TheOtherTed

Great call on the Organic Armor face! Never realized you could change the eye color, and I always skipped it because of the texture. Also, your comment about the muted colors in the right column got me thinking. I inverted the color scheme on the robe, went with muted red for the primary color (the trim/pattern), and medium grey for the secondary. After which, I tried the muted yellow for the secondary, and things started to click into place. Results are as follows: The boots still bother me, but I wanted something relatively subtle to break up the red. Any ideas? Or maybe another leg/boot combo that works better?

And while I'm here, I might as well post my request 😀 I had this idea for a species of "nomadic space genies" - interstellar travellers who visited the Earth centuries ago (at least pre-Islamic, probably pre-Christian, maybe even pre-Roman). They had superhuman abilities (of course), worked from the shadows (of course), and may have been confused with (or maybe became a source of) stories of Djinn or other spirits. In any case, they're swinging back through this part of the galaxy, you know, just to say "hi." The specific character is a female Dark Blast/Dark Miasma corruptor (redundant? I'll find out...), and so far I've settled on the following features: Hooded (either Arcane or Circle of Thorns), Thug Mask or other lower-face coverings (but no Veils, please), and Supernatural Face 4 (the one with the white featureless eyes). Thinking some sort of Robe or Jacket - currently sort of happy with the Warrior Fire robe, but, gosh (do people say "gosh" anymore?), it's hard to match with anything else. Definitely open to other ideas. As for color scheme, I was thinking some sort of off-white (or very pale color), but not sure what the secondary color would be. Tried various types of purples, but nothing grabbed my eye. Also, she'd have a dark and spooky combat aura, but I didn't want to play with that until I got the basic costume down. "Hollywood" Persian-inspired garb would be cool, but would welcome a "sci-tech" feel as well. Nearly full coverage. Would prefer a sleek look (aside from the robe/jacket) - massive jagged shoulders and ten-ton monster boots just aren't my thing.

This probably isn't what you're looking for, but I recently recreated a reptilian-themed character that I ran on live. AR/Poisons Corruptor (former Marine whom the Council used for genetic experiments involving Snake DNA). BTW, I updated the glasses recently but didn't save the costume - what you see in the pic won't be exactly the same as the costume file. Reptilian_marine.costume

On live, tankers. I started the game with scrappers, so that likely flavored my impression of Tanks - they felt too slow and too passive. I tried time and again to get one going, but to no avail. It wasn't until I tried a Dark Armor tank (with suitable costume and backstory) that something finally "clicked." Also, masterminds. Had a bit of fun with a Robots/FF MM, but when I started to feel like I was just a buffbot for my, well, bots, I realized I'd rather be a buffbot for other player characters (I was heavy into defenders and controllers at the time). Dropped the AT and never looked back. I still have no desire to play one. On Homecoming, sentinels - which seemed a bit strange, because I consistently have fun with scrappers and blappers. Still can't put my finger on why I haven't been impressed, but here we are.

Two of my reboots are the same as they were shortly before the lights went out - a SJ/WP Scrapper detective from 1943, and a WM/SD Brute valkyrie who got sick of serving mead to deadbeats. Same costumes, same names, same backgrounds. As for my other reboots, I didn't go out of archetype, but they still feel very different. There's a ghostly Illusion/Empathy controller who became Ill/Dark (costume slightly updated to match); an Archery/Kin defender who went Archery/TA with full name and costume overhauls (now a techie Celt from an alternate universe instead of a Gods-blessed Roman from the past); and an Archery/Energy blapper secret agent who split off into two new characters - an Archery/Martial Combat blaster Amazon and a Dual Pistols/Energy blaster agent. All my other characters are entirely new. None of my other "live" characters have made it here, nor are they likely to. They were fun and all, but so are my newer creations.

As others have said, Ninjutsu offers broader utility than Super Reflexes. Stealth, increased jumping and run speed, endurance recovery, self-heal, even a placate/confuse power. In contrast, Super Reflexes offers defense, more defense, a little resistance, yet more defense, and tops it all off with - you guessed it - defense. I'm not sure how the numbers work, but I will say that my Martial Arts / Ninjutsu scrapper feels almost embarrassingly overpowered. I do loves me some Staff, though - but mainly for thematic reasons. I like the animations well enough, but I can't help but notice that one of those other superhero games has incredible animations for staff fighting.

