04 Sep, 2009

04 Aug, 2009

03 Aug, 2009

17 Mar, 2009

I've seen this level 50 character around a lot.  Notice the SG name. 

25 Apr, 2008

24 Mar, 2008

After ignoring the Villain side for SO long, This last week plus I've given it another go - and have succeeded with a vengence. Manadroid is closing in on 35, already making him the best villain I've had on any server. Another level or so and he will be my best character on Freedom.

To my heroic groups, I did manage and check in on you --- a couple had low activity and again were devoid of anyone there when I visited yesterday. There were some exceptions and I did get some time in as both High Impetus and Crusading Cavalier. I went back to the Freedom villain side, and tried my Plant Dominator. But unfortuneately he wasn't able to get a team. Dominators do not solo well, and I ended up going back to Manadroid. I managed to get in on my first Respec Strike Force in St. Martial - which was unusual. The group broke up and reformed when two had to quit due to time restraints. I did manage to get a rare reward which netted a million and a half infamy, Since hitting 34 I was out of SGMode, and earned enough to push my total to over 2 million. Of course I had several gaps in my enhancements, which ate up 750K. I did manage to get the Caleb "Hellbane" badge on the first SF try; a first time for that badge, and first encounter with the GM. That makes the third GM for Manadroid, after Deathsurge, the Ghost of Scrapyard.

I've made a few covers for Manadroid as well






I must say I'm impressed with the Mastermind powers -- with all my bots both Equipped and Upgraded, I can solo rather easily. They let loose a massive volley now. Its kind of wild with the Assault drone doing flame, missles, grenades and his plasma beams, the Protectors firing seeker drones, and the battle drones strafing back and forth. It can be an awesome sight. I've gone up against 3 or 4 "red" Freakshow without too much problem now. Of course the Dark Miasma Heal is giving me nearly a 281 point heal -- enough to completly restore any bots in my immediate vacinity to full health.

Seeing other Villain characters at high levels for the first time, I'm most impressed with the creeping vines of the plant dominator. It makes me want to play my Mr. Thistle --- assuming I don't make a Plant Controller after Issue 12 comes around.

18 Mar, 2008

Over the weekend, on a whim, I ventured back into the Rogue Isles. Part of this is definately motivated by the forthcoming Villain epic types. I am most curious to see those in action, and how they relate to Kheldians -- the Hero epic archetypes. To do that I've got to have a level 50 villain. Until last Friday, the highest villain I had was level 22 or 23 -- both masterminds. So I turned to an old favorite concept on Freedom server - Manadroid. He's a robotic android, activated by released chaotic magic -- essentially turning him into a high tech golem. Itelligent and ruthless, he weilds Dark Miasmic magic powers on top of weild a pulse rifle and summoning robots. But it goes further. He's modified his robotic form with wings, horns, adorned his body with skulls, all to make him more demonic. The appearance is unique.


I've always had fun with him, and got good reactions from others on the look and concept. I've even got some good binds -- One favorite of which has all the robots start bowing saying "Praise be to the EVIL one....". It tends to get a chuckle or two from others, and really punches home his style and attitude.

When I started playing him he was 21. I soloed for all of 3 missions, easy enough to do with a mastermind, since they do tend to be one man teams in themselves. Then I got on a mission and all hell broke loose. Within a single day, I had joined a VG and gotten 40K prestige racked up, along with 7 levels. Last night I pushed that to 30. Now that means that he's got ALMOST all the primary powers, including ALL 6 robots. 1 Assault bot, 2 protector bots, and 3 battle bots. Thanks to a gift from the VG owner, I've been able to push him to level 30 Single Origin Tech enhancements across the board - or close enough to it.



Like before it is harder to get infamy with him -- although I did managed the BLING badge last night somehow. I've gotten over a hundred badges by now. It can still be chaotic with him, especially with the usual 2 or 3 masterminds on a team. Last night I was on a team with 2 other robot masterminds. It became problematic on some maps trying to get through doors when opponents would be in there and various robots all trying to squeeze through at the same time.

Being a Dark Miasma user, he can heal and rez -- assuming he's not the low person on a team attacking +5s on relentless. It is not expected, and has healing has become a chief power. The level 29 power was healing 234 points at a time -- which isn't bad at all -- but has a limited range. I can't help but wonder if healing bots counts toward a healing badge. We'll see.

My arrival in the Villain group seems to have sparked some activity - it is quite likely it will see some expansion in the near future. It will be a pain balancing his growth with my heroes I still want to work up. I've two other villains on Freedom -- Mister Thistle and a Demonculus. I wouldn't be surprised if one of those entered the group as an alt - but I'll be spending my villain time getting Manadroid up there. Upcoming training trips for work and a vacation will put a crimp on that, but We'll see how things go. As far as the blog goes - I hope to put a few pre-entered posts to release while I'm gone.

Keep an eye on my Shared items feed on the sidebar -- I've been keeping an eye on various superhero-MMO news whether it be NCSOFT, COH, or CRYPTIC, CHAMPIONS -- even some Marvel Online. Its easy for me to find and update this with various news items, and I've been trying to do that every couple of days, if not more often. There is a lot going on out there with Champions leaking new info, and City gearing up for another Issue.

27 Sep, 2007

We're coming into October and for the City of Heroes and City of Villains games, that has always meant big changes.  Halloween events are an annual staple of the game, save the year they introduced the Villains game, released around that time.  Now we have that to look forward to, with the mysterious Issue 11 beyond.

Halloween event provides the only way thus far to earn that 5th costume, thru the obtaining of the 4 masks, and turning them in at Croatoa.  It also allows us a large number of Holiday badges, moreso than any of the other holiday events.    I expect to see the last of last years masks make their way to the Black Market and Wentworths in the next couple weeks.    I'd keep an eye on them -- the prices could fluctuate WILDLY, and you might make a COOL deal if you get it at the right time.  Of course farming THIS year's event for a bunch of masks you can hold onto for a couple months and then sell them at a PROFIT isn't a bad idea either.   They are supposed to have NEW rewards this year -- including some temporary powers that completely change you in to other characters --  presumably you could look like A banished pantheon mage, or a Freakshow tank.   Not like the Chameleon suit -- this is a COMPLETE change of your model.   Apparently so good, it won't work in zones where that type is native.  Apparently they don't want a bunch of psuedo Freakshows to lay in wait in Bloody Bay and then ambush people.  Regardless, a few weeks around Halloween should be a GREAT time for screenshots -- Action and otherwise...     Will the Rikti code that made those mixed level unsidekicked mobs possible in any zone be included on the Halloween or Christmas event be utilized?  One can only hope -- I kind of liked it.

