Pic Post

Looking for a Movie Star

I need players in the coalition who can use emotes well and follow direction to recreate specific scenes in City of Villains; to be filmed as a cinema.

I also need scriptwriters, camerapeople, and voice actors.

I'm going to put the movie together and arrange for it to be published. I'm looking for input on all this, and my toons will be funding the effort in-game (costumes for bit parts, etc...)

I'm writing the script now, but there are sections that I need from each coal member about the fights we pick to recreate. Your individual part will be as big as the time you put into this; I want to start the video now and go for a Halloween release.

Here's a few more pics from my screenshot collection of my creations:

Coalition meeting time, pics, other goodies

I'm posting this on Friday; I need to ask all of you to indicate a time where you can commit to being online to meet about the coalition. I can be at multiple meetings; so let's not worry about getting everyone together at once- especially since you have this forum to use.

At the bottom of this article is a line marked "add comment." Click it and it will take you to a form.

Type your say in the box, then on the last line put your toon signature so we know who wrote it, then click the anonymous box. Submit your post; it will be approved by me first to keep out spam and attacks (like have happened before.)

I have a couple new pics of coalition toons to post; here they are:

Knights Dreamer

Tears of a Clown

Volcanic and Tears

Gristlebone

And what youve been waiting for; my picture:

Time to post on...

I get disappointed by the lack of posters on this blog; and when I get anonymous negative comments it's disheartening. Still, we have a need for information storage outside the game; and this is the best place for me to share stuff with you.

Right now, our coalition includes our SG, the Evil Shadow Knights, and these SGs: Inherent Chaos, Masterminds, Darkblood, Vanguard of Elemental Evil, and the Overlords of Pain. Also in coalition but not fully integrated are Rogue Island Black Ops and HAZTEAM. We need to have leaders of the respective SGs get together and work out a common ground.

A partial list of the things we can do are: teaming and task forces on a regualr basis for coalition members; meetings where exceptional players are recognized and rewarded; building and sharing IOs to all coal members who need them; PvP and server events, etc...

I'd like to see a vote for a time we can meet, it should be soon so that we can get this moving and make it worth the time put in for all.

Teamspeak: HAZTEAM has provided channels for us to use. The instructions and terms of use are on the HAZTEAM site or at http://www.geocities.com/dmdoug66/covnews.html

The Evil Shadow Knights live on!

Regardless of my insanity, the supergroup is doing fine. I have to thanks several people for helping out and giving their input to make everything better for all, and this is not the entire list, but I want to mention Gristlebone, Thug Passion, Fury of Darkness, Panterror, Kat Striker, Lotus Sin, Venomous Thorn, Nithia1, Super Arachnos and more (list includes all the alts.)

Here is the general idea of the coalition we would like to build: Each of the SGs handles its own recruitment and promotions, but people are encouraged to start alts in other groups of the coalition rather than having them all in one group. The coal's purpose is fulfilled if and when they ever bring back the base raiding and Items of Power. If one of the groups gets attacked, we get on the coalition channel and call everyone to that group for the defense- and also to organize raids. The second purpose is sharing the wealth, by making sure that everyone has the enhancements they need including IOs and sets. The third is that we should always have a chance for someone to find a team from all the SGs in the coalition; it's not mandatory but desired.

We need to have a meeting to organize this. A council of one leader from each SG has been suggested, and also a president/leader elected from the whole coalition, not just leaders. At the first meeting the main order of business is finding a name we can agree on.

Here are the Teamspeak instructions again, but for now the password is "passion"

Watch this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kk7_OuVsEBA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7S9uNxUI9ng

Random thoughts, part XXXIX

First off, here is an easier-to-find link to Fury's video.

Here is a link to the Knights comic book.

What is it with all the bitchy people I've been seeing in- game lately? if you don't play exactly the way they think you shluld, they get all pissed off. No questins, no discussion, just a lame attempt to give orders. It's too bad we don't have a power that instantly takes you and the person in question to Warburg. A few beatings will whoe them the error of their ways, or the way to the revolving door.

