Eden:

The Eden Trial was a breeze, again. I believe we've got this one mastered. Personally, I'm gonna try and push it once more, with Mag, for the badge,
but I think we're about done with it as a group. It _appears_ that a busy Fire/Kin can provide enough buff/debuff to get the job done. Nothing special to
report for it, just a nice solid run.

Cavern of Transcendence:

This was the most embarrassed I've ever been on a TF. When we were all in and focussed, we did great, but I felt like we just weren't 'on' for
this one. I personally feel like I was not performing anywhere near the top of my game - and I apologise for that.

However, we muddled through and succeeded, despite some wonderful stupidities on my part (whaddya mean we don't clear the room? they're lookin' at
me funny! *clobber dead tank*). The CoT trial isn't actually that difficult, provided you have a pathfinding stealthing teleporter.

Being back down to level 15 was almost painful, I have to admit.

The CoT trial is a single-mission timed trial, levels 12-15, that occurs in the Hollows. The Trial requires 8 people. Given the presence of a teleporting
stealther, the trial can be _very_ simple, and require only three minor fights and one moderate fight. Start the TF, and all zone into the Troll Tunnels (there
is an entrance within easy walking distance of the TF start point). The Teleporter then moves to the door to the Trial Zone (which is marked on the map), and
teleports folk in. All zone into the Trial Zone. At this point, the Teleporter moves to the Locked Door and tank-drops in firepower until the run up to the
Locked Door is cleared. The Teleporter then places a group member at each of the monoliths. Timing the next part is best/easiest off of the Mission Timer.

All eight click simultaneously, once the Monoliths are down, the Teleporter returns to the Locked Door area and assembles the team. The tank opens the door,
and aggros the group consisting of some LTs and Minions and a Monster behind it.

Care should be taken during this fight to prevent aggro of the additional 'hostage taker' spawn at the back of the room. Once the Monster and crew is
dealt with, the hostage spawn is easy. The Trial is complete.

It's my understanding that noone hardly ever does this TF - and it's quick and easy. If we re-did it with focus and knowledgeable, alert leadership, we
could probably knock it out in 20 minutes. The reward drop is a 'class b' recipe, explaining why this isn't more popular.
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies

Which, of course, means the DSL line to Rei is fubard... No EPU till someone can get ahold of Zoner's friend and get that router reset.

Someone tell Gryph?
Hear that thunder rolling till it seems to split the sky?
That's every ship in Grayson's Navy taking up the cry-
NO QUARTER!!!
-- "No Quarter", by Echo's Children

There are times I wonder about this job. I mean, it's exciting, offers all sorts of interesting new challenges, and you get to feel really good about
yourself, but there are times you have to stop, stare, and be either amused or horrified at what you've encountered. The first time that happened to me was
in Faultline, when I discovered the truth of what happened there. Today was another such time.

It started out like such a normal day. Stop some muggings, stomp on the Council press gangs, nothing too serious. Picked up some info on Council safehouses
that I should look into later. Then, I had to go back to Atlas for a business meeting (Action figures, as part of the Legendary toy line... holy crap,
that's weird to think about). While I was there, I got a call from my contacts about the Hellions planning some kind of dark ritual they thought would give
them an edge in the constant gang wars in Perez. Some heroes would say kicking Hellions was a little beneath them, but I like to think being a cape involves a
bit more decency then that. I know, I'm a little bit of an idealist, so what?

So, I pay a visit to a warehouse in Argosy Industrial Park where this ritual was supposed to take place. Looks like it's actually still in use, and the
fire-lovers chased everyone out so they'd have some privacy. There's a few guards on the roof, but I blasted them before they even knew I was flying
down on them. The last one saw me and panicked a little - Hellions aren't really used to dealing with heroes that have earned their capes, I suppose.
That's when I spotted someone else hitting on the rooftop. Armored figure, clad in green light power armor from head to toe, and carrying one nasty looking
multi-function rifle.

"What are you doing here?" he asked me in an annoyed voice, even as my visor identified him from the FSBA Database. Sell-Sword, a Tech Blaster hero,
and one I'd heard of, despite his being new to the job. A former mercenary that got his hands on some fancy gear, then went hero only because going villian
offered too many downsides. There was even stories that he'd been 'unable' to recover some stolen artifacts, only to sell them himself later. They
were all rumors, but still...

"Hitting a Hellion gang," I said with a slight shrug. "You?"

"Likewise," he replied, lowering his rifle. "Isn't this a little low level for you?" he wondered.

"That a problem?" I asked, turning away and walking towards edge of the roof, hearing him follow.

"Nah, just wondering what salvage you're gonna claim," he said casually, moving up beside him. "Any items recovered from crime scenes by
heroes can be claimed as salvage once all evidence has been filed," he said smoothly as I looked at him with... well, more then a little surprise. That
was the first thing he was thinking about? Maybe there was some truth to those rumors. He certainly seemed greedy enough.

"I know the laws. Usual equal share all right with you?" I asked. I was a little dissapointed when he nodded, given that I was more then willing to
tell him to sod off. Okay, maybe it was a little rude of me, but the guy just seemed to irritate me.

"Still, I'm wondering what the Knight of the Peace is doing, dealing with mere street thugs," he commented as we jumped off the rooftop. The
guard at the doorway had been too busy lighting up to hear anything from the roof, and went down with a quick application of my gauntlets taser.
"You're running with the Legendary, you just hit Security Level twenty-six... a little high for this, wouldn't you say?"

