Happy Birthday Azer!

Woot! Survived another year with us eh?

Merry Christmas (Eve)!

I wanted to wish the entire team a very Merry Christmas and in advance, a very Happy New Year! So who's brave enough to put there New Year Resolutions in the comments? :P In COH/V related resolution, I vow to have a lvl 50 villain by the end of '09!

Jingle Bells, Baba Smells....

Happy holidays all! It's about that merry time ingame again so get on your skis, open a few presents, and earn some new auras! There's a new slalom run in the ski chalet and 3 new speed badges. You also get Frostbitten just for logging in!

I hope everyone has an amazing holiday, full of joy and great presents! If you want to be included on the Azrhiaz Christmas Card list, send your address to: omjolnir@aol.com

But I already have a job!

We always knew Baba had a god complex
So what are these things called Day Jobs? They are rewards given for logging out in a certain location for 25 days of time (or 600 hours worth). You might find you've gotten one or two already on toons you haven't logged in on for a while. What kind of rewards are we talking about here you ask? Here is a listing of hero side day jobs:

Day Job |-----| Log Out Location |-----| Benefit
City Official - City Hall (Atlas Park) Influence Bonus upon mission complete.
Law Enforcer - Police Stations - Experience Bonus upon mission complete
Commuter - Train Stations - Travel speed bonus.
Shop Keeper - Store Lobbies - Enhancement drop on mission complete.
Dimensional Explorer - Log off in the Shadow Shard - Jet Pack Power
Intern - Portal Corp Lobbies - Large Inspiration upon mission complete.
Caregiver - Hospital Lobbies - Out of combat regeneration bonus.
Professor - Inside Universities - Random tech salvage drop upon mission complete.
Patroller - Log off anywhere that doesn't have a Day Job Icon? - Earn Double XP up to 4 bars?
Banker - Inside a Vault - Influence Bonus upon mission complete.
Clubber - Pocket D - Out of combat recovery bonus.
Day Trader - Log off in Wentworths - Earn discounts on auction fees.
Vanguard Recruit - Log off in Vanguard Base - Merit Bonus upon mission complete.
Chronologist - Log off in Ouroboros - Earn random invention recipe upon mission complete.
Midnighter - Inside the Midnighter's Club - Random arcane salvage drop upon mission complete.
Duelist - Log off in the arena - bonus to max endurance.
Fashion Designer - Tailor Lobbies - Coupons that will grant a discount at the tailor.
Cimeroran - log off in Cimerora - bonus to damage resistance.
Predator - Log out in PvP zone - Earn bonus to recharge rate.
Monitor Duty - Log off near Base Portal - Earn prestige bonus.
Mortician - Graveyards - XP Debt Protection

There are also day job accolades that you can earn from getting two that are relevant to each other. Each accolade gives you a power of some sort, whether it be a police baton or way to rez your teammate. If you are looking for those or for more info, please visit: http://www.badge-hunter.com/boards/index.php?showtopic=4254

Ever wonder what the arena looks like behind the doors?

There's a hole in the Talos map that you can sneak out of. There's an old "island" of buildings out there and if you fly a certain way and under the map and use the /stuck command, you'll get transported into this little secret place. It's very matrix-y and kinda pretty.

Issue 13 Out Tomorrow

New Valkyrie Booster Set Coming Soon
Issue 13 will be uploaded to the live servers tomorrow! Death to PvP, merits for recipes and so little else! But make a villain with Pain or a melee toon with Shields! I'm sure you'll find something to do! I'm sure it was worth the wait (not).

First shot at videos

I got bored and downloaded Fraps. It is a video capture program with a free limited use offer. I made a couple of videos. Make demos in game, copy them using Fraps, then edit in Microsoft Movie Maker (freebie with MS XP computer I have). Upside is I had fun and they turned out alright. Downside is Movie Maker is as a good as a freebie program so the video's quality nosedives when I upload it to the 'net.



Links for the other one I made and You tube posts are here...look in lower right corner of screen for "watch in higher quality" option, click it if you have it:

Fraternity

Commercial

Calling all lvl 45-50 Villains Lord Recluse Calls

Planty Man and Planty Girl cordually invite you to lay the smack down on Statesman and his cronies in a Lord Recluse Strike Force, TOMORROW!!! Nov 30 @ 5 pm PST. Lvl 45 min.

Tough times ahead...I am a security specialist

This was my first villain. Mercy Mercy, a stalker. A long time ago. He reformed, he is a stone tank now :-). Azr and friends made the VG, Death Brigade when i7 dropped. Since then there has been 5 new issues, the 6th, issue 13 is about to drop. I13 includes the potential change where you can convert base salvage into invention salvage. In anticipation of this, several SGs/VGs have been robbed, wiped clean by bad people invited into SG/VGs and given permissions.

Azr basically lets Electron Kid, my wife, and I run the base, along with a few others. I feel like we need to take care of our own. For the most part there are a dozen or so regulars playing in the Death Brigade, it is mainly alts in it atm.

