frimlin - wizard, reflected ~

frimlin - wizard, reflected ~

[ frimlin - wizard, reflected ~ ] The Fantastical Voyages of Wizard Frimlin, continued...

Wednesday, July 14, 2004

At 8:06 PM, Frimlin posted this: Happy 21st, Tryx! (This post has been transferred from my "Frimlin Games" blog, which I am now closing.) Tryx reached 21 sometime after my last post. I used my two new enhancement slots on my two primary damage-dealing powers, to give them both the ability to deal even more damage at all those nasty monsters and madmen. Great! But I'm still hanging out for Stamina, which I can't now get till level 24 (you only get a new power at even numbered levels, otherwise you get two new enhancement "slots" which you can place on any of your existing powers). I did my first Banished Pantheon mission in Perez Park -- think it was part of the "Wheel of Destruction" story-arc, which is by far my most enjoyable one I've had yet. More on that, later. On a random impulse I took on a sidekick and ventured into a "The Lost" mission in Kings Row. I don't know why I did it, but even worse was the sidekick was a Scrapper -- scrappy by nature. I quickly told him to wait till I'd dropped my Smoke Grenade, and sent off at least one decent Sniper Blast shot from a distance. But no, he just went scrappily on into the mob, which was quite obviously overpowering for both us without pre-planning -- ie, I died for it. The sucky think is the scrappy Scrapper escaped with his scrappy hide in tact! Anyhow it all proved to me that I had made the wrong decision, or I should have at least forced him to talk about the mission before we entered the mission entrance. Anyhow, it's all about experience... the learning curve and the XP grind, too! ;) I think if I ever do it again I'd choose something like a Defender, Controller or another Blaster, instead. A controller would have at least sought to subdue the mob, not aggro it. A Blaster would have been more cautious as I am with Tryx, and would have probably stayed at at distance, with me. And of couse, a Defender, because if they're not set out covering you with lovely protection bubbles, they're downright regenerating your wounds with their healing superpowers -- now that's kinda handy! In mourning, I dressed Tryx completely in black and scurried around doing a few odd indoors missions, here and there: a Warriors mission in Skyway, not sure if it was my first; I went back and completed the The Lost mission in Kings Row that I had died at, but this time alone and with great success; I completed the "Icon the Tailor" mission -- a new feature added with the "Through the Looking Glass" update, which allows you to have an additional "costume slot" so you can change the look of your Superhero at will between two (or more, eventually) different costumes, which you can customise for a price. A horrendously huge price that I wouldn't recommend anyone pays. But for a treat, and in an effort to spruce up my enjoyment of playing Tryx, I did change a few details here and there in both her costumes. I'm much happier now! She's not massively diferent, but the minor changes make it just perfect -- for now. But I'm saving heavily for the level 25 Single Origin (SO) enhancements I can buy at level 22 (you can use enhancements up to 3 levels above your current level). Anyhow, Tryx continued to do further indoor missions including some rather nasty ones for the Wheel of Destruction story arc. Basically, you rescue all these artefacts, return them to a powerful magic wielder, they get stolen again, you rescue them again...yada yada. I loved them because I fought a lot of new monster types, in strange and familiar places, and then I was at one time able to actually use the artefacts as four temporary powers. It was great! I felt like an uber-hero for just about an hour. I used them to complete a few Tsoo missions, it was great! Anyhow, along the way, I fought loads of outside and indoor missions with my friends and colleagues Nick and Ceri -- and sometimes also, Dave. Nick plays as a Defender called Shokk, Ceri as a Tanker called Cestus Pax, and Dave as a Scrapper called Canis. So quite a good mix... when we're working well. ;) Mostly we work best in pairs, I reckon. We all play completely differently, as our Archetypes are all different. I read today on the CoH forums that originally there were no Archetypes and you could just choose whatever powers you wanted. Sounds fun, but it sounds like all their testing pronounced it a failure. It's an intriguing idea, though -- I haven't played any online games for ages now, but it strikes me as unusual to have no "class divisions" within the pool of player characters. But then again, when I did last play one heavily -- The Realm -- from memory, after you'd maxed out your primary powers you could choose powers from another class, however you'd always be strongest at your primary, or ones intended for your class. Anyhow, to cut an already terribly long story somewhat shorter but still terrifyingly huge, I eventually killed enough stuff for Tryx to reach 21, and it was great. Now I'm halfway to 22, but that's another story. Anyhow, back I go to Paragon City... Frimlin (Posted at 8:06 PM) [archive link] [email frimlin] [no comments, yet]

