OldSchool SC Fight Club

Payphone mission in rikti warzone. "Access the Matrix" when in AE in this mission. Once you get the tablet, it wants you to go somewhere but the marker just has you going in and out of the same door. There are no objects to interact with. Had to abandon.

So, I picked up the game in August of 2004. Then, it wasn't a "linear" storyline but more of an identity thing. It was about who or what the factions were, their vague backstories, and your heroes with more of a personality profile than a full-on story. The comics I believe then were still being made by 2 different creators, and those stories made their way into the game or vise-versa. Playing a character wasn't really about "finishing" a goal...but becoming a "well-established" hero.... and doing this ALL before the days of pay-to-win, loot crates, DLC's, etc. etc. You paid your sub, you got content, you played it, and you were put into an amazing community of other players. A community where the devs often joined in and interacted with the players. The build system was so great that, it allowed for your player to be truly unique...especially when the recipe system came out later on... When CoV hit the shelves, this REALLY expanded the game. I feel it brought more focus on the heroes/villains and their stories... It also created this little tribal cultism of good vs. evil. I fell in love with CoV side and back then, you were either a hero or a villain. There was no cross-over or switching sides. PvP before recipes was spectacular. Siren's Call Fight Club was the place to be anytime of the day or night. You met on the tall building in the middle of the map and you picked who you fought. This was when the "fitness pool" was a thing....Stamina was the key. Your stories were somewhat based on the zones... Especially in CoV. There still wasn't this endgame....but there was this awesome end to your journey....yet content made sure to remind you that the story doesn't end for you... All factions still had a use for your character every couple months....and you were always trying to improve. Even after the massive PvP nerf that made it to where kids getting the game for Christmas could beat a 6yr PvP-built vet with simple DO's. Here we are, 2024....and I am still immersed in this game... The lore isn't linear....yet, every faction and character (NPC) has something to discover... CoX is so simple....yet runs deep enough to always be interesting. It has aged well.... and luckily, it didn't die the horrible death we thought it did... It is one of the last games that honored the players....the subbers... with content and a rich line of stories without forcing people to pay extra. You bought the game.....you were in for life... You didn't have to pay to stay interested....

I thought that the first comic that came out had Arachnos or someone who disabled the mediporters and then assaulted Paragon City. Correct me if I'm wrong? So, it IS possible to be killed in this universe other than by plot only.

I will say this (bit o history). I was deployed to ghanny and Iraq in the early 2000's (2/187th of 101st airborne for those brother who might be around). I got home (wounded) on July 21st 2004... My out date was August 4th of 2004. On my drive home from Ft. Campbell to OKC...I stopped in an old Walmart (before the supercenters lol). I stopped in the music section looking for the Perfect Circle song I heard on the radio...it wasn't out yet...So I browsed around and saw this big blue box, City of Heroes...it was an mmorpg with this open world thing going on. So, I have been an "mmo" guy since the days of Neverwinter Nights....and honestly...non-graphics telnet style Tradewars 2002 (which I still play btw). CoH appealed to me because of the Super Hero theme..and when I got it installed on my computer with my AMD ATI 256mb card...I was blown away. Even more so with the awesome community. One of my very 1st experiences was in Atlas Park for some event... I had signed off there and signed back in a couple days later with this huge gathering of players. Statesman, Posi, etc were there live for something. It was so cool knowing that the devs were playing the game. When CoV launched I was perma-hooked. I played avidly for a long time and when the ITF released and the recipe system, our team on the Champion server had the fasted speed run on ITF...like 40mins or something..I can't remember. I know it caught the eye of the dev or staff who played Synapse. He sent me a message on the boards and wanted tor un with my team to see how we were knocking ITF out so fast. He got his ass kicked in the ITF lol... we had a lot of fun. I had found a lot of issues with some procs then and he asked us to send screens etc of the proc showing hits but no effect on stats. The fact that the devs were so community involved right down to running an ITF with you was so above anything I had ever seen. you look at the attention to detail in the game....right down to the magazines on a table in a paper mish....and you see the passion for the content.... This is why it blew me away on the Statesman thing. 8yrs of avid playing (while also 8yrs into EVE online) as a subber of 4 accounts. I saw this whole thing happen and it set me back for a moment. I got so busy traveling with work that I happened to sign on the last day of CoH in Pocket D and didn't even know the servers going down after that...for good. It was sad...and I was honestly shocked. The question of Statesman stuck of course. With my traveling for work, I met some great people from my Supergroup on Champion called Faux Pas ( if any of you are here, would love to reconnect). People that I actually visited in my travels and went and lunch with in their cities and even played at their homes on a day or 2 off before having to drive out to another job site. The CoH community was the best on the boards you could ask for...and I see it still with us old schoolers.. Hands down the best and most appreciative community an MMO could have.... and I don't think any game has ever had resurrection like this based on the community alone. I appreciate all the work being put in to keep the game going and even advancing according to the game plan of 2012... passion is still content...and content is still king...and that's why we are here. I started this game at 27yrs old.... and here I am still with it at a ripe 46 now...(even though everyone thinks I look 30 lmao..thanks Army deployment super soldier shots).

