Meet... Shadowhawk!

Okay... so I'm not good at original superhero names.  I just like this name.  Using the Nighthawk costume choices, I made... Shadowhawk!

When I found out the Night Avenger archetype, I was very excited.  This sounded like an interesting way to play the game.  And it is.

I was a bit leery about the Night Avenger because, at its core, it is a melee character.  And you know that as much fun it is to play melee characters, ranged characters just rule.  But, the Night Avenger gives melee a slightly better name.

Although not everyone likes archetypes, I do.  I figure I don't want to spend my time figuring out the best of the best powers.  I want to play the game.  Archetypes help you to do that with minimal decision-making.

In the early levels, the Night Avenger is strictly melee and not all that fun or powerful.  It changes a little when you get Smoke Bomb Lunge.  It's an impressive animation and you could conceivably use it for every opponent in the group you're up against.

That all changes when you get Ricochet Throw.  Man, this is POWERFUL!  Since I took the route of going ranged, I'm all in with ranged.  You start getting other powers and advantages that give you ranged bonuses, and soon enough you're one-shotting groups of threes or fours.

Surely, melee suffers but that's not your bread and butter.  It's just a way to attack at close range.  You're really a RANGED character.

Sneaking up on your opponent is much better and you can even be cloaked.  I get bonuses for using my boomerang while cloaked.  Awesome.

I also put in the zen to get one of those Nighthawk jets.

I got the Nighthawk Interceptor.

I always thought there should be a way to use vehicles in this game.  And now you can.  I was thinking  that you could use this as your travel power and get another non-flying travel power.  And the Interceptor has OFFENSIVE WEAPONS!  Although it is weird to use this in certain indoor fighting, it's still pretty cool.

Altogether, the Night Avenger upgrade is the best in recent months.  It has made me want to play the game again.

Champions Online: The Fist

I am really digging the new archetype The Fist.  I've been waiting for a really good Kung-Fu style power set.  Unarmed was okay but it seemed a little awkward for a martial arts set.

The great thing with the Fist archetype is that you start off with a great offensive weapon.  Vicious Strikes is your energy builder.  Those familiar with the Unarmed power set will recognize that.

The real bad boy is One Hundred Hands.  It is a melee power with AoE damage.  It works great in groups.  And you get this power at level 1.  It feels similar to Eye of the Storm but without the defensive bonus.  And it has a pretty awesome animation.  Very Bruce Lee-like.

With the Double XP Weekend this is the perfect time to start a new character and get him or her leveled up fast.

Before the weekend is over, I also want to try The Master archetype.  This nicely rounds out the non-sword martial arts powers.

Champions Online: The Impulse

My new favorite archetype lately is The Impulse.  This archetype uses the Force power set.  I never got to experiment with this when I was making custom characters so this was a learning experience for me.

I created a character called Miss USA since this was around the time of Independence Day and when the Captain America movie came out.

I like the tech look so I went with that for my initial costume.

I have to say I LOVE this archetype.  It does pretty well offensively and I chose the force field powers to have a great defense.  Here's what I love about this archetype:

Champions Online: The Devastator

Out of the newer archetypes available, one of my favorites is The Devastator.  It's similar to the Might power set but this time you have a weapon.

I have to say this is one of the fastest Archetypes to level up.  That's because you do a lot of damage in one swipe.  Missions are faster to complete overall.

However, defense is a problem.  So, your best defense is a great offense.

If you find that interesting, read on...

Champions Online: The Inventor

I'm a little behind on my archetypes now.  Because I'm a Gold Member (ha ha Goldmember) on Champions Online I get all the new archetypes that come out.  One of the archetypes that really interested me was The Inventor.

I like to make superheroes based on real people so I decided to create one based on one of today's most well-known "inventors."  I named him "Apple Fanboy."

Champions Online: The Tempest

Okay, I know I always say this about the latest power set or archetype to come out.  But, I REALLY LOVE the Tempest archetype.  My highest level characters have power sets like Dual Blades, Archery and Munitions.  So, I never really got into the elemental powers.  My character's name is Stormchaser and his look is based on a character from a movie.  Can you guess which one?

