DoctorDitko

A bit longer than that, but yeah, I remember them, it was how I learned to use the Ignore button. I wouldn't have cared about the farming if it weren't for the constant spam!

See, that's brilliant! Brief, but it gives the character life! (I hope it didn't hurt too much!)

Nice! Very nice! Love the "Condiment King" vibe on some of them. Genuine laughs, thanks! Also, seriously! How did I not know of the awesome power of playerslot.txt! Thanks 1.0x10^6 for that one! I doubt I'll be as organized as you are, but that might well simplify things when I use my work computer to do some auctioning check my messages test connectivity!

Partial to the flying carpet myself, but I gotcha. I'm certainly not trying to say anyone should feel bad for not writing a bio, I just wondered how to encourage the practice. For the characters for whom you have written a bio (trouper's axiom: NO reviews is not the same as BAD reviews!) what was it that made you write 'em? Personally, I love brevity. I remember exactly one bio that wasn't one of mine, from a character I teamed with on Live: "Not a millionaire. Definitely not Batman."

Wow, that might be a part of it. The first chance to make a bio happens during creation, some bits unchangeable for the life of the character. I can see how that could be irrelevant as you experiment, then forgotten when the alt turns out to be a keeper. Maybe an extrinsic reward, like a badge, would remind folks to think about it later? PS: Grats on the bundle of energy! They can share it or drain it, well worth it either way!

OK, I'll come clean: For the first week or so back in ish 2 or 3, I thought folks who said that were taking a moment to update their character's biography. Now, too many years later, it seems no one is. I wish folks would take a literal minute or two to make a biography! It seems, from my informal poll, that about 90% of toons -- even ones with amazing concepts and great costumes -- have <crickets> instead of a bio! I make it a point to praise any decent bio I see. Even a generic "Bitten by a radioactive superhero" is a winner in my book! Once any of my alts hits the inf cap, I intend to hold a big Bio Contest under Atlas, costumes optional. In the interim, is there any other way to encourage the 90% to spend a few moments to throw us a backstory? Or am I just a prose-loving curmudgeon and I should get with the nonverbal now?

Nice that you added the new exits from the D. Could you make the interstitial area useful in some way? Maybe a nurse-style vendor? Mainly, though, I wanted to say the Atlas Park exit "greeter" (?) warns you the zone may not be suitable for low-level heroes, and the Talos one is mute.

Fair enough! Thanks for the info! And, yes, I can see where immobilization would be a pain in that playstyle. <earworm warning> (Personally, I'm just not that bothered by mezzes. Or knockback. It just seems appropriately comic-booky to me, and "I get knocked down, but I get up again, you're never gonna keep me down!")

I'd second the vote for Hover vs CJ. (Though I'm under the impression they both cost the same trivial amount of END.) Immobilization? Feh! It doesn't bother the bad guys, why should it faze me? The "stop on a dime" effect you get from Hover+Fly/Mystic Flight reminds me strongly of the old, buggy, beloved Hover/Fly binds. Only without the buggy bits.

Excellent advice! In my experience, you can skip (or hold off on) the KB->KD enh in Lightning Storm if you Combat Jump up in the air as you fire it off. Your targets get mostly knocked down vs. back, and it leaves a slot free for moar damage or recharge! PS: I've experimented with adding a bit of Range in LS, but I suspect it only applies to how far away you can cast it.

I miss Doctor Door! (If you hadn't noticed, in the original game, going through a mish door had a bug where it randomly inflicted a minor amount of damage to your character. If your HP was low enough, it could kill you! Instead of fixing the bug, the Devs decided to add a Heal effect to the mission door. Since always heal > sometimes damage, it became a thing for overmatched squishies to run to the mish door when they got down to their favorite hit point. Bounce in and out a few times, you'd get maybe a half bar of health. Thus, "BRB, I have an appointment with Doctor Door!") I think they fixed the bug and killed off Doctor Door about the time dying in missions started to earn half the debt of dying on patrol. Probably a net win. But I still remembered Dr. Door with fondness. (old-guy anecdote alert!) In fact, my Grav/FF controller and a stalwart companion were the last members of a deserted old-fashioned Posi TF, with the front-loaded offices full of Spectres and such who'd been kicked out of Oranbega. We used Dr. Door (and bubbles) and managed to finish the damn thing! It was one of my early peak experiences with CoH. Sniff!

Suckage?

17 billion. Because 23 was taken, of course.

Yep. They could update the text with "reprogram both computers as near-simultaneously as you can manage," but I'm not volunteering... It would be nice, though, if there was some kind of bonus (merits? badge?) for doing it The Hard Way. (See also: Einstein vs. Simultaneity)

VLC can be used to record your desktop (you DO have VLC, right?): https://www.vlchelp.com/how-to-record-desktop/ If you want to get all fency-schmenzy, I hear good things about OBS Studio: https://obsproject.com/download Both are free for the downloadin', Open Source, and well worth the investment. PS: I forgot editing -- OpenShot is supposed to be very easy on the learning curve: https://www.openshot.org/

When fighting Headman Blasters, I can't resist: "Hey, pal, does that get anything but the Ugly Channel?" (And I'll keep doing it until someone laughs!)

Well, you have to return to your base to toggle it back on, but like any temp power, you can open your powers screen, right-click it, and select "delete power" (not remove from tray) to turn it off. I use it a lot when running TFs, when I drop by the base for a refresh and still have 5 minutes or so left on an empowerment buff, so I can reapply it immediately.

What's the problem, Mac?

That might actually get me to try an archer!

Oh, I so wish we could divorce sfx from power effects completely, a la the tabletop Champions. I was surprised to see some of the options already available in the power customization menu, though. Psi attacks from hands or head comes to mind. But: Let me make my PBAOE heal look like a NUKE, please, please, please! If we could use any animation for any power, archers could finally get the "healing arrow" of ur-forum fame! (Might want to add a "show only default animations" toggle to the options, though. Don't want to trigger anyone's migraines!)

Thanks, I'll give it a try!

That seemed like sound reasoning to me, too, but I found Water kind of tepid compared to Ice. Whirlpool in particular is a wonderful power that seems to last half as long as it should. What do you advise I do if I drag my Storm/Water out of mothballs -- mainly trying to maximize fun?

My Storm/Ice Offender is laugh-out-loud fun to play! She mostly soloed to 50, entertaining a few PUGs along the way. Well worth a look if you are interested in a soloable Defender, though you may need to do some 'splaining to a random group of players. As in, "Yes, I have a small heal, but it's mainly a Mez fix/resist power. My debuffs should keep you from being injured in the first place." And frequently, "If you notice me healing you, it means you've left the debuff area. Please stay in the hurricane if you are at all squishy."

Not a fan of the "Fir Bolg Zerg" mish, that one's worth skipping. I kinda like fighting Honoree, takes a bit of that "stragedy" thing I keep hearing about. I try to avoid skipping the last mish in an arc, they are usually above average, plus I feel all cheaty. When I'm running a Villain, I try to autocomplete mishes strategically, so I get to feel all cheaty!* * I'll have to try the "raise the diff to max, then autocomplete" trick next time I'm redside.

A classic! Love the reveal, too!