HR Mission Breakdown: Planet X

 

by Madam Marvelous
#26130

A few months ago, I reviewed my time spent doing Missions in the New Amsterdam Area. You can find that article here at HR Mission Breakdown: New Amsterdam. I hope you found some of the information useful from my time fighting crime in that area, and today I want to bring you some information on the next available mission zone, Planet X.

Planet X will have appearances from multiple characters that come from a different dimension. I wasn't around for those days, but you don't really need to know who the bad guys are to defeat them. Just turn them into BADGE and let Director Nova sort them out. 

In many ways, working on a mission in the Planet X zone is very similar to what you encountered in New Amsterdam. There are five mini-bosses you will encounter, one Big Bad boss of the overall zone, and lots of opportunity to find things as you do your duty. It is more exhausting, and will drain your energy more than the New Amsterdam zone, costing 2 Energy per attempt, which will also earn you more experience (2XP per standard attempt) on your journey as a hero.

First up, you might encounter the Gragglebrak (Physical, 2XP, 50% drop on the Scrambler Helm). You will fight him twice before advancing and it took me 17 tries for a total of 34XP. After facing and defeating this creature, the next mini-boss you will encounter is some Holy-Bat-Lion-Scorpion-Thing (Magic, 2XP, 100% Scrambler Helm, 35% Manticore Ring).

There are 3 incarnations of this mini-boss, so expect to gain a lot of experience searching for it. It took me 70 tries (140XP) to make my way through all of them. If you trick-or-treat at Halloween, you've likely been to these two villain's houses.

The third mini-boss is a Living Dead Girl, or as you've most likely seen her around previously as Your Zombie-Ex-Girlfriend.

No, I know she's not really your Ex-Girlfriend. That's just her name. Your Zombie-Ex-Girlfriend. 

NO! Not your ex-girlfriend. Your Zombie-- 

OK. We'll do to her like they did to the POTUS and she is now YZEG.(Supernatural, 2XP, 100% drop of YZEG Power Card worth 2MP). 3 versions, and rather quick to show up for me with 11 attempts(22XP).

Next up, you will be searching for Dr. Fulcrum's assistant/fixer, Vixen (Physical, 2XP, Mad Speed Power Card worth 2MP). She's a bit of work, but in 101 attempts (202XP), you can take her down and then go after her boss, Dr. Fulcrum. I hear he has his ups and downs...

One thing about Dr. Fulcrum, he really, REALLY doesn't like to make house calls. I looked for him 97 times (194XP) and decided I'd had enough. I'd collected quite a few Small Keys while searching for him and decided to use some to open the door he was hiding behind. Dr. Fulcrum(Technological, 2XP, 100% drop of Supercharged Leggings) didn't like it when I hit him in the adam's apple as I asked him where his Big Bad Boss, NecroMech was.

Fortunately, six Small Keys and a secret door later, I found NecroMech(Magic, 3XP, 100% Sorcerous Sabotage Power Card worth 2MP and Necro Ring) and brought him down.

To get to this point, I'd gained around 620XP and 16MP worth of Power Cards. Compared to the 167XP/11MP I got in New Amsterdam, I found the effort here to be subpar to the earlier mission I completed. More than 3X the experienced gained, but the rewards were hardly equitable. There aren't very many unexpected drops of items, like the Super-Laser Power Card, but you do have the opportunity to collect a Seed of Potential Supernatural Core piece occasionally.

Once completing the initial round of Planet X, you can go at it again for Bronze, Silver, and Gold variants of the mini- and Big Bad bosses.

Here is how my efforts resulted:

Attempts(XP)                 Opponent                  Opponent XP             

29(58)                         Bronze Gragglebrak              2(4MP)       
89(178)                       Bronze HBLST                      2(4MP)          
28(26)                         Silver HBLST                        2(6MP)        
9(18)                           Silver Gragglebrak                 2(6MP)       
53(106)                       Bronze NecroMech                3(4MP)           
48(96)                         Gold HBLST                          2(10MP)
23(46)                         Bronze Vixen                          2(4MP)
3(6)                             Bronze Dr. Fulcrum                2(4MP)
79(158)                       Gold Gragglebrak                   2(10MP)
81(162)                       Silver Dr. Fulcrum                  2(6MP)
99(198)                       Bronze Zombie Ex                  2(4MP)
52(104)                       Silver Zombie Ex                    2(6MP)
7(14)                           Gold Dr. Fulcrum                    2(10MP)
95(190)                       Silver Vixen                            2(6MP)
5(10)                           Gold Vixen                              2(10MP)
9(18)                           Gold Zombie Ex                      2(10MP)
15(30)                         Silver NecroMech                   3(6MP)
22(44)                         Gold NecroMech                     3(10MP)

Each of these bosses also has a percent chance to drop items of varying quality. The Power Cards, such as Mad Speed, variants all sell for the same base MP reward while the equipment, improve in their statistics. Good luck trying to collect them if that is your goal.

700+ missions completed, 1400+XP earned with another 39XP from defeating the bosses themselves rewarded me with a slight bump in value of Power Cards for resale as New Amsterdam.

    Planet X: (6x4)+(6x6)+(6x10)= 24+36+60=120MP
    New Amsterdam: (5x4)+(5x6)+(5x10)=100MP

Reselling the MP Power Cards may garner you another 18MP(Mad Speeds, Sorcerous Sabotage, etc...), so overall there are rewards to defeating villains her, but if I had to choose, I'd do New Amsterdam over Planet X.

I hope this information helps some of you to decide where you want to do missions at. Next time, I'll look at Purgatory Penitentiary and give you my thoughts on that zone. If this kind of information is helpful to you, be sure to share it and let me know in the comments.

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Op Ed: Review of the Harbinger Raid

By Lykos
ID: 18321

I know some are not going to agree with this Opinion, but I really enjoyed this Raid. Let's analyze the raid and see how it breaks down.

The raid used the Level split we are all getting used to now. I have liked the level 100 split and it has been a boon to lower levels that can't compete against the upper echelon. This allows for lower damage point totals for the Littles and more and better rewards for the Bigs.

The big news this raid was the additions. For starters, we now have Aura Gear actually affect the bosses we are fighting. Your Aura you can get in the gear store made a wonderful addition. Most of the Auras cost a MP amount. If you had an Aura on your toon, it lowered the bosses resistance to your types of attacks. I look forward to other types of gear helping in battles in the future.

 
I look forward to other types of Avatar items helping in battles in the future. Maybe the next boss will be allergic to animals and your Pet affects him/her!

Poison and bleed finally was made useful against the Raid boss. It still only hit occasionally, but the extra damage is always nice.

A really big change was in the ability to alter the weakness of the raid boss by working together with others. The more damage the Boss took of a certain type, then the boss would suddenly become weak to that type of damage for a short period of time. So if you and your league mates all decided to gang up on the boss and hit with Supernatural damage, the boss would become weak to Supernatural and you can then all pile on for higher damage results.

This also meant that Alts had a new benefit. Let's say your main account uses Magic core and is built to do a lot of magic damage. If you have 3 alts that are also set to magic, you can send them in ahead of you, beat him up with lots of magic attacks, and when the Boss Weakness changes to Magic, you can switch to your main account and beat the living crap out of him with the extra boost to your Magic damage type. Your alts wont get as high of damage, but it allows your main to get some extra damage.

Those who use several Alts can increase this even further. If you have 6 main Alts, each specializing in a Core type, you can have an army of lower alts switch all to Magic, Supernatural, or Elemental, etc. for a quick pile on. As soon as it turns to the Core Weakness you want, you switch to your Alt who specializes in that Core. When the weakness is over, you can use your lower alts to work ont he next damage type and do it all over again with the next Core.

Using your consumables to maximum effect is crucial here. Save your More Fun bars on your Main Alt until the weakness is ready, then hit as much as you can, refill your energy, and do it again. These damage type weakness are short-lived, so be ready to hit hard and fast for several minutes.

Finally, new gear types showed up for this raid. Back pieces came back which is nice. One of the pieces was seen earlier during the scrap heap scrounge we did. It isn't the best of the back gear that had been available, but it worked great for a Raid Reward. The other back piece was brand new and gave a nice bonus to Block, while the other gave a binus to Move - both giving a plus of 1200.

