the "holy trinity" of MMOs but who are quick to blame "the tank" or "the healer" (or the lack of either) when a team wipes. Even more frustrating is when the blamer could have helped deal with the situation (a wandering patrol, an unintentional pull), but instead scurried off to "the tank" or "the healer" for protection and effectively brought more chaos with them. Somewhat related to that are people who just flat-out dismiss any tactical suggestions (even simple ones, like "watch each other's backs"). No "that won't work because of valid reasons," no "let's try this instead," just casual dismissal. I even had one guy say "ok u power ranger u" for suggesting that a SB-boosted team not run off in 10 directions at once - after which the team promptly ran off in 10 directions at once. Just to clarify, I'm not the type to bark orders incessantly - rather, if I think I see an issue, or a solution to one, I'll say my piece. It doesn't happen often - I'd say 80% of teams I've been on were reasonably cohesive from the start, and 80% of the ones that weren't get it together after the first real challenge without any sort of "coaching."

I honestly don't see the difference between crude language and crude emoting. They both communicate crude intent. I could ignore one incident, but if someone keeps doing it after I told them to knock it off, yep, it's harrassment. Best to follow this time-honored maxim instead.

Controlled chaos. That's what I live for. I'm happiest when I play blappers, stalkers, non-elemental controllers, and pretty much any powerset the word "dark" in the name. If I can break "normal" expectations with it, I'm there. The healer complains that my blapper won't stay still? Good. My Dark defender steps forward when the tank is too scared to take the alpha? Excellent. My Illusion controller ends up soloing a pull that's gone horribly, horribly wrong? Transcendent. My Kinetics defender fends off a wandering patrol that nobody else noticed? Yes please. That said, I pretty much consider all my characters of any AT "support." Even blappers and stalkers can "off-tank" or "off-CC" a mob that just won't leave that defender alone. That's my main goal - but if I can spice it up with a dash of madness, so much the better.

Heh, sounds a lot like one of my SG-mates back on live... He was basically playing "The Shadow" (even named his character Lamont Cranston), and interpreted him as an Ill/Kin controller. Unfortunately, I'm already playing Mind and Illusion controllers that I'm very happy with, and I had to give up on Kinetics (as a def primary) for my own mental health back on live (I was an angry, angry young Kineticist). Regardless, I get that I may have to shake off my "natural blapper/scrapper" thinking for Lee Three and play a wider field. ...that said, I hadn't considered Kinetic Melee. I've never tried it. I'll give that a test drive next time I'm on and see if it "clicks." If I can tone down the flashiness of it, it might even be a better fit for the "Heroic Trio" side of the character's inspiration.

From my PVP music list: Bill Withers - Lovely Day

So this is in part a request for help with a naming issue (not a forced re-name; I'll explain below). However, it's also a request for stories from folks who may have experienced a similar dilemma - or maybe its opposite. One thing I love in MMOs is coming up with cool names... or, at least, names that sound cool to me. For me, names inspire character concepts at least as often as the reverse, and it's especially gratifying when the name turns out to be available. For the first time, however, I find myself with two names from different sources that point at the same general idea - but I really, really want to use both names without the characters stepping on each other. The shared concept is pretty much a mashup of "The Heroic Trio," and Melinda Mays from "S.H.I.E.L.D." - a highly trained superspy or quick figher who can kick butt in high heels. One of the two names has sort of won out, at least for now, but, as I've said, I would like to give the other name a home. I don't mind sharing the names, as I've nabbed them both on the one server I'm likely to play on, and I'm not likely to use either for other MMOs. The current winning name is "Tianshi," a Mandarin Chinese word for "angel" or "messenger." For whatever reason, this name inspired a more professional-looking outfit (body armor mesh and pattern, with a Tactical belt, the Stealth chest piece, and the Praetorian police visor), and it somehow feels right with the powersets I've chosen (Dual Pistols / Ninja Training Blaster - and, no, I don't really care if it's optimal). So, boom, job done. (disclaimer - I have no idea if Tianshi has some hidden cultural meaning that undercuts the concept. I basically found it on Wiktionary.org and thought it sounded cool.) The other name is "Lee Three." I came up with the name while researching what other countries use instead of "John Doe" for an unidentified person living or dead (also known as a placeholder name). That research itself was prompted when I heard or read somewhere that "James Bond" is a common British placeholder name (or at least was, when Ian Fleming started writing the books). One way that placeholder names are constructed in China is to take a surname and slap a number on it as a given name. So I took that idea and anglicized the heck out of it to produce "Lee Three." For some reason, I've struggled to come up with a character that fits Lee Three - I've tried Archery or Dual Pistols paired with Martial Training, Energy Manipulation, or Ninja Training, and I've tried a few martial artsy varieties of Scrapper as well. I even dipped my toe into the Sentinel AT to see if something would grab me. None of them really "took." Plus, the name never evoked a costume idea, the way Tianshi did, so she's stuck with a blue "Kill Bill" style jumpsuit which I've come to hate. But I love the name. There may be a way out in that "Lee Three" sounds more "Heroic Trio" to me and less "rogue government agent," but I'm not sure how to follow that thread. I thought Archery / Martial Training would do it, but I had another character idea that sort of "stole" that combo out from under Lee Three. Any suggestions?

