In addition to all the Issue 11 stuff, the following is now up on the COH site:

Quote:

---

Two new features come to City of Heroes: Character Transfer and Character Rename. Additionally, we have completed a sweep of un-reserving names of characters below level 6 on accounts that have been inactive and not subscribed for over 90 days. This has freed up millions of previously reserved names all for the taking with the new Rename feature, or for that new Hero or Villain youve wanted to start!
Both the Character Transfer and the Character Rename features are available from new buttons added to the Character Select Screen. Please keep in mind that these features cost $9.99 USD per use and require that you have a credit card on file.

---

Bungie + WETA Workshop == Pure Fucking Win
The latest ad campaign for Halo 3, just in case you didn't catch it. Why nobody will give these guys a movie deal, even a TV movie, is beyond my comprehension.---
Mr. Fnord
http://fnord.sandwich.net/
http://www.jihad.net/
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery

FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information

"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"

Don Anthony Esposito
Primary Writer: Open Character
Notable Mundane Attributes:
* Filthy.. Stinking.. Rich?: May have signifigant amounts of capital. Will not discuss matter, except to assure you that 'it can happen'
* I don't think you understand how this is supposed to be going: Not a 'gangster'. Prefers the term 'relationship facilitator'.
* Rocco, Take.. Care.. of this man: Has minions. Minions are extremely (95% chance) loyal, thought most are surprisingly intelligent and moral, if not geniusses.
* It's my all-pasta diet: Surprisingly healthy on a cardiac and general fitness level, though quite stocky, pushing 'obese', and pushing it hard.

'Wavium Abilities:
* None: Not Biomodded. Takes care to avoid biomodding, claims it isn't needed or wanted. Would probably take a non-major biomod in stride.
Quirks:
* RESPECT, DAMNIT!: Is very conscious of how he is treated in his prescence and dealings with others, requires a certain level of respect and good faith. Failure to accede and cooperate with this can result in increasingly signifigant beatdowns from a Rocco.
* Hey, I _like_ this suit: Primary clothing is a cream double-breasted suit, well tailored. Owns several. Add fedora for extra 'oomph'
* Mama Mia: Is strikingly fond of italian cuisine, polish cuisine, and vietnamese (!) cuisine.
* Sucker!: Is not above playing a Black Hat (or Boskonian) type along far enough to take a serious bite out of their operations, but loves to be 'in' on the subsequent denoument.