But the really exciting piece of equipment was the Sidekick. Two robot sidekicks were added to the reward list - The Scrap Mech and the Green Machine. The Green Machine is the lesser of the two, but it does offer a bonus to the Stun ability, something I never look down on. The Scrap Mech is the gold medal though, as it has a Strike bonus of 2300, tech damage, and even a boost to playing pinball.

Will these new sidekicks have any other benefits besides adding the bonuses? We don't know yet. Nick hinted there may be some animation eventually on the battle screen. I would like to see the Sidekick stand at your feet like a pet and shoots from there. But the bonuses of these two don't seem to go along with that. What is really cool, is that Nick already has animation for both of these mechs in his other game, Mecha Galaxy. These are both types of mechs you can buy and use early on in the Mecha game.

 The Scrap Mech is known there as the Banshee, and the Green Machine is called Holmes. The Holmes there is an essential mech for low levels to have until the bigger, heavier mechs kick in. I really like seeing the two games mix like this. It has done it before in small ways, but this is a much cooler mix.

I will note here that the Damage requirement to earn the Back and Sidekicks were lower than previous raids. It was still only a 1% chance per damage level, but the lower requirement made it slightly easier to earn than in the past. This is where I think some will disagree with me on this raid, but I was happy that the developers have listened to the masses and changed up the gear rewards, made them better, and made them easier to earn. Is it perfect, no. But it is certainly a step in the right direction.

 
Where will future raids take us? The ability to use avatar items to change the game is a very welcome addition. Being able to alter the weaknesses of the Boss is a Game Changer. New Gear that could eventually be involved in actual battle is awesome. I look forward to seeing where we go from here.

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Harbringer RAID Fan Fiction: "Universal Constant-Part 2"

 

PART 2:
by Madam Marvelous
#26130

Tokyo had always been a dream vacation spot for my mother to visit. Mount Fuji rose in the distance over fields of pink cherry blossoms like an island floating on clouds in horizon. Not that I had much time to appreciate the view. BADGE sent me and members of the Star Force to Japan to capture AMA weapons from the World Corps mercenaries. I think Catalyst said what we were all thinking the best.

“Going to go over as well as trying to take heroin out of the needle when it is already in the addict’s arm.”

We knew it would be hard, but it needed to be done. Fortunately, we had several advantages that we could employ. First, Starmaster used the power to teleport into the group of them, get in close, and hit them with a powerful mental assault that stunned the mercs. With their minds vulnerable, Prysmatica closed in and created an optical spectacle that drew their full attention, dazzling them into a nearly hypnotized state. Chained Angel, Arcane Ace, and Infinite Tempest engaged the pseudo-hero into battle, keeping it away from its wards while the rest of us captured the deadly weapons.

Overall, our efforts went well, but we did encounter opposition by some of the mercenaries who were able to shake off the various debilitating effects. The fired their AMA weapons at us, striking Lykos full on in the chest at one time. To his credit, his fearful look changed to one of triumph as he wasn’t instantly atomized. Lykos puffed out his chest, and the mercenaries became the ones to look fearful.

Knowing speed was of the essence, I worked with Wyldfyre to collect as many weapons as possible. They say four hands are better than two, but we proved an interspecies version of that concept; eight tentacles with multiple suckers on two legs are better than four arms. He carried me in on his back and I suckered as many weapons as I could. We must have looked hilarious as we moved, but in the heat of the moment, I think the mercenaries must have thought they were being attacked by some creature out of a zero-budget horror movie.

After returning to the orbital space station and turning in the scraps of the AMA weapons we collected, all of us heroes felt relieved knowing that these deadly weapons were off the streets and being turned into helpful devices. Director Nova finally released us to go back to our homes, the best news of all. I missed my bed, my room, my home, and most importantly, my parents.

MM-MM-MM-MM-MM

I sat on the floor in front of the television as my parents cuddled on the couch. “So, what movie this time? Not one of your classics, again?”

“What?!” Dad exclaimed as I felt a few pieces of popcorn bounced off my hair. “You loved The Lost City.”

“Meh, it was better than that other one,” I said. “What was it called? Idiocracy?”

“What do you want to watch, then,” Mom said as she took the bowl of popcorn from my dad’s lap, turning on the television with her remote.

…shuttle bringing children back to their families in South Africa. Look at these smiling children who want nothing more than to see their parents once m—”

The screen showed a flash of static as the view changed to black. I rolled to one side and looked to my parents, hoping what I thought might be happening was wrong. “What happened? Did something happen to the TV?”

Mom fiddled with the remote, switching to a different station.

…sighted coming out of the explosion. We are conferring with all available EMS services for information on any possible survivors in the shuttle.

These kids were going home. My chest tightened, thinking on what these kids… #%@#... Who would do this?

My BADGE comms unit vibrated on the plush fibers of the blanket I nested in. I looked at the small black device, knowing what would be expected of me before activating it. For the first time, I hesitated to answer the message.

“Honey, those poor children,” my mom grabbed ahold of my father’s arm, clutching it as if it were the only thing keeping her on the couch. “It’s horrible, just horrible.”

Why? My mind couldn’t get over the single word, cycling endlessly over and over in my head.

…The individual flying around Pretoria is wearing a uniform identifying him as a member of BADGE. Relations between the superhero organization and the World Corps has been extremely heated for several weeks now, but I never would have believed BADGE would be capable of such a horrendous act…

NO!!! We wouldn’t have done anything like that. I grabbed my comms unit and read the text message. “Eggie is going to be here soon. I’ve got to go.”

“What are you thinking?” Mom said, her eyes all over me as I stood up. “You can’t be a part of this. No. This is too much. They’ll have to do this without you. You can’t. You just can’t.”

“I can, Mom,” I said. “I have to. How can you ask me to stay here? I can’t bury my head and ignore what just happened.”

“They just said that a person from BADGE did this. How can you still work for them?” Mom stood up as well, towering over me by at least a foot-and-a-half.

“They may say BADGE did it, but I know BADGE didn’t. That’s not what we stand for,” I said while looking up at her with eyes as hard as her own. Hard, and wet with tears over the images on the screen. “We protect people, and if I don’t go, more people may get hurt or die. How do you expect me to live with that if I stay here?”

Mom shuddered and started to sob, sinking back down against my father on the couch. The face he wore was as troubled as ours, but his true concern shone as he wrapped an arm around my mother’s shoulder and let her cry into his chest. “We know it is your calling. Go. I’ll take care of her, but please, promise me you’ll be careful. More careful than you’ve ever been before.”

“I promise.” I nodded to him once before I headed to the front door. I’d be careful, but that didn’t mean I would take at easy on the augment. I’d make sure he pay with interest for what he took from those children.

to be continued...

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Heroes Rising Fiction: Inquisition Part 17 final part

Sirens blared across Pretoria as heroes swarmed in two volatile clusters. The villain that destroyed the transport and attacked the city had somehow split himself in twain and was now two entities.

Midgardsomr threw a colossal punch at the augment, but his fist met a powerful energy barrier that caused the massive serpent to reel back. Another hero ran up the slithery hero's scaly hide and vaulted off Midgard’s massive head. Crystal Meth Anubis met the augment with a hard slash from his blade. The augment crashed into a building, creating a sizable hole.

Hotwings flew by, preparing his next attack. “Crystal! I thought you were...”

Crystal said, “nah, no time for recreation. I’m gonna take down this jerk.”

“STOP GABBING AND SMASH HIM!” Midgard bellowed.

Heroes poured out powerful attacks against the hero after he had regained his airborne position. The morphon orbs that flew around him seemed to keep him from taking much harm.

Midgard went to grab the augment, but the gray man vanished and reappeared next to the serpent’s head. Another hero bounced right off of Midgard’s head and shot the augment with two laser pistols.

“I AM NOT A STEPPING STONE!!!” Midgard screamed.

Furious Squirrel landed after his attack and skidded across a roof. He shot again, and hit the augment with a clean blast. Tapping his ear he said, “hey, guys, I just figured something out. This dude’s resistance is shifting. Looks like he’s weak to tech stuff right now.”