I've already got one SG wanting to do a Halloween party event -- I expect to see MORE of that as the time approaches, especially for the more active groups.

Issue 11 has the new wallpaper available on the CITY website --- A stylized snake, in an edgy infinity symbol 8 -eating its own tail.  IT doesn't really fit either of the two main mystical groups --- Circle of Thorns/Orenbega hasn't used any snake emblems that I can recall.  The symbol is made out of wood, which seems to be more in line with the Banished Pantheon masks, drums, and totems.  But it looks more Norse to me-- European.  Not the island zombie theme of the Pantheon.   Could they be bringing back the original Orenbega?  Or is this another NEW faction for the game.  If so, for what levels will they be involved? 

The recent issue of the Paragon Times seems to be talking about the spread of the Infected  or Stricken beyond the Outbreak zone.  Now we have seen them OCCASIONALLY in Galaxy City and Atlas Park, hiding on the outskirts, amid crates near shield walls.  So they have gotten out.  Villains see them all the time in Mercy Island.  But the article seems to suggest they spread FAR More widely, that several existing contacts died ages ago, that the Arachnos breakout at the Zig never happened.  This sounds like a TOTAL revamped timeline, and doesn't to me sing out mystical forces.    Could this new faction be behind the plague to start with?   If it had mystical origins, science might be the wrong way to attack it. 

But does this make Issue 11 a link to a FAILED timeline where things went markedly different? Perhaps we'll have Portal corp style missions to that world to help out, possibly at much EARLIER Levels?  It wouldn't take much to change a building door into another Portal Corp office -- placing one in Atlas Park, Galaxy City, Steel Canyon , Talos Island and such.  Especially if that universe was bleeding infecteds over here, or some other faction.  A reborn Fifth Column?   Given the German origin, it would put it the most in line with the wallpaper design somewhat.

Another possiblity is a time loop of some kind -- possibly the significance of the infinity loop.  Perhaps if the failure of a faction in the future created it in our present, ala the Terminator movies.

Check out the forum pages for lots of rumors and discussions of this nature.  It is amazing how much debate has occurred thanks to a simple design that has shown up on wallpapers (and a Dev's T-Shirt at a convention - so I heard).  But WHAT, WHO, and WHY remain onlin in the realm of rumors at the moment.  Needless to say this gives us a LOT to look forward to for the rest of the year.  I'd expect Issue 11 shortly before Thanksgiving, somewhere midway between the Halloween event and the Christmas event.  

27 Sep, 2007

Over the past week plus, i've started 3 new villains and played theum up to level 14 and 15.  One mastermind (Killer Kali), and two corrputors. (Demonculus and Black Barb).   Saturday having a pulled tendon in my hip keeping me from doing much else, I played COV, making Black Barb on a whim -- using Marshall Justice as a mold to make a counterpart villain, as I said.  Her look has changed along the way, and her colors got darker.

I've made contact with Necromagus of the Regents of Evil, which is an OLD well-established group, although it doesn't have a lot of still active players, despite current recruiting efforts.  Plenty were recruited over the weekend, and many did work well off the start.  I quickly got Barb her first promotion, for 5000 prestige, and now am sitting at about 80% of the way toward the next prestige based promotion threshold.  My character is scienced based, even though the primary theme of the group is magical.  They are NOT a stickler on that point.

After becoming a member, I played with the look a lot.  Two visits later to the Tailor, I ended up with the dark Trenchcoat, v-cut top, red mesh look, with cowgirl hat and boots.  I ended up teaming a few times now and then.  Once with a Necromagus alt,  another time for a Deathsurge takedown, and a couple pickup group multi-mission stints.  A good time mostly. 

Black Barb as I said last post, is an Assault Rifle Kinetic character.  Her Science origin does make her a tad out of place with some of the members -- which are mostly demons, vampires, sorcerers and such.  Playing Kinetics as a secondary is a pain, since most of the medium and upper level abilities so useful, like speed boost, are still not available yet.  Speed Boost will probably not be availble until the mid twenties by my guess, which changes the way I would play kinetics.  Not having big controller powers to support this, but rather mega ranged damage makes it odd to play.  Despite getting in on the last day of invasion, she failed to get the accolade.  Another rikti bomb or two, and another trio of heavies would have likely finished it off.  SO close. 

I'm debating on which of the three villains to focus on.  I like the mastermind, but find myself going back to Barb, who at this time, is nearing level 16. I usually don't like female alts, but both turned out so well, even if their appearances are somewhat similar now.  And I've the likes of Atomfire to worry about as well.  Time will tell .  I may even get around to some Demonculus or Kali covers...

19 Sep, 2007

I don't know how or why it started -- I think I was looking at some of my villains on Freedom.  Got that level on Mr. Thistle.  Started up a Freedom server version of Demonculus that really seemed to click.  And lastly a new villain taking up my final open slot on Virtue -- Killer Kali, a female thug/poison Mastermind.  A different take on my other such Mastermind, Fatal Overdose that i did well over a year ago.

Its not all been fun.  Demonculus got into a villain group called Hero Busters -- but after I introduced the leader to Guildportal, he up and left for the better part of a week.  Despite updating the message of the day for the group to register on guildportal he's yet to okay my membership.  Having a leader that takes an unnannouced week off is NOT good.  I will probably end up leaving that group soon.  And I even made a banner for the GP site. *sigh*

Sunday on a whim, I made the new mastermind Killer Kali.  Essentially she's an animal right's activist, who invaded the wrong lab, and ended up with a chemical bath that gave her poison powers.   She was "dead" at first, and immediately after coming out of that psuedo-deathlike state was VERY toxic, and ended up killing Coroner staff in her vicinity.  Her name being Kalinda, the press dubbed her Killer Kalinda, which ended up getting shortened to Killer Kali.  She ended up on the run and forced to adopt a criminal lifestyle to survive.   I gave her a Fedora, some spiked shoulder pieces , a vest, and the savage costume.  I later changed that slightly to Trenchcoat and spiked epaulets.  Either way, weilding double pistols she looks mean.