Champions Online: The Void

I've really been getting back into playing Champions Online on a fairly regular basis.  Not everyday, mind you.  But, often enough to level up in a timely fashion.

I'm really experimenting with the archetypes.  For a long time, I have had a formula of making heroes and always included Regeneration because of its obvious advantage.  But, the archetypes are making me rethink that strategy. I thought I had a gold mine with The Soldier archetype.  But, evidently that was only the tip of the iceberg.

Champions Online: Free-To-Play & Archetypes

I haven't played Champions Online in a while but I just came back recently and I like the changes made so far.  It looks like Champions Online has switched to the Free-To-Play model which is fine by me since I have a lifetime subscription anyway.  But the thing I really like so far is the Archetypes.  Although so far I have been mixing and matching powers, I like the Archetypes because it is a specific framework and I don't really have to mull around thinking which power I should select next.  And the two Archetypes I have chosen so far work pretty well.

The first Archetype I used is the Inferno.  I find fire and ice powers to be extremely uninteresting since they are always used in every superhero game.  But, I decided to give it a go anyway.  I called my character Flamer.  After 10 levels I find he's a pretty good character.  He's all about damage-per-second and not really about defense so he's kind of soft.  But, I noticed he got much better after I got the slotted passive Fiery Form.  Up until now, I've been a really big fan of Regeneration and it does well for a long time.  But I do notice at the higher levels the ability to heal yourself doesn't matter as much.  That's why I like the Archetypes.  It's helping me to get out of my Regeneration rut.

Demonflame Expansion

I've been away so long from the game that I missed the Revelation expansion and barely got my feet wet in Serpent Lantern and now Demonflame is out.

I like the clip at which new content is coming out:

• September 2009 - Champions Online released
• October 2009 - Blood Moon (Halloween) event
• November 2009 - Nemesis Confrontation
• December 2009 - Attack Of The Misfit Toys (Christmas) Event
• March 2010 - Revelation
• June 2010 - Serpent Lantern
• October 2010 - Demonflame

Anyway, these new expansions are very challenging especially since I like to solo.

I guess this is in place of what would have been our Halloween event.  This definitely is creepy enough to have that Halloween feel.

This guy with wings is really tough to beat solo.  I tried using my level 32 Dual Blades character.  I'll try with my 30+ munitions character and archery character later.

I also try to give my characters a Halloween costume.  I came up with this Thundercats-like costume for my Dual Blades character.  How do you like it?

Busy 2010

Holy Schnikes!  It's been since JANUARY since I last posted here?!  I have to say 2010 has been such a busy year at work that I have not really made the time to get ahead in this game.  But, I have been playing off and on in recent months although I missed the summer update and the anniversary event.  Oh well.

I've been getting a little bored with my level 30+ characters.  So, I'm going back down to my 20+ characters.  Specifically, Island Warrior (pictured, above).  I bought the new Millennium Costume Set and applied them to several characters including Island Warrior.  I also gave him a couple of large blades for his shoulders, a couple of hammers on his hands and sandal-like shoes.  What do you think of his new look?

The hammer bracers really add to his character especially when using Shockwave.  I've been doing some Serpent Lantern missions.  I used my 30+ Munitions character to figure out how to pass them and it's pretty easy using my 20+ Might character.  I wonder if Invulnerability got boosted?  Oh well. Why ask why?

So far, which character is your favorite in 2010?  Let me know and send me pictures.

New Weapons To Ring In The New Year

I've been leveling my Single Blade and Munitions characters to get some interesting weapons.

Here's a sickle with ice damage.

Here's your typical flaming scythe.

This is a more modern sword with toxic damage.

And this sword has another type of hilt with fire damage.

As for the GUNS...

These are my FAVORITE guns right now. They're like a couple of uzis. They also have a more pleasant sound than the stock handguns.

This is the futuristic pulson assault rifle. Always nice to have a different look and sound. It is used with the assault rifle power.

And this is the western rifle. It is used only with certain powers like the sniper rifle power.

My New Martial Arts Hero

Here's a hero I made today with the Martial Arts: Unarmed set. Guess who he looks like.