Sunday, July 11, 2004

At 11:51 AM, Frimlin posted this: Tryx till 5am (This post has been transferred from my "Frimlin Games" blog, which I am now closing.) Yep! I played as Tryx till about 5am last night -- and she's still not yet level 20! I've been fighting mainly Tsoo, CoT, Vazhilok, Trolls and Outcasts -- primarily in Steel Canyon, Skyway, Kings Run and Perez Park. She's now level 19.5, so I still have a little way to go before she reaches 20. But she's now got level 20 Dual Origin (DO) enhancements on most of her powers, which has made a difference bit by bit. I'm now saving up for level 25 DO or SO enhancements, which seem to be even more extortionate than level 20 DO ones! At about 3am I decided to visit Icon the Tailor with her, again. And this time I did more than just a bit of a colour adjustment. I removed her now irritating studded neck strap, and altered her hair style from long and wavy to short, knotted spikes. Also she's no longer dark haired, she's blonde -- or rather, a mix of yellow and orange which is quite nice. Generally she still has the same form -- same clothes though different colour -- but with a nice new hairdo and costume upgrade. :) Wasn't cheap, especially when I'm now saving up for Single Origin enhancements, but anyhow... it's done now! Right, now to see about getting her to 20... Frimlin (Posted at 11:51 AM) [archive link] [email frimlin] [1 comment]

Saturday, July 10, 2004

At 3:41 PM, Frimlin posted this: Roll, Re-Roll, Re-Roll again? (This post has been transferred from my "Frimlin Games" blog, which I am now closing.) It's just too tempting to re-roll a character, sometimes -- at least, this is how I'm finding it with City of Heroes at the moment. My level 12 Blaster, Frimlin, has already chosen two powers that he probably shouldn't have: Rain of Fire and Flares. It seems to grate on my mind. The thing is, if I re-roll now, then it won't take me long to get back to level 12 again. Probably the rest of this weekend and some of next week. But that'd be the third time I've done that with this character. It's just I want Frimlin to be "just right". And I worry if I don't get it "just right" then I won't be happy enough. But I guess that's also true with a lot of things in life, especially for an obsessive addictive like me. ;) So today I've languished away from CoH and am mulling over my options, instead. I may go on and play another character. Or I might just watch some Star Trek: Voyager instead -- I just got the second series on DVD. But anyhow. For a change of perspective, let's look at Tryx. I didn't make too many, if any, mistakes with her yet -- maybe I chose some powers at the wrong time, but I don't think I got anything that I wouldn't have got later anyhow. I don't quite like her Targetting Drone, though -- as it seems like such an Endurance drain, despite the Endurance Reduction enhancements I have on it. Plus it seems she still has too many misses for my liking, so I think from memory she has a couple of Accuracy enhancements on her primary attack powers. They say on the boards that it's unnecessary, but I like that extra bit of security. Maybe her Drone (which she calls Joan, by the way) will get better with time -- maybe once I get some Single Origin (SO) enhancements on it, and also when I get Stamina for her. Let's hope so! I enjoy her Hovering and Flying abilities. She looks just lovely flying through the air. Sure, it's all a matter of perspective. ;) But even I can appreciate a good looking lady -- and I tend only to make good looking ones. At least in my humble opinion, of course! I like her Hover because it has a Defensive bonus as well as the inherente tactical defence bonus of just removing her from range of melee attacks. But she can be shot down like a Butterfly if she ain't careful! And she so often isn't. They changed some code in one or more of her powers in an update, and I quite quickly lost any want to play as her anymore. But she's so close to level 20, I'm quite tempted to give her a go again. When the Through the Looking Glass update arrived, I was one of those on the first day who partied at Icon's tailor shop in Steel Canyon, as Tryx -- she even spent 784 influence or so to completely change her costume's colours -- gone is orange in place of a subdued lavender. She looks quite lovely, and still very much in the vein of her Technology origin and her penchant for creating remarkable devices -- her official title is The Extraordinary Tryx, I believe. :) Anyhow, think I'll hold off the re-rolling because my mind is currently so volatile on the issue, I think I need to find some kind of order first before I proceed on any decisions on Frimlin's future. The thing is, though, as I always try and remind myself... it's just a game. ;) Frimlin (Posted at 3:41 PM) [archive link] [email frimlin] [no comments, yet]