Punlork landed next to Furious and shot from his weapons. “Thanks for the heads up.”

Skynett flew by, readying some tech fists. “I figured that out thirty minutes ago.”

Furious huffed and took aim just in time to see a blast of psionic energy coming his direction. “Ah, nuts.” He was hit and flew hard off the roof. Furious tried to use his jetpack to control the flight, but he only achieved a faster arc across the city. With a long roll across the ground, he landed beneath the cluster of heroes fighting the other incarnation of this strange enemy.

A large fireball was thrown directly at him from the augment. He didn’t have time to react, but fortunately Madam Marvelous landed next to him and quickly changed to stone to protect him.

“You okay?” She asked.

“I’m alive, if that counts.” Furious got to his feet. “I figured it out. These augment guys can alter their resistance. We just...”

“Yeah, we know. This guy is currently taking lots of damage from magic.”

“Crud, I don’t have magic.”

Marvelous directed another blast away from them. “Don’t care, just shot him!”

Both heroes returned to the fight. Ringmaster raced by, shoved Madam Marvelous out of the way and unloaded a massive volley of firepower at the villain.

“Watch it!” Marvelous responded to the shove.

“Stay out of my way!” Ringmaster continued firing long enough for the augment to take a special interest in him.

Marvelous joined Ringmaster, but noticed the change in the augment. “He’s resisting our attacks!”

“That just means we need more pressure.” Ringmaster increased his firepower.

Marvelous jumped out of the way just as the augment plowed into the ground, shoving Ringmaster through a wall.

Street Fighter and Dun Ringill came up quickly and used mental powers to confuse the augment. This gave a wide open shot for Ringmaster to slug the enemy right into the air. Unearthly Mitch the Lich summoned a demon who caught the augment and drop kicked him across the town.

The two augments were coming closer as both sides had them on the run.

Skynetts’ voice came through, “their defenses against physical attacks are down, both are reading complete vulnerability to that morphon power.”

Marvelous answered, “we gotcha. Take them down!”

Anubis got one last shot at the primary augment and knocked him into the other augment. Both met and absorbed into one another. Ringmaster and Madam Marvelous joined power and hit the completed villain with one final blow. The swirling energy around the gray man evaporated and he crashed into the street below. All that remained of agent Torrin Wolf was a bloody corpse on a broken highway.

***

Nova stood in the middle of Operations with Chase, Gar, and Craig at his side. They all watched the emergency meeting of the U.N. 

The Secretary General spoke. “After reviewing all the evidence from the events in Pretoria last week, the United Nations has renounced BADGE authority across borders, remove all funding for the BADGE organization, and condemn the members of BADGE that attacked Pretoria, South Africa. The criminal who murdered the children and other occupants of the shuttle was killed by BADGE’s own operatives, leaving us a difficult position of placing blame. We have issued an order of apprehension for Director Nova, who must be held accountable for the actions of his people. We have also issued international warrants for known villains among the ranks of BADGE and have placed an order of restriction against any so-called heroes who work for the various Leagues associated with BADGE. Until such a time that BADGE answers for these crimes, it is disallowed from operating within the borders of any allied United Nations entity.”

Chase almost spoke when there was a strange interruption on screen. A delegate stood up with Prime Minister Shizue beside her. 

“Prime Minister, you have not been given the floor.”

Shizue said, “I don’t care. This body has no right to condemn without proper evidence. You have ignored the many instances of the heroes saving this world from minor crimes to global threats. The nation of North Onnotangu does not recognize the U.N.’s orders and will not continue to be part of the United Nations until this body agrees to hold proper hearings.” Without another word, Shizue stood and left. With her walked out several other representatives from other nations.

Gar said, “at least we have some allies.”

“She is a good ally,” Nova said. “Shizue knows better than anyone how dangerous politics can be when evil people manipulate populations.”

Chase whispered, "I just wish they knew that it was a friend who died, forced to work against his will."

Nova said, "we will remember Torrin and will not let those who did this to him go free."

Craig asked, “what happens now?”

Nova spent a moment in silence, pondering his words. Finally, he said, “the leagues are not technically part of BADGE. I will allow them to continue doing their day-to-day tasks. They know to avoid the police or any other authority. Fortunately, since the AMA’s are gone, the U.N.’s threats are empty. Even while the world fears us, we must show them we are not the threat. We cannot give into hate. The people who are duped into fearing us do not realize the real danger looming over them. If we stop protecting this world, then our enemy will have won, and I am not ready to admit defeat yet.”

Gar asked, “what do we do?”

Chase said, “we need to find out more about this World Corps command group. Four people run this organization from behind the scenes. We have their computer data, but it is hardly enough.”

Nova said, “we know who Alpha is. She is not hidden. Gamma pretends to be just a military advisor to the World Corps, but we know him, and we now know who Beta is. But, all we have is a picture of Delta and a name. We have to find him.”

They were all surprised by another voice that sounded strangely familiar. “I can tell you more about Delta, more than anyone knows, even his closest allies.”

They turned and saw a man that looked a lot like Nova, only older, more battle scarred, and wearing armor, along with his standard black outfit, including an eye patch.

“Who are you?” Nova demanded.

The other man smiled, “I’m you, from twelve hundred years in the future.”

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"Turning Point" - Harbringer RAID Fan Fiction

KnightShadow
ID #33880

"...... ......"

KnightShadow whispers to himself as he watches the screen with steely eyes draped by furled brows. Mere hours ago, a shuttle with liberated children was en route home when it was swept out of existence by a high-powered being draped in B.A.D.G.E. attire. Now the city of Pretoria is in flame as Earths' Best and Mightiest struggle to hold this abomination in check. At the same time, a U.N. meeting has turned into a B.A.D.G.E. witch hunt. All of which makes for must-see tv from the networks.

He has always fought alone. From even before his powers mainfested, KnightShadow always felt removed from others. He uaed to chalk it up as being an introvert. His childhood did little to dissuade him from that. As he grew, he felt little trust for others. His experiences taught him to rely only on himself. Once he became "powered", he applied that same mindset to his "war". A war as much against his own demons as it was against outside threats.

This was different.

 
His battles and intermittent interactions with other heroes and begun to change him. He saw many of them, often boasting B.A.D.G.E. emblems, fight and die protecting those who could not protect themselves. He had begun to trust them. He had occasionally even relied upon some of them. His "war" was theirs as well. His battles, theirs. Those Fallen had given everything for people they would never know. And now, these same people who fought, hurt, bled, and sometimes died, were being called "traitors" and KnightShadow found himself trembling with an almost unfathomable rage.

"Damnation!", he bellowed aloud, the veins in his head throbbing in anger. A bright purple flash enveloped him briefly before he regained his composure. He took a deep breath. He quickly realized this newest development would only make the war harder for heroes like him. Now, in addition to fighting the war against the Zandraxi and Legion, he and those like him would have to fignt the war of Public Opinion. Many of the population at-large had always seen the emergence of the heroes as suspect; an unnatural jump in Human Evolution spurred on by alien interference. In the minds of these conspiracists, the "heroes" were no different than the invaders themselves. This turn of events only solidifies that bias in the minds of many. Humanitys' defense just got a LOT more difficult.

 
KnightShadow watches the live feeds in silent frustration. He has neither the means nor the power needed to join the fray. But he is not powerless. He understands that there is a hidden Maestro directing this recent series of events. An unseen hand guides the Chaos unleashed upon the World as of late. Is it Legion? The Zandraxi? World Corps? Or a new, unseen player sticking to the shadows? 

"The shadows are MY domain", KnightShadow thinks to himself. 

He turns to "appropriated" Zandraxi equipment; computers and analyzers taken as spoils of war. He WILL find the connection. He WILL unmask this "secret adversary". The time has finally come to choose a side. There is more at stake here than his own designs.

With a deep breath, he sends a coded message to B.A.D.G.E...