Kali nailed a VG early on as a level 50 Cheerleader Slayer was recruiting for The Terminators.  It has proven to be a very large somewhat old group, and has a decent base.  I was one of several new villains recruited that day, and made some new friends easily.   It looks like about a half dozen are HARD at leveling up their characters.  I'm level 12 now with her.

The one thing I've noticed is the change in value of the salvage items I've been getting.  FEW are worth more than a couple thousand.  It is making it VERY hard to get anywhere NEAR heroic levels of influence as infamy.  I'm just used to some items being worth 4 or 5 times as much -- it makes you feel cheated.  I wasn't aware the two sides had such different levels of value.

I'm starting to get dual origins --- but no EASY money high value salvage -- on Kali or Demonculus.  One would hope...   I was really wanting to get Bone wings for Demonculus.  He'd look SO much better with those...  Even Manadroid and Omegea got some attention.

Rikti invasions have crossed my path -- A few more bombs and Kali gets the accolade.  Demonculus should be right behind her.

I really ought to be getting back to my heroes-- but I am having fun...

11 Sep, 2007

I've been in a post-Dragon*Con lull,  at least reporting here.   Things have been a little hectic of late, with some extra chores caused by going through an old store room --  a lot of sorting, pitching, repacking, etc.   It has been cutting into my play time.  But I did hurt my hip Friday, and can only do so much at a time before it begins to complain.

I've been going through some old characters, and getting rid of a few.   Somehow I ended up playing on Freedom, and noticed a few unfamiliar groups on the hero side.  I ended up over the weekend playing one villain in particular , my old Plant/Thorn Dominator, Mister Thistle.   I ended up getting a couple levels on him, putting him at  level 15.  I've also been playing with another version of Demonculus, using a variety of bone costume elements with the exoproto costume elements -- it worked VERY well together in white and black.  I used the bonehead face on him, and I'm sorely tempted to change that to an actual skull.  He's supposed to be demon spirit housed in a body primarily made of bone, essentially a magical construct that got a mind of its own, and slew those that created it.  Weilding dark blast and dark miasma, it is fun to play.  I do wish that I could get some decent salvage and earn enough to buy the bone-wings.   Most items on the villain side are selling for near nothing compared to what I'm used to on hero-side Virtue.  While I've been able to keep myself going (he's level 8 now), he definitely doesn't have the 300-500K that would be required to get the wings.  At least it isn't the 10 million plus it was when the issue was introduced.

I've recieved email from another player running a clown group on Freedom - I believe the villain side.   I didn't see him on yesterday, but then that would have been too easy.

I've been seeing ANOTHER company using blind tells from phony character names to repeatedly push a multi-million influence/infamy lottery of all things.  I've reported it several times now, but it is SO annoying.  I've not seen the old one, but these guys are becoming even more persistant.  And the scripts they are using are sending off more than one tell at a time -- the last one I got came through 4 times in a row.  I really hope they nail these guys quick. 

02 Feb, 2007

Still doing these - and refining my technique a tad...







The Gods of the Golden Age had a big meeting last night which was QUITE the experience. Lots of impressive costumes and characters. One member, Obsidian Ankh, I finally remembered from my days as a member of the Guardians of the Golden Age. Lots of promotions and such in the meeting, a lot of role playing around people with multiple characters. And the Doctor made 14 after only being around for 3 days...

27 Jan, 2007

Its up and running.  And people are coming by.  For the first time in ages, we had all servers but two at medium load with two at HEAVY load for a period tonight.  It seems everyone is coming by.  If you play the game NOWS the time to play.  Supergroups are out in force trying to recruit, because every recruit means DOUBLE prestige/infamy as well for the weekend.  Its the perfect time to do task forces, badge hunting, etc. 

At its peak Friday night, There was some lag, but not much considering.  I got nearly a full level in on Geostrike; even a bad team with an out of date mission was getting some decent XP.  My lvl 40, Fast Neutrino managed to get in a good third of a level -- but he's still got about 900K to go before he levels again.  I saw a LOT of people on global - about double my usual headcount.

FileFront is running a 14 day free demo -- so if you are interested in trying City of Heroes or Villains -- now is the time!

21 Jan, 2007

Sorry I couldn't resist -- i kept poking on Youtube and found some more jewels. Like this Smooth Criminal video for City of Villains...

This one answers why CoV is so fun...

If you've not seen some of the post 40 content, you'll find it in this video..

Here is one of my favorite villain skit videos. The Revenge of Doctor Mechanico !

I couldn't embed this one -- but its so clever I couldn't resist -- Its about a clockwork gear who bored with his job becomes a hero... (See video here)
Another one is a commercial for a power company using the views of gremlins and industrial zones from City of Villains... (See PTS Video here) Another one is here -- a robot Mastermind tries to find some new minions (pets)... (See video here)

This one does a good job of demonstrating a Thug Mastermind...

More to come... keep visiting!

20 Jan, 2007

One of my favorite things with City has been the videos -- there have been plenty.  Some are just pure game play.  Others use a variety of demo-editing tools to do fully scripted skits.   Many are done to music.  You'll probably find a few on the sidebar links.  Barring that, nosing around YOUTUBE can get some surprisingly fun results. Welcome to the first YOUTUBE video spotlight entry on this blog...

An OLD favorite - (And I've ran into a couple of these on Virtue early on -- Battle Bovine, Captain Karate.) If you got the Deluxe edition of COH, you probably saw this one. I believe it won a contest to be included on the DVD edition. If not, enjoy.

Even the winter event this year is pretty well represented...

I've seen SOOOO many videos using this song by various artists as a backdrop to their works...

Some tell a story, some have humor, some do both... (Pity the emote featured here doesn't REALLY work...)

Another video that has a common music theme is this one...

I hope you enjoyed the show... Email me if you liked it!

08 Sep, 2006

I've spent some time on Victory lately, on the Villain side, and thought I'd go through my various screenshots and share with you the various villains I've seen.  There have been quite a few.  Lots of good costumes, some bad, and some familiar in name or look...

Style says a lot to me.  Gentleman Oz is a good example of that.  Likewise the Director.  although he reminds me more of a southern general.   Demonic Bot Lord just sings with a nice arangement of spikes, spines, and horns.  Its HARD to do a red-skulled character that doesn't lend itself too much to the Crimson Skull of Marvel infamy.

When I saw ThornBall's name, I thought it would be another spine stalker - but instead she turned out to be a plant Dominator.  Pistol Prince is a nice mix of gangster and ninja in his style, and it works well with a Mastermind.  Of course, i've grown fond of chains lately myself.   Breznet is just plain UNIQUE.