I'm starting to accumulate wing and boots recipes; I'm going to give them away as rewards for stuffing obnoxious players in the figurative trash bin. You can guess who may be Number One on the list; but there are more that need a reminder that they pissed off the wrong people.

We can't make a player's life hell, by the TOS, but there is nothing about irritating a toon. We can deny them any reputation in a PVP zone, we can make it unpleasant to be anywhere else.

I don't know if anyone else will follow me, but I'll find people wo do and reward them. Think about it.

I hope things have turned around

We have had more of an influx of new people, and the new coalition with Inherent Chaos should make it much easier to find teammates.

Should we continue to try task forces on Sunday nights? It worked for a short time; maybe we can make it a regular thing.

See you out there...

I know no one reads this, except...

..when someone thinks I'm going to write shit about them.

There is no organization here. No one will shoe up for a regular meeting time; even people I thought I could count on are unreliable.

I guess the structure of the game makes it this way; it seems that greedy assholes and misanthropes are the main players. The me first attitude is encouraged by the rules itself; if you try to help someone of lower level as a malefactor; for example; you lose big time if you need anything but debt relief. There is little encouragement for a team to work together; teams are just together by convenience. Planning ahead is useless, since there are no real long-term goals worth pursuing. Teaming in PvP is a waste when all the successful ones run solo.

So we have a base. So what? It's only a place to store things; it might as well be a locker in the bus station. This group will never have a team capable of taking an item of power, assuming that they ever enable that part of the game; let alone defending it; the first attackers would find a base with one, maybe 2 defenders at most. easy pickings, no matter who defends- no villain will be able to hold off a determined group of heroes, because the game is weighted that way.

I guess i ask too much; my expectations are unrealistic and cause problems for everyone I am around. Since I'm this much of a disruption; I don't want to be a leader anymore- my decisions are always wrong and unpopular. I don't even dare to pass it on, since it wasn't mine to begin with.

So; I'm not going to leave the SG- I have more prestige in than anyone will ever get; no one will pass me up. I might have 3 50s; they wont bother you. I'm going to stop writing this waste of time, and if I appear in-game I'll be out of everyone's way. It's about time to start looking for a new game anyway.

Goodbye.

Teamspeak, new toons, etc...

We've gone back on Teamspeak!

If you didn't know, teamspeak is a voice program that can run with few system resources, right along with City of Heroes/Villains. You use your microphone and headset or speakers adn anyone else on the channel can speak with you; even beyond the 8-person team limit. It also allows you to plot stategy while your toon is zoning; or if you dc or freeze up you can let everyone know. And you can finally hear the voices of your teammates, answering long-held mysteries.

To download the client program use goteamspeak.com

Start the program and choose the connection tab. You will see an option for "quick connect"; use that.

In the server line, use this address: voice.teamspeak.org:8767

In the name line, choose a unique name, preferably one everyone else can recognize.

Make a password for youself, and write it down.

Then you connect. When you've done it right, a voice will tell you that you're on by saying "new player". Search the list for the channel marked "evil shadow knights"; sometimes with a "the".

Right click on the channel and choose "switch to channel"

a password dialog box pops up, the PW is bartemos

If you dont see the esk channel, you can start it yourself. Choose create channel, and put the information for the channel name and password in that box.

New toons: Welcome to both the new and experienced players who have joined the Knights. Remember that there are plenty of IOs for you to use in the base; if you don't see what you need ask Nuke Radiant to make it for you.

See you out there!

Which Super are you?

I went to the following site and took a little quiz I found on the forums. Enjoy!

Click here to take the "Which Superhero am I?" quiz...

As you can see, I am Iron Man.

Organized effort

Now that we have a mix of people, El Junkez and PANTERROR have wanted to see more missions done for the benefit of the whole group. The difficulty so far has been getting enough people to commit to joining missions at set times.

