The saga of... War-Woman!

[Alaric]

(Edit: I made a couple of slight additions that I left out before because I was in a hurry, and I remembered why I originally gave the character that name...)

Some of you may possibly have noticed me speding a lot of my time on Triumph playing a character with the not-particularly-great name of War-Woman. You may possibly have wondered what was going on- probably not, but you may have. Well, therein hangs a tale...

I first started playing CoH pretty much as soon as it was generally available. While my very character (created just as a test) ended up being the main one I palyed for a while (until sometime after he reached 50, in fact), I had immediately (as soon as I started playing) begun experimenting with character creation. I created a lot of characters, spread around on different servers, using different ATs, different origins, different models, etc. While a few of those early characters are still around (one's my third-highest level character, actually), many of them were later deleted in my various purges, to make room for more.

Anyway, for one of these early characters, I wanted to make a female Tanker with a Natural origin. I designed her with a costume that seemed appropriate for a female tanker, but was very generic. I chose the War Mace set, since I hadn't tried it yet, and chose Invulnerability, because it was the only Tanker primary that seemed like it could almost work with a Natural origin- I would have rather had something else, though. Since I always liked to have some idea of my characters' backgrounds, I came up with the bare bones of a backstory for her- she came from a hidden civilization somewhere in North America, founded by Vikings a thousand years ago or so. I wanted to call her Warrior Woman, but it was taken, so I shortened it to War Woman.

There was a lot I didn't like about War Woman. The name kind of mildly grew on me, but the costume wasn't great, I didn't like using Invulnerability for a Natural character who didn't wear armor, and she didn't play very well. Still, there was something about her background that I liked, and there was something oddly satisfying about hitting criminals on the head with a large blunt weapon.

Eventually, I decided I'd put her on hold, and maybe recreate her if and when Shields were added as a Tanker primary. At first, I kept her around to reserve the name, but eventually I figured the name wasn't worth holding a potential spot.

After I11 went live, it occured to me that I now had that Tnaker primary appropriate to a non-armored Natural character, and I wanted to play with weapon customization, so I decided, as an experiment, to try recreating War Woman. I chose Triumphe as one of the servers I still had a fair number of slots on, and remade her as a Natural Wllpower/War Mace Tanker (with a much, much better costume). The name War Woman was already taken, so I shrugged my shoulders and hyphenated it. Then, I started playing.

Wow.

Suddenly, War-Woman was fun to play- more fun then any other character I've yet created in this game. What a difference 11 issues has made (or is it 10? Was Issue 1 the first update, or the pre-update game as it was when it went live? I can't remember...)

Some of the thigns that made the difference:

1) Willpower instead of Invlunerability- Not only does it fit the character better, but, in my opinion, it's just a more fun set.

2) War Mace customized to War Hammer- A more fun weapon, and one that fits her better.

3) The costume- Most of what she wears now didn't exist yet in the game when War Woman Mark 1 was created. Her current costume is one of the best I've made in this game (I think, anyway), and it wouldn't have been possible back then. In fact, going over it in my mind, I think there's only one part of her costume that was available when I made the first version.

4) Changes to the missions- She's fun to play on police scanner missions and safeguard missions, and it's like the Hollows missions were made for her. None of those existed when I made the first version.

5) Her background- Without going into detail, it occured to me that her origin, tweaked very slightly, would logically give her some sort of connection to an existing villain group (I then had to work out exactly how that conenction worked), and maybe to one or two others, as well. When I made the first version, I didn't know enough about the villain groups to figure any of that out, and it defintely adds to my fun while playing her.

6) The fact that I have fewer technical issues while playing now probably helps, too.

Thosee are just some of the reasons she's gone from a throwaway, forgettable character to my current favorite, and once the changes to War Mace timing go live, she'll probably be even more fun.

Anyway, I just thought it made an interesting story- and that the other members of the Heroic Fellowship might want to know a little more about the group's founder. It's funny how things work out sometimes...

It also shows just how much this game has changed since it came out.

[El Condor]

Cool story, Al.  'Specially for those of us entering the game more recently - it's nice to know how much the game has been worked on and improved.  :D

EC

[gdaybloke]

So where's a screenie of the costume?

[77]

Hit me up on Tri we can team

[BWPS]

So where's a screenie of the costume?

pics or it didn't happen

[Tortuga]

I was just re-reading Invincible vol. 1 and there's War Woman -- with a war hammer to boot!

[MJB]

Awesome story Al.

-MJB

[Alaric]

I was just re-reading Invincible vol. 1 and there's War Woman -- with a war hammer to boot!

Ugh! The time-traveling plagiarists strike again!

[Alaric]

Apologies for the necropost, but I just created War-Woman's evil sister, Mayhem Maiden (Axe/WP Brute, also on Triumph), and I'm having a lot of fun with her (I do have to get around to posting pictures of both War-Woman and Mayhem Maiden at some point...)

I've fleshed out War-Woman's background a lot... eventually, I plan to do a fan-fic about her.     

[captainspud]

I was just re-reading Invincible vol. 1 and there's War Woman -- with a war hammer to boot!

More of a mace, I'd say...

[Alaric]

Heh... Doesn't look much like my War-Woman, though she does have a cape (in her usual costume)...

[Tortuga]

I was just re-reading Invincible vol. 1 and there's War Woman -- with a war hammer to boot!

More of a mace, I'd say...

Find an image that's actually from the comic (drawn by Cory Walker or Ottley and not ... whatever ... that is) and you'll see what I mean.

[captainspud]

Walker and Ottley didn't draw her, she was a back-up story drawn by Mark Englert.

And it's still a mace. ;)

Oh, and Stumpy: your Inbox is full.

[stumpy]

Oh, and Stumpy: your Inbox is full.

Oops. Thanks. Fixed. Feel free to re-send.