0

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Big boy Raid Update-- Editorial by Crazy Banner

#20314 Crazy Banner

Raid is over 50% complete and Crystal Meth is taking the city raid as a stomping grounds of it's own with no chance indication of slowing down or the need to sleep lmfao . News reporters are getting calls and pictures of the new Mob boss of the raid game. Any information that B.A.D.G.E. can use to bring this Crystal Meth Anubis into custody will receive a pat on the back or a slap to the head one of the two. Leads that bring valuable information on this character may be compensated. Hits from this Crystal Meth Anubis are being found all over ranging from 200 to the 400 range, and at any given time so no Intel on how to find this wild one but keeping your eyes peeled. What ever you do don't take a hit or it might blow you away .

On a side note the Raid is offering cards with manageable goals and good quality. Along with the cards it's offering the technology back we just had a chance to secure with AMA parts but also a New back only offered in this raid so far. To top it off though it offers 2 brand new sidekicks which are new content all together. They also hit on one more new feature I kinda really am enjoying also the raid cycles through what it is weak against which gives everyone a opportunity to capitalize on their best element of choice when it comes around. The outline of the raid flashes signaling what damage you should be using at the time to get the boost in damage output kind of like the 150% events except being incorporated into the raid. I think this should motivate more players to push for prizes since it's not a set damage raid if you know mental or magic is where you are going to do the most damage that is where you should sink all of you energy into is when them elements come around.

 
If you're not in the raid it's ok that just means you probably shouldn't raid just because you can it promotes growth not only to gear but also levels and cards we wouldn't want that. That way things like this doesn't happen.

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The Battle With Harbinger -- RAID Fan Fiction (or Fact)

by Dew Bee Doobidu

As Harbinger attacks our heroes, the regular cast of B.A.D.G.E. elites bring the heat! Alongside them, many other heroes and even villains have come to help save the day. But one hero, or to be more accurate, rehabilitated villain, has taken the battle by storm!

Crystal Meth Anubis doesn't have quite the power that some of the other heroes have, but what he lacks for there, he makes up for in effort, easily hitting nearly 5 times as many punches as his closest competition, Magnificent Punlork, and over twice as many hits as the next most prolific hitter, Skynett!

We tried to catch up with Crystal Meth Anubis, but there's no catching a guy like that. So we asked around and interviewed those familiar with him, so that we could bring you the scoop on this amazing story of self destruction and redemption. A long time friend of Anubis, Chris P. Bacon was willing to give us all the details.

Born Christian Al Anubis, he quickly found himself at odds with others from a young age. While Christian thought this was due to bigotry over his unusual dog head and purple skin, Bacon says the real truth was Anubis was often caught peeing on people's mailboxes and fire hydrants. This early turmoil in his life led him to hang out with unsavory criminals like Casa Nova, Gentleman Rex, and Gamer G. It was during this time he picked up the name Crystal Anubis.

After a major sting operation involving countless B.A.D.G.E. agents, Anubis and the rest of his gang were arrested, tried in court, and imprisoned in Purgatory Penitentiary. Eventually gaining release due to a technicality, he tried to get back into organized crime but was suspected of being an informant after he got out so easily. No other criminal organization would touch him with a ten foot pole.

Unable to get a job, Anubis fell on hard times and became addicted to hard drugs. That's when he picked up the name Crystal Meth Anubis. Why or how he came to be in this fight is anyone's guess, but he's hitting it like no one else and he doesn't look like he's tiring out or showing any signs of quitting soon. This reminds me of a Rick James quote. "Cocain's a helluva drug."

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The Harbringer RAID: What We Know So Far

Good evening, this is Chaz Hamilton bringing you, the Sentinel News readers, to where the action is happening. There is chaos on the ground as a situation unfolds that even I don't fully understand as of yet.

 Director Nova has called in all of the world's heroes to help fight one of BADGE's own, an agent identified as Torrin Wolf. This individual, who has undergone some form of unknown physical alteration, has attacked a World Corps transport carrying a full compliment of children due to be returned after to their families in Pretoria, South Africa, after having been taken into custody for questioning by the World Corps. The shuttle was completely destroyed, but no reports have come in yet about any survivors or fatalities having been found yet.

The agent, being identified as Harbringer currently, has displayed a wide variety of powers, the most unsettling being the ability to reproduce himself and attack this city as two separate, individual threats. While his clothing identifies him as a BADGE agent, the powers he is displaying are not on record, and he was last known to be protecting UN official Ben Talos to a speech that was meant to be an exoneration of the superhero organization, but turned out to be a report on BADGE and Director Nova teaming up with the former supervillain, Arx.

There is much to unravel in this tale, but as of this moment, BADGE heroes are currently battling these two augmented villains who seem determined on spreading death and destruction. Both versions are displaying a level of more complex capabilities compared to past threats. Their defensive abilities shift, making various attacks less effective while others become more effective. This shifting of vulnerabilities has made this fight a challenge, as heroes constantly have to shift their tactics and equipment to maximize effectiveness.

As always, BADGE scientists are on site trying to "science" the situation. The two versions of Harbringer vary in power. The more powerful of the two is being fought by the most powerful of our heroes. Several members of the WMD are showing up as heavy-hitters in this fight, but a new name has taken the lead in most damage dealt so far, with this version of Harbringer showing a significant 70% drop in his life signs. Here are the top ten bringers of the hurt so far:

1. Crystal Meth Anubis 
2. Miðgarðsormr 
3. ♦ Magnificent punlork♦ 
4. skynett 
5. ][☣][ Hot Wings ][☣][
6. ][☣][ §ﾚαgα†h⊕☈ ][☣][ 
7. ~666~ B$C ♦♞♦ 
8. Derdy Bumhole 
9. ★♕☠HELL☠LION☠♕★
10. Sygtrygger

Of the lower powered Harbringer, I can report that the rest of the heroes fighting him have not done an equal measure of damage, but still a significant one, nonetheless. The "minor" villain is almost down to half his beginning energy and continues to drop. One thing I've heard frequently from BADGE observers is the number 13,332. Supposedly, this target number should be a goal for each lower tier hero to try to reach, as it will benefit each individual hero and the ongoing fight against Harbringer the most.

Of the heroes fighting against the weaker of the two Harbringers, here are the top damage dealers so far:

1. Rïñg M姆êr 
2. Madam Marvelous 
3. Dun Ringill 
4. Wyldfyre
5. Unearthly Mitch the Lich 
6. T-2 
7. T-1
8. TH€ PAIN£€$$
9. ‡Furious Immortal‡ 
10. Angelus

There has been a rapid learning curve for our heroes during this fight but there have been improvements that if taken advantage of can have a sizable impact on their efforts. The BADGE Armory has been available for some time, but recent additions to the warehouse of equipment available for heroes to use has the capability of noticeably improving a heroes damage output. Multiple pieces of gear purchasable by budget-wise individuals offer specific damage bonuses. When utilized to create a specific elemental power build, these new gear options can increase any heroes efforts for a successful conclusion to this battle.

This fight cannot wrap up soon enough, and while I'm sure of the BADGE heroes good intentions, there are some hard questions that must be answered, by BADGE, the World Corps, and the UN. How was this allowed to come to pass? Where was the oversight to safeguard the public from either of these groups? How did a BADGE agent turn into the latest threat to our planet's population while safeguarding a UN representative? What of the children?

These answers cannot come soon enough, and if they aren't forthcoming to the public from these organizations, trust that I will find out for you and share this important information with the Sentinel's loyal readers. Let's all pray that Director Nova and BADGE can end this immediate threat with expediency.

Good night, and stay safe. Chaz Hamilton signing off for now.

 

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Harbringer RAID Fan Fiction: "Universal Constant"

 

by Madam Marvelous
#26130

Part One

“Hi. I’m home,” I said as the door closed behind me. Outside, in the driveway, the engine of Eggie’s Volkswagen Bug stammered to life, alerting me to her departure. I peeked out the narrow pane of glass beside the front door and watched her drive away. “Hmm. I wonder where she goes when she isn’t with me.”

Being an android, built to closely match the appearance and personality of Mrs. Doubtfire, my so-called Electric Grandmother only chaperoned me when BADGE sent me on assignment. As a probationary field agent for the organization, they kept me well monitored in the field due to my young age. Liability and all for a youngster who still had several grades to complete before graduating or being considered an actual adult.

