Identity Crisis

[Rathulfr]

TL;DR:  Who is the real Rathstar?  My OG incarnation re-created from Retail, or the better HC meta-build versions?  Anyone else experiencing a similar conundrum?

 

I started playing City of Heroes in 2004, when Issue 2 went live.  My first and main character was an Energy² Blaster named Rathstar, which I played to 50+3 and until the servers went dark in November 2012.  Yes, I had plenty of alts, too.  But Rathstar was (still is) nearest and dearest to my heart: he's the "real" me, if you know what I mean (and I know that many of you feel the same way about your characters).

 

When Homecoming came online, Rathstar was the first character I re-created: an Energy² Blaster.  He was on Bree, then again on Torchbearer, then moved to Indomitable, and now he resides on Everlasting.  But he only made it to level 11 when I abandoned him.  I was distracted by the new Blaster secondaries, and then by Sentinels, so he languished on the character select screen for months.

 

Rathstar was re-imagined several times during those months, mostly as various forms of Sentinel, because the Sentinel felt like what I originally wanted for the character, even back in retail.  Iron Man was my favorite comic book as a kid, and he's the inspiration for Rathstar.  On retail, an Energy² Blaster was the closest I could get to Iron Man.  On HC, an Energy Sentinel was even closer.  After playing several different builds, Rathstar the Energy/Willpower Sentinel became my main.  I got him to 50+3 T4 (not via AE, thank you), then accrued accolades and veteran levels.  But even so, something was still missing: he just doesn't deal enough damage (I thought that was the missing piece).

 

So I ran the numbers, leaned into the meta, and re-imagined Rathstar again, this time as an Energy/Temporal Blaster.  The build is amazing, the character does great damage, and is almost as durable as my Sentinels.  I quickly got him to 50+3 T4 (again, not with AE), accumulated accolades, etc.  I started running Ouroboros flashback missions, with the goal of doing all of them.  He was going to be my final incarnation of Rathstar.  Or so I thought. 

 

Somebody somewhere mentioned how amazing Energize was in the Blaster secondary.  I remember it being essential to my Energy/Energy Sentinel trial, back when I was rolling up Sentinels left and right.  It also reminded me of my level 11 OG Rathstar which hadn't been played since April/May.  On a whim, I dusted him off and started playing him again, just to get high enough to train Energize.  And then I kept playing him.  And I kept having fun.  I've been playing him for the last week or so, and he's level 48 now.  I just spent over 150 million Inf on buying IO sets for him.  I haven't yet bought the ATOs or Event IOs for his build, but I plan to do so.  I'm going to fully-equip him, just as I did my other Blaster and Sentinel (the only characters I've done that with, so far).

 

The OG Energy² Blaster named Rathstar feels more "real" to me, even though he's inferior to the new and improved Energy/Temporal Blaster named Rathstar.  I really like playing the E/T Rathstar.  But I also really like playing the E² Rathstar.  On paper, the E/T is superior, because of the -Regen debuffs.  I also like being able to contribute an occasional immob, hold, or disorient when I'm on a team.  The E² doesn't offer anything besides damage and knockback (and we all know how well that's received).

 

So who is the real Rathstar?  The one that feels more like retail, or the one that feels more like HC?  Is anyone else experiencing a similar conundrum, or is it just me?

 

[Sakai]

The real Rathstar is the one you like best. So currently he is your current one. That may change later on. 

 

I remade Sinstar 4 times before she became a Fire/Fire/Fire Dom. I think it is what I always wanted to play. 

 

Time will tell. It always does. 

[EmmySky]

My old fav

Was my MA/regen scrapper....pre-nerf pre ED....pre-weakassregen.  I remade her here and regen continued to disappoint.  I have rerolled her as MA/WP but its not the same.  She's only mid 20s and I have been distracted by other shinies, maybe if I concentrate on her she will shine like she should.

 

My 'main' from live was one I ran with ex hubby and I detested her then and will never remake her.  Let her rest in peace (pieces).