Thing about Champs was that it was the early day of pay to win...which is what I think NC wanted to do with CoH but had to re-code everything. I am not a fan of linear gear-driven builds like SWTOR and Champs had/has. What makes CoH so great..and why we are all so happy to be here right now...is the content that almost no 2 builds are the same.. I remember taking my Elec/Elec brute and fighting another Elec/Elec Brute in arena...and winning. Both of us were capped on smash/lethal/energy. I won because of procs lol. My melee attacks had 3-4 damage procs in them that, at the time were unresistable. It's what was so great..and still is. The meta isn't dictated by a couple skill points and a set of gear everyone plays for... Champs also uses a TON of the sounds from CoH lol. As for being unique, I know Star Trek Online had a great build system with bonuses (I heard Matt Miller designed that system for them)...but they made it a loot crate frenzy that myself spent thousands on for nothing... SWTOR I really liked until they brought in the Cartel Market...then, nerfed half the stuff I loved about the game. You want to talk about a game on rails lol... SWTOR was a game you didn't even need a jump button for...

Correct me if I'm wrong, but shouldn't Wade NOT be in Shark's? I thought I read somewhere a while back that Recluse killed him or something after the death of Statesman....that even Recluse seemed bothered by his death and went after him. Either way, I feel Wade is seriously misplaced as his missions haven't changed and his story line has remained "pre-state". I would have thought they would move him to a higher zone with a "post-state" presence.... It's been a while since I read up on this but I swear he should be dead at the hands of Recluse after all was said and done...

Been back for awhile now but keep forgetting to actually get on and ask the question... Searches don't really answer the question. I feel the LRSF just isn't the same.... The prestige of taking down the original FP 8 vs. 8 pre-incarn (unless you want to count Shivans lol) still holds high for me... However, I am curious as to why exactly Statesman was essentially dropped? Was it some sort of behind the scene political thing between the devs? Was it because someone was leaving and taking their brand with them? It's just such an odd thing to have him gone in the game when you had so much based around him.... I mean...the Well of Furies that essentially defined the CoH and the CoV of the game had 2 names come from it... Either way, I have always wondered if this was what they really wanted to do in the game. I read the feedback from Matt Miller interviews and even his answers seem to be empty and he stayed on the subject of "moving on" from the death...instead of what drove the reason.

Don't see that happening....ever. Only reason I say that is because sig costumes have never been released...only players who make a close duplicate with what is available.

I could see this working more to the mez/dmg areas with immob and holds...even sleep (if anyone even uses THAT anymore). I would say something like the OP suggested as an addition to the AT sets. Either way, the mez or debuff would see a slight decrease in effectiveness and only a slight amount of dmg (where it applies). Or even a chance for dmg proc that deals big dmg.

My contact is also my ally in the mission. The point is for him to meet you in the entrance of mission and you escort him to an objective in mission...He also assists you in mission. For some reason, all I can get are him being held captive in random locations on the map. Anything on this? Have searched all over and can't seem to find anything on this (if there is anything). Even with no enemy group selected under add an ally...they are still held captive by a mob of like enemies from the mission.

When my rage drops, I make use of the permanent sands of mu, nem staff, and the axe to keep dmg to target(s) as they are not affected by the rage debuffs. Since these prestige powers are available to ALL from lvl1...they are a viable solution. Usually by the time Sands and Axe animation has finished, I am back to rage normal mode... There are a dozen ways around the 10 second drop... Saying you can't deal damage is completely incorrect... If ANYTHING needs to be done to rage...the duration extended just a bit longer. This is because just about everyone is able to stack rage with 2 slot SOs at lvl40...and once the stacking starts it does seem like rage is dropping a every minute. To add a little more time to it would allow more up-time when you are overlapping... but really it isn't all that important. Now, if they DID revert to the stacking rule allowing it to negate the -def or -dmg or both.... That would be fine as well I suppose.