“We’re in the kitchen, honey,” Mom called out to me from deeper in the house. “Welcome home. Come join us.”

I’d just returned home after the impromptu League Wars 12 weary but happy. The league I had been a part of, The Star Force: Junior League, had earned a silver medal due to our solid efforts. Every member of our team did their best, myself included. I’d pushed hard in my last match, defeating an opponent I thought I couldn’t, finally realizing that it was one specific emotion, fear, that held me back from being my best. Being home, I knew I needed to take a few days to mull over what had happened, to get my head wrapped around a lesson my special trainer, Midgardsormr, had tried to impart on me.

“Hey, Kitt’n,” Dad said as I walked into the kitchen. A simple breakfast was on the table, likely due to the massive quantities of food provided to us at the WMD: Black Order celebration the evening before. If it could be cooked, grilled, baked, or bar-b-qued, it was on one of the many buffet tables. “How does it feel to be home again?”

“It’s always good, don’tcha know.” I wrapped my arms around his neck as he sat at the small kitchen table, his tablet in hand with the Sentinel News page displayed. I kissed his cheek, smushing my lips messily against his clean-shaven cheek while making noisy, slobbery kissy sounds like he used to do to me when I let him tuck me in for bed. “Did they say much about league wars?”

“Strangely, no,” he said as he turned the tablet face down and set it on the table. He only did that when he didn’t want to talk about what he was reading. “Chaz Hamilton was up there announcing several of the matches. He must not have had time to report on it. No mention of your outstanding performance or anything other than a list of who won each division.”

I grabbed at his device, snatching it away from him to read the review for myself. “I wasn’t that great, Dad. I’m no Ms. Fae or Midgardsormer… yet. I just want to see if—”

“Honey, don’t—” Dad started as I flipped over the tablet and saw the bold print headline.

World Corps – “Where are my children?” Parents Demand to Know

The rumor aboard the Stellar Arena was that the league wars was called to keep Morphon-imbued heroes from being questioned by the servants of the World Corps. Anyone with powers granted by the strange element Legion introduced years ago worried about the new weapons this group employed, as they were said to be based on technology from the evil regime that existed in North Onnotangu a few years ago. A weapon that could atomize anyone with a Morphonic energy matrix.

Anyone like me, essentially. Me, my teammates and friends, other heroes, and some average, everyday people like my parents. While they never developed any powers of their own, my parents, like many, many others, were slightly altered by the Morphon particle.

 Dad gently took the tablet out of my hands. “You have to trust that Director Nova knows what he is doing. He called all the leagues up to that space station to keep you safe. They are aware of the situation and won’t let anything bad happen.

“You know I’m not a fan of thise ‘League Wars” things, dear,” Mom said as she came over to the table and sat next to my father, drying her hands with a checkered black-and-white towel. “But I was honestly relieved when you went up there and got away from these World Corp inquisitions. It was good to know you were safe from all that foolishness going on around here.”

Technically, I likely should have told my mother about the excursions I made with Starmaster to several of the World Corps interview locations as we captured images of dozens of the pseudo-heroes providing protection for the World Corps mercenaries who carried the despicable ‘hero killing’ weapons. Being a minor and all, Director Nova would not have approved me going the mission, but if the World Corps were going to be stopped, all of us heroes knew we needed to act, not hide.

“These people from World Corps are bad news,” I said. “All we at BADGE are doing is trying to stop the bad guys. They are trying to make us look like we ARE the bad guys.”

“Don’t worry about what’s going on out there. The people with the power to handle it will fix it, I’m sure. You’re home now,” Mom said as she twisted the towel and playfully snapped it at me. “You need to go wash your hands and have your breakfast.”

I grinned as I scooted out of the kitchen, dodging her attack. The worry was still there, despite her telling me to release it, but my thoughts moved to more ordinary, mundane matters. It was good to be home.

MM-MM-MM-MM-MM

A few days later…

It was good to be home, but only for a very short period of time. Director Nova summoned the heroes once more into space, isolating them from the problems on the planet below after the World Corps began to escalate. The mercenaries and their augmented pseudo-hero guardians headed directly to multiple league headquarters to interrogate heroes in a poorly disguised attempt to capture, imprison, or bait the world’s heroes.

I found myself once again looking out of a port window at the large, beautiful planet the space station orbited. “Why are they doing this to us? It’s just not fair.”

“When has life ever been fair?” Astra asked as she sat opposite me at the table. Her life so far had been a testament to the cruelness of existence. Only a few years older than me, she had been born a boy, kidnapped by aliens, and while granted superpowers, had been genetically altered into a female body. While all this went on, she had been declared dead back at her home and once she returned, her parents wouldn’t, or couldn’t, accept what had happened and she essentially lost her family as well. “Fair is never assured. It often isn’t even attempted anymore. Most people want more in exchange for what they give, not to break even.”

“And to get more, someone else has to get less,” I said. “Is that what you’re getting at? For one person or group to win, someone else has to lose.”

“Unless you’re Krystal Fae and can make things out of thin air, yeah, pretty much,” Astra said as she took a sip from the straw in her glass. The noise of her slurping the last dredge of her milkshake drew the attention of several of the tables around us.

Astra and my eyes met. We both began to giggle under the pressure of their stares. “Let’s go find Doug. He and Catalyst were going to work on some upgrades to Doug’s robotic body, weren’t they?”

The dirty glasses on our table lifted into the air and floated over to a recycling bin, courtesy of Astra’s telekinetic powers. One nice benefit of being aboard a space station with other superpowered individuals was that using our powers wasn’t frowned on at all. Well, within reason. Wyldfyre performing a Hawaiian fire-dance/strip-tease for tips in one of the airlocks got him locked up for a couple of days.

Heroes using their powers wasn’t the issue though. It was the boredom of people with powers being trapped on a spacestation compounded by the uncertainty of what was going on back home on Earth. Working with BADGE had taught us how to fight when the time came to stop evil, not how to hide and let others, like Ben Talos with the UN, fight for us.

“Yeah,” Astra said. “They’re in one of the computer labs. Let’s go.”

As we headed out of the room, each of our BADGE communicators signaled an incoming message. Not only ours, but the comm units for everyone around us. Some chirped, some rang with catchy tunes, others buzzed as the vibrated, but all together at once, they told everyone the same message. Something big was about to happen.

to be continued...

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Interlude: Observing a Reuniting (PRELUDE to 'The Harbinger' Raid)

[Tri-blade] [ID: 10879]

They watched the soldiers with the World Corps emblems open the back doors of the trucks. A slow stream of bodies emerged, and through his binoculars Tri-blade could see the smiles on their faces. A woman broke from the crowd that had gathered at the opposite end of the cricket pitch, and sprinted madly to a man and a girl carrying a stuffed toy animal. The trio embraced at the centre square and the crowd cheered loudly. Others took their chance and ran towards other people.

"The camera crews are getting their fill," smirked Aflima behind his set of binoculars.

"Yeah. A nice PR stand from that group broadcast to the whole region... Rosa does the count add up?" said Tri-blade.

The reply from another vantage point was quick. "Correct. 18 people including children were rounded up here in Vanuatu... and each one is accounted for by our count."

Tri-blade dropped his binoculars into a duffle bag and shrugged. "This lines up with what we're hearing from other jurisdictions. South Africa was to be the first, but for whatever reason they expedited the situation in Vanuatu first. Probably to cover their behinds if something goes awry in a more high-profile region..."

"Think there's something else at play, Tri?" asked Aflima as he dropped his own binoculars and started zipping up the bag.

"Since Day 1, bud," was Tri-blade's response. "While World Corps has had their difficulty with groups not aligned at the hip to BADGE... WMD the most prominent but also the more under-the-radar groups like Star Force, and even ours... when it comes to BADGE matters they've been playing high-level chess. Anticipate and pre-empt. I'm sure Director Nova is seething with frustration. The World Corps definitely has something else up their sleeve and we have to be ready."

Tri-blade grabbed the bag and the two of them walked away to their rendezvous point with Rosa and Ability Mage. In a few minutes their small aircraft silently glided away from the Pacific archipelago nation, and out of the sight of the World Corps crews.