I'd like to open Tuesday nights as a SG gathering night. We would meet in the base starting around 7pm eastern, where we would swap salvage, inspirations, recipes, and enhancements around to the people that need them the most. When we get enough people to start a meeting assembled, we then discuss business, which in our case is setting up missions thru the week and answering questions, promoting and recognizing good efforts, and anything else we need to cover.

After the meeting we organize into teams and help out other SG members with difficult or badge missions.

Once a month we can do a Grand Tour, which involves hitting all the exploration badge spots and history plaques scattered across the open zones.

Be there Tuesday, and spread the word. We will find out who really wants to be part of our SG and who is taking a ride with no effort.

Salvage and recipe swap

Stop by the base on Monday or Tuesday evening to drop off or exchange salvage with SG members. We're encouraging everyone to make a few items and trade parts to make sure people have the right salvage. Drop you regular salvage off in the bin I provided, in the front of the storage room, and I'll sort it out from there.

Exchanging recipes is a good practice too; if you dont know what to do with them any contact will buy them. Do not sell salvage to regular contacts, they pay too little for what we have.

I'm trying to get wings recipes; if you find one see me, we can make a lot of infamy from it and get more than one set eventually.

I9 is out, and I can't enjoy it...

My cat, Max, passed away this morning from a respiratory system problem. He went before his time.

Max and I didn't get along well when he was a kitten: he was very willful and I was going through some rough phases with my medication. But over time we became friends, companions.

He would sit with me while I played the game, always on my right side. He would get my attention by running under my legs, especially when he wanted one of 2 things- to be fed or let out. Just keeping the food bowl filled wasn't good enough, I had to go to the bowl and pretend to fill it more so he would eat. He would even get me if one of the female cats wanted to eat.

He was a fierce protector to his queen and his daughter, he wouldn't put up with anyone messing with them. When Maggie was having her kittens she was screaming from the pain, and while my wife and i were trying to help her he attacked me from behind to "keep me away" because he thought I was hurting her.

I remember one afternoon he came up to me and made an unusual noise. I looked down and he had brought me a toy spider from one of my game sets. He was making a peace offering to me, and I praised him for it.

He loved it when I would scratch his back. He would always turn around and make as if to nip at me, but I could tell he really enjoyed it- he would come back for more, and when he really was getting into it he would make motions with his mouth like he was nursing. I had to give him some attention every day, and he brightened my days by being there for me no matter what.

I feel so cold and empty now. I can't eat or sleep; I can't enjoy anything. There never will be any pet that can replace Max, he was one of a kind. I will always miss him now.

Comic book is ready

Yes, you can see the comic book I am entering in the contest.

It's here.

Tell me what you think.

Group missions

I'd like to propose a time for group missions, like the Silver Mantis SF for one, to be held so that more people can join the mission. What night of the week, or weekend time, is the best for you? Post here and let everyone know.

Snow in April

...and a general sense of discontent because it's too damn cold outside.

I haven't posted anything in a while, because frankly, who is really reading this?

We have a SG ranked number 75 out of 669 groups, but no one is interested in any structure? We're bigger than a lot of groups that hold regular meetings and missions. There should be enough of us to mount a defense if our base is ever raided. (Never mind the glitches in THAT system.)

I need suggestions from you. What do I do? I've asked people individually, and the answer is almost always a variation of "help me finish this difficult mission." When we do try to team up, it falls to me to try to arrange the group so that everyone gets xp; you would think that others would be more helpful. If we were a true villain group it would be long past the time to make heads roll.

I'm not interested in training toons to go out and start a SG on their own; if you want a professional PL service you go somewhere else and buy one. the only reason I have for keeping many people on the rolls is simple- if they make another adjustment based on the number of SG members, like when they gave us 20,000 per member, I want to get all that we can- just in order to stay up there with the active SGs.

