31 Aug, 2009
Cover of the day - 08/31
30 Aug, 2009
Screenshot of the Day 08/30
28 Aug, 2009
Screenshot of the Day 08/28
Eragon fans may recognize this character's name -- Naughty naughty...
27 Aug, 2009
Cover of the day - 08/27
26 Aug, 2009
Issue 16 now in Open Beta
I'd only tried the closed beta a couple times. But I like what I saw. The power customization is better than I thought with dark color choices and light color choices -- You can mix two colors on some things. I tried an electric scrapper -- and was able to mix green and blue lightning effects. Changing a Psychic Blaster / Mental Manipulation from the (*ugh*) default pinkish colors made it seem fresh. I can imagine a lot of new characters coming up because of all the choices -- Patriotic characters with all their powers red/white/or blue, or some mix there of. Christmas characters with all red and green powers. You can give your primary or secondary powers a color theme of there own, copying it to all of them, OR you can individualize each an every power, assuming it can be customized. IT could get confusing though -- If you don't know the purple effect coming off the villain is a transference because it is not the usual blue, COULD cause some of these powers to lose there effectiveness. At least until you get used to the people you are with -- PICK up teams are going to be a real headache when this goes live.
Some of the powers have lots of variability. I've nosed through a few -- Martial Arts I thought was supposed to have some DIFFERENT moves -- I didn't see them, but that isn't to say they aren't there. One of my recent characters was a spine scrapper -- THAT one was fun as it had Metal Spikes, Thorns, Crystal spikes, and more. This alone changes the look of a character, let alone the theme. And as I said, the Electric scrapper power set is going to get a LOT of play when it goes live. I have heard some grumblings on the Electric Armor being underpowered, but I've not seen it so far. But then I've only gotten in a handful of levels on it.
Something I like? Your current level is shown in the experience bar -- the same place now occupied by the TF while on Task forces, or your SG emblem while in SGMODE. If you are downgraded by exemplaring, Running Oruborus missions, or side-kicking up, your current level is displayed as <##> to hint that you are not at your normal level. It makes that area a little busy as it can have the green arrow (need to train) in there as well. Also Email control - You can set your character to receive only from SG and friends -- leaving blind SPAMs in the lurch.
Expect lots of changes on the OPTIONS menu -- things are all different there it seems.
Given that it IS in open beta already, that means it is CLOSE to release. Given the release of Champions Online coming up in September, I could see this going live before or shortly after that launch, if not coinciding with it. More than likely , given my luck, it will go live during Labor Day Weekend, when I'll be at Dragon*Con. *Sigh*.
10 Aug, 2009
Musings
Lots of things going on these past few days or so.
Starting to think of Dragon*Con again. This one should be a big one -- TREK-wise it has Leonard Nimoy AND Patrick Stewart, but with big named actors from Battlestar Galactica, Farscape, and more, this one should be ultra crowded. Already have a friend coming in for it. I'm looking for the COH Podcasters to be there as well. Also hoping to catch somebody from Cryptic on Champions again like last year. Who knows? By the time of the convention, Champions will be out. Will someone from NCSoft make an appearance this year? Will Issue 16 be out by then as well?
The latest patch has had problems; I've seen plenty of mapservers. The double XP weekend that was held the weekend before last was not smooth because of it. I had a couple times I TRIED to get in that weekend that were blocked by repetitive up/down mapserver activity.
Despite changes to the system, FARMING in AE still continues to be going on. I've seen several teams first hand, and getting into an AE mission team usually means you are going up against Maniac slammers or Fred, Bobs, or Marthas. This can be give new characters a quick boost, depending upon how many times you head back in. I tried on one of my new controllers to get in some time. His first AE session got him from level 5 to around 22. His next session got him to over level 35. Considering that he now is one of my top 6 highest level characters AND is one of my most youngest is almost disturbing. Granted I have tried that kind of controller before, but have never gotten to key powers before. Is it cheating? NOT really. But for other users it might be, especially if they have to go from manipulating two or three powers to a dozen plus. Will they understand them all? The other side of it is enhancements. IF you trade off tickets you might get some salvage that can be sold in the auction house for millions of influence. But you might also just buy some single origin enhancements directly. If you don't know to do either after every mission, you could find yourself however with a very high level character with NO way to fund the needed enhancements. With the ticket cap on, you can't get more than 1500-2000 tickets. If you don't spend them between AE outings, then you will be wasting them, and leave your character quite in need and quite broke.
I did a blaster over the last week -- going back to the insect theme. Jurassic Dragonfly. Essentially a time traveler contaminated by insect remains on his person when returning from the distant past. He got an early boost from AE, but went from there to running a Sister Psyche TF. At the conclusion I discovered a recipe earned along the way -- a Respec recipe. Sold at Wentworths, it netted 120,000,000 influence. Even after paying Wentworth's cut, he's now sitting with 112 million plus. My most richest character had been Furiona with 43 million from costume contests and a few good Wentworth sales. This was truly bizarre. I wouldn't be surprised if I've nearly 200 million on my Virtue characters by now...
Till next time
06 Aug, 2009
Cover of the day - 08/06
05 Aug, 2009
Cover of the day - 08/05
04 Aug, 2009
Cover of the day - 08/04
03 Aug, 2009
Cover of the day - 08/03
02 Aug, 2009
Cover of the day - 08/02
01 Aug, 2009
Cover of the day - 08/01