"Update from our teams, Mage?" asked Aflima.

Ability Mage replied, "Macaia and Jake are standing by near New York. BADGE's old HQ location is at yellow-alert. No sign of imminent threat. Agents Aksoy and Squires are on assignments with BADGE. Neeta is holding things down locally."

"And the newbie?"

"He was still alerting various hero groups on AMA locations but as of three hours ago the call to pull back was made and his current location isn't yet known. He's been moving too quickly. Shall I try and reach him?"

Aflima shook his head. "Let him be. He works best independently. And lucky for him, his non-affiliation with an official league has meant that he's not on BADGE's radar, and assuming that World Corps has a copy of BADGE's data, won't be on theirs either."

"I agree," said Tri-blade. "Let's make our way to South Africa. Ping Krystal Fae, please, so she's aware of Vanuatu. Also Dr. Silver Strange Surfer, Starmaster, Furious Squirrel and Crossroads. Stay alert, team."

The aircraft picked up speed as it flew across the Indian Ocean.

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A new sidekick

#20314 Crazy Banner

Attention World Raid invasion has begun but this time its possibly trying to reach out just to become a sidekick. Learning from the past that sometimes complete control is out of reach. Chaos only gets you so far till you hit the obstacles you just can't figure out how to overcome with out help. The Heroes and Villains of HR come together and fight side by side to overcome the overwhelming power of the raid boss making one hello of a battle out of it! Giving the World Raid Boss a good swift @$$ kicking a few good times must have taught it a thing or two because this time its coming in with tricks of it's own.
Do you know the color scheme of the different types of gear? What color is mental? Or elemental? They all have their own color scheme!!! Pay attention?!?!?!!!

Bring Sally up... Flash flash flash
Bring Sally down... Solid pause
Bring Sally up... Flash flash flash
Bring Sally down pause.

Trick or treat or April Fool's jokes they offer a solid chance for everyone good luck raid smashers try and befriend the minions trying to take over the city could do with a little help every now and again a sidekick would definitely be an extra hand for them pinch spots we end up in.

Scrap Mech
Strike +2300
Technology damage +9
Pinball +5

Green Machine
Stun +5
Supernatural damage +6

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Hanzo Ninja Clan: Dew Bee's Newbies

There's A New Raid And New Gear!

The Harbinger
ID: 13807

The new raid brings new gear! There is a new back piece that wasn't included in the recent Patrol event, called Neurolink Armpack. It is comparable to the other back gear recently unveiled, but with a little more kick when it comes to the numbers crunching department of building a suit. Furthermore, the long awaited, often requested SIDEKICK gear makes its debut with 2 Sidekicks winnable from the raid. This raid has constantly fluctuating strengths and weaknesses. So it is sure to get interesting. Be sure to get in there and get your Sidekicks, but keep a constant

vigil for the fluctuating strengths and weaknesses.

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Heroes Rising Fiction: Inquisition Part 16

 The tension in Nova was tangible. Even the robots on duty seemed to notice. He stood as still as Gar as he watched the large monitor. One screen showed a shuttle flying through the skies over South Africa, dozens of news cameras taking shots of it. The other screen was the general assembly of the United Nations.

“Report from Agent Chase.” A robot announced.

“Put her through.”

The news screen shrank as a new window opened, with Chase standing inside the hallway of a military compound. Quark and Gar stood behind her, looking around.

“Report.” Nova commanded.

“We got inside. The place is abandoned. They rigged it to blow once we got here, but Quark turned all the explosives into frogs. We’re outside the tetryon field, blocking the innermost area of this place. It could be rigged as well. Quark couldn’t see in there.”

“Proceed with caution, but get in there now. We need their data.”

“Understood.” The screen changed back to the news.

A woman reported, “In moments, Ambassador Ben Talos will address the U.N. General Assembly on behalf of BADGE. It is unclear if this will happen before or after the drop-off of the children in Pretoria, South Africa. The World Corps has removed all of their agents from the streets of Pretoria, only local authorities will be present for the return of the children. We have footage from inside the shuttle.” The video changed to the interior of the shuttle where children gleefully played and chattered while reporters sat with them, just as happy to be there. “As you can see, the atmosphere inside the shuttle is one of joy.”

Nova watched all of this, hardly betraying any emotion. Agent Justin approached and handed Nova a computer tablet with daily reports. “Sir, what they are saying is true. The World Corps has removed their agents. It’ll be hard for us to prove they are villains if they keep acting so...well...honest.”

“True villains know how to capture the hearts and minds of people, Justin. Never forget that. They are playing their hand well. However, once we present our evidence, the tables might turn on them. One kind act is hardly enough to excuse all that we know they have done and are still doing.”

The screens all changed when Ben Talos stepped up to the podium with files in hand. An announcer spoke, “The U.N. General Assembly recognizes Ambassador Ben Talos, speaking on behalf of BADGE. You have the floor, sir.”

Nova whispered, “why isn’t our agent with him?”

Justin shook his head. “I don’t know.”

Ben Talos addressed the room. “Ladies and Gentlemen of the United Nations. I came here with vast quantities of evidence gathered by BADGE to prove maleficence from the World Corps. Recently, BADGE has set their heroes on a task of gathering weapons, weapons that are the only true method of keeping heroes at bay. The AMA is a weapon that no hero can truly defend against until BADGE cracked the system and developed a defense.”

Nova frowned. “What is he doing?”

Ben held up papers. “They have tracked the heroes of the World Corps to expose an evil ploy by this organization. However, I’m finding other evidence, other issues that BADGE has yet to explain to this body.”

Justin asked Nova, “what did he just say?”

Large images appeared behind Ben on the screen of Arx before and after his recent transformation. “BADGE not only has been working hard to thwart the plans to protect this world, they have been doing so with the aid of one of the most dangerous villains in recent memory. Arx, calling himself Craig now, gave them the information to crack the AMA and develop a method of defense against it. Any modicum of trust I had for BADGE was destroyed when I learned this.”

“WHAT IS HE DOING!” Nova yelled at the screen, causing Justin to take a step back.

The news screen was automatically changed when Chase came through. “Sir, we have something you must see.”

“Not now!”

“No, you have to see this.” She turned her wrist comm toward a computer screen in the World Corps HQ. Four images came through clearly on a large monitor, each one denoted with titles. Alpha, Gamma, Delta, and the last one, Beta, who had the same face as the man speaking to the U.N.

Nova lost color in his face, “Beta...is Ben Talos. What have I done?”

On the other screen, Talos called out, “It is time this body votes not only to sanction BADGE, but to hold the entire organization in contempt and remove any protections against their criminal activity. It is time to end their power by any means necessary.”

The computer tablet in Nova’s hand broke under the intense pressure of his grip. “Put me through to the U.N. at once! I want that image from the World Corps HQ and all the other data we have on the augments that he was supposed to present.”

“Sir, how can you get through?” Justin asked.

“I started the U.N. dammit, they will listen to me.”

A robot said, “all data pertaining to augments and their identities has been erased, back-up systems have been purged, data loss is complete.”

“I should have guessed he wouldn’t let us keep any of that data.” Nova threw the broken tablet on a table and picked up another. “We can recover lost data. There has to be a way. Justin, get me Dr. Cyber from the Wisewolf League, he...”

“EMERGENCY! NEWS ALERT!” a robot called out.

“Now what?” Nova turned to the screen to find that the news broadcast over Pretoria was dominating all the channels.

The shuttle was still heading for the city, but it now had smoke billowing from a hole in the back of it. Before Nova could ask what happened, a blast of energy split the shuttle in half. The ball of fire spit out two smoking hulls that slammed into the city. Sirens went wild in Pretoria. A gray skinned man flew through the cloud of fiery smoke and released yet another blast of energy that destroyed a large bridge in the middle of town. He hovered in the air and looked directly at the news camera. Around him flew orbs of colored energy, and on his uniform was emblazoned the word BADGE.

“Another augment.” Justin said.

“Get me a closeup of that face.” Nova commanded.

The screen zoomed in and scanned the face. A picture from the BADGE files appeared next to it.