At 12:10 PM, Frimlin posted this: My Very Own Superhero(es) (This post has been transferred from my "Frimlin Games" blog, which I am now closing.) I am currently playing City of Heroes obsessively. It reminds me exactly of how I used to play another online game called "The Realm back in 1996 or so. My highest level hero is Tryx who is currently level 19, then it's Frimlin at level 12 and Mutagena at 11. All eight of my hero "slots" for the server I'm active on (Pinnacle) are filled -- only one of them is a male hero and that's Frimlin! haha! I've got one hero for every Archetype: Blasters, Controllers, Tankers, Scrappers and Defenders. I've enjoyed playing them all but I haven't yet felt much love for Scrappers and Tankers, but I am sure that will change. My Scrapper is only newly formed, and her name is Web, and my newly formed Tanker is Dionysia -- one of the names I used for a character on The Realm. :) Tryx is an Energy/Devices Blaster, and Frimlin is a Fire/Energy Blaster. I've re-rolled Frimlin once already because I had made him go down the Hover/Fly route like I did with Tryx, and I decided I'd rather see him do Hasten/SuperSpeed instead. But it seems I may already have made mistakes with him, by choosing the two Fire powers Rain of Fire and Flares -- both of which are reported to become useless later by a lot of other players on the CoH forums. Also it could perhaps be argued that Energy wasn't the best Secondary power pool for him -- but then, variety is the spice of life, isn't it? We can't all be Fire/Devices or Energy/Devices! ;) Frimlin reached level 12 last night and I quickly snapped up Aim, which gives me a Damage and Accuracy bonus for a few seconds. Already proved useful for my first assault on a mob, or full frontal attack on a particularly tough looking Boss or Lieutenant! I have been fighting in a range of different places recently, but mostly the last few hours of gameplay have involved Frimlin mending his wounds after successive deaths in tricky situations. Frimlin had an earlier-than-usual move to Perez Park -- mostly fighting with teams around the outskirts, knocking off Skulls and Helions but later moving right into the centre and taking on Circle of Thorns, Clockwork and the like. Around 10 or so I started fighting here and there in Steel Canyon, then at 11 I was doing some super-soloing by taking on whole mobs of level 8-10 Skulls and Helions in the outskirts of Perez Park. I had a few nasty Warehouse missions -- one of them where I was killed, twice, by some darned nasty called Marrowneck or something or other. Really laid into me, despite me thinking I was pretty powerful. So I spent most of level 11 switching between taking on those mobs in PP, the odd fight or two (Bricks, Shockers, the occaisional 5th Column) in Steel Canyon but quite a lot of wound licking in the very north of Kings Row! Can you believe it? It's actually quite a nice little place for biding time and safely gaining just those last few bubbles of XP. But I am starting to feel the urge towards grouping and taking on something more challenging because I'm determined to get SuperSpeed this weekend, and to do that I need two more levels relatively quickly. :) Now I have Aim at level 12, I'll be getting two new enhancement slots at level 13. I think both will go onto Firebreath, as that seems to be a handy and devastating attack if used correctly. Then at 14 I'll get SuperSpeed. After that I'm not sure, but am already expecting to move towards getting Stamina -- and am even thinking about getting more than one Travel power for him -- quite interested in either Flight or Super Jump. Flight because I just love the elegance of flying, even if it is slow. And also because I enjoy the defence and general feeling of Hover. Super Jump because I've not tried it yet. But I might reserve Super Jump for other heroes, like maybe Web and Dionysia. Anyhow, that's enough for now -- I'll report back later with more! :) Frimlin (Posted at 12:10 PM) [archive link] [email frimlin] [no comments, yet]

Created by Ash Harman (Frimlin). Design Last Updated 17th April, 2003. Intended font: Arial Narrow, Arial or Helvetica. Best viewed on Mozilla 1+ (120% text zoom recommended) or Internet Explorer 5+ (medium text size recommended). Created on a 1280x1024 screensize, but the layout should adapt well to a varied range of resolutions and text sizes.

Frimlin reflecting in Lisbon

Sciotecha
~ science & discovery articles

frimlin - wizard, reflected ~
~ ash's personal diary blog -- frimlin closer

Frimlin What?
~ not quite, but almost, all about him

frimlin photos
~ frimlin's photo blog

frimlin - wizard, reflected ~
archives
2005 ~
2005.october
2005.august
2005.may
2005.february
2005.january
2004 ~
2004.november
2004.august
2004.july
2004.june
2004.april
2004.march
2004.february
2004.january
2003 ~
2003.december
2003.november
2003.october
2003.september
2003.august
2003.july
2003.june
2003.may
2003.april
2003.march
2003.february
2003.january
2002 ~
2002.december
2002.november
2002.october
2002.september

yay to ~
coffee, being in the sun, indian meals, swimming, yoghurt drinks, bacon, short story writing, red wine, walking, summer, travelling, history, lou reed, star trek, creativity, blogs, tolkien, meaningful conversation, lager, time alone, when I realise I've made a great friend, science, baby animals, maintaining a balanced viewpoint, peace, sci-fi, chocolate, dune series, cats, computer games, raspberries, knowing someone I desire desires me, socialising, the bizarre, archaeology, REM, armistead maupin, amsterdam, new clothes, cuddling, noticing something that's beautiful only momentarily, league of gentlemen, massage, gardens, six feet under, chicken dishes, the universe, farscape, diversity, positivity

boo to ~
intolerance, snap judgements, war eagerness, generalisations, knowing that someone has got the wrong impression, assumptions, depression, pretentiousness, overbearing flirts, bitching, closed mindedness, snobbery, thinking that I've hurt someone

blogroller ~

Blogroll Me!

Comments by blogKomm,
adapted by Frimlin.