You have one week to log on. Toons over 30 days old are gonna get the boot. I was gonna raise permissions to pull salvage, but decided not to change t0o much, I will not let terrorists ruin our freedoms in the base. The point of the game is to have fun. The devs made a stupid economy and it really is turning into a real life mess of an economy with real life affects such as theft. So the entry logs need to get clean in the Death Brigade. There are some alts I recognize and will not punt. But I don't know them all.

Log on. And join us, I really love the red side of this game.

PS. Az did you try my apple pie recipe I posted on the forums for you?

What does Mr. Turkey Say?

Gobble Gobble Gobble!

How would you like a chance to come kill your favorite PvPEC reps? Got a grudge against Ninja Havoc? Want to farm HH? Want to kick Azrhiaz's butt?

Join us for our Turkey Hunt!!!!!!

Details

Hunting Hours: Friday, November 21st @ 7:30 - 9:30 pst

Hunting Fields: Warburg

Game: "Turkeys" are the wonderful PvPEC Reps! HH, Azrhiaz (on Iduna) and Ninja Havoc!

Scoring: The hunter with the most kills at the end of the event will be the winner. Notice that kills are indicated by final blow, so beware of kill-stealers. No exceptions.

Prizes: A prize will be given to the player with the most kills. All turkeys will lay an egg and the winner will get to choose which egg he or she wishes.

About the Game (the targets...not the actual game):
- All turkeys have been genetically modified by Crey Industries.
- They have enhanced stealth, super speed and super jump.
- Turkeys will NEVER attack, only flee when in danger.
- Because of genome splicing with the bubblegum apes of New Zealand, turkeys cannot swim and will only be found on land.
- Turkeys will stop at regular intervals to graze (approx. every 5 mins for 30 seconds)
- Turkeys are constantly searching for a mate. When a turkey feels unthreatened, he/she will occasionally display his plumage (drop stealth), dance his mating walk (/e dance), and yell "Gobble Gobble Gobble." This can be a key time to strike!
- Turkeys generally prefer natural environments (forests, parks, grassy areas) over more urban areas (city streets, factories, etc)
- Turkeys have no natural healing powers and will not "rest", despite health level.
- When a turkey is killed, he will leave the veterinarian as soon as possible, regardless of health level.


Hunter Guidelines- Orange reflective vests are not required, but strongly recommended to avoid a "Cheney"
- Anything goes! Attacking your fellow hunters is not only allowed by encouraged! Just be sure you don't spend too much time fighting each other to let the turkeys get away.
- Buffing, Debuffing, Caging and even Healing of the turkeys is strategically permitted.
- Hunting parties are strongly encouraged.

---

I'd like to also give a big shout out to Megeara and to Deep for helping test the PvP TF! It was a lot of fun and I hope to have it up and running for the public soon!

LRSF reveals surprising results...

Turns out Synapse has a thing for dead Plant Doms. ew.

Speaking of 13

I have reached my 13th 50!! That's 13 times more than Colder has! Hazbyn hit last week and today, Britney Blades dinged the big five-oh. She's my first 50 melee heroside too!

Alright ya'll, we need to schedule a base raid before 13 hits since they will be turning that feature off. They apparently broke the pathing issue on items and couldn't be bothered to fix it. PvP will also be a broken, new ball of wax so this will be the last time you'll know how your powers work in PvP.

Lucky 13

Or "Not Quite So Lucky As The Devs Might Have Thought..."

Well, I13 Open Beta has descended like a bolt from on high. And just about blew the boards in half.

I'd link the forums but my code-fu is actually pretty weak.

Highlights include:

The merit system replacing recipe drops for Task and Strikeforces. They would also scale per the supposed time invested in the endeavor. I. E. no more speedy Katies or 10 minute Eden Trials.

The PvP mechanics have been completely overhauled. The jury is still fighting over the result. The definition of good or bad seems to be related to how much PvP-ing you actually do. I'd really like to hear Da Boss's take on it.

A lot of streamlineing is taking place. Badges can be sorted now by a number of topics. Oh, and masterminds can buff an entire load of minions with only two hits. That and the Pain Domination powerset almost makes me want to try another MM.

Almost.

Thoughts?

Meg

Help Wanted

I need some folks to help me run a new PvP event: the PvP Taskforce! This is a SF created by me that revolves around PvP! I need some hero types to help work it. You can opt to do a single mission or more than one. Our test run of it will be on Sunday, November 16th at 7pm pacific. It will consist of 8 missions and currently I need people on Mission One, Two, Three, Four and Six. If you want to sign up for the first mission, you can be either hero or villain and it will run for approximately 20 minutes. Might be a good one for you East Coasters. Hit me up if interested and I'll give you more information!

Visionary Badge

Anyone have any tip on getting one? Meg needs the funky eyeball hammer.

Hee hee!

Thanks for all the b-day wishes folks! Now, someone pass me my walker, find my geritol and get those damn kids off my lawn...