Edited November 16, 2019 by EmmySky

[MTeague]

I hear you.  My Main, Cygnus-X1, a Mind/Kin, is recreated exactly as he was on live.  Even taking two individual power choices that are situational at best, because that's how he was on live.  I would have him no other way.

 

But I had a real conundrum for one of my villians, Hephaesto.  His character concept is all "metallic" wherever you would see skin, because he's no longer human.  He was tossed into the Hell Forge along with some SuperScienceStuff, and (much handwaving here) was transformed into a being of Living Steel and Fire.  He no longer has flesh, or blood, or pity.  Only steel and fire.  On live, he was a Fire / Thermal corruptor, because I wanted him to THROW fire, not use Fire Swords.  But I was never happy with how squishy he was as a Corruptor.   Now of course, he's a Fire / Fire Sentinel, and he's FAR truer to the original concept I had for him.  I wasn't sure how well I'd like him as a Sentinel becuase he wouldn't be the SAME as he was on live.  but, for me, it worked out quite well, and I'm keeping the new one and not looking back.

 

As far as Rathstar, that's up to you.  Only you can tell you which one is the real deal. 

 

If you wanted you could bridge the gap by headcanoning the "new" Rathstar  to be "Son of Rathstar" or something, who took over his dad's suit when he retired (if he's Tech Based), or inherited similar powers (if Mutant), etc.  Wouldn't be unreasonable to keep literally the same name if he's stepping into the others shoes.

Edited November 16, 2019 by MTeague

[Yomo Kimyata]

I had a lot of alts on Live, and I have a lot of alts on HC.  Three got resurrected, of which one got reimagined.  

 

My first on HC was a re-creation of my namesake Yomo, a BS/inv scrapper who got started back in the days when you debated whether to 6 slot damage SOs or to stick one accuracy in there.  It’s almost laughable how “sub-optimal” that build feels now.  But he’s an incarnate now, and does just fine.

 

Then there’s Minion Zero, who was my first villain on Live.  I don’t remember War Mace/ Willpower brutes being this powerful back in the day, but I’m not complaining.

 

Finally there is Captain Inertia, who I changed from a Kinetics/Electric defender to an Electric/ Kinetics controller.  Jury is still out on that one.

 

Nostalgia is one hell of a drug.

[dmaker]

4 hours ago, EmmySky said:

My old fav

Was my MA/regen scrapper....pre-nerf pre ED....pre-weakassregen.  I remade her here and regen continued to disappoint.  I have rerolled her as MA/WP but its not the same.  She's only mid 20s and I have been distracted by other shinies, maybe if I concentrate on her she will shine like she should.

 

My 'main' from live was one I ran with ex hubby and I detested her then and will never remake her.  Let her rest in peace (pieces).

My story is exactly the same.  I decided to roll a Ma/WP Brute and that one quickly became, and has remained, my main. I absolutely love this character.  With incarnates and io sets, you can build it tanky, or more dps oriented. I'd say I lean more to the tanky side, and I have a ton of end recovery too. Very easy and fun to play.

 

[EmmySky]

1 minute ago, dmaker said:

My story is exactly the same.  I decided to roll a Ma/WP Brute and that one quickly became, and has remained, my main. I absolutely love this character.  With incarnates and io sets, you can build it tanky, or more dps oriented. I'd say I lean more to the tanky side, and I have a ton of end recovery too. Very easy and fun to play.

 

Since I have neglected her, at 24 she has empty slots ( I jumped on her after I posted).  When I get back home I will focus on her a bit and see what she is capable of.  She is a scrapper so I wanna keep the damage but need to really get her survivability (out tank a tank type of scrapperlock) to make her feel like her old self.  

[Replacement]

The answer comes to you from Marvel:

 

Rename the E/T version to Rathstar 2099.