He sounded amused, damn it. As if someone that's only just hit Level four has much experience with operating as a Hero. That's what I thought at the
time, although I realize now it was a little arrogant of me. Just as arrogant as his assumptions that one merely deals with crimes in the range of their
official security rating, I suppose, but that's a discussion for another time.

"I was in the area, I figured I might as well deal with it," I replied, stepping inside and finding the usual warehouse. Sword followed me and we
started the usual routine, hitting the Hellion groups one by one, blasting them before they could run off and alert anyone else. As is always the way with
Hellions and similar groups, the sounds of their own gunfire and partying covered the heroes arriving to kick their asses.

Sell-Sword was... interesting. He was a good shot with the rifle, but he didn't hesitate to take shots that, if it wasn't for the cities medical
teleporters and the arrest beacons we carried, would likely have been fatal. I can't help but wonder if he was pulling his punches with some of his shots
as well, due to my own presence, considering that his record already did contain a number of fatalities. None that were really too questionable - We've all
ended up with a few on file, no matter how it annoys Statesman, but still...

Anyway, we made it to the main storeroom relatively quickly, and sure enough, the Hellions were doing some sort of ritual. A big one too. There were a half
dozen Damned gathered around a spell circle, feeding the largest ruby I have ever seen with their magical flames. Occasionally, bursts of flame would reach
out, lighting whatever was nearby on fire. The Hellions watching were laughing and cheering, like it was a big show.

I didn't have any idea what the hell it was really - magic has never been my thing, but it was definitely bigger then anything I'd ever seen the
fire-starters try before. "Probably best if we stop this before it's done," I said quietly to Sell-Sword, who nodded and moved towards the other
end of the warehouse. Once he was there, we both jumped down and started working on the crowd. They panicked, scrambling for their guns, although it didn't
do them much good really. I was really making mayhem on my side, and the mercenary was a lot more dangerous then his Security Rating suggested.

Then a few of the Damned broke away from the spell circle and joined the fight, and things got random. The ruby began glowing with a light of its own, rising
off the ground and floating over the circle, the red beginning to be replaced, oddly enough, by black as it forced the flames out. Yes, I know I said it was
glowing brighter as it turned black. It doesn't make sense, but that's magic for you, damn it.

Anyway, I wasn't in a position to pay much attention at the time, with the Hellions doing their best to crush me under weight of numbers. My armors cloak
didn't hide me completely, but it kept them guessing long enough for me to throw an energy wave that picked up a number of them and threw them across the
warehouse. Things got interesting as several crates caught on fire and two of the Damned opened up with the flames on me. I fired the boot jets, kicked up into
the air, then tried one of my sisters newest upgrades, launching a plasma sphere that exploded as it hit the ground, tossing even more Hellions all over the
place.

As if enough crap hadn't caught fire, the flames surrounding the crystal intensifyied, reaching up to the ceiling. The fire seemed to hurt the Damned still
around the Circle, which was odd, by the rules of magic at least. Magical fire never seems to hurt the one wielding it, even though it really should.

Sell-Sword was yelling at me, something about needing options. Not having any magical experts around, I decided to go with the standard option for situations
where things look like they'll blow up. Grab the crystal, get it to a decent height, then blow it up. Sure, Azuria would grump at me, but that would hardly
be new.

So, I fired up the boot jets, punched through the flames, grabbed the ruby, which by now had a network of black lines running over it, flew for a window...
then pain ripped through me, all my electronics died for a moment, and I crashed into a pile of crates as it went dark.

Well, some members of the Citadel of Eternal Damnation, manily myself and Zilem Kain, would like to run somekind of Task Force tomorrow. sometime around 3-4pm,
and we'd love it if we could get some of you even to just spot us a member when starting. So what do you guys think, Virtue Red TF on a Saturday?
*********************
In the epic rage of furious thunder
legends create their tales
when the twilight calls and the dark lord falls
our glory will prevail

Official Virtue Hamidon

Let's Go!

Saturday, May 10th, 6pm EST. Coordination is through the Virtue United (virtueunited) channel.

6pm EST is

2pm AKST

3pm PST

4pm MST

5pm CST

Suggestion per channel is to show up early, as the 50-person Zone Limit gets achieved pretty quick-like.

It's time to take out the Big Kahuna!
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies

I'd say this is much better commericial than the one that actually made it to TV.
--
If you become a monster to put down a monster you've still got a monster running around at the end of the day and have as such not really solved the whole monster problem at all. 

I'd like to find a program that will act as a virtual DVD recorder.

It's pretty easy to find virtual disc drive programs. But what I'm looking for is something that will appear to the system as a recording device, which
I can then have another program write to. But instead of writing it to a DVD, it'll create an image file.

Anyone know where I could find such a thing?

-Morgan.

Read why Nick Bostrom, the director of the Future of Humanity Institute at the University of Oxford, hopes that our attempts to disover extraterrestrial life fail, and why that would be good for humanity. And no, it's not because he's afraid we'd be invaded or culturally overrun. I can't decide if this is an optimistically pessimistic viewpoint, or a pessimistically optimistic one...

-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

Over the past few weeks, I've gotten two of my friends into City of Heroes, with the three of us forming a small SG for all our characters (I think we all
suffer from the usual Alt-itis ), and in the interests of getting them in contact with more good players, given they've both got a chance of being on at
decent hours American time, I was hoping to invite them to the Legendary chat channel. Is that alright with you guys?

How are you powergaming gentlemen!

Arcanaville has posted a rather exhaustive spreadsheet comparing all the melee character defensive sets.

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showflat ... art=1&vc=1

I haven't gotten around to playing with it much yet, but while the metrics it compares aren't necessarily perfect (because that's probably
impossible), it seems to show some interesting things.

-Morgan.