No issues with my Stone... It does what I want...and most importantly....it does what I expect it to.

Really, the only people who seem to have the issue in this thread are saying rage makes their character unplayable..... If that is the case... then there is a build problem (which is obviously all depending on rage? For a tank?), or there is an issue with the way it is being played. Done with this thread for sure.... All I know is this, if they took away the dmg and def debuff and gave you milk and cookies instead....like most want... I wouldn't even notice if they did or not...on all 3 of my toons that make use of SS.

For me, I use my SS/Stone now more than I did on live. Even with the recharge and damage debuffs that come with granite, the IOs have made it far better than it ever was before the days of IOs. I have negated the recharge issue simply through sets, my defense sits at about 30-35% (except psi) in the major categories, my resist is capped for smash, lethal, toxic, and runs in the 60-70% on elements and energies, my regen when I decide to use rooted is around 40hp/sec, and my recovery and end usage keeps me full end no matter how hard I work SS...even with the rage and hasten drops. I triple slotted swift as I did in live and really I don't use rooted unless I am fighting 6 bosses or more. The run speed isn't the fastest...but it is as fast as using sprint with SOs. I am not really debating the issue of stone armor all around... but Granite is far better than it ever was right now..and is still very reliable and effective in PvE. The issues of Psionic defense or resist will always remain for the granite side. Having the psi def toggle along with Granite would pretty much put the other sets to shame. 30-35% def in all but psi may not sound like much...but it is all the difference in +4 x8 mobs of most enemies. I agree totally that the other toggles in stone need something done somehow...especially while leveling... but I don't see stone ever getting a revamp in any way. For me, Stone is very successful.. In fights against Psi dmg it of course has its weakness... but I like the weaknesses and side effects to some powers...it is what makes the game what it is. The older At like Stone and Invuln were also designed with some pvp elements in mind as well. Tanks and Brutes were hard to take down in the old PvP due to their design.... But those designs are now worthless in the new PvP.. and even stronger in the new gameplay of PvE thanks to the incarn and some of the newer sets. Granite was given the slow pace and limited movement as the offset to being pretty close to un-killable when with a team. Fair in my opinion...if you want to pursue another player in PvP.... you have to either pop out of granite at risk of being exploited... or hope your get a solid TP Foe into your mud pots. In PvE.... Granite was made to plop in the laps of an AV or hold the aggro with minimal support.....and as a super powered toggle...that same drawback with movement to keep the team mindset in place..and not having an OP player running around the map doing it all. Same reason for the Unstoppable crash.... There has to be a balance somewhere. As it stands, I love my SS/Stone...even through the double -80% Def rage crashes I have zero zero issues running it. I run around in Granite without rooted at a decent run pace..The powers from stone that weren't taken..I am able to carry 2 travel powers.... I am not one who can complain about Stone Armor set overall. I still consider it one of the better sets endgame. I can agree however with the other pre-granite abilities.... They are pretty bad...

Stone pre-granite in its day was decent in PvP before they made PvP a joke. It is terrible against large, even leveled mobs when playing solo.... but is actually pretty darned decent when in a team. I often played my stone out of granite on teams until it was time to tank an AV etc. I think that with granite the way it is....which is simply one of the most balanced abilities a tank or brute can have, there would be no changes to the rest. All I could see is elusivity added as part of the normal abilities and maybe more defense. Otherwise, all those other abilities were basically designed to get you through the leveling process to granite (back when SOs were it). However, I am not talking out of my rear here. In the old days of around 2005-2006 when I went to the new CoV side, I spent a lot of time in PvP (the old and good PvP)... and have a few vids showing that the pre-granite abilities were pretty decent.... Not really sure what they should do...if anything to the stone set.. Have to be careful what is done or it will start stepping on the toes on other AT power sets...like WP did with Regen imo. In all honesty, even in live before all the IOs, etc, I always did a respec on my stones once I hit 40 (and then later on 50) that got rid of nearly all the stone set except for granite, rooted, self heal, and kept the smash/lethal defense toggle. Other than building taking powers in a certain order for PvP (BB and SC) and of course the fitness pool..., I typically didn't use much of the stone set. Again, the set was pretty decent before the IO era....and stone was probably the best or darn close to the best tank set along side invuln. One of my vids I found on my external drive from the days when I believe the game was in its prime... Have a ton more vids..just trying to clean them up etc. This fight was one of my favorite..