Meg

We were robbed

So the costume contest finalists are finally listed several days late and man what stinkers. The crowd of hopefuls was quite upset at the lame selections and I think the response is gonna make it even worse:

Hey gang,

Sorry you don't feel the finalists were up to snuff. I think they all have great qualities on the aspects we were judging on. Honestly, we bit off more than we should have with this contest. With the low barrier to entry we were swamped with entries to judge - anyone can snap screenshots of their character afterall. We probably could have taken three times as long with the judging and still not done them all justice.

This came at a time when we have a lot going on in the Community Team (Hero-Con, Closed Beta and Forum Migration to name a few) and the contest just hasn't been in a position to receive the bandwidth that it probably deserved.

Ultimately, we'll push ahead with what we have and aim for better planning for the future. Thanks in advance for your understanding.

--------------------
Lighthouse
Community Relations Manager

So all I have to say is:

Spank You Very Much

Death Brigade's two newest 50s: Furiya and Stabuli Katan
Ebon Mauler and Furiya got off to a great start. There were 8 teams for the 200 mill inf tourney last night. We drew a cold defender and an /elec brute. We promptly wiped the floor with them. Deep and his stalker teammate also had a fun tossing around their opponents. We both moved on to the semi-finals where Ebon and I unfortunately drew a perma dom and a spine/regen with taunt. We got our asses kicked. Fortunately, that particular team lost to a blaster/stalker duo at the end. Am I sad about watching the dom get smooshed? Nah!

Thanks to Ebon for being a great teammate and also thanks to Ebon, Ruby, and Divine for helping me pay for a build for Furiya! I spent close to 200 million on it.

Also a big thank you to Colder for putting me on ignore! The zombie invasion must have eaten his brains! To fix this, go into your Friend drop down menu and go to the Global Ignore section. From there you can delete me out. Unless you like it better this way. :-P

Oh and speaking of spankings! A very happy birthday to our favorite ice/mace tank, Meg!!

Got Brains?

Knowing this group, not likely, but if you are running around Paragon or the Rogue Isles, you'll find some handsome fellows searching for just that!


The Halloween event has started! Trick or treat for salvage drops or temporary costumes! There are four new badges and an unlockable costume piece for the Zombie Invasions also! The devs did a pretty nice job with this one and you might feel like you are in the Michael Jackson "Thriller" video.

A big congrats to myself on winning the "Gimps Around the World" tourney on my MM, Azrharn who was teamed with Psyrene from Paragon Elite on his storm/psy defender, Psycl0ne. Guess I'm not so gimped after all. Wish Ebon and I luck this coming Saturday in the 200 mill Inf tourney! Furiya has about 9 bars to 50, so help me out too!

Hidden Rooms and other Gems in G'ville? SPOILER ALERTS

OK, I was running a treespec with Mylia from TW 2.0 and thoroughly enjoying our screaming 32 minute completion time, when someone posted a question about Grandville. It was rumored that a hidden room and other gems where in the zone. Bored, Metoid and I researched it and found not one, not two, but three little gems. If you want hints scroll down, if you want pics and movies, go further down (whoa!). Yup I downloaded fraps so I can make and edit my own movies, look for a Debt Brigade movie production day coming to a studio nearest you.










FIRST SPOILER WARNING: HINTS BELOW CONTINUE AT YOUR OWN PERIL













There is a hidden room in the tunnels under the city. To get there go to the Fab (island on North side of G'ville map). Go the lower level (you will recognize it if you have done an STF before). When you get to bottom of the ramp leading down, take a RIGHT (don't go into Fab i.e. a left). You will be in the tunnels. It is a bit of a maze but once you are under the central part of the city (check on map) start looking at corners of the tunnel as it turns and twists. In the corner are some pieces of equipment, behind on of them is a secret hallway leading to the room. Story has it the original hidden room was neat and orderly with pics of the dev team. After the NCSoft/Cryptic split, the room was changed to its current state. Stand near the bathroom doors and turn your speakers up. GO to your menu then options, under graphics/audio tab turn up FX all the way. Name that tune.


Second gem is the dev who designed G'ville "signed" his work. Look on map. There is the central tower and surrounding towers. The lower right tower is where you want to go. On the northwest corner of that tower, halfway up in a small nook, look for a tiny piece of white tab.

Third hidden item is on the beach, so grab your suntan lotion. On west side, in a small pool of water surrounded by rocks is a nice hint of a zone lots of players have wanted. Jump in the pool, way in.




FINAL SPOILERS BELOW PICS AND VIDEO LOOK IF YOU DARE

Screenshot Snafus

Perhro thinks "I'm sure glad Baba Kanoosh isn't here."
Alright all, I need some help. I, like Baba, am going to try entering the Character Creator contest. As some may know, Melqar was found in a slab of ice in Greenland. Scientists were fascinated by his appearance so they brought him back to life. Boy was he pissed....

So I've been trying to get some action shots of him. Ebon was kind enough to let me use the "Defeat Archdemon" mission a few times and out of a bazillion pictures, the two following are what I came up with. Which should I use or should I go back and try again?