An Armadillo & A Really Big Sword

I basically spent the weekend trying to level up several different characters. When I played Cupid, I found this area in Canada where I never went before. And I fought this cool bad guy called: The Armadillo!

The Armadillo kind of reminds me of Juggernaut in the X-Men comics. He fights with punches and his big power is when he transforms into a ball and hurls himself at you. Yes - like Sonic the Hedgehog. I think it's cool nonetheless. He is officially my favorite bad guy in the game. Too bad he's really easy to beat.

When playing my Dual Blades character named Technoblade today, I got an interesting upgrade. It's a primary defense upgrade but it also comes with an offensive weapon called a Rune Blade:

Now THAT is a really BIG sword! It's funny because my normal attacks use two samurai swords and then when I want to use my Rune Blade this GIGANTIC blade all of a sudden appears! It looks so badass. Especially with my Santa costume.

Christmas Transmorgrifications

Another item you can get in the winter event is a transmorgrification. It temporarily turns you into different toys depending on which transmorgrification you get.

Army Man

Cheerful Holiday Teddy

There's also a version of the Teddy with a hat.

Harlequin Teddy

Holiday Tin Soldier

When you morph into one of these Christmas toys, your character retains all of the power he or she had before the transformation.

So, when my Dual Blades character changes into an Army Man, he can still use his swords to fight.

That same character can also shoot lasers from his hand.

And whatever travel powers you have, like jet boots, will be used when you are a toy. Fun stuff!

Toys, Toys, and MORE Toys!

I have to admit I have been going crazy on Champions Online lately to get everything associated with this Winter event. One of the hardest parts of the Winter event is getting all of the new action figures:

Patriot Justiciar

Winter Witchcraft

Winter Kinetik

Winter Ironclad

Winter Defender

And if you get all five, you get Winter Foxbat!

To get each of the action figures, you have to open presents around the different zones that either have goodies or worthless stuff. Each action figure has three pieces: the head, the torso and the legs. The drops for the action figures are extremely rare. I was able to get all of them by trading my extra pieces that other people needed. In fact, I got ALL of the pieces of the Ironclad action figure through trading ONLY.

Getting each action figure gives you a Winter event perk. Getting all of the action figures is another perk. Then, killing Black Harlequin's pet Clarence is yet another perk.

The only perk I have yet to get is the one that I have to kill 1,000 toys. Then, when I got the three major perks I'll get a final perk that will allow me more Winter event goodies. Stay tuned!

Winter Event: Attack Of The Misfit Toys!

The new winter event for Champions Online is now... online. It's called Attack Of The Misfit Toys. This looks a whole lot less stressful than the Halloween event. But, I still want to defeat Black Harlequin and Clarence.

For this event, I made my own Santa Claus costume for my dual blades character.

I always did this for my characters in City Of Heroes/Villians. Unfortunately, the costume generator in World Of Warcraft was not good enough to do a Santa costume.

Aside from battling Black Harlequin and Clarence, you can also open presents to get some interesting items.
When you open these presents you could get some goodies or you will have to battle evil toys to get the good stuff.

In some cases, you will have to get a series of items to get a special reward. Now, go on and get your presents! Happy Christmas hunting!

New Sickle Action & Prison Break!

I've been super busy with work so I haven't had time to play lately. But, I logged on today and got a new Dual Blades weapon. It's a couple of sickles with toxic damage. I love the look of them.

Also, a while back I jailed my Nemesis but he broke out today! There was a pretty cool mission to stop all the bad guys from breaking out of prison.

At one point, a whole gang of prisoners rushed me. Thankfully, my Dual Blades character can easily take care of crowds of enemies.

In this mission there are two major bad guys. Green Dragon is a Master Villain and uses the Martial Arts - Unarmed set. For Technoblade, he was easy to dispose.

The second boss is Vengeance and she is a Super Villain. I died once fighting her, mainly because I was also fighting a Nemesis Minion at the same time. Once I killed the Nemesis Minion, I could kill Vegeance pretty easily. Vengeance uses the Telekenesis Power Set and has dual Ego Blades.