Thanks for the input, all. Went with a variation of a Persian name that means "Protector of Fire" and archaified it a bit. Figured the meaning captured the whole "keeping the faith" thing that this character's got going on - so long as I ignore its Zoroastrian origins. And the fact that it's a masculine name. No idea how to feminize it, and there's no way I'm putting a Hollywood '-a' at the end of it, but I'm happy with it for now. Still would have loved to keep the whole "Song of Death" or "Deadly Music" theme, but everything I could come up with was, well, unmelodic.

Not sure where this should go - since I'm asking for creative help, I figured I'd try here first. A long, long time ago, in a thread far, far away, I mentioned that if I were to make an Amazon in CoH, I'd go with an Archery / Martial Combat blaster. For fun, I looked up some Wikipedia stuff about Amazons, and came across the story of Molpadia, an Amazon who shot and killed her queen Antiope, either by accident, or to keep Theseus from "taking advantage" of Antiope's injured condition. Boom, instant character idea - the legendary Molpadia (or her descendant) still walks the earth, and still keeps some of the old traditions. The problem is the name. First, the name Molpadia is Greek, so not a "true Amazon" name (not that we have a lot of Scythian to work with). Second, in the account I read, Molpadia was translated as "Song of Death," but my own research suggests it really means "Song of the Gods" or "Divine Melody" or somesuch. Third, and most importantly, I just don't like the name. It sounds weird and awkward to my brain ears. So, if you were to create an Amazon and give her a name that's at least evocative of savage warriors from bronze-age Asia Minor who would dutifully kill their own leaders to prevent them from being captured (and worse) by the enemy, what sort of name would you come up with?

Historical plaques. Whenever I see one, I always have the urge to "read" it by pressing my hand on it.

I tried DFB a few times in original COH, and intensely disliked it (too easy with too much reward, IMO). I started running actual old-school sewer teams as a counter to it and was consistently able to get good groups together, but then the curtains came down. Might try again.

Thanks for all the feedback. Looks like I'll have to suck it up and form my own teams on LFG. Since I've been back, I've done so for Cavern of Transcendence and the Spelunker badge, but those experiences were hit-or-miss. Once each I got a full team no problem; since then, nothing but crickets. And one plucky Fire/Something scrapper. On an unrelated note, does anyone do old-school sewer teams?

This sounds like a job for Anecdotal Evidence! Here are my impressions from the one and only time I was involved in a full banner event: 1) Someone whose name I've forgotten formed and led a league for the banners. 2) The leader had us "stake out" each banner - his only rule was to have "at least one" person at each site. 3) I have no idea if we needed to clear the mobs that spawned at the banner. My stakeout partner and I did so because, well, they weren't being very nice. 4) When the banners became vulnerable, the leader directed us to each banner in turn. This leads me to believe that they don't have to be attacked simultaneously, but I have no way of knowing if there were people at the other banners. All I know is that we pig-piled on all four in series, and the banners' health seemed to be at or near full in each case. I also accidentally kicked off a banner event by getting too close to one. BTW, you don't need to be in the circle to get things started, or to have mobs spawn. I soloed the mobs there, but the banner did not become vulnerable before the timer ran out. I was the only one at that banner - I have no idea if anyone else was at the other sites. Also, I was hovering over the circle. No idea if that counts as being in it. Edit: Aaaand beaten to it by EmmySky.

So I finally mustered the courage to set my team flag last night on my level 17 controller. I initially had the flag set for anything, but shortly after set it for missions. I got a few tells pretty quickly - but they were all for fighting AVs, or DiB, or some TF or other, and each character who sent a tell was a much, much higher level than me. I politely declined all - I wasn't close to SO or IO territory, and I hate the sense of being carried (even if the team leaders don't see it that way). Do people not run old-school mission content? Or is the population such that there just isn't a "critical mass" of players in that level range to get a team going? If I try to put together a team (which I haven't done in, oh, say, 10 years), are there enough people in the late teens / early twenties (level-wise) to be worth the effort? Sorry if I seem a bit sour - my favorite aspect of the original COH was casual mission teaming. I'd hate to think that it no longer exists.

Playing a Trick Arrow/Archery defender is a bit rough solo. IMO it does well on teams, but is a bit "undervalued." It can also involve a lot of footwork and tactical positioning - I wouldn't recommend it if you haven't played a "busy" defender before. That said, I'm running one now, and having as much fun with it as I did in the original COH. Is there a reason you're limiting yourself to Trick or Tactical Arrow? I'm also running an Archery/Martial Combat blaster, and finding it suprisingly fun.

Just found out last night that if an Illusion controller uses Deceive on a mob that summons pets, it affects the pets as well. Had too much taking down purple "Lead Scorchers" in Steel Canyon with that trick. Played an Ill/Emp controller on live for years and never figured that out...