Thank you for the feedback! Will try a few experimental records the next few times I'm on.

Assuming it's still working, how much disk space does a demorecord file take per hour of recorded gameplay?

IIRC, they were to be part of the Korean launch, but the launch either flopped or never actually happened. Foreshadow and Mirror Spirit were also characters from that attempt, which might explain their under-utilization.

As someone who doesn't like spikes or excessive detail as a rule, I gotta say that this is very creative and well done!

The best compliment I got 1) was shared with a scrapper, and 2) almost got me killed. I was playing my TA/Archery defender "Street Justice" (well before the powerset was released). I can't remember if it was on Triumph or Virtue. Full team of 8, no idea what the mission was, just that it involved Freakshow. Lots and lots of Freakshow. The team is cruising along, when an elevator dropped us into one of the hottest of hot door situations I'd ever seen. Several instantly died, the team leader sounded the retreat, and that left my character, one scrapper (I'll call him "Random Man" - so sorry I forgot the name), and one rad (?) defender. The rad stuck very close to the elevators - my guess is she wanted to leave, but was overcome by morbid curiosity. The scrapper was doing what scrappers do. I popped some defensive insps and threw out every arrow I had, then played "distraction" for Random Man (i.e., running around like an idiot with a train of Freaks on my tail). No idea how much time passed - it felt like a lot - before the leader said "Get out of there! There's too many Freaks!" At which point the defender said, "Not for Random Man and Street Justice." I wanted so badly to type "Damn right!" in chat, I even hit "Enter" to start typing. That's when I realized I was deep in the red. After spouting a quick "wwwaaasssddd", I managed to pop a green just in time. Then the rest of the team showed up.

If you don't mind some advice from a done frog, Mind Control might be a relatively friendly set for someone new to the AT. The set is front-loaded with three incapacitating powers. Hit one target with Mesmerize to take it out of the fight for a good long time, hit a second with Dominate (shorter duration hold), then ragdoll the third with Levitate (filling in the gaps with Mes and Dom). End result is you can juggle a three-enemy spawn with surprising safety, even at early levels. Not quickly, though... If that's not your thing, Illusion gets a long-duration Confuse early on that doesn't aggro enemies (unless they've already seen you). It's a good way to take one enemy out of the equation and use it to soften up its buddies. Even unslotted, it's possible to keep two enemies confused at the same time, allowing you to whittle down the third. (As an aside, you can solo Cavern of Transcendence now with just Deceive and Superior Invisibility...)

Nope - the buddy posted it for sale for 1 inf, but it sold for 10k inf (the higher of justicebeliever's two bids).

I don't have a lot of experience with the set, on any AT, but I will say that it's very satisfying when one of my Corruptors puts down a big bad with a scourged punch or kick. Disclaimer: I took the Fighting Pool on said character strictly for RP reasons. It probably isn't optimal, but, you know, SCOURGE!!!

Not to discount your point - I think it probably applies pretty broadly - but this potential for battlefield control was, in fact, what attracted me to Masterminds in the first place. However, I found that I could get pretty much the same strategic feel, with a more visceral or personal "oomph", from Controllers (and even Dark Defs or /Dark Corrs). To be fair, though, I'd been playing Controllers for a good long while before trying Masterminds. If I'd tried Masterminds first, I might be singing a different tune.