Anthony Esposito is an adopted scion of a chicago gangland family, who was sent Up by the family head due to his personality conflicts, as well as his desire to expand the family activities off of Earth. Those conflicts have since mostly-severed any connection between the Don and his earthbound family, which he is quite pleased with.
In comparison to the family he left behind, Don Anthony is practically a saint. Where his adopted family would use physical violence and threats of same to ensure cooperation with their policies and projects, Don Anthony has succeeded well with his 'enlightened cooperation' policy. His 'protection racket', as an example, is a legitimate _protection_ service, marketted to high-risk crime areas (yes, there are a few), high-risk environmental areas, and others who need it.
To continue the trend, the Don has a loan policy that would make initial sense to his adopted family, but the devil, as they say, is in the details. Failure to repay a loan from the Don usually involves an intensive audit of the business in question, with an aim towards achieving a profit goal that will allow the Don to make his money back.. with a side affect of you making your money back. The Don routinely trades ownership shares in this situation, though he usually balks at owning more than 20% of a company (At that point, Mr. Reader, there's usually no way in hell even _I_ can make it turn a profit!). More common is a 5% or 7% buyout, where the Don contributes the neccesary funds to the business in return for the ownership percentage (which includes a profit percentage, of course).
The Don has been known to rant at length about the foolishness of his Earthbound and Black Hat competitors, talking about the goose and golden eggs as one of his favorite examples.
The Don is one of the few people in Fenspace actively running a prostitution service, though he prefers to refer to it as a 'companionship' service. His differences from his Earth family show through here as well, as he keeps his girls 'in line' with educational and salary packages that are quite attractive (if not comparable to Candy Apple Red's), and a health care package that is held up as the Gold Standard across that industry. Don Anthony's girls are clean, healthy, and happy.
The Numbers racket is perhaps the closest that Don Anthony has kept to the Earth standard, with betting available on most Earth and Fenspace sporting events, with one major difference - the cutoff. Don Anthony keeps a close tab on anyone risking big or losing hard, and will cut someone off if they're in danger of losing more than a year or so of wages.
Which leads neatly into the biggest difference between Don Anthony and his Earthbound brethren - violence. Don Anthony is proud to state that he's never killed, except in self defense. Defaulting on a loan or gambling debt results in the closest thing to indentured slavery that Fenspace has seen, though the Don is careful to leave a living wage for someone who is 'working it off', and makes an effort to calibrate the punishment so that it won't last longer than a year or two. And make no mistake - working for the Don is a punishment. A gambler in to his eyebrows may find himself raking a Grover's Corners septic dump over the Martian landscape, and following the new earth all the way through a growing season, preparing soil, weeding, planting, and farming - with a minimum of artificial help. The Don has made this profitable by marketting the product as 'hand grown', and sells at a premium over automated farming efforts.
The Don dislikes discussing the 'punishment' side of his business, though, and focusses instead on the main moneymaker - loans and services. With his own impressive business acumen and some of the best financial and operational planning people in Fenspace working for him, the Don can take your idea, teach you how to make it work, and provide the startup capital and retail/commercial/industrial space you need to get started. He calls it a 'foot in the door' package, and with a rate that varies between 1% and 10% of the company ownership (with the occasional 'voice of authority' contractural rider), many small businessfen have used the Don's services.
To quote the Don himself: "Hey, hey, I'm not a loan shark, I'm an investment banker. And you think it don't pay out? Lookit the ledger on the textile shop on Stellvia. I saved that gal almost 50% of her supply costs, using my shuttles to get fabric and fashion gear up from Earth, and that turns into pure profit.. for both of us!"
Don Anthony Esposito is a cheerful man, happy to talk shop with anyone, though he is very careful not to provide business advice to anyone who isn't partaking of his services. With his clients, though, he is an avuncular man with a keen business sense, and loves entertaining new entrepenurial ideas. Wire Geek - Burning the weak and trampling the dead since 1979Wire Geek - Burning the weak and trampling the dead since 1979

I left work at 9:30 this morning to get my snow tires.
I just got back.
Today was Direct Deposit day for the alaska state dividend, which means that quite a lot of people just got 1600$ deposited into their bank accounts.
Today is also the first day of a 60$ off sale on most michelin and bf goodrich tires at Costco, which combines to form..
The Line From Hell.
The line from the tire counter stretched out to the door by the time I got my tires, and people were already being turned away due to shortages. Over a thousand tires are expected in by the end of the week, though..
I got a set of Michelin Latitude X-Ice studless snow tire. They were relatively cheap (153$ each), and they're rather good-looking, with an agressively siped tread that I hope will do well this winter. We shall see.. Wire Geek - Burning the weak and trampling the dead since 1979Wire Geek - Burning the weak and trampling the dead since 1979

Radiohead does too, apparently.
It's an interesting concept. If some of my favorite bands did this I would likely take advantage of it.
------------------
Epsilon
I'm looking at you E Nomine

It's Official!
The most important part:

Quote:

---

WEAPON CUSTOMIZATION
Sometimes an assault rifle just isnt the right tool for the job, or character, especially when he or she should be using a sniper rifle instead. Players can now change their weapons in the same way that they change their costume parts! From within the costume creator and tailor screen players select the new Weapons region. A number of new options are now available for appropriate power sets. Current power sets that benefit from this upgrade include Assault Rifle, Mercenaries/Assault Rifle, Bow, Broadsword, Claws, Villain Claws, Dual Blades (see below), Katana, Ninja Blade, Mace, Robotics/Pulse Rifle, and Thugs/Dual Pistols.

---

I just got done reading the excellent series "Interviewing Leather" LINK!, and I was thinking about City of Heroes/City of Villians.
A little background - I got in damn near on the ground floor of Everquest, back when the Kunark expansion (the first one!) was just out, fresh and new. I spent five years bringing a guild from odds 'n' sods to a Tier 2 guild, and.. I'm burnt. I made six months in WoW before I realized that it was just the same old same old, in a different pretty hat.
So is City of Heroes any different? Is it the same grind/group/raid/level stuff I've played in EQ/WoW?
Also, is there any sort of free trial, I'd like to test the waters before I decide whether or not to jump in.
What sort of play schedule is required to be an active member/contribute to a group such as the Legendary? How long would a play session normally last?
How involved is combat? Is it 'turn on auto and pray the numbers work', or am I going to be stringing combos, or am I going to be actually doing attacks and targetting?
Hardware isn't a concern - I have a core 2 and a GeForce 8800, I fear no evil.
Any thoughts on CoH/CoV for the casual/burnt out MMORPG player?Wire Geek - Burning the weak and trampling the dead since 1979Wire Geek - Burning the weak and trampling the dead since 1979

