houtex

houtex here. I know I don't post much like I did in the old forums. I'm almost a backgrounder these days, what with life being what it is for me compared to earlier. Things Change(tm), as life is what it is. But I suddenly had a need to say it, and I feel like it's long overdue too. So I'm saying it: Thank you. To everyone. Sincerely and heartfelt. ❤️ To everyone who puts up with me and my weird characters, like Brawling Humiliator, the sometimes sorta but not quite tanky thing what otherwise is pretty useless in a team... but without can't get further. Or Total Dependent, who has no offense, but will help buff with Ice. Or the whip only MasterMind. Or just me messing it up but trying anyway as I sometimes do. And any of quite a few more goofy things that shouldn't exist/I should fix/stop, but do because I said, and you never disappoint in letting me have the fun trying. To everyone who kept the dream alive, so that we may today enjoy the City. And therefore everyone who *keeps* the dream alive. GMs, server people, coders, and of course the donors, that last to which when things get better I swear I will become a member of. Hell, to be honest, I'd like to be well off enough to just take that over and let us all just enjoy the City, would that I could, and I *absolutely* would. But alas, not just yet. And to anyone and everyone else, for any of a plethora of reasons. You know who you are/why, and even if you don't, well, you're included anyway, because we're all a family in the City. 🙂 City of Heroes has been a large part of my life since I came aware of it back 6 months after it came out, as it may have been for some of you all out there for the whole life of CoH, and when it went down, it was hard. Then we're back, and its being around has been a blessing for sure. It calms me, even when I'm in the middle of battle. It soothes me, it... it's a sort of therapy so I can forget, just a little bit, the RL that I've inherited and sometimes just don't wanna deal with. When I can get in, that is, which sometimes is a bit of time between. But then I get in, and all is well for a little while. So yeah. Nothing tragic goin' on, mind, just an overwhelming need to get this out. All that and more. All this sappiness... ...directed at you all. Even just for reading to this end. Hugs, everyone. And one more time: Thank You All. See ya in the City. houtex

Well, I'm gonna hit this to the top with my latest 'how in the world' name... PB and Jelly. Peacebringer and a woman named Anjelica "Jelly" Robbins. Yay or something. 😄 Carry on!

I seriously can't believe Joy of Planting even got on the steps! Thanks so very much, was definitely unexpected!

Moral/lesson/takeaway/?: Check on your loved ones more than you think you ought. Might save them. Hugs to everyone.

Because it's Mother Mayhem and I will be taking no further questions, thank you.

You know it's pronounced 'mawn teh CORE ay', c'mon.

Things BH has done since Incarnate Achieved... LOTS of teams. I wanna thank each and every participant for allowing me to be 'tankish', which I hoped helped some, but more importantly putting up with him and letting him get the accolade badges. More to go, but it's still very appreciated! Soloed the Psyche/Manti wedding. I am adamant I will NOT be doing that again... not without a friendly team anyway. 😄 Still, got Best Man by himself, so that was nifty. Oh, and he's 'first slotted' every incarnate power, so he's more powahfool. And/or maybe more 'tankish'. Anyway. Just informin'. In case anyone cares, there ya go. 🙂

*waves at Billy* I have weird schedules. Like no schedules. Play when I can, very spotty. Life is what it is after all. Ain't like the olden days anymore. 🥴 And thanks y'all. Hadda be done. 😄 BH will *BE* again. Just gonna take a lil' longer. Heh.

Well... about that... Not soon, but now BH is Incarnate just today, so teams, and then... who knows. 'Never Say Never Again' was a movie after all... 😉

I'm late, but just wanted to say... I wholeheartedly approve of this Brawling. 😄

(Update to above...) Aaaand.... INCARNATE. ALPHA UNLOCKED. I tell you whut, took me a few whiles to remember what to do, as well as have times to do it... double Big reds, Big purples, and jump *directly* to the rubble pile, then *directly* to Holtz/Holz/whatever his name is, beat him down with half those purples and reds, beat down Honoree with the other half, and Bob's your brother's mother's sister's son's friend down the way's librarian. Which makes us absolutely nothing. Which is what BH did to those two at the end of it. 😄 Teams! I can team now with him! Posi 1 and 2 first! Whee, BH is a free Brawler! 👊 /I gotta remember that Chimera EB+3 mission I did and see if I can beat him down again. I do remember the stick and move thing with him... still gonna have to have the time... //Army of Me. Have to have it, and have to do it solo the 'right' way, doing the tips there and back... But I can wait.