Heh, maybe! If so, we must have teamed up again, because I remember the "bound to the service of Paragon" quote. It (ironically) led me to make my first immortal character on Virtue, a "biker elf" who was doing community service for some infraction or other.

I kind of sort of RPed on live, and I haven't really gotten into RP here, but I can think of three things that used to drive me a little nuts. The first: RP that denies the group's immediate reality in some way. The most stark example was whenever our SG ran TFs, one senior officer or another would just stop and decide to have a "rap and bull" session like some hip teacher from a 70's era after-school special. We'd be prompted with questions about our characters' backgrounds, while standing not ten feet away from a spawn of, say, Council (who would usually be staring right at us as if in disbelief). The third time it happened, I mustered up the courage to say, "Sir, we've got a job to do," but the inevitable fight had already broken out before I was done typing. The second: Making assumptions about your fellow heroes/villains without even attempting to read their bios. The first team I ever joined on Virtue did this. I was third to join, and everyone who joined after - every single one - greeted the team with "Greetings, mortals." I started to wonder if this was some sort of server joke that I wasn't in on yet, but, nope, every dang diddley do-gooder there (except my character) had a bio certifying his or her divinity. My character eventually quipped that maybe the city should change its nickname to "City of Immortals." The third: Demanding backstory. And more backstory. And essays, and short stories, and timelines, and anthologies, and so on. I'd describe myself as a "light" RPer - I have a general idea of where my characters came from, and what their personalities are like, and I try to stay in character. Almost all my characters have a bio of some sort, but for me, that's pretty much where the investment ends. On live, I was in a few SGs that would start out requiring a bio (no problem), then an "origin story" of some sort (ok, sure, could be fun) - and then a follow-up on the origin story - and then a life history - and then a full questionnaire of likes, dislikes, places visited, relatives, important events in each stage of life, etc. I understand that people really get into that sort of thing, and I've seen some impressive writing come out of it, but trying to pull all that out of someone like me is like trying to teach a pig to sing.

Another for Masterminds. I tried three different types when I bought CoV, and... eh. The third one (Ninjas, I think) I got to 6th level, looked at my pocket posse after a fight, and thought... eh. I realized I'd rather play a character than manage a bunch of 'em. Logged out, deleted all MMs, and haven't looked back. I've never played epic archetypes (Kheldians or Arachnos), and I have no desire to do so. Not a fan of "do everything" classes, and for Kheldians especially I didn't like the idea that some abilities were only available in specific, costume-destroying forms. Loved Controllers, though. Still do. I enjoy Dominators as well, but somehow all my Dominators end up getting remade as Controllers.

I'll occasionally toss out information that I'm 50-99% sure about, not to deceive or mislead, but to prompt people smarter than me to chime in. Usually I only do this if the question has gone unanswered for a while. Sometimes, people who remain silent to a question might be a bit more motivated to correct, confirm, or clarify an answer. If it results in some sort of confrontation, but the questioner (and I) get the right info out of it, I'm good. If the confrontation gets stupid, I'll just temporarily /ignore the worst offenders. I have yet to encounter sufficient ridiculosity to do that, but maybe I've just been lucky. I guess what I'm saying is that sometimes the misinformation might be an attempt to say, "hey, smart people, throw us a bone, would ya?"

I need a ukelele as a weapon.

That's fair. My main criticism is really with the villain-to-hero tips. They felt a bit cartoonish to me, and weren't suggestive of any real sort of redemption or morality shift. On the way to rogue, for instance, I felt like I was simply choosing between mayhem or money before setting foot on the map. Would have been nice if the tip mission's initial motivation was that of any paper mission (loot, marketable info, asserting your dominance over a rival, etc.), but on the map you find out that there's a complication (a hostage situation, a third-party threat, or a countdown to a "that can't be good for anyone" sort of thing). You then have to choose between the original objective or the complication. The choice you make on the map determines whether you advance your alignment. As for the path from rogue to hero, it felt like a bunch of PR stunts. No true heroism until the morality mission (BTW, thank you for the correction). That said, I probably wouldn't have noticed it so much if there were, say, three tips per path. And, like anything else, I guess it's what we each individually make of it.