I'm overdue for the introduction...
Jul. 14th, 2005 04:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shirenomadYup, picked up the demo of City of Heroes last week and have been pretty busy. Time to meet our hero! (Warning: Image intensive.)
Meet Flamemaiden.
I wanted to call her Wildfire, but every variant I could think of on that subject was taken, much to my annoyance. Anyway, Flamemaiden's a Fire Tanker with Magic origins... that and the fact that she's Asian means those of you from the RPGamer boards should have a good idea who she's based on by now. Maybe I'll do a few based on the other board characters later, just for the hell of it.
Anyway, since she's a showoff, here she is from the side:
And the back:
Sadly, no long braids were available for hairstyles.
Also in that last picture is Lady Dream, who I've been teaming up with on a regular basis, so I thought I'd give her a shout-out.
So what's a fire tank do, you ask?
Sets stuff on fire, mostly.
The whole point of being a tank in this game (for those who haven't played) is to be the center of attention. If you encounter a hive of scum and villainy, Defenders and Controllers hang to the back and either improve your stats or wreck your opponents, respectively; they can fight if they have to but it's not recommended. Blasters stand at the same distance and fire from long range. So think of those three as the white, red, and black mages of the team.
Meanwhile, Scrappers walk up to the edge of the horde and start picking them off one by one in a prompt fashion. Any good Scrapper can take out a single villain up to two or three levels above his own in a straight fight, because no one can deal damage faster. However, if everyone gang-bangs the poor hero, he's toast.
Getting gang-banged is the Tank's job. The Tank stands right in the thick of the swarm, batting the hundreds of gnats that are trying to sting her and laughing it off with a "Is that supposed to hurt?" And while she has everyone's attention, everyone else on her team is free to do damage in their own fashion. Fire Tanks aren't quite as tough as some of the other varieties, but they can still take more punishment than any non-Tank of equal level, and they get the additional fun of knowing that their opponents are taking damage just by getting too close. Tanks almost always take point.
Here's an example of an initial screw-up in those tactics:
Seems the little guy decided to go in first and now has a metric buttload of Trollkin converging on him. Not good. I need to get their attention fast. There are a few ways to do this, the most common being Taunt, which gets everyone in the vicinity chasing you. But frankly I don't want to deal with ALL of them at once, especially since the team Defender in this particular fight isn't as fast with the healing as I'd like. I'd rather get the attention of about half of them, daze the rest, and do some damage in the process.
Here's a good way to do that:
Do I have your attention yet? Good.
Unfortunately, I've been having a bit of a problem with my connection to their servers. I'm still waiting for word back from their tech support on the subject -- ran a system test they asked me to take and sent it in about three days ago, no word since -- but in the meantime, I can expect an average of one disconnect an hour. Sometimes two or three in half an hour. If I'm in a mission at the time, when I reconnect I'm off the team and back outside the "dungeon"; then I have to contact a team member, let them know what happened, and ask them to add me back to the team before I can re-enter.
Much worse is if this happens while I'm in the thick of combat, because Flamemaiden doesn't leave the server until 30 seconds after the game realizes I'm no longer connected, which in this case means she's getting pummeled for half a minute without input. Being a fire tank is an advantage in that a) she can take a lot of pummeling and b) she does damage just by being there, so if the horde isn't too large and the group healer is on top of things I usually make it out ahead. However, if one or the other isn't the case, I may log back in to see this:
Mmm, tasty dirt. It's what I signed on for when I picked a Tank, granted, but still I think I might have done better if I'd had the ability to use a healing item or do some artful dodging. So now I get the additional fun of experience penalties, and if I don't have a revive item handy, someone's got to jog back to the entrance to help me out. Frankly, I'm surprised some teams have put up with me.
My other problem with the game is, sadly, inherent to MMORPGs: there's a bit of waiting in this game while you try to put together a team, and sometimes while waiting for the team to group up. Sometimes a LOT of waiting. Thankfully, CoH provides two ways around this problem. First, the teleport: anyone with this ability can bring anyone else on their team to their location instantly. Are you in a mission and suddenly realize three people aren't enough for all those boggies in the next room? Find a fourth member, have your TP man step outside for a second, and beam your new volunteer over! But if you DON'T have a teleporter, there are still plenty of ways to keep yourself occupied, not the least of which is:
Dance contest!