BitterEnd has a nice clean theme - and I like that name for a villain.  Likewise for Shattered Dream - Note the use of the new horns and hood on this character.  Serious Evil does a good job of obscuring the face - ALWAYS good for a villain.

Seen a lot of large brutes lately on Victory.  And most seem to be Stone brutes, like this pair.    Clown characters also seem to be coming back, most are grinning.  At least they aren't trying to do ANOTHER Ronald McDonald clone... THAT is getting WAY TO OLD!

Speaking of cloning - here is a trio that is treading dangerous grounds in name, appearance, or a combination thereof.   Some people just never read the EULA, or chose to ignore it.  If they come back and find themselves the next Generic renamed blank form, they'll learn.  Clones still appear from time to time on City of Villains and City of Heroes, but it seems to me that they always EVENTUALLY get caught.  Whether that is because they are getting found by some scanning of NCSOFT or getting reported by other players I don't know.  After the Marvel lawsuit fiasco, I can't help to wonder when people do obvious ripoffs.  I don't mind homages as long as they are cleverly disguised and thus safely disguised, but even they make me nervous.

Armored and robotic forms are having a comeback - I think its the new helmets and features causing that.  And military types are always somewhat common, but usually I see those in officer uniforms, not field uniforms, like the General here. Red and black are common colors, but I've never seen anyone try CAMO using those colors before.

Flereous manages to do something Vampirella like without getting too close.   Deathskull has a brighter color choice than most villains I've seen.  Notice how many go with darker colors?  Or dark and red?  Its a pattern that seems to repeat a lot among villains.  Its hard to see on individual villains whether that is because they are using the colors of their VILLAIN group or their own. 

Now here is an interesting trio - part of a theme group.  Its hard to coordinate any sort of identical costume - but this group obvoiously has managed to carry it off.  I've not seen any from the group other than this three so I don't know how many members they have.  USUALLY identical costumes users have similiar names, sometimes playing with the font trick that allows lower case "L"s  and number ones to be used alternatively to allow everyone to appear to have the same name.  Not so here.  I wish this trio luck...

Looks like the Egyptians are making a comeback.  I only ran across the Lord here once in Sharkhead.  The Sphinx is an old friend that joined me and another for a quick run.  As to Hypersomnia? I found the name of both her AND her Villain group -- unique.

I hope everyone enjoyed seeing these.  Its always fun to see what everyone else is doing with the tools the character generation system allows us to.  

23 Aug, 2006

I've gotten away from most of my villain characters of late, and tried several different types recently on Victory.  Partly to see what was going on - like the costume contest.  Partly to see what had changed for this issue.  I'm noticing a lot, some of which is probably from recent patches.

• There are 5th chaaracter costume slots now available.  I can only imagine what might be available there, and what you would have to go through to get that one since it is presumably opened up at level 50 only.
• Tutorial level is completely optional -- the only reason to go through it is the jailbird badge.  Unless you want the extra level.
• Better scaling of missions.  I seem to remember more missions being locked into low levels.  But I saw some level 2 and 3 missions functioning at level 6 and 8 and not from difficulty settings.  I seem to remember serveral going stale before.  Of course after level 8 or so I tend to head for Port Oakes, anyway, regardless of what missions I've done in Mercy Island.
• Mayhem missions - Now they seem to be THE reward for doing newspaper missions.  Heists occasionaly come up as regular newspaper missions.  Plus they give you a temporary travel power.  Two hours worth of flight time from a Skyraider-like Raptor pack - for the Atlas Park mayhem IF successful.  For Kings Row, its a Jump pack (Wingless rocket pack that works like a Super Jump Power -- again for two hours.)  Careful use of these can speed up travel at the preteen levels until you finally DO get your travel power.  My mastermind still has BOTH of these and has since earned a Goldbrick flight pack as well.  They all have time-remaining readouts -- something the old temporary powers never did.
• Map changes - Certain missions like the Plague Carrier badge mission are not using the same map as before.  Whether this is a random choice of the game or a replacement I don't know.  But I did it twice and it was the new map both times.
• I noticed a mission that gave me a temporary Nictus power of teleport and gravity blast -- much akin to the Council Galaxy's powers.  Although the mission was familiar, this event wasn't.  I couldn't help wonder if it was something I missed, or just didn't notice.  OR if it was truly a new mission, or just one that only SEEMED familiar.

I found out some things that I disliked.  I love regeneration scrappers (Like Professor Infinity).  But Regeneration on a stalker is NOT as good.  To make room for the HIDE power that all stalkers must take at Level 1, the stalker Regeneration set has lost the Endurance Recovery of the Scrapper.  This forces you to think of Endurance reduction  modifications, OR going for Fitness.  Since I like Regeneration because it makes Fitness no longer a major consideration, it really made a Regen Stalker something of a drag by comparision.

I'd not played a Thug Mastermind since the initial Issue 7 launch, so I tried that.  I went with Poison Secondary.  It has become a favorite real quick.  I like the dual pistol gun play.  The mastermind was very easy to solo, even having no self heal powers on this build (unlike a Mastermind with the Dark Miasma secondary.).    I even ran a good 10 missions in a row with the difficulty set up with almost no problem.  It put me up there in prestige, quickly taking the lead in my villain group.  Strangely I found that using dual pistols seemed much more villain-like than some other power sets.  I couldn't help but wonder though, as my gang mowed through the cops of Atlas Park and King's Row tha this might get CoV into some trouble ESRB wise.  I could easily see some parents fine with villain on hero combat play, but not villain vs. Police.

I've never gotten a villain past level 24.  In 4 days of play he's already 18.  Perhaps with a little bit of focus on him that will change.

16 Aug, 2006

Finally saw another one of these on Victory.  But not in Mercy Island -- it was held in Port Oakes.   So I was partially right.  Held by a lvl 50 villain named Nocrap (that's right!), there was a million infamy first place prize.

It was the first time I've seen a Villain contest with THAT large of a prize.  Easily 1.5 million was given out...

10 Jun, 2006

Bloody Bat got some time in this week -- enough for a makeover using some of the BRAND new character elements.


He ran into a few characters getting togther a level 40 Mayhem mission that he was lackeyed into.


The mission was to rob a Brickstown bank. But it quickly went wrong as we split up. This caused a few deaths and we ended up getting split more as we arrived in the jail. It took forever to bring down the door. Cops, Longbow, Even Psi-PPD were in abundance in the jail/PPD HQ.


