Villainish Drift

With the advent of Issue 12 and Powerset Proliferation, I’ve run into a bit of a dilemma. I have the current pair of villainous twins, Raelith and Raeleth. Raelith is my powerhouse, kick ass Dominator, and Raeleth is my lesser played Electric/Energy Brute. The main cause of this dilemma? Is the addition of Electrical Assault for Doms. Going back to the beginning of CoV, I had originally wanted to roll a Plant/Elec dom, but settled on Plant/Fire because it looked like a lesser used combo that looked like it’d be fun. (And it is lots of fun).

I have mixed feelings on Electrical Assault (the tier 9 is Sparky?!?!?) but I’ve heard that it’s fairly solid from a trusted source ingame, and there are enough powers that I can work out a passable blastroller build.

My problem is that the name Raeleth is perfect for said plant/elec, but is taken by a brute I’m not entirely certain I’d want to delete. Raeleth 2.0 was originally a dark/elec brute that was deleted, and said elec/nrg brute was renamed to Raeleth. (I think she was the original Midnight Azhure, who is now an ice/dark corruptor.) Do I fork out another $10 for a second rename for this poor brute, or do I delete a level 23 brute to free up the name. Though the trickiest part will be to get the height to match that of Raelith. The last time I tried to get the heights close, Rae and Rael were still off by just a smidge. and if I rename Rael to free up the name, what do I change her name to? Rael is taken (I’ve seen the toon in passing – a blaster no less.) Azhure is taken (ironically, I’ve seen that toon in passing as well. Azhure was a brute.) If there are any suggestions, I’m open to them while I sort out the names of what the newbies will bring.

Yes, I12 is going to introduce a few toons on my part. I also need to come up with a name for my Widow VEAT as the name on test I have in use on the live servers on a completely different toon.

On a whim I brought Night out for a spin during one of the Rikti zone raids. With a bit of help from her pre-ED build (and by help there I mean not), hasten and a couple of AM’s she was able to have 3 pets out at once. (The most I can manage normally is 2) In my haste to type in the screenshot command to show the UI, I somehow didn’t get the UI to show, and thus have no proof of my crowning achievement of the day. Go me, or something. Woot. Not.

I might as well post this here – incentive to eventuallywork on the rest of the character bios, and to have it someplace handy so I don’t lose it in the future.

*****

I don’t remember much of who I was, most of which was told to me by him. There are times where things feel familiar, smell familiar, blurry memories that I’m not entirely sure are mine. Sometimes I have fleeting memories that I can’t quite pull into focus, memories from this world, and memories from another. Another world that I can’t remember, yet I’m certain I’ve been there before. Memories of this world, places that I can’t quite recall.

I look into the mirror and see a face that isn’t entirely mine, yet is mine. I can shapeshift into another form that isn’t entirely mine, yet is mine. I’m told I nearly died from a horrific accident, yet I remember none of it. I’ve also been told stories about the alien who merged with me to save my life, yet I remember none of it. We don’t remember any of it. Not entirely human, not entirely alien.

I look into the face of the beloved of the person who was once me. He’s a stranger except for fleeting memories that hint at the bond of what once was. I see the pain of my not knowing, the patience on his part that one day I’ll regain the memories of who I was, who we were. I don’t know if I’ll ever truly remember who I was, who we were.

The tally of 50’s has increased by 1. Radi dinged 50 the other day and I’ve been remiss on mentioning it. And she dinged flat on her ass. Let me explain. I have a screene of her dinging, while getting knocked on her ass by a PPD Awakened (aka PB’s ala villain group on the villain side). The screenie of this may or may not get posted – it depends on how badly I wish to humiliate myself.

Midnight’s also back for a second incarnation. This time she’s an elec/nrg Brute, which as of level 5 or so, is insanely fun to play. For me, she’s kinda trampy looking, but it somehow fits her. Scantily clad in black, thigh-high boots and purple hair.

And in other news, I’m still in love with Night. I forgot how much fun she was to play. I know I’ve said that before, but I can’t help but repeat that again. I ran her through the third respec last night, only had her in Nova form for travelling (I still can’t quite get the hang of SJ and Teleport, though I was using TP to put her in a mob then hitting Mire with Inky Aspect running. Fun stuff). And she didn’t die once. There may have been one or two others that didn’t die once, but for the uber squishie AT? Not shabby.

It was funny having someone call out “I see a White Dwarf”, and because of who it was that said it I didn’t believe him. Then I turn the corner and see…. a White Dwarf. Didn’t phase me in the least, took him out easy. Voids, Quants and Nova’s/Dwarves don’t seem to bother Night as mush as they do when I play Star. I know it’s because of the differences between PB’s and ‘Shades. But dayum.