You wait patiently for the train, start to wonder if it's bugged, then realize you're at the wrong entrance. Bonus points if you do it two times in a row...

My relatively uninformed and likely unpopular take: Stalkers are tied to their Assassinate power. Brutes are bound by the Fury mechanic. But Scrappers - Scrappers are free like the wind, man, they can just do their thing and be, ya dig?

Are we, though? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c08ODTt1m8Q

Well, if we're doing that... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYmA0zPiVHY On a side note, I think I have that sweater...

I remember playing this game on a pentium III computer with a factory graphics card when Issue 9 dropped. Even with the graphics settings minimized, my screen turned into a slide show whenever I got within half a zone of Wentworth's. On a related note, I never knew what my characters really looked like until I got one of the early quad core computers with a relatively current graphics card. I also remember literally making a sandwich while waiting for my character to load into a "hot door" situation.

Speaking of that, and speaking of personal history/experience, I'll throw it out there that the mentality of the person you encountered (and perhaps other, similar, people) does have some history behind it. You said in your initial post that you didn't have a chance to play back in the day, so there's no reason I or anyone else could expect you to know the history. I'll give a quick recap here (as I understand it); maybe it will help see where "the other guy" was coming from. In 2009, "Mission Architect" was introduced. This allowed players to create their own content. Sounds good, right? Unfortunately, there were two issues. First, some players quickly made powerlevelling maps. Second, the Architect Entertainment buildings, where player-made content could be accessed, were placed in the starting zones. Problem one, by itself, wouldn't have been much of a problem - powerlevelling was going on in high level zones anyway. Problem two, however, meant that many new players would join AE powerlevelling teams - and would never play anything else. The term "AE babies" was coined to describe players who got to level 50 very quickly, but had no real idea how the game worked, what their powers did, or other basic information. How extensive that was, I honestly have no idea. I just remember that nearly every zone, including starting zones, seemed devoid of life for a few months after Mission Architect was released. Regardless of whatever "really" happened, the legend of the AE baby had been born. When I read the initial part of the chat in your OP, I didn't blink an eye - I knew that history, and I probably would have been inclined to think similarly had I seen your request for help. Does the history justify the assumption, either on his part or mine? No, of course not. But the history is there regardless, and flavors our "first impressions" whether we want it to or not. More generally speaking, it took me a long time to realize how diverse individual histories and points-of-view could be - but when I finally started to "get it," it changed my outlook on a lot of interactions. Nowadays, if I hear someone say something that's a bit "off," my first reaction is usually not to call the speaker a jarkarse or moron or other bad word (usually), but to tilt my head and say "Why do you say that?" But, yes, I have my thresholds. Ironically, one of them is when I make a statement that I think is relatively safe or innocent, and someone calls me a jarkarse, or moron, or other bad word, It's not necessary, it's not helpful, and it tells me the person would rather draw a line in the sand rather than actually discuss.

Fine, you know what, whatever. I'll give you a "like" on the condition that you never do that again. 😒

Where's the "conflicted" emoji? You know, the one that says I want to "like" this but I don't want to reward anyone for a terrible string of tea-related puns?

That's a pretty glib characterization of my stance. Should I be offended? 🙃

Yeah, not always true. In cases of genuine harrassment or threat, sure - in the case of an online chat exchange, not so much. Granted, learning when and how to react is a skill that not everyone learns (most people don't really need to learn it), but it is possible. I say this because my line of work can involve intense grilling and criticism, of a kind that I'm guessing would be hard to find outside a police interrogation room. It does present a significant barrier to people new to the field, but it can be overcome - paradoxically with a bit of empathy going across the barrier in both directions. ========== Anyway, as for the OP's case, here's how I see it: "The other guy" (I'll call him TOG) made an assumption about powerleveling, which he didn't drop when the OP corrected him. However, that assumption seems irrelevant to TOG's advice that the OP should use his 50 to team and run TFs to get inf. Whether that advice is good or bad, and whether the OP's rejection of it is justified, I can't say - I've never gotten a character to 50 either here or live. When TOG gave his "bon voyage" comment, the discussion was basically over - TOG gave all the advice he had to give, and it was unlikely that anything productive would come out of further chat. But the OP persisted, and did so with a phrase that no one seeking advice should ever give: "I got plenty of good advice." After that, it devolved into a full-on spitting match, mostly involving the OP telling TOG not to tell him how to play. Basically, the discussion just got out of control, and both the OP and TOG contributed to that.