Justin whispered, “It’s Torrin Wolf, our agent we sent to help Talos. What have they done to him?”

“Turned him into one of their puppets, a tool of mass destruction.”

Torrin flew away from the camera and sent a green ray of energy at the ground. In one swath of power, he obliterated an entire golf course, two buildings, and split a major highway in half. With a gleeful smile, he lifted his hands and split himself into two identical villains, each attaching different parts of the city.

“What do we do?” Justin asked. “If we send in heroes, they’ll spin it like they did the Washington attack. If we don’t fight, millions are at substantial risk and we’re blamed for not stopping him.”

Nova grabbed his special comm unit, “I don’t give a damn about public image right now. Too many lives are on the line.” He clicked it. “All heroes, this is a top priority. Get to Pretoria now. Stop the Augment, save the people.”

Justin took Nova by the arm, "Sir, Torrin is one of our own, he's my friend."

Nova gave Justin a pained, yet stern face. "His life has been taken from him already. Right now, we have millions in greater danger." There was a moment where Nova had to collect himself. He spoke uncharacteristically soft with his next words. "Losing good people will never be easy. We have to focus, time will come for mourning."

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Hanzo Ninja Clan: Dew Bee's Newbies!

Gear trends and the new shuffle!

I'm not going to get into each piece of gear here. I'll just say that this is one of the absolute overall best shuffles to date. This is both pleasing and disconcerting for a few reasons. But we'll get into that in a bit. I will say that, if given the opportunity, I highly advise spinning this shuffle. There is a lot of gear here that has value. Very few pieces are meh. The gear in this shuffle are both strong and diverse, allowing to not only enhance pre existing suit designs, but also add new affects that couldn't fit easily into one's designs before.

For example, "Flexotensors" give 22 initiative. My current highest initiative using suit has 40 initiative across 6 gear slots. By using 2 "Flexotensors" instead of my current initiative gear, I not only improve my initiative by 4 points, I also free up 4 gear slots to either increase my initiative further, increase my numbers for other effects, or add new effects into my suit I wasn't previously able to fit in. That's huge!!!!

You'll find small amounts of move squirreled away into gear slots not commonly known for move. "Overloader", "Polyfilament arms", and "Thunderstruck" all have move bonuses in slots that fill rings and arms. Typically, move is found in legs and boots.

Players will find tons of gear sporting stat steal and redux, as well as life stealing effects. The popular and dreaded poison effect makes an appearance with "Tabernus Celeritas". While super natural poison has already made its appearance in the shuffle, magic poison has only shown its face on 2 pieces of gear, the "manticore venom ring", found in patrols, and the "sentient growth" found in raids. "Tabernus Celeritas" changes that with a strong entry into the poison category that is easy to build upon through basic and advanced game play.

A new effect has also entered the fray, and one I find most welcome. Disrupt aura can be found on the very stylish "Hatter's Pride".

There was a lot of concern when auras first came out that they were too powerful. We've since learned this not to be the case. Most auras have little in the way of producing large amounts of damage. However, this isn't the case with the two most popular forms, nightmare and magic auras. These 2 auras have are in plenty of supply. In order to combat this, nick came out with disrupt effects to counter them. That's fine when attacking an opposing toon, but what about when defending? I don't want to have to take away from my toon's overall effectiveness by being forced into packing in all these defensive measures to cover all my bases, while my attacker gets to streamline his build specifically to battle mine. The more I have to pack into my suit for all comers, the less effective that suit becomes to any one attacker, and thus to all attackers.

So now, with all the different damage types available, i have to use core resist, stun resist, prevent burn, disrupt this aura, disrupt that aura, disrupt the next big aura. It's really getting ridiculous for the defending player to try to keep up, while the attacking players is handed more and more openings. Luckily, this new effect gives us a glimmer of hope. It only has 5% disrupt aura, but that is effective against all auras and gives us a sneak peak into the future when we'll be able to replace all our aura disrupts with just 1.

This part is for the devs.

I'd like to double back to initiative. A lot of folks seem to think initiative might be game breaking. It really isn't. It takes up room on your suit to effect 1 round only of the entire fight. Now, that round could make a difference. But it also can be dodged and now all that space that went towards initiative just went up in smoke. Initiative really has its most affect when 2 "leech and drain" builds are fighting each other, and even then it can be dodged. So it isn't game breaking. The funny thing is that initiative was already built into the game and didn't need this effect. And now, to try to balance out the initial shock initiative brought on, it seems like the devs are flooding the market with it. So now each player has to use up more and more gear slots to compete for the highest initiative to increase their odds of going 1st........ When there was already initiative built into player builds to begin with.........

I guess I'm saying I wish the devs would reel back some on all the "great ideas" they try to roll out to make the game fresh and new. We don't need a constant rollout of new effects. When new effects do come out, they should be well thought out with thought put into how this could affect the game environment. Is it broken? Can it be broken? Does it help or hinder players more? Ask the players what they think before making a new rollout. They might see issues far in advance that you don't think about. Better to discover the potential problems before a rollout, rather than have to jump to create a fix, that just might create more issues. Case in point: too many things players now have to defend against causing imbalance between attackers and defenders. If you want to make the game exciting, we could use more content and event variety, and prizes that get us excited. I find myself more excited over what a belt will look like on my avatar far more than the gear I would win.

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Heroes Rising Fiction: Inquisition Part 15

 

Nova and Chase watched the events unfold through the various news reports coming in from across the planet.

A news reporter spoke to the London audience. Behind him could be heard the sounds of a fight. “Earlier today, heroes from BADGE attacked the location of a World Corps encampment. We were informed by the World Corps that the BADGE officials were attempting to free villains that the corps has apprehended during their questioning process. However, cameras only caught those same heroes disarming the World Corps soldiers. The heroes working with the corps attacked the BADGE heroes, and the fight is still going on.”

There was a flash of purple light and Krystal Fae stood next to the reporter. The sounds behind them had reduced considerably as heroes flew and walked away, each carrying armloads of debris.

“Oh, my. Oh, hello, are you with BADGE?”

“Yes, I’m Krystal Fae with the News Sentinel and member of BADGE. I wanted to state clearly for your audience that we have only come to remove lethal weapons from the hands of the mercenaries the World Corps hired. As you can see, we did as little harm to them or their superhuman as possible.”

He asked, “what about their detainees? We have been informed that your targets were those detained for questioning.”

She smiled, “we’re only carrying away the remains of those horrible weapons. There aren’t any detainees among them. Where they have put them is as much a mystery to us as it is to you.” A member of the World Corps’ security was coming toward them, obviously ready to address this. Krystal smiled at the camera. “I’m afraid we must dispose of the weapons. Thank you for your time.” In a flash, she was gone.

On the station, Nova let out a relieved sigh. “That was a good interview. Even though I asked our heroes not to speak with the media, Krystal did a fine job.”

Chase said, “she has experience.”

“Yes. And right now, we have the World Corps on the run. They can’t fight us, they can’t stop us. I just hope we can clean this mess up before they have time to shift gears and regain control.”

The elevator opened, Gar stepped out with Craig. EB sat on Gar’s shoulder, chattering away. “So, there I was, eggs all over the place, and these hunters were trying to find me. Dumb rednecks thought they could catch me. But, oh, no, I’m WAAAY faster than them. I think they were drunk. I swear I smelled moonshine. Oh, hi buddy.” EB hopped down and bounced around Nova. “It worked! Toldja it would. He ate three of em and BANG, his memory is that much clearer. It’s sooo much easier using magic on him now that he has all those old dumb enhancements drained from him. He’s a pretty cool guy, not the arrogant, pompous, Hollywood jerkface that...oh, sorry, Craig.”

Craig shook his head, “don’t worry. I read all about Arx on and off camera. I really got a big head for a long time. I never want to be that person again.”

Nova said, “we all appreciate the effort. Now, about that memory.”

Gar handed Nova a tablet. “He put in everything he remembered while under that memory charm EB placed on the eggs.”

Nova looked it over. “Interesting. So, they had a location in Canada, then they had a place in Nevada. But this...this is the most interesting place.”

“Where?” Chase looked at the tablet.