But that usually takes some serious boredom.
Incidently, there's a surprising number of people with teleport abilities who will head to a given location that's hard (or downright impossible for some) to reach, then put out a broadcast to the general public that they'll give people a lift there for the next minute or so. (Aka "taxis.")Sometimes it's a useful service -- a shortcut though dangerous territory that you don't want to deal with -- and other times, it's pointless but fun. That's how I found myself atop the statue of Atlas two nights ago enjoying the view.
Hey, I can see my house from here!
Oh Jack, I'm flying!
Anyway, the game's so addictive I probably shouldn't buy it, because it's been such a friggin' time-sink for me. I've barely been able to get anything useful done since I picked it up. So maybe I'll just finish the two weeks, hopefully make level 20 (already 13 after a week, so no problems expected there), and then retire from the public eye. Of course, without the big 14-day deadline hanging over my head, I can probably cut back to once or twice a week, but I'm not sure that's worth $30 (purchase price) for the first month plus $15 each additional month. Besides, it's not like I don't have plenty of other (already paid in full) games piled up and ready to distract me.
Still, I'll miss a few of my fellow heroes. Must remember to collect AIM addresses.
Meet Flamemaiden.
I wanted to call her Wildfire, but every variant I could think of on that subject was taken, much to my annoyance. Anyway, Flamemaiden's a Fire Tanker with Magic origins... that and the fact that she's Asian means those of you from the RPGamer boards should have a good idea who she's based on by now. Maybe I'll do a few based on the other board characters later, just for the hell of it.
Anyway, since she's a showoff, here she is from the side:
And the back:
Sadly, no long braids were available for hairstyles.
Also in that last picture is Lady Dream, who I've been teaming up with on a regular basis, so I thought I'd give her a shout-out.
So what's a fire tank do, you ask?
Sets stuff on fire, mostly.
The whole point of being a tank in this game (for those who haven't played) is to be the center of attention. If you encounter a hive of scum and villainy, Defenders and Controllers hang to the back and either improve your stats or wreck your opponents, respectively; they can fight if they have to but it's not recommended. Blasters stand at the same distance and fire from long range. So think of those three as the white, red, and black mages of the team.
Meanwhile, Scrappers walk up to the edge of the horde and start picking them off one by one in a prompt fashion. Any good Scrapper can take out a single villain up to two or three levels above his own in a straight fight, because no one can deal damage faster. However, if everyone gang-bangs the poor hero, he's toast.
Getting gang-banged is the Tank's job. The Tank stands right in the thick of the swarm, batting the hundreds of gnats that are trying to sting her and laughing it off with a "Is that supposed to hurt?" And while she has everyone's attention, everyone else on her team is free to do damage in their own fashion. Fire Tanks aren't quite as tough as some of the other varieties, but they can still take more punishment than any non-Tank of equal level, and they get the additional fun of knowing that their opponents are taking damage just by getting too close. Tanks almost always take point.
Here's an example of an initial screw-up in those tactics:
Seems the little guy decided to go in first and now has a metric buttload of Trollkin converging on him. Not good. I need to get their attention fast. There are a few ways to do this, the most common being Taunt, which gets everyone in the vicinity chasing you. But frankly I don't want to deal with ALL of them at once, especially since the team Defender in this particular fight isn't as fast with the healing as I'd like. I'd rather get the attention of about half of them, daze the rest, and do some damage in the process.
Here's a good way to do that:
Do I have your attention yet? Good.
Unfortunately, I've been having a bit of a problem with my connection to their servers. I'm still waiting for word back from their tech support on the subject -- ran a system test they asked me to take and sent it in about three days ago, no word since -- but in the meantime, I can expect an average of one disconnect an hour. Sometimes two or three in half an hour. If I'm in a mission at the time, when I reconnect I'm off the team and back outside the "dungeon"; then I have to contact a team member, let them know what happened, and ask them to add me back to the team before I can re-enter.