And Outside brought on more -- including LARGE mechs....


You don't want to know how many times Bat fell on that mission....

31 May, 2006

Lots of activity on the villains side. These are some recently seen on Freedom server.

Nothing beats a good monstorous shape - And Azrael's Bane fillls that bill. The Dark Knight is good, but I'm surprprised he's not been nerfed by the copyright baton...



The Cajun Chicken is one of SEVERAL Chicken types that I've seen lately - haven't found out much about their group, and I've looked. The other toon here is Dark Chalice, one of the Thives Guild members that is currently being created. I thought the white, black, and red costume striking. Lots use two colors , ESPECIALLY red and black for villains. But few use three, and even fewer use three. well.


Sometimes its the villain group name that catches my eye. Like Dark Knight's. Liquid Radiations gave me a chuckle. Miss Paz's? Well you'd be suprised how many groups manage to get an "X" into their name. Somewhere . Somehow.


I liked Topaz's colors -- Given her name I would guess she is wearing her group colors. DD Brute here kind of reminded me of a Dark Helmet knock off. Usually when I see that helmet its someone trying to sneak in either a Magneto clone, or a Statesman clone.


Tattoos are available for villains, but I'm surprised how LITTLE they show up. As to Erotikka - she is living up to her name it would appear.


Traditional and effective - Red and black tends to show up a lot as I said. Nolita wears it better.


Going thru my months archives I found this guy in the background of a shot. A good villain design, similiar to the first big brute I showed - The big ugly alien-types abound in CoV. Especially brutes. And I couldn't help but chuckle when I saw Fabian here (an NPC). Clearly he's seen better days. Doubt he'll get much commerical work lookling like that.


Till next time. take care... I might get a shot of YOUR character next time.

13 May, 2006

I've been spending a lot of time on the Professor on Freedom.  In just 30 days I hit level 35! 

I enjoy him considerably - weird, cause he's not the first Martial Arts Scrapper I've done.  But 35 puts him as second only to Fast Neutrino.  A few more levels and he could be my main!

Couldn't resist doing this today...

You'll have to wait for Issue #7.  (Where have we heard THAT before?)

12 Apr, 2006

Another radio station that caters to the MMORPG crowd can be found at wOOtradio  And for the podcast crowd, there is the Jester's Court, which is also found there. Apparently they do a 2 hour show every couple weeks, which ends up as a podcast file.

City of Heroes and Villains figures prominently interspaced with D&D Online, Auto Assault, and other MMORPGS. I was suprprised to hear one of my old Dark Blade (virtue server SG) friends Pilcrow as a regular participant. Long time readers of this blog may see him on some OLD images as his classic character Goose Man. Bravo! I'll be listening to this one!

I'm anxious to see Issue 7 come online. I'm interested in seeing some of the new Villain Patron powers, although it will be a while before I get a villain up to level 41 to see them firsthand. I hear we are getting a free respec - which usually means something will be done to characters that will possibly require it. With the advent of a free respec, if you've had ANY ideas for a new character, start it NOW. That way you'll have the respec when awarded, if needed. Of course if you have any old characters with respecs unused, it might be a good time to use them since you can always undo/redo them if whatever you attempted doesn't work.

As both a Hero and Villain player, still suffering from alt-itis, I'm not too worried about anything. They love to tweak stuff. If a tweak obviously doesn't work, it doesn't last. I'm on every day this month in some form or other - especially with the 2nd Anniversary sweepstakes keeping track of every day you login as an entry for a different prize. This month sees the launch of Auto Assault, new expansions for Guild Wars and Worlds of Warcraft. This might cause a drop of City attendance in the short term, which means us City addicts have better chances at the sweepstakes. I'm TEMPTED at Auto Assault, but haven't taken the plunge yet... My system specs are right on the edge.

If you want to try City of Villains, MMORPG is running a 14 day free trial special -- Not sure how long this will last, but it is an opportunity to give it a try.

Recently I've been playing an assortment. On Sundays, I've been running Starmax for at least a couple hours as part of a group of near-30 lvl characters have been getting together - mostly working Croatoa. (Virtue server) Also on the same server, I've a character called Shark King - a brute experiment that took off. I kind of made him with the Mako Patron set in mind...

I've gotten involved with F.U.S.I.O.N. on Protector, running a charcter called Bloody Bat. We just had a succesful base raid defense the other day - A LOT of fun.

Also I've a mastermind called Shieldwall (Liberty) that I've had fun with, another Brute called King Krakatoa (Infinity). On Freedom Server is Skellios which won that HUGE contest windfall - he's lvl 15, and has gotten the occasional visit.

Paragon Gnome on Champion got an occasional try. I even spent a couple levels with a 2 year old alt Ace of Clubs on Infinity - He was abandoned after Infinity ceased being my "home" server (the first one I used), and all my activity shifted to Virtue. But I got him a movement power. We shall see if he gets any play.

Curse Giver on Pinnacle? Ashfall on Liberty? Mother Board? Winter Wizard? More occasional points of play - though sadly not ENOUGH...

Active groups with good forums seem to be my favorite. I tend not to like the EARLY groups with little in the way of a base, no features, and a ton of single digit characters that haven't played in weeks to a month supported by a handful of die-hards. Especially it is hard after you have seen a fully equipped base...

So many fun characters to play - SOooooo little time.

 (More)

16 Mar, 2006

There are lots of villians out there. Demonic types are common.

...

Some have their sanity in question.... as well as their dress sense.

There is the bizarre and the bold...

Some have style....

And cover a wide range from the straight forward to the twisted...

Some wear no masks...

While others cover themselves completely or almost so...

Face it - Most villians like to stand out, if not show off.

(I'd like to thank everyone on Liberty and Infinity were caught on another round of candid shots...)

 (More)

27 Feb, 2006

I recently set up a database on my PDA that would allow me to keep track of what character I had where.  I have gotten rid of over a dozen characters -- I know I emptied Victory of alts.  But that being said, I still came up with 59 alts!  Can you believe it.  Now a lot of these are in limbo and will probably not be played.  A few will get some occasional playtime.  One of the functions of the database is to allow me to record when I play and level any character.  That way I can keep track of my active characters and not leave any I really want to play left in the cold.