Oh well, at least my family has a place to go. Show some respect and initiative and it's your house too. Fail to do so and you may find yourself out there, looking for a new home.

Glitches suck

Our attempt at doing a base raid last night was a dismal failure; but we did learn all the things NOT to do:

do NOT forget to click "join" Before the raid starts;

do NOT forget to have all the base items in place for the raid;

do NOT take too much time in organizing the raid.

The Arena system was buggy as hell; it seemed like someone didn't want any effort between the groups to succeed. (This thought brought to you by the Evil Developer Paranoia network.)

But, we'll try again. I plan to try a small-scale attempt within the next few days to see if the bugs continue.

On a cooler note, congratulations on Kat Striker reaching level 50. That's 3, who's next?

Looks like we're on hod again until I9 releases.

Base raids, part deux

Ok, now that the people who didn't like the base raid setup have left, we can practice seriously.

First, we should meet in the base- in the first raid situation. everyone logs in and we talk over the ground rules, like mercy, being able to spawn and setup freely, and what signal stops the action.

Our friends at the Circle of Elemental Power want the practice just as much as we do; i'm sure we can work it out so that it doesn't become personal again.

Any questions about raids, or anything else, you can post here.

How to use this blog, and this week

It has occured to me that people are not posting because they have trouble making a Blogger account. This is not necessary to post here.

So what I'm asking is for everyone- Evil Shadow Knights members, coalition friends, or anyone else who wants to add a comment- to follow these simple steps and post. Unfortunately there is nowhere in-game that allows the SG leaders to post more than a line or 2 of important info; that's why this blog is necessary.

First, look at the top blog post. At the end you will find a link that says "add comment." This will take you to a comment page.

Type in your comment, as long as you would like within the software limits. Put your name at the end of the post- use the toon name we know you by or what you would like, just ID yourself. Just below are options for posting- choose "anonymous".

As you post your entries I will update the online roster.

In other news, Kat Striker is on her last few bars before 50 and would like your help in getting there. She is on from 8-11 weeknights and various times of the day on weekends. Send her a tell and help her out.

More Kudos to Fury and Panterror on recruiting. keep it up fellas!

Welcome our new Coalition member group, the Overlords of Pain. Force Ten and I are Rush fans, and I hope I didn't ruin his evening by telling him the big spoiler from Battlestar Galactica last night.

Thursday meeting: Costume contest and missions. 500,000 inf in prizes. BE THERE!

Base raids coming soon

I've made an informal agreement with a Hero group to schedule a practice raid, most likely next Tue March 6.

I am a member of this hero group too, so I would like you to defend the base, but please act as politely as the situation allows; no name-calling, accusations of faggery, getting truly upset at dying, and other unsportsmanlike conduct.

I will be either defending or observing, depending on the situation, and will lead one of the subsequent attacks.

On other news, we're doing well- a lock on 78th place in the top 100. We need another 150000 in order to pass the next guys, assuming they are standing still. Many of the top 100 groups are there from long ago but are no longer active; we can smoke them and get to the top.

Jay has approached me and apologized, along with Bildo and blackterror. I wish them the best, and I'm glad to have the whole nasty chapter closed out. Thanks to Fury for his help in getting things straightened out.

Say hi to out newest coalition member, the Kinghts (sic) of the Oblong Table. They need some new members; if you're considering another alt you might want him in that SG or in Darkblood, our raid SG. Check out their base when you can.

See you out there!

A long time has gone by

...and it's time to post something else.

The February Jubilee has been some decent fun; the future of the game is integrating the heroes and villains into more coherent story arcs. My villain toons have never been more popular.

Gratz to those who have made promotions lately; Trigon the Reaper is the latest. Make sure you invite him along, or he will ask again.

The new Invention system will help us out; I have some idea of how it will be implemented. I will have useful stuff available for all active Knights; keep in touch.