Much worse is if this happens while I'm in the thick of combat, because Flamemaiden doesn't leave the server until 30 seconds after the game realizes I'm no longer connected, which in this case means she's getting pummeled for half a minute without input. Being a fire tank is an advantage in that a) she can take a lot of pummeling and b) she does damage just by being there, so if the horde isn't too large and the group healer is on top of things I usually make it out ahead. However, if one or the other isn't the case, I may log back in to see this:
Mmm, tasty dirt. It's what I signed on for when I picked a Tank, granted, but still I think I might have done better if I'd had the ability to use a healing item or do some artful dodging. So now I get the additional fun of experience penalties, and if I don't have a revive item handy, someone's got to jog back to the entrance to help me out. Frankly, I'm surprised some teams have put up with me.
My other problem with the game is, sadly, inherent to MMORPGs: there's a bit of waiting in this game while you try to put together a team, and sometimes while waiting for the team to group up. Sometimes a LOT of waiting. Thankfully, CoH provides two ways around this problem. First, the teleport: anyone with this ability can bring anyone else on their team to their location instantly. Are you in a mission and suddenly realize three people aren't enough for all those boggies in the next room? Find a fourth member, have your TP man step outside for a second, and beam your new volunteer over! But if you DON'T have a teleporter, there are still plenty of ways to keep yourself occupied, not the least of which is:
Dance contest!
But that usually takes some serious boredom.
Incidently, there's a surprising number of people with teleport abilities who will head to a given location that's hard (or downright impossible for some) to reach, then put out a broadcast to the general public that they'll give people a lift there for the next minute or so. (Aka "taxis.")Sometimes it's a useful service -- a shortcut though dangerous territory that you don't want to deal with -- and other times, it's pointless but fun. That's how I found myself atop the statue of Atlas two nights ago enjoying the view.
Hey, I can see my house from here!
Oh Jack, I'm flying!
Anyway, the game's so addictive I probably shouldn't buy it, because it's been such a friggin' time-sink for me. I've barely been able to get anything useful done since I picked it up. So maybe I'll just finish the two weeks, hopefully make level 20 (already 13 after a week, so no problems expected there), and then retire from the public eye. Of course, without the big 14-day deadline hanging over my head, I can probably cut back to once or twice a week, but I'm not sure that's worth $30 (purchase price) for the first month plus $15 each additional month. Besides, it's not like I don't have plenty of other (already paid in full) games piled up and ready to distract me.
Still, I'll miss a few of my fellow heroes. Must remember to collect AIM addresses.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-07-15 01:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-07-15 01:26 am (UTC)I would love to have all you guys to play with too. ^_^
no subject
Date: 2005-07-15 01:37 am (UTC)But Lucca would be right at home as a Blaster with Assault Rifle primary, Devices or Fire Manipulation secondary.
no subject
Date: 2005-07-15 05:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-07-15 06:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-07-15 06:41 pm (UTC)Plus, I don't like people running around with my name, unless they were using it in '98. Then I'll grudgingly bear it.
no subject
Date: 2005-07-15 01:12 am (UTC)20 is where the really awesome content starts, too. I'm doing missions in Striga right now with P1 and there's all sorts of cool stuff to see and neat Temporary powers, culminating in the best taskforce in the game. ^_^
Plus I5 will start in August/be on Test next week with Croatoa and all sorts of even cooler new content, plus a few new powersets! ^_~
no subject
Date: 2005-07-15 01:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-07-15 01:18 am (UTC)$15 a month averages out to 50 cents a day.
Just 50 cents! ^_~
no subject
Date: 2005-07-15 01:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-07-15 03:04 am (UTC)Hess was really fun, though. (Secret volcano lair with self-destruct timer? Rock on!)
no subject
Date: 2005-07-15 06:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-07-15 08:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-07-15 09:17 pm (UTC)A lot of people think Posi is the worst TF in the game, but I died maybe twice and enjoyed the whole thing. ^_~
no subject
Date: 2005-07-18 08:45 pm (UTC)