I still come into a few at odd times.  I get a call and a friend wants to play with some friends on Virtue with low level villians.  I got one that I've not touched that will fill the bill.  Doesn't mean I'll be spending TIME on it.

Hopefully this will allow me to continue playing SEVERAL characters, and Continue with City of Villains.  We'll see how it works.

I must admit that I knew I had a lot - but having 5 dozen? THAT did surprise me.  Other statistics that came out of this task also showed some trends.  Some expected, some not.

Of the 59 I expect a few more deletions. 1 for certain on Liberty (now that I emptied him of Influence).  My overall average level is 14.  On Virtue the average is 21, Champion 18, and Liberty 17.    Out of the 59 - only 13 are Villians. 

Origin wise I've got 27.1% Magic , 27.1% Mutant, 25.4 % Science, 11.9 Technical, and 8.5% Natural.    I wonder how closely that matches other players?

Archetype wize for Heroes we have 30.4% Scrappers, 28.3% Defenders, 19.6% Blasters, 13% Controllers, and 8.7% Tankers.  On the Villian side, its a tie at 30.8% between Brute and Corrupter, and a tie between Dominator and Mastermind at 15.4%.  Stalker comes in last with 7.7%.  Seeing Corruptors high doesn't surprise me. but I would have thought that Blasters would have been higher for the hero side. 

Movement wise,  I'm showing that 33.9% of all my characters are fliers, 20.3% are jumpers.  Superspeedsters are 3.4% (I've got only 3), and Teleportation 1.7 %(Only 1) .  The rest don't have one...

Just interesting ... to me at least...  Anyway this ends tonight's blog barrage, and hopefully gets us up to date.

27 Feb, 2006

Since they added rag doll physics to the game, there have been lots of fun shots.  Hitting foes and seeing them fly is one thing.  Seeing them drop and slide down slopes is also good.  But occasionally they get hung up.  And in some WILD positions.

Getting hung up on door frames is surprisingly common...

I'm not sure WHAT is going on here...

But here I think what is going on is PAINFULLY obvious....

Back in King's Row there is a spot on the North side where the lost appear - not to far from the Skyway tunnel.  Twice now I've seen Lost spawn a bit high.  The first time the preaching Lost was the only thing on the wires.    But this time?  That one scrounger has some strong ankles if that is all that is supporting him... 



In Port Oakes as I was about to go into a mission I saw this guy near a door.  Not sure what his story is -- I suspect that he upset a villian that could teleport.  Poor chap.

27 Feb, 2006

I said I was playing a blaster --- and so I am. Before I made Mother Board, I made Winter Wizard. It was after the New Year's holiday I played around on Liberty making a new alt. I decided on an ice blaster after having done a fire one on another server. I had remembered playing Simian Yeti, and wanted to do something similiar.


I decided on using the recently passed winter holiday event as an origin. What would have happened if the Frostlngs and snow beasts had attacked a citizen, and the citizen survived?

This meant a mystical origin as a power source. Which lead to a frosty white hair and blue skin, with a white and blue theme overall. For a name several things were tried until i discovered Winter Wizard was available.

This was just a time killer character but he got into a team going into the sewer at level four early on and it drove him up to level eight real quick. About that time he was recruited by a supergroup, but it turned out to be a six member group on its way DOWN - losing a third of its membership before the next log on. It became history quick.

I ran into Decey about level Ten, and he invited Winter Wizard into the supergroup Moonbase Alpha.   I liked the group from the get go. Decey was in the upper level forties at the time and gave new members seed influence to help out. It sped the character development quickly. The group is active with a full roster.

 

I've already done some banner and screenshot work for them. He is now at level 24. And just shy of getting his first accolade. Always the badge hunter, he introduced the group to Beacon badges by his own explorations.

This character will definitely be around for a while.

26 Feb, 2006

Time for another round of Rogues Gallery.  I've spent a little time in the Rogue isles lately --- and so here goes...

Feminatrix is played by a friend of mine. I didn't get to play with this one, though we did show each other our alts.

 

I must say I was impresed by Nexus's costumes and colors. Of course with a name like Nexus, how could I NOT like it?

There are a lot of Skull and bone variations on the Rogue isles if you visit...   Seeing a colorful villian is a tad rare--- MOST go with darker colors, blacks and reds.  There are the occasional exceptions...

13 Feb, 2006

Has it been SO long since I made a post here?  Yeah. Sadly.    I'm an alt-oholic.    I LIKE making characters in City of Heroes and villians (to some extent).  But every character means you are NOT on another character.

You see mid December I was going thru characters on several servers, getting them on long enough to get one or more holiday badges.  And that turned into quite the chore.  During that time I shifted back to playing Heroes primarily after doing over a month on Villians primarily.  But I came to a conclusion - I've got to focus on just a few characters. 

I'm still in the midst of trying to decide which must go , which go to limbo and which I'll be playing.  I've been on Liberty a lot , and have two heroes there (Winter Wizard and Mother Board) that I've grown quite fond of.  But I've also checked out the Villian side of Liberty and have a couple there that are contenders... (K'zzak and Frostscream).   Back on Virtue, I really would like to get back to playing Starmax.  American Gent has gotten into a few Monday night get-togethers, but its been complicated hitting that window thanks to other errands.

That leaves several characters on Virtue, Champion, Liberty,  and elsewhere in limbo.   I'm probably going to have to delete a lot of characters to remove temptation....

I'll admit that part of this started in an attempt to cover what is going on each server here on this blog.  I have noticed certain trends.  Serious groups on one server, almost joke theme groups on another.    More costume contests here than there.   But that meant trying lots of stuff.   And there is a certain appeal to making a different name, different theme, different archetype, different origin.  Some work, others just go to level 8 or so and then aren't used again.

I like playing City of Heroes more than I like Villians , because it seems more LIKE being a hero.  Despite everything, Villians rarely makes me feel like a villian.  Yes there is the occasional heist, and some plot threads get heavily involved, but I really still more like an anti-hero then a true villian. That being said, I do like the locale of the Villian world.  Jumping around certain areas of Cap de Diable, Port Oakes and such, can be a trip.

Well its late -- I hope to make an entry tomorrow about Winter Wizard, Mother Board if possible.  If not, maybe something about the new Dance hall thats been added to the game as of last week - Pocket D.    One of my villians has actually done some missions thru there -- which has the weird need putting Heroes and villians together on the same Team!  It can be wild.

My apologies for not updating this blog last month.   And my apologies to any groups that this may be my letter of resignation to.   Some have been in limbo long enough, this just makes it official.