Thursday night meetings- every other Thur. we will have a meeting starting with a costume contest or other event, then one person will be given the star (2 or more if we get a good turnout) and will lead the group on a mission set. There will be presents in the form of inspirations or enhancements for each toon that shows up at the proper time.

We have to pull together now if we are to have any chance of moving up in the top 100 and making our mark on the Cities. We need a dedicated base defense team and a raid team- not necessarily the same toons. We could also use more people in general, so keep up the recruiting.

See you out there...

Base raid practice

We are going to start practicing for base raids at least one evening a week. Please send an email to E.Normus, Dr. Ventura or post here in the comments for a time that you can be online.

(If you don't know how to post a comment, here's how: Click the comment link below the article, and you will be give tne comments already posted and a window to place your own. Sign your post comment with your toon name, then click the anonymous button before posting.)

In the case of a base raid, here is what you do: Get to the base ASAP. Open your Super window on the chat bar, and you will see a series of buttons at the bottom of the SG list window. Click the Raid button. If a raid is starting you will see a window with a JOIN button, make sure you click it. Then you check with the highest ranking toon/player at the base, who will tell you where to start and what to expect.

There are bugs in the system as it is; if you get DC'd or cannot enter the raid let someone know on the SG channel; we might be able to help you get in.

In the future there will be opportunities open for us to raid other bases. They need to complete the Cathedral of Pain trial to get an Item of Power; all we have to do is take it from them. Once we have an Item, it will give a buff to all memebers of the SG at all times. The individual buff varies; it might be additional damage, accuracy, endurance reduction, etc...

Once we have an IoP we are committed to allowing others to try to raid us. We get to choose a 2-hour raid window per week so that we dont get cleaned out at 5am. We absolutely need someone to commit to being in the base in that time period; as many as possible to hold off raids from both hero and villain SGs.

The other thing to wait for is more 50s and 40+ SG members. Keep up the missions; bring in the prestige and experience. Once you are ready we can go forward.

Other notes:

Please do not spam the SG chat channel with "invite me" or other things like endless repeats of your battle cry. It takes potentially important info off the screen and is annoying. Asking to team is one thing; please do it in a courteous manner.

Thanks to all who were online over the Double XP Weekend. We did very well for the SG; we couldn't have done it without everyone's help.

Costume Contest: We have an unofficial tradition that each toon makes one costume using medieval parts, or other classic warrior pieces. this costume is your official Knight costume, and when we do public events we can change to the costumes for team unity. Use the team colors, deep red and black, in any way that looks good.

An honorable mention goes out to El Junkez for hitting level 40 and for his efforts in running teams all weekend. Great job! Everyone who made levels over the last week, congratulations.

Double XP Weekend

To help out all the Knights, I plan to organize as many XP missions as we need to get max XP.

Dr. Ventura will need help with the Television story arc, including the Couch Potato Badge.

If anyone has missions with Accomplishment or Achievement bagdes, or the cape and aura missions, save them for everyone to join this Weekend.

Meet in the base Friday evening to organize. Sign up here in the comments if you would like to lead a mission or three.

Rebuilding

Fury has been doing a fantastic job with the new people so far. I'm impressed not only with the quantity but the quality of the people. Everyone is making a positive contribution.

We still need to finish the first two Strike Forces, and it would help everyone if we set up the 24th level respec for everyone. When can we get together for this?

Say hi to me if you read this; I want to know if it's being read.

Our base medical staff:

Dr. Ventura, presiding medic
Kat Striker
El Junkez
Nuke Radiant, radiologist
Jack the Nailer
Hazehigh

Moving on...

I'm going to post in the Victory Forum to find an assistant. I want to put someone in as a second-in-command (to US) to recruit and manage new Knights, and I'm going to take my time to find the right person. Likely someone in a SG presently that doesn't get to do as much as they want; because they were not in at the beginning, which happens often.

Once we can build up again we will be able to move forward with scheduled missions, strike teams, and vengeance!