Whelp, I log in, and there's Billy tellin' tales of ol' BH, and Jackye finding the City Tracker for Calvin. Brings a tear to the eye of this here old man. Dang. Yep, BH lives, he's 50.2or .3, and... the Honoree is a bit harder than I remember the last time. So, cheatin' a bit, I'm gonna have to gather some better slotting to get him done. But get him done I will, dammit. For BH must get that Chimera EB next. 🙂 Sorry I'm late, but I'm so glad somehow BH lives on in people's minds here and there. Silly thing he is. See ya around when I can be around, life's just a little... Fun. Yeh. Fun, y'know? All good, but fun. Ch ch ch chaanges... houtex /And goshdarnint, BH looks faaantastic in that pic! 😁 //Also, agreed, don't team with this thing... unless you wanna do all the heavy liftin'. ///I'll let The Dependent be that problem for you instead. But at least she buffs with ICE!

Just reminded of this topic... The other day I happened to get "The Mists". Would have thought that one would be gone, but nope, MINE. 🙂 Made her a shadowy storm/storm corruptor. Thought it a good idea. Heh.

Geez. Y'all been busy! I want to say thank you for all your efforts. I don't know exactly how they'll work for me, but I'm definitely looking forward to seeing Brawling Humiliator in the big ol' mech lookin' Tier 2 costume one day, completely wasting it just throwing hands. 🙂

This is an historic day. There should be a badge or something. 🙂 Congratulations to the Homecoming team! May NCSoft be forever lenient to the City's denizens.

Another couple in the list of 'whuut, NOBODY before me?' names happening along in a providincial sorta way... which is not to say that indeed someone might have, then deleted or whatever, but pressing on... First there's Crispy Jane. Fire Energy Blaster. Woulda thought someone would have gotten that one, with Doom Patrol's 'Crazy Jane' being a thing, but hey, I won, so yay. But then... I just can't hardly believe it myself, but I gotta 'cause I'm lookin' right at it: Blazer Glory. Fire/Fire Blaster. And yes, he wears a smart blazer. Nice dark blue one. Although I was kind of tempted to go with the early Bon Jovi look. 🙂 Perhaps I will if the right costume contest comes forth. 😁

Dudes and dudettes. DUDES. And dudettes. I have acquired maybe the greatest name ever. EVER. You ain't ready for it, but here it is: The Joy of Planting Well, admittedly, I'll have to wait until I can add the 'the' to it because I screwed up and you can't back up once you say 'lemme in the city' in the creator, but still. Bob Ross wannabe lookalike who can't paint, but can garden, and got mutated so he can garden anywhere, including gardening his gardening so he can garden while he gardens. 😄 Oh, and throw thorns. Anyway, excited am I that wasn't taken. Yay me! Carry on. 😁

Updates from my last post in May... Because why not? 🙂 I have acquired and use the following since then on Excelsior: Glean. He sucks. Literally, enemies go down from his just standing about. 🙂 Still kinda can't believe nobody else got this one. Super Jump. You can guess what his specialty is. That nobody got this is amazing to me. The Tase. Only uses the Taser. Yeah yeah, I know... Political Man. Ill/Sonic Controller. He's a villain, naturally. 🙂 Punch One. So... maybe you've heard of some comic out there...? And on Everlasting, I got Gobstopper One. I really thought that would have been taken. Someone has 'Gobstopper' of course, but still. Okies, that's all I got today, laters!

In 19 BBY, a crack commando unit was forced to exile during a military coup for the crime of not committing to Order 66. These men promptly escaped from the field of battle to the underground. Today, still wanted by the government, they survive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them....maybe you can hire... The Bad Batch.

Billy. That. Will. Happen. I have *no* idea how the heck that's gonna work. I'll probably have to roll another test character to figure it out how, but it's happening. 😄

TL;DR: I got names out the wazzoo, so skip if you just don't wanna read it, it's cool, carry on. So this is a topic I didn't know about, and so at this late date, my post will be long because I wanna talk a lil' story about it. Sorry in advance. These are all on Excelsior, btw. That I got the following mains in after getting a late start 'round here was really nifty and surprising: Ruby, Cerise and Rose Dawn, the Dawn sisters. Figured one would be gone, but nope. Thing of Bigness. Surprised at that not being taken. Nuclear Tigress. Very surprised at that. I mean, it's just a great name, you ask me. Brawling Humiliator. Kinda figured someone would just do that, but yay. Endolith. I really honestly thought one of y'all would get that. Couldn't get these mains: Chillsea. Which is fine, I made Anu Moana which means 'cold ocean' in Hawaiian. Or close enough I hope. Throw Stuff. So instead I got Throws Stuff About. Works for me. My new creations that surprised me were these: The Dependent. Imagine what that's about, but yeah, nobody? K. 🙂 Frequency Kenneth. I mean, that REM song, and... it's not taken? Nifty. The Tase. I figured someone with electrics would get this... no? Ok, I'll have it. Kneesweeper. I would have thought this was a given for a martial arts character. So there ya go. My lil' list. Of course, getting 'Moo Goshdarnit', 'Crabtabulous', 'Glean' and 'Firesticks' were somewhat surprising too. But then I'm always pleasantly surprised when I come up with something appropriate and it happens to be available! Yes, I rotate through them all, they get used. Different wants/needs different days, yes? *nods with altitis issues...* Sorry again for the long, and thanks for readin' if you did!