[Hagis]

First.....can we take a step back and appreciate how badly we would have wanted to have this problem a year ago? 🙂

I remember DC Comics putting out a few issues years ago where the basic idea was their core heroes as Stan Lee might have imagined them. (Or did imagine them. I don't actually recall if he wrote the books himself or if they just used his name.) It looks to me like you have the opportunity to have some alternate or parallel universe versions of your character. Each one born under a different set of circumstances, adapted to his/her environment. The final decision is yours, of course; but I think if I were in your shoes, I'd be seeing each of those toons as an individual reflection of the greater whole that is Rathstar.

 

Good luck.

Edited November 18, 2019 by Hagis
Grammar cop was sleeping on the job.

[DougGraves]

I'm probably not unique but I am "different".  My old main Tomb Fisted Kid was a dark/dark tanker.  And scrapper.  And brute.  And dark/willpower.  I tend to level a character into the 30's then delete them and start over.  I have a few names and costumes that I like, so I reuse those for a new character.  I don't have old characters, they don't last long enough to get old.

[Heraclea]

Heraclea was an Inv/SS tanker in the old official game.  Her re-creation is as Inv/Dark Melee.  Officially the explanation is that she spent several years in the Underworld and visiting Hyboria and other, even stranger places.  These travels changed her. 

 

Some say that in the process she merged with Omphale, who was an Inv/DM tanker in the old game.   I learned how effective that combination could be, and that character became my go-to for master runs and so forth. 

[MetaVileTerror]

I'm surprised this thread hasn't already devolved in to everyone saying:

No; _I_ am Rathstar.

[Fan Mail]

The good news is to look at all of the options you have.  And you have exercised them.   You can roll Rathstar 1000+ times until you find the one you settle on.  Or you can go back to one of the other ones.  

 

On a related topic, there's no way in hell I'm re-rolling my first level 50 back on live.  I'm not doing a DM/Reg Scrapper for 50 levels again.  Sands of Mu has killed this and Regen...well, we know the history there.  

[Xeres]

Yes, my "main" on live was a MA/Inv scrapper.  I switched out Inv to WP because of ease of use.  I like her much better now.  She doesn't have the same name though.  I was a little hesitant to changing out her spec because I wanted to be true to the original.  But in the end if something bugs me about my chars I need to swap it out - whatever it is.

Edited November 18, 2019 by Xeres

[DougGraves]

5 hours ago, MetaVileTerror said:

I'm surprised this thread hasn't already devolved in to everyone saying:

No; _I_ am Rathstar.

 

Like in the tv show Powerless?

[Shred Monkey]

The original Shred Monkey (DB/SR Scrapper) will always be the REAL Shred Monkey to me.  I did create a toon named Shred Monkey here, mostly because it's a name a few people may recognize and I was hoping to reconnect in game.   

 

But, similar to you, I started playing with the new shinies and I haven't played this version of Shred since the first few weeks after I came back.

[Rathulfr]

On 11/17/2019 at 11:02 AM, Replacement said:

The answer comes to you from Marvel:

 

Rename the E/T version to Rathstar 2099.

Hmmm... that's a legitimately interesting suggestion... *ponders*

[Rathulfr]

17 hours ago, Hagis said:

First.....can we take a step back and appreciate how badly we would have wanted to have this problem a year ago? 🙂

I remember DC Comics putting out a few issues years ago where the basic idea was their core heroes as Stan Lee might have imagined them. (Or did imagine them. I don't actually recall if he wrote the books himself or if they just used his name.) It looks to me like you have the opportunity to have some alternate or parallel universe versions of your character. Each one born under a different set of circumstances, adapted to his/her environment. The final decision is yours, of course; but I think if I were in your shoes, I'd be seeing each of those toons as an individual reflection of the greater whole that is Rathstar.

 

Good luck.

Yes, this is my current approach to the head canon.  CoH has already established parallel universes as a routine phenomena, so all of my Rathstars are variations from different parallel worlds.  I was just more interested in finding out if anyone else was wrestling with the same kinds of mental gymnastics -- apparently so.

[Twisted Toon]

7 hours ago, DougGraves said:

 

Like in the tv show Powerless?

My first thought was Sparticus.