Meta’s Verse: Extra Life, Extra Edition
Hello! You may have noticed there wasn’t any Meta’s Verse this week. Well that was so we could bring you a special edition today live from inside City of Heroes. I, Meticulous Meta am going to be in City of Heroes for 24 hours straight. Insane you may say, perhaps it is. But people do crazy things for charity. Yes! I’m talking about Extra Life. The 24 hour gaming marathon being done by nearly 15,000 gamers around the world. The real winners of the marathon are the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. Every participant picks which hospital they would like to do the event for, and in this way it makes it more personal. I’ll be updating this article every hour from City of Heroes as we work our way through a very exciting day.
Team City of Heroes has 45 members from all over the world. We’ve had 227 donations which currently total $7,236.33. Because of all of that Team City of Heroes ranks 21/2322. If you’re interested in joining us it isn’t too late! Head over to the Extra Life team and join us.
Don’t forget to check back here every hour while I tell the stories of those 45 team members, share my experiences and any thoughts I have during what will be a very long day.
If you’re reading this for the first time I would highly recommend at this point you go the end of the article and work your way back up. That way it is in chronological order.
Hour 24 THE END!
Oh sleep, glorious sleep. In all honesty though I have had a fantastic time. Teamed up with some amazing people that I’d never met before and a few I’d known for a while. Team City of Heroes has raised $8,419 so far. And it isn’t over yet for the team. There are still people who have many hours left. And though I won’t be around you’ll be in my thoughts. Thank you all for taking this amazing journey with me. I’ve had a fantastic time. Never did get in those last Yins though. Everyone was just too tired. Not that I can blame them at all. Naturally I’ve got a bit of a second (more like 50th) wind right now. I will see you all again on Wednesday for my regular Meta’s Verse. Until then enjoy one last screenshot from today. It was the Liberty TF.
Hour 23
Well, I’ve gone back to Praetoria. I have one character I want to get one level on then I’m thinking about using the rest of the time to do some more Yin TFs. They are the weekly. And they’re nice and fast. So a couple of those and I’ll be done. So long as I hold my eyes open really wide I don’t feel tired. I’m going to get back to it, I’m wasting time on my XP Booster!
Hour 22
Woo! Getting so close. I haven’t teamