01-Dec-12
0330hrs
Operation Kickback commences. A combined strike group of 48 of Earth's most powerful heroes and villains, including Col. Alec "Alpha-One" Raynes and his mercenary crew, charges out of Fort Plum and hits the first Rikti Pylon. It's not known how, but these pylons help maintain the crashed Rikti Mothership's shield. Destroying all 18 pylons drops the shield and allows attacks on the Mothership itself.
0335hrs
The pylon's missile defenses are quickly overwhelmed by the combined assault. The strike group converges on the Mothership and splits into 6 teams, each clearing a path to an exhaust duct. Alpha uses Force Bubble to force the Rikti defenders out of the way while his marines maintain a defensive perimeter. Another Charlie Team member busts down the grate protecting the exhaust duct and places an explosive charge. The team sprints to the RV point as a huge explosion rocks the air. A few more well placed bombs knock out the ship's shield generator.
0340hrs
The ship's Master at Arms, U'Kon Gr'ai, presents himself in the "bowl", a concave structure atop the mothership, and challenges the strike group. Never backing down from a fight, the heroes and villains charge in. Though heavily armed and armored, a single Rikti warrior is no match for the combined might of several dozen super-powered beings. As he falls from his wounds, the strike group converges in the center of the dish. Alpha-One generates a Dispersion Bubble around the weaker metahumans while his marines form a defensive perimeter around them. Wave after wave of Rikti warriors charge into the "bowl" and are held back by a barrage of bullets, energy blasts, flames, ice, blades and fists.
0404hrs
It's only been 30 minutes, but it has felt like hours. The strike group has been holding back the Rikti defenders, though ammo and stamina are starting to run low. Hopefully this diversion will keep the Rikti distracted from Lady Grey's Task Force. It's only a matter of time before the engineers deep within the ship repair the shield generator and the strike group is mass teleported out to safety. As his marines fall from their wounds, Alec calls in more reinforcements and concentrates on maintaining the many force fields the defend his allies.
And then a blink.
Then darkness.
The universe as it is known by Alec Raynes, his friends, his allies and his enemies, has simply ceased to exist.
 |
| Operation Kickback Combined Strike Group, final transmission. |
Once upon a time, there was a story I liked to tell people. That I refused to pay a monthly fee just to play a game. So instead I pay an annual fee. Many laughs ensue.
Though that's not quite the truth. My first exposure to MMOs was Allegiance, a space combat MMO. Except I didn't know it was an MMO. I played for the free month and then it asked me for my credit card. I said #$%^ that.
My next exposure was during my first combat deployment, in the fall of 2001. One of my fellow shipmates was literally addicted to Everquest. I had heard of the game and vaguely knew that it was one of those newfangled massively-multiplayer games, but I had no interest in high fantasy dungeons and dragons type games. However watching this guy have headaches and the shakes and literally mumble to himself about what he'd be doing if he was online showed me a rather scary aspect of my favorite pastime. One that I'd rather avoid.
A few years pass. I get married. I remuster to a new trade. I move to a new base. In April of 2005 I'm on an electronics course. To pass the time most of my course-mates are playing MMOs, World of Warcraft being the new big deal. I laugh, those games are beneath me. Kids are all into these MMOs that replace their social lives. Real gamers have joystick/throttle/rudder setups and play sim games. But one day my roommate starts playing a game where he gets to create a superhero and fly (yes FLY!) around this giant city fighting crime. AND he can team up with other superheroes. So I asked him if I could give it a try. Within moments I was hooked.
That weekend I drove back home and asked my wife if she was ok with paying $15US a month to play this game. She was reluctant at first but I persuaded her by saying we'd share it, she could play while I'm away and I'd play on weekends. That day I bought the City of Heroes Collector's Edition DVD.
I didn't play much at first. The course I was on was very intense and required a lot of studying. My wife, however, discovered the joy of being "the healer" and got sucked right in. I graduated that summer and played a bit more while waiting for the next phase of training. Then October 31st, 2005 happened. City of Villains. Hot damn.
I was truly and totally hooked. In retrospect, I'm surprised that during the next 9 months I still managed to graduate my tech course as top student and kept my marriage together. Being a villain was so much more fun than being a hero, both because of the archetypes (MasterMinds and Brutes, oh my!) and content (The Radio and Peter Themari, I'm looking at you). I've been playing ever since.
So just to put things into perspective, here's what happened in my life since I started playing City of Heroes:
- I renewed my vows.
- I completed POET (Performance Oriented Electronics Training)
- I completed Avionics Technician apprentice and journeyman training
- Had a baby boy
- Qualified as a CP-140 Tactical Systems technician
- Earned my Airborne Electronic Sensor Operator wings
- Moved three times (Borden > Comox > Greenwood)
- Went from a "Basic" Category operator to "Advanced" then "Lead"
- Deployed to Libya
- And have done stuff I'm not allowed to talk about for over a year.
Max grew up watching us play City of Heroes. He spent a lot of time sitting on our laps (or in my wife's case nursing at keyboard). The day he was born, I called my in-laws, I called my parents, then I logged into City of Heroes to announce Mini-Alpha to Guardian server. We've let him create characters and have fun jumping and pushing emote binds (he likes to /em howl). I think the saddest part was about a week after the closure was announced, my 9 year old daughter asked to play. After the game went Free-2-Play I usurped my brother's account and opened up a new one, hoping we'd get to play as a family. I told her it was too late to play City of Heroes, but I let her roll a new character on my Champions Online account.
City of Heroes shut down this morning at 0404hrs, my time. Max will be 6 years old in 4 days. And he won't get to play Churk again.
As for Alec "Alpha-One" Raynes. He's bound to wake up somewhere. Look for him in The Secret World, Star Trek Online, MechWarrior Online, Champions Online and Star Wars: The Old Republic. He won't be a Mercenaries/Force Field MasterMind, but you'll recognize him.
Sorry for the long winded post, but after 8 years, this feels like losing a good friend. At least I got to hold his hand and talk about all the good times we had before he shut his eyes for good.
Goodbye fellow heroes of Guardian server. Goodbye Paragon City.