Just wanted to invite the COH-specific folks to swing on over to general chat and drop in on my COH thread there, I've got some Deep Philosophical Questions.
(and on today's Humor Note, I mistyped that as "Depp" questions initially.. which reminds me, where is my rum?)Wire Geek - Burning the weak and trampling the dead since 1979Wire Geek - Burning the weak and trampling the dead since 1979

Mott the Hoople and the Game of Life. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Andy Kaufman in the wrestling match. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Monopoly, twenty one, checkers, and chess. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Mister Fred Blassie in a breakfast mess. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Let's play Twister, let's play Risk. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
See you in heaven if you make the list. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Hey Andy, did you hear about this one? Tell me, are you locked in the punch?
Hey Andy, are you goofing on Elvis? Hey baby, are we losing touch?
If you believed they put a man on the moon, man on the moon
If you believe there's nothing up my sleeve, then nothing is cool
Moses went walking with the staff of wood. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Newton got beaned by the apple good. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Egypt was troubled by the horrible asp. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Mister Charles Darwin had the gall to ask. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Hey Andy, did you hear about this one? Tell me, are you locked in the punch?
Hey Andy, are you goofing on Elvis? Hey baby, are you having fun?
If you believed they put a man on the moon, man on the moon
If you believe there's nothing up my sleeve, then nothing is cool
Here's a little agit for the never-believer. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Here's a little ghost for the offering. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Here's a truck stop instead of Saint Peter's. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Mister Andy Kaufman's gone wrestling (wrestling bears). Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Hey Andy, did you hear about this one? Tell me, are you locked in the punch?
Hey Andy, are you goofing on Elvis? Hey baby, are we losing touch?
If you believed they put a man on the moon, man on the moon
If you believe there's nothing up my sleeve, then nothing is cool
If you believed they put a man on the moon, man on the moon
If you believe there's nothing up my sleeve, then nothing is cool
If you believed they put a man on the moon, man on the moon
If you believe there's nothing up my sleeve, then nothing is cool
If you believed they put a man on the moon, man on the moon
If you believe there's nothing up my sleeve, then nothing is cool
--R.E.M., Man on the Moon
I don't know what use Doug might find for a simulacrum of Andy Kaufman, but this would probably do it.
--Sam
"Here I come to save the day!"

Since I don't actually have a character in The legendary, I suppose I shouldn't post to that thread..but it occurs to me that you all might not know who I am on Virtue beyond my post in the virtue is it's own reward thread. I had been absent from COH for a while..
So without further ado..
Chars on Virtue
Kyriea (L42 Magic Broadsword/Regen scrapper)
She's huge
Maranwe (L24 Magic Katana/Dark Armor Scrapper)
Call her 'Drow' only at your peril.
Kowaiko (L30 Magic Dark Melee/Regen Scrapper). Aka, scary perky goth.
Nova Rose (L 22 Mutant Energy/Energy blaster.)
Sailor PSi (L11 Natural Kinetics/Psi Defender.) 'Enlightenment can be found in the strangest of places. Even fangirls'. The wise man says.
Microforge (L4 Tech SS/Invuln tanker)
Who is really just a geek girl playing her favorite FPS...remote controlling this robot she built.
Villians
Fusion Drive (L12 Science Energy/Energy brute)
A girl just getting by, with her fists..and taking out her anger issues on anything nearby.
If that girl happens to have a contagious fusion-powers plague* (*of course, the most common power is 'you get really sick, and then explode, if you manage to not fight the infection off in the first place)
and
Esmerelda Dark (L9 Magic Dark/Dark Corrupter)
Aka 'Little miss Ex-leader of the Flying monkey terrorist cell. Wanted for extradition back to Oz on many, many, many criminal charges, not excluding munchkin punting.'

So, if you see any of these upstanding sorts - or wanted criminals - there I am.