cranebump

WELL DAMN IT ALL!:-)

Hey there, Riders! After a hiatus last week I will be on tomorrow evening during my usual time slot. Hope to see some of you out there! Hit me up and we’ll ride! H’YAH!

Greets, Riders! I'll be on the hoss THU late afternoon through the evening this THU. In the meantime, getting a a few arcs in, namely this one: Oops...guess you did...:-) Update on ol’ Tracklash here: now at L21. Have crafted some IO drops, but still running mainly on SOs and a few DOs. I slotted some of the special enhancements you can get from Mr. Yin. Have 133 merits to if I need a quick $$ boost. Trackie’s proven decent as a boss killer so far, thanks to the DM debuffs (and judicious use of Insps and that one little heal he’s got). I did not take on all three of the AVs at once in the PMC (or PCM or whatever) finale. Let them beat each other up and ended up taking on Castillo and weakened Nocturne. Captain said he liked my threads. Nice of him. 🙂

SJ/DP. A scrapper/blaster combo. Let’s get glass canon-y! (Yeah I broke the rules. I guess it’s be scrapper/defender?)

And there's a Vahz plague ended!

Greetings, hombres. We've had some interest, thanks to the mention in General Discussion. We have a recruit comin' in, provided I can be online to invite 'em. Sent a global friend request. Maybe I'll see 'em tonight. For the moment, I'm online running various toons today, until about 7 EST. So, if anyone's on early, hit me up. If I'm not on a Rider, message me in global, and I'll switch ASAP. Happy Weekend, Riders!

DESIGN NOTES: Been spending a LOT of time soloing with my Long Riders (old school) toons, which has included playing a ton of IP content. As such, decided to step out of The Row and feature this zone (well, sorta). Also wanted something magic focused, and wanted to include Dr. Cheng, and a Security Guard contact (my solo mishes have me working with the Sec's a lot). Considering the lengthy backstory I wrote out, this necessitated multiple arcs, so I could spool out the story without having to jam too much lore into multiple clue boxes. Made use of stock groups, with a few reskins. Had to create original skins for Cheng and Bocor (the latter of which looks close to right; the former? well, let's just say he's, um...close?). My obnoxiously chipper Security Guard needed a name, so I sorta riffed on a very old TV show. Only one truly nasty surprise (potentially), which I won't reveal here. (hint: it's not a too-tough boss). Tested with scrapper namesake (L38 MA/SR, who has massive END problems for some reason) and exemp'ed incarnate. No major issues, but these guys have sets. Arc 2 is almost fully scripted. Just needs to be finished and built. Arc #3 is sorta distant, atm. Thanks to the dedicated AE players! Gravity received a Dev’s Choice, and Asa Ronan got a nomination. Much appreciated! Hope the new content is fun for you all. Happy trails hombres, Crane

You can. Unfortunately, I'm not the best details guy. I just know that @Darmian shared some customs with me. All that's required is putting them in the right folder (which is called...custom critters I think?). I'm sure someone will come along and give you the right answer. In the meantime, here's some stuff from the wiki that may be helpful: https://hcwiki.cityofheroes.dev/wiki/Mission_Architect_Files

It's stealthy. You think you're buffed, but...(mwa-mwa-mwaaaaammmmmm...).

It's the only way to clear the hubris debuff.

Azbot got directly into action with Cerulean Cipher today. A wide range of missions taking us to KR, AP, and PP. Speaking of: What we thought BEFORE we entered the mission (with all that toxic mess).:-) Azbot ended up L6. Cipher got his Sergeant rank. All is well (if not incredibly toxic when Vahz are around).

With Whippy now a First Sergeant, he's turned to crafting, including creation of a support bot: Azbot (Assistance-Support-Bot, or ASS-Bot) checking in... [Thought we could use an ol'-fashioned Rad/Rad DEF)..

On to Marvin Weintraub, grinding for 30 and First Sergeant rank. Along the way: ouch... And later: DING! Thanks, Freaks.

And this morning, COMPLETE: Not bad days work.

Echoed. I have my "fast play" toons on Excel, and don't mind that style of play. But I have to say, I've been enjoying the smaller population of Torch when running my slow play toons. If you run off nights, as I often do (in particular, every THU evening, EST), it feels like your character is one of a small number of defenders. And since we're trucking along old-school style, the challenges of the game remain relevant (and, as my struggles/faceplanting against DE with my poor, squishy blaster recently showed, a cure for hubris). I've played so much content that I don't recall even seeing back in the day (and certainly not these days, without a concerted effort). If you'd like to join our casual slow-grind, you can hit me up at my global (@cranebump). If I'm not on Torch, I will hop over and give you an invite. I'll always drop what I'm personally doing to run with a Rider (well, I won't hop off a TF, but, you get the idea). Anyhoo, give us a shout. We'll be happy to have you. We don't always run across each other due to the issues @Six-Six mentioned, but when we do, we try to run together.

So, playing through Lorenzo Tate's DE arc (he's in IP). You end up having to take down these crystals: The object is immobile and has no attack capabilities of its own, and is unable to regenerate hit points at all, but is able to summon Devouring Earth spawns to its defense. These beings will be summoned at the aggroing player's location in full groups. So, the first time I sniped one of these, I got the ambush mob on my location, PLUS the spawn guarding the Crystal. DE debuffs. Boulders flying everywhere. Thorns. Backhanded KB melee attacks. Plus I dragged an additional spawn from below the loc: OWOWOWOWOWOWOWOW! (This is me running the wrong damned way) Got smart and cleared the surrounding mobs first via pulls, THEN dealt with the crystal. Hit it, ran toward it to give myself some space from ambush spawn. MUCH easier. However, that first faceplant reminded me why we slow play. I don't think I ever played this arc on Live. It was actually something new to me. Overall, it's a well done arc, as well. No hunts. An interesting NPC in the Black Sands mish: I still have the finale (more crystals and a defeat all in a cave in PP). But, all in all, this one is very good. Recommended! P.S. You can also get this one from Eliza Thorpe.

You have earned the Insane Trooper badge.:-)

I assume my low HP status could also have to do with how stealthily I dove into/ran into FREAKIN' HEWERS! AAAAAAHHHHH!

Okay, folks, when next we (somehow) meet, Tracklash has got this guy in his queue: Be sure to grab some donuts before we go. 🙂

Had 4 of us online this morning! Got a team of 3 together for an impromptu run versus the Warriors: That sound you hear is Whipsmart faceplanting.:-) Our posse was Cerulean Cipher, Mean Green Demon and ol' Whippy. Great run!

Greets, gang. Did a big crafting round with Whipsmart's inventory. Dropped off quite a few IOs, both generic and set components. Quite a few freebies in the L20 range. Running Pennington arc in IP (Ubelmann story). Best thing? Where she appears: And the fact that your fist mish is Board Transit.:-)

'Nother beauty shot:

Welcome Cerulean Cipher! Tracks and the blue one took on a 'Dine ring tonight. Gave 'em whut fer!

Meanwhile, on Excelsior... Just another night in the Row...

Tangential (maybe), but I've also noticed that sometimes my contact reverts to looking like "Contact Hologram" (though the arc still works).