In order: Apparently, if this and Brawling Humiliator are any proof. Yes, it does appear that way and yet... strangely enough... I've got it working pretty good actually. More on that later. *I* did not make a costume. More on that too: --- Ok, four DFB runs and a little street sweepin' in Kings Row later... It... works? Pretty good? For me, anyway, there's caveats to be sure... So what I did is I rolled a Sentinel. A rifle/ninjitsu one. Why not. The Arrows were the faster, but I didn't wanna do that, so I chose rifle. Reason being I wanted as minimal effects going on, which I've notice in, say, my mind controllers/dominator you can see the effects as they use their powers. I also turned the FX down to minimum in the Ninjistu. So I see all around me in front, but nothing of me. Very good. I then 'made' the costume, except I didn't. I held my left hand over my face as I hit the 'random' button a whole bunch, stopped when an overly obnoxious aura like that plant one didn't show up, hit next, did the above fx reduction, hit next, send it to outbreak. Still covering my eyes from seeing my monstrosity I'm sure it is, I zoomed in to first person and left it there. Then adjusted everything as I do, and I then went in and played around with the keys/mouse settings to ensure I didn't hit 'B' to switch from FP and back or anything like that. Once satisfied I... started doing the thing, Zhu Li. I went through the tutorial, rescued Mirror Spirit, didn't bother with the isolator badge for this one, got into AP, immediately went into DFB teaming. And then... I heard it. "You have pink roaches." Well, ain't that special. Since we all know the rando does pretty much all the same two colors, that can mean only one thing. I have a pink overall coloration. Which is fine, just not my first choice for a color. I bet it's bright hot pink too. Dunno, ain't seen it. ...until I accidentally zoomed out, and then I know not only was I pink, but I had a medieval helm on. So there's that. Dangit. I quickly zoomed back in, and that's literally all I know about my character's look. I'm thinkin' he's gonna easily win some costume contest, eh? 😛 --- So that'll be fun. As to the gameplay, it really does work. Because I used a range character, not a scrapper or such. For the most part, I just stay away, back up, whatever to keep them in the view. If they sneak up behind me, well, my days of playing Quake or L4D and such have paid off, I spin about and get 'em, as I back away from 'em. There is a caveat and that's the blind sides out of my view. Underneath, overhead, sides and back. Basically everywhere but up front. Found that out during the Hydra head bit of DFB. Couldn't see I was in danger and got pitched up in the air. Fun. I modified my strategy to not stare at the hideous Hydra and just moved forward constantly, shooting 'from the side' if you will as I circled the Hydra. Can't hurt me if I'm movin'. And that worked well, not even the Spawn hit me. But yeah, markers like that or strafing runs or such that you'd see zoomed out in 3rd person are not gonna be visible, so I'll have to keep that in mind. I'm sure it's gonna get miserable quick, but for now, level 9... It's actually not as terrible as I thought it'd be! ...so far. We shall see. Well, I will anyway. I'm sorta thinkin that he's gonna be miserable because I rolled an awfully thought up character makeup, and not the FP itself. So I'll obviously have to work him up to 50 anyway because masochist. Which we already confirmed earlier. 😄 There ya go. A new insanity, watch me go crazy and stuff.

As per my usual, thinking of weird things to do in CoH/V/GR... this showerthought occurred. Can one play first person only in this thing? What would that be like? Would it be good, or horrible? Torturous? Insane? But it's me. Guess what I'm doin', and that right soon. XD Thing is... a Scrapper/Tanker/Brute/Stalker would be impossibly 'busy' on the screen, what with having to be right up in people's faces to do anything, so.. probably not one of those? Teaming would be... interesting. I'm sure it'll be fine... >.> Thinking a ranged character might make sense for this. Still gonna have bad guys in mah face here and there, but that's just life in the first person lane. Probably need a crowd control, so maybe a dominator or controller, perhaps a defender or maybe one of the others... Just thinkin'. As usual. Thoughts/suggestions are always appreciated, even if it's to confirm my insanity. 🙂

You gotta Brawl and find out! 🙂

...for the MOST EXCELLENT Brawl enhancements I discovered today! My street sweeper Brawl/SR Brute houtex certainly had a TON of fun with it, being his only offense and all. 😄 Please don't turn it off... Pretty please? With sugar and whipped cream and a cherry on the top with a side of whatever else you want with that? 'Cause Brawl being this stupid awesome is just... well, awesome. I understand if it can't stay, though. For sure just wanted to praise and thank yas! 👍