21 Dec, 2005

The past week I started a brute on Virtue - and in 7 days he went from newb to just shy of 23rd level.  Not bad.  More on him as pending -- I've lots of screenshots to go through.  That being said last night during some of the Holiday activities, He attacked a group of snowmen a top a large steel tank.  Using a Handslap to send them flying and then pick them off one at a time turned out to have a bonus.  One of the Snow Beasts was impaled in the tower on the tank.  And stuck - floundering.  So before I put him out of his misery, I posed for a picture.

 

More on Mark Seven WILL Follow...

19 Dec, 2005

Earlier this week I started spending some time on Virtue - I'd started a brute - and have spent a lot of time with him over the past few days. But that means I've been keeping my eyes open for costumes. Virtue doesn't dissapoint.

Some of these are teammates... others just caught my eye. Captain Warp has a familiar look to it... and makes you smile. Its one of those borderline cases that is more parody than clone.

Not everyone goes for parody - others go for color or style. Madame Mayhem below does the latter, while Prime Implicant is trying to blind you with the dayglo yellow green combo.

Not sure whether Jolly is supposed to be Christmasy in theme or not - but she would be one that could make n interesting character background for... Gravity-Shift is definitely going for the "blind them with your costume" approach to Villainy. At least it has a well polished look. I've seen too many haphazard armor costumes out there.

You can usually pick them out of the crowd by name - Lots of Rose and Thorn themed characters out there -- most being either a Spine Staulker or a Plant Dominator. Cabbage Head is onf the Simple look variety. Which is good for heroes. I've even seen a couple in business suits. As to Cabbage - I wonder. I remember one of my videogame podcasts that I listen too has a contributor going by the name of Cabbage. I wonder...

Some brutes just HAVE to be BIG. Sallizar shown here is a villain alt of Feuer-Konig and Liberty Guard that has been depicted earlier on this blog. Nice to run with you again. Its been TOO long.

Aidan was part of a team that died - mostly by a mapserver disconnect. (We've been getting a few.) But he and I got back together and started a team that got full and kept busy for a while.

As you are walking the streets and back quarters of the Rogue Isles - watch out!. I might be the person next to you ready and willing to cature you for the masses...

19 Dec, 2005

It happened last year - it happens this year. But now we have all sorts of Villainous Santas running around the Rogue Isles. 

City of Villians has been busy the last week or so - With people taking advantage of the free jet pack.  It may be red and green, tinkle a little bit like its about to start playing christmas music, and shoot out snow flakes, but it does get the job done for the under level 14 crowd.  And comes in useful for those not chosing flight.  But it only lasts until early next year.  So if you want to get a character started in either City game - Now is the time.  It'll be harder after the holidays...   

The other part of the holiday events that have come on line is the cap - a simple cap that can be bought at the tailor after you do a simple mission.  It has you facing Longbow agents , stealing presents bound for Paragon City.  Fun stuff for the Santa want-a-be's, their helpers , and those just in the spirit.

Its a not-so-Jolly Holiday at the Rogue Isles....

14 Dec, 2005

On a recent mission to plant Outbreak virus cannisters in Paragon City, we were taking on LOTS of Longbow agents.  This one took a double hit from knockback attacks and went flying.  I saw him land and couldn't resist snapping a few screenshots from THIS bizzare position.  Truly - we TRASHED this guy.

Thats GOTTA Hurt!

11 Dec, 2005

Time for another round of Rogues Gallery shots. Did I catch YOUR alt? This time a lot of them were seen on the Champion server. Skimpy clothing is a staple of City of Heroes. On Villains, it hits some WILD levels... Take these two...

 
Kind of the opposite level, we have the military look sported here.

 
Some old staples...

 
This time I've a lot of wild colors...
I teamed with these guys...

11 Dec, 2005

My computer is old - and with the new system requirements, I've had to upgrade memory and my video card to really get back to an even playing field on City of Villians. That being said, I do get the occasional bug. Given the hours that I put into play, they are few and far between. BUT, there is some interesting effects that can occur. On Champion I have a corruptor. He got into a supergroup and was to check out the base. But the program bombed while entering the base. Starting up the program again, his location on the Mercy Island map was changed to several hundred yards away from the base portal. But I wasn't ON Mercy Island, I was under it. Looking up at the buildings, swimming on a patch of water under the island.

I litteraly had to swim to the edge of the water, jump off the edge and then find myself suddenly on the shore after a rather disturbing freefall jump into an endless open sky. Now in a later mission I was peering thru a closed glass door at the bosses of a Wyvern mission. But while the door was closed, The Longbow agent's head looked hollow and hairless. And the Wyvern Representative had no legs. When the door was opened the effect dissappeared. But it was unusual - to say the least.
Like I said - bugs are quite rare, and probably he fault of my system. It doesn't stop them from being just plain weird..... (More)

27 Nov, 2005

I'm not to sure about this one -- Grinning Joker I believe. But a MOST interesting design...

Surprised to see that name hadn't been taken

This is my Villian Group team mate -- With a nice look.

A petite cyborg...


I've seen a LOT of Felines in the Heroes side, but not too many in the Villians side -- at least not the ones that weren' going for the whole beast look. But I've seen a lot of Tsunami Clan members -- All ninjas of some kind or other.

My friend's best character -- lvl 17 the last I heard.

Another greusome image - Heavy on the skulls --- Makes Punisher look like a wimp...

And voodo themed Necromancy Masterminds are pretty common among that subset...

27 Nov, 2005

I got back on Sunday and finished up the second costume mission and got the other cape. I made contact with a group and went after a few missions - but they were a few levels too low for me. Then I made contact with Bounder from the Shadow Squadron - and we ran several of his missions , and then got me started on Sharkhead Isle missions. Level 21 was achieved thru that run...

One mission was against the Freakshows... And there was one unusual guy called a Meat Doctor - I've never seen that kind of Freekshow in Heroes...

Of course I got my first Sharkhead isle heist in ..

And we had to tussle with Scrapyarders - like these enranged Miners..



A very fun run...

27 Nov, 2005

The missions of late have been hitting a LOT of labs, especially for the Mercy Island sets...

Interesting missions started popping up in the mid to later teen levels. Like this attack on Skyway city (An instance duplicating it. But for a former hero, it was eerie to be there working for the other side as it were.... )

I made contact with a friend of mine who was running Damned Maestro. A few levels below she served as Lackey to Work Force. The addition of Ice/Fire Dominator proved to be effective. And I know she got around 2 and a quarter levels for the run Saturday...