Meanwhile, I need to take an evening and work on sorting out salvage, recipes and whatnot on the V-side. Both base enhancement bins are bursting, and all of my villain alts are stuffed to the gills with salvage, recipes, and more salvage. A chunk of the recipes are invention enhancements that I’m hanging onto to either sell until I get that badge on Rae, or to craft to work on /those/ badges. Now if I could get a frelling costume drop. Grrrr. I have yet to see A. Single. Frelling. Costume. Drop. This has me pissed beyond belief.

With Inventions and the Auction Houses in full swing, one badger has been busy, busy, busy. Once Stormy gets as many of the new badges as I see fit, then Rae will undergo the same treatment. I can only focus on one set of badges or I’ll go insane.

And lemme tell ya, the selling and crafting badges are enough to drive anyone insane. I have no clue how an ingame friend churned through all of the selling badges in one multi-hour sitting. (Okay, I do have an idea, they’re far far more dedicated than me.) And, yes, the last selling badge is for selling 7000 items. Stormy’s hovering around 2500 total transactions currently for comparison.

Meanwhile I took Night out for a spin the other day and had forgotten just how much fun it is to play a human-form WS. If it weren’t for the fact that her only way to fly is through Nova form, I’d drop it entirely. I may drop the power slots in Nova form to base and add a couple fly enhancers to the form itself. Because, dayum. I forgot how much fun it was to jump in a pack, pop Mire (normally Orbiting Death would be on at this point, but I was exemped to 39/40 for this session and unable to use Orbiting Debt), toggle on Inky Aspect and watch the mobs stagger around while causing them to faceplant. Oh, and Fluffy. Let’s not forget Fluffy. *grin* Definitely need to respec this gal to a more straightforward human form at some point with some possible IO/set love. Resistances and bonuses are probably good things for her.

Radi’s finally graduated to running the RSF and dinged 47 yesterday. Running the RSF with Radi is quite different than running it with Rae. Everything’s still purple to Radi and I tend to faceplant with her more than I do with Rae. That should change soon as she gets closer to 50, I also need to crank out a respec build for Radi that’s more RSF friendly.

Part of me doesn’t want to respec Radi since ice/rad is a fun build to play, but I have to remind myself that she was built mainly for TF’s and whatnot. I just happened to have managed to like the powerset combo /a lot/.

After 756 hours in the Rogue Isles, Rae finally dinged the big 5-0. Keep in mind that her actual gametime is likely closer to 600-650 hours as she almost has all 6 held badges, and has the first 4 damage badges.

I don’t know who my next project is – I’m thinking of working on Frost til she dings 47 and can slot all of the nice, yummy Hami-O’s that have her name written on em.

Bah. I also need to remember to slot the 53’s Rae currently has in base storage. *inserts reminder here*

Raeleth is the latest addition to the stable of many, having started out as another possible name for Graevity. Only Raeleth is the twin sister of Raelith, even though Rae never started out with a twin, somehow these lasses are writing their own biographies without my permission. And they’re getting good at it.

I will say that Rael(eth) and Rae(lith) have a fondness for a particular power and that Rael is turning out to be a fun one as well. That also means I need to get my ass in gear and work on a build for her instead of picking any random power. I guess the fun part is going to be guessing which one is which. *evil smirk*

It’s been a while, and far too long since I’ve posted anything at all over on this side.

Character Updates:

** Stormy’s still at 50, the poor girl. She was asking for some PL love to 51 earlier and no one would give it to her. Bastards. Slowly working on the needed badges on her, the 5th damage taken badge is a major pain in the ass to get. Ugh. Stormy also switched SG’s. Again and for the final time. CoC wasn’t what I would consider “home”, I teamed up with a few of the folks a couple times and they were wonderful, but it just didn’t feel right.

I also forgot to check the list of Talos punishers for last month. Stormy was number 3, or so I was told by a very reliable source.

** Rae’s still a 40 and chugging along. She finally finished her pesky AV mission with Ice Mistral. Though I believe she’s officially cleared out all of her contacts now. Also need to start switching her between SG mode on missions. Not much else to mention with her.

** Frosty is a somewhat new addition to the stable, I don’t think I’ve written about her yet. She originally was a ‘troller that I was mildly curious about playing, but with the need for ‘trollers during Hami Raids I decided to see if I could get her to at least 45. Ice/Empathy is the old FoTM for raiding, but hey, a ‘troller is a ‘troller.

Frosty’s also a team dependent toon, or was pre Jack. I’m still open to any team I can get her on for xp though, but I’m loving the ability to actually solo missions now without them taking forever to complete.

11 more levels and a bub and she can play in the Hive. It’s a shame she’s about to hit the late 30’s slog. I’m hopeful to get her raid level by the end of June.

** Fury the poster badge child now has all 3 hit point/endurance accolades before hitting level 25. I’m at a crossroads with her – she’s the only toon with the Halloween badges from ‘04, so she’s evolved into the toon that stays no matter what, yet I’m not entirely happy with her. She’s elec/fire, which isn’t far from Stormy being elec/ice, Stormy was deleted and rebuilt a couple times and as a result doesn’t have the halloween badges.