“The World Corps HQ. Looks like it has a secret sub-basement that is guarded by tetyron energy barriers. We have nothing that can see through that. But how did you know? I doubt they brought you there for experimentation.”

EB hopped up and down. “He had this brain blast, real memory explosion...BOOM! There he was, on the table. They thought they had him out, like sooo out he wouldn’t...”

“Let him explain.” Nova stopped EB.

Craig said, “like he said, they had me strapped down and Dr. Osteen pumped some kind of chemical into me to put me out. But, I guess my enhancements blocked it enough I could still hear. Dr. Osteen left the room, and this guy named Delta talked to a woman. He spoke about this place and that it was their HQ. I recalled the word tetryon. That is as much as I could recall, everything else is...gone.”

Chase said, “yeah, from what Dr. Henderson said, your memory isn’t just blocked or locked away, it was stripped out by the process. Nothing but bits and pieces left.”

Nova added, “It’s a miracle you remember anything at all. But this will give us a way to put a stop to them. Quark!”

A blue flash appeared and a five foot blue duck stood in front of them. “I was in the middle of my bath.”

“You bathe like that?” Chase asked.

“Yup.”

“What kind of tub?”

“A quasar.”

Chase muttered, “of course.”

Nova said, “get back to normal...at least what you call normal.”

“I hate that word.” Quark changed into his normal blue self. “So, what’s up?”

Nova handed him the tablet. “Can you get a team inside this place asap?”

Quark looked at the specs. “Hmmm, I can get you to this island. But not inside. Tetryon energy is in flux with normal space, which is why it’s so powerful. I might get through it, but if my fluctuations are off a tiny bit, it will scatter atoms across the entire solar system. Do you know how long that would take for me to put myself back together?”

Nova said, “Take Gar and Chase. Find a way to get inside that secret base. Apprehend members of their hierarchy and bring back their data.”

“Understood.”

Before anyone moved, a robot announced. “Director Nova: UN emergency meeting is happening.”

“What? Talos was supposed to meet with them tomorrow.” Nova and the others looked up at the main screen. “Put it through, now.”

To their surprise and ire, the screen showed all the delegates of the U.N. listening to Judge Alpha. “My people have been accused of kidnapping and murder. BADGE knows no restraint in their blatant attempts to thwart true, honest justice and security for this world. As you all have been seeing on the news, BADGE sent their enforcers into our camps to disarm my people, removing any modicum of balance against their power. And now, I find they aren’t just taking weapons out of our hands, they are leaving death in their wake.” The screens behind her showed entire legions of the mercs, laying in pools of their own blood. “We have volunteer heroes working to defend my people, but they are no match for the brute force of the BADGE villains.”

Chase gasped, “our people didn’t do that...did they?”

Nova shook his head, his face turning a new shade of red. “No. The World Corps murdered their own to craft this story. I underestimated the lengths they would go to.”

Alpha continued. “This news was only brought to my attention early today. I had come to make a different announcement, one that would hopefully put to rest the false narrative BADGE has created. It has been said that we are kidnapping people and never returning them. Due to the interference of BADGE and their allies, our process has taken much longer than expected. However, we are glad to be returning over three dozen children to their parents in Pretoria, South Africa, tomorrow. This will be the first of many returns that will show we only mean to do what is best for the world. Thank you.”

“What does this mean?” Quark asked.

Nova said, “it means that they are already changing gears to regain the upper hand. What I know is that they aren’t simply returning children. There is a deeper, darker reality behind this act. What I don’t know is what they plan on doing during this. They could be distracting the world from our report from Talos that will go live tomorrow. But, I just don’t know. Quark, Chase, Gar, get moving. We have to put a stop to them before it’s too late.”

Chase paused and gave Nova a smile, “at least we still have Ambassador Talos. Hopefully he can sway the U.N. to not trust Alpha and her lies.”

“I hope he does a fantastic job tomorrow. Now, move.”

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HANZO NINJA CLAN; DEW BEE'S NEWBIES: SCRAPPING FOR GOLD!

ID: 23268

As you may have noticed, there's a temporary event going on that allows us to work towards free gear and power cards. I've been asked several times what I think of the new gear for the previously hidden Back Gear Slot. Well, to be honest, none of it is just outstanding. As has been the case in the past, I imagine these gears are merely a sample of what is to come, with far better back pieces soon to appear in the Store and Shuffle. However, that doesn't mean you shouldn't try to get these gears while they are here. You never know what the future may hold. These pieces may be just the right fit for a suit in the future. Or it may be a long time before we see Back gear available outside this event. Maybe it's a special prize for the early birds and the industrious. Who knows? So I say it behooves you to try and acquire at least 1, if not more of these gears. If you find yourself able to get multiples, remember that even though we only have 1 Back slot currently, that doesn't mean others won't be added later. Even if this isn't the case, your team's HQ Sentinel can use them as well. I'll be posting my thoughts on each gear below, listed from best to worst, imo.

Morphonic Jetpack
Physical
This jetpack uses pure morphons in the air to fuel it, giving you limitless propulsion.
Back
MOVE + 900
MINOR MOVE + 1%
SUPER DISRUPT NIGHTMARE AURA + 13 This is all around the best out of the gear offered. It will have the most overall function in different combat environment.

Kawaiipakku
Mental
This was left by a lost child from the World Corps. You now wear it in defiance of their evil. It gives you courage and strength like no other armor can. Plus, it is really cute!!
Back
AMAZING DISRUPT NIGHTMARE AURA + 15
SUPER DISRUPT MAGIC AURA + 10
This was left by a lost child from the World Corps. You now wear it in defiance of their evil. It gives you courage and strength like no other This is the best piece for what it offers. However, it will not be used in every situation, and is therefore limited in its effectiveness. But what it does do, it does well.

Black Cloak
Super Natural
A black cape that marks you as a formidable foe. It feeds off of enemies' fear.
Back
REMARKABLE SUPERNATURAL DAMAGE + 8
SUPER LIFE + 10
A black cape that marks you as a formidable foe. It feeds off of enemies' fear.
Not a bad piece for a beginner toon. The Life isn't much but does help with lower level toons. The Plus Damage is common enough to be useful in a suit that stacks plenty more of it across other gear.

Cybernetic Wings
Tech
Using the unique tech in the AMA weapons, these wings sense your nervous system and react like natural appendages.
Back
REMARKABLE TECH AURA + 8
MOVE + 1200
Using the unique tech in the AMA weapons, these wings sense your nervous system and react like natural appendages. It was tough to call between this one and the next. Both are good for Duels and Brawls. This one slightly edges out the next IF the Aura damage actually makes it through. Unfortunately, there isn't a lot of Tech Aura damage that is easily or readily available. If the Aura damage does not suffice to penetrate your opponent's defenses, then the next gear is better. The 1200 Move is the equivalent of 4 fully tiered top Move card's worth of Move.

Cape of Levitation
Magic
If you lack the ability to soar through the skies, don't worry! This enchanted cape lets you lift off the ground.
Back
MINOR MOVE + 1%
MOVE + 1200
If you lack the ability to soar through the skies, don't worry! This enchanted cape lets you lift off the ground. This isn't a bad gear at all for Duels and Brawls, and even has limited value in full deck events with the 1% Move stat increase. This doesn't sound like a lot, but every little edge helps. As with the previous gear, 1200 Move is a sizable increase to your Move stat for Duels and Brawls.

Butterfly Wings
Elemental
Analyzing the unique morphonic energy in the AMA weapons, BADGE was able to craft these wings. They aren't as fast as jets, but they can stay aloft for longer than anything else.
Back
REMARKABLE ELEMENTAL MIASMA + 8
Analyzing the unique morphonic energy in the AMA weapons, BADGE was able to craft these wings. They aren't as fast as jets, but they can stay aloft for longer than anything else.
This is the worst of the gear, and warrants being the least expensive by a long shot. It does 1 thing only, and it doesn't do it that well. There currently isn't enough Miasma Aura to make much of an impact, and players are currently better served by Burn. Still, it may be worth it for no other reason than limited options give you this as the only way currently to connect your Elemental core's bonus Plus Damage to a Back piece.

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