Just after leaving Maestro the call came out for a giant monster in Cap Au Diable. It was Deathsurge, a bizarre electrical form that appears to be a larger version of the gremlins seen in that zone. But when everyone arrived and started making teams (as if we were going up against Luska or something, there were more than a few Masterminds that met the call. I even ran into Ms. Curse, a character I've teamed with on a couple occasions now. We teamed and helped out with DeathSurge that went down rather fast under the onslaught. But the Mastermind overload caused lag for everyone it seemes. This shot gives you the idea of the OVERLOAD

I even got to spend some time in the Shadow Squadron base -- now that I finally made contact with Black Ray and got the invite.  Strangely I got bumped out of it shortly after this was taken.  And thats not the first time I've been forcably ejected from a Base.

All in all It was an interesting run. Including the cape mission in Steel Canyon via Sharkhead Isle. I saw Lots of new cape designs, many tattered and transluscent ones that HEROES can't have as yet. Even a few split ones. (I saw a beauty one for Jester!) I've access to the Arachnos cape - which should prove interesting...  Meanwhile the Starshot one I got looks great.  And the Star brooch completes the Soviet Logo...

27 Nov, 2005

On a side note - My lag problems have finally been solved. I was running with only 512 meg of ram - which is now the Minimum requirements for Villains. I investigated, found I had ONE memory card slot left and got a 1 gig card to fill it. ($99). THIS has proved to be IMMENSELY valuable. Zoning into missions no longer takes FOREVER. Animation was immediately smoother. I further found out that on my Nvidia 6200 card that you DON'T want to have the Full Screen Anti-Alliasing set on. Turning that off had a night/day effect on animation speed. The combination has made the City experience INFINTELY more enjoyable. Anyone can try the latter method for free. I can't guarantee that more ram will help you, but I can tell you it DID in my case. Now -- on to WORK FORCE...

I made this character Work Force as a direct opposite to American Gent - Tech for magic, Mastermind instead of scrapper, Soviet instead of American, modern instead of old.  Essentially he's an android, sent to America before the fall of the Soviet Union to cause mayhem.  He was out of action and imprisoned until recently reactivated and thinks that any stories of the demise of the Soviet Union are just American propaganda.  He's here to complete a mission as his prime directive and won't return to the Soviet Union till then.    Getting him into the Guardian counter group Shadow Squadron proved to be a problem in making contact.  He got recruited to another group early on, and hopefully ran long enough with them to earn his keep. Getting a Mastermind teamed with several other Masterminds can be QUITE chaotic, and sometimes cause lag. Three or four Masterminds means you are going around with a 15-20 man army for a player team. And if someone doesn't keep tabs on all their minions, they can bring other mobs into play - an event that proved a disaster for one of my teams. Ninjas, soldiers, and my robots can be seen below.

The Lost have shown up on a few missions. Usually some bigwig in their group making waves or stealing something they shouldn't have - and you have to steal it back

I made one venture into the Bloody Bay PVP zone. It was eventful and I liked this image. IT should be noted that the PVP zone artificially bumps up your level. This means that in the case of Masterminds you can see how many you will have and can name them before you get them outside of this zone. I got one more Protector bot and Battle Drone each when I visited her.

In Cap Au Diable there is an air strip. It looks a tad short to me but I do like the detail they put into it. Open hangars, control tower, and Planes...

One of my more interesting missions was for a Seer in Mercy Island. She put me on a whole arc which ended up helping out Ghost Widow against the Traitor. The Widow is one of those serving with/under Lord Recluse - a featured villian

27 Nov, 2005

The character options of City of Villains are many, and people are starting to get used to them and come up with some clever names and looks. I've managed to capture a few and record them here. Did I see you?

 

I teamed with Oracle only - the rest I saw along the way.   I was surprised by Lash - a name like that I would have thought would long ago been taken on Virtue by a Hero.    Why Cotton Eye had the fire bugged me -- He was a gun-toting corruptor, and wasn't high enough to have an aura...  I would have thought someone fire shielded him (one of the Corruptor secondary powers from the Thermal Radiation group), but it was only his head.  VERY weird.  And I can't help but wonder if Wounder is being played by the same one that did Wonder on the Virtue Hero side...

Some of the villian names are really out there -- angry Santas have already started to appear.  I even saw Chicago Voter in Cap Au Diable -- an interesting choice of names for a villain...

21 Nov, 2005

I have been getting into City of Villians. Its a whole new world.

For those that are in to City of Heroes - you notice a few things right off. The archetypes are slightly off. The Brutes seem like tankers some, but fight more like scrappers. The Stalkers are almost like scrappers - but ALL fight with stealth. Corruptors are a mixed bag - fighting with blast powers primarily, but having a lot of healing and buffing powers as secondaries. They SEEM like a blaster - but they aren't. The Dominators are like Controllers. The Masterminds are the new ones - able to raise minions (pets) from level 1!

Costume options are far superior to those in Heroes - with multiple beastial heads and head features, zombie features, clawed and hooved legs, a couple dozen new chest emblems. Lots of new ways to make your villians...

I've tried several, mostly on Virtue. The first real success has to be the Technology Stalker (energy melee / energy aura) that I called the Jolly Jester. It was inspired when I was playing around with the face options. I found a sightless option that made the full mask not show any teath, mouth or eyes. No sooner than I find that then looking for the appropriate eye sockets (I was thinking of something like Spiderman / Spawn eyes on a dark mask) when I found Smiley. Essentially it was a smiley face. Making the head yellow it was perfect. I remembered the jester chest form and got to work. In moments the Jolly Jester was born.

I've gotten him to level 14.

In Port Oakes in front of some interesting Graffitti...

Flying over Mercy Island...

Hanging around the base...

Going after Mooks (some derby clad gangster types). One of the funnest things with a stalker is to sneak up to someone while hid and do the assassin strike. For most things up to a level above you, it is a one hit kill. However the rest of the goons in the area are a tad harder to take down. As long as you hit, you do MASSIVE damage.

Taken over Cap Au Diable...

I've been playing him as a jokester - prankster --- binding a laugh button for him, as well as make several macros for various one-liners.

I've also started work on a Mastermind named Necroxin -- a magical one into Necromancy and toxins. Which I've almost gotten up to level 11.