It’s also been said that the halloween badges are to return down the road. I’m excited about this because that means Stormy can get em and I can retire Fury. That’s my quandry. I’m proud of the fact that she has her accolades at such a low level, but on the flipside I haven’t really played her.

** BV is the youngest addition to the Vyxen clan. She started out as a dare and I ended up building her the other day. Fortunately that dare included her as a blaster *grin*. She has a bio and needs an SG home, though I don’t know when I’ll have time to play with her, likely after Frosty dings 45 and I get that bug out of my system.

Stormy: Saturday night was Raid Night, and a barely successful raid to boot. Screenies are coming as well as discussing the failed raid a couple weeks ago. It’s hard to describe Yellow Death without screenies.

Rae: Worked Rae most of the time. She’s almost 5 levels from the current cap of 40. I also forgot how bad the mid 30’s slog was, and how time consuming it is. She’s about 2 bubs from 35 and her snipe power. It doesn’t help my xp gain if she’s spending a few hours each day working on badges.

Fire: I broke down, deleted Radiyana and rerolled an ice/fire Domi, aptly named Fire. Hindsight thought of the name Flame, so I dunno. FireVyxen or FlameVyxen. She’s in an SG already, so I think I’ll keep the name. Flame might be something else down the road. I don’t know yet. So far, ice/fire looks like it’ll be a blast to play.

Vyxen: Didn’t get much playtime with Vyxen. She was out long enough to sell enhancements and buy a few before a potential badgering opportunity arose. She’s still hovering at 8, and probably will because I want Rae to get to 40 before the level cap is raised.

I need to first mention that for some reason I thought the Winter Event ended on January 8th instead of the 2nd. Vyxen v2.0 got cheated out of her jetpack damnit!

Ahh yes, Vyxen v2.0. I deleted her and rerolled her as a Bot/Dark MM. So I now have two toons of the same exact flavor. My crazy reasoning? One of my Bot/Dark MM’s is strictly for duoing with the Twinlet, once we found two toons that we were comfortable playing together and I love the combination too much to be limited to casual play with her. So I did what any crazy person would do, rolled a second toon for my casual/frequent gaming.

Mind you Bots work surprisingly well with Mercs, and Dark is a damned useful secondary for managing pets’ health, not to mention Shadow Fall, which is turnng out to be a very handy group stealth power. Need to remember to slot a defense or two in that puppy. The speed penalty is better than that of Stealth. Dark can move around fairly quickly with SF on and sprint turned off. She also has Swift, but since I’m still unsure on taking Stamina on her, and might slot end reducers into her toggles, Swift is a good choice. And one less toggle on via Sprint to manage endurance with.

I was working on Vyxen v2.0 on Friday and ended up in a pickup group for faster xp and one of the twits who clearly didn’t know much about anything equated /Thermal with Healer as well as me and my MM secondary of /Dark. Let me mention that MM’s are not Healers. Nor are Corruptors. So what if the MM Dark secondary is exactly the same as the Dark Defender Primary? That doesn’t make MM’s Healers. It means I choose to macro-manage my pets instead of having to toss a moderate heal to each of em. Individually. Times the 3 bots I have now, and up to the maximum of 6. Er 7 once Dark/Vyxen each hit 38. I almost forgot about getting Dark Servant as the last /Dark MM power. Doeth on me.

But this pickup group is the same group that when they asked if I “really was a girl” and I replied in the affirmative did this:

Whatever. In the end, not the brightest group.

Going back to the Dark/Sarge duo. Dark’s now a few bubs from 18, and we got Sarge up a level or 4 over the weekend. I think from 12.something to 15, but I can’t remember offhand. We’ve also managed to run Dark’s missions and now Sarge’s with the difficulty cranked up with relative ease. I keep forgetting that what’s spawning white/yellow for me is spawning red/purple to the Twinlet, which is how easy and how well this duo is working together. No owner deaths (so far *crosses fingers*), and the occasional pet death. Soon they’ll balance out and wind up the same level. I’m certain that the third first tier hench is available at 18 *whimpers*, or at least that’s what my memory tells me.

I need to remember to change Dark’s bot naming scheme now that I have Vyxen following the scheme where the pet’s name is the first part of the Vyxen family names and the “Vyxen” part showing under the pet name (pet owner names now show up under the pet’s name so a pet name of Azhure will look like Azhure Vyxen).

Rae, darling Rae graduated to 32 last night and has her true pet, a giant Venus Fly Trap. That one’s a bit interesting as you don’t always see what damage the pet’s putting out, but the beastie will immobilize, has a ranged thorn attack and a melee attack that looks and sounds like it’s chomping on something. I can’t wait to see how well it does with more than 1 damage slot in it.

One of these days I need to sit down and write a plant/fire blastroller, er dominator guide. Why? Because I don’t think anyone else has, and because I keep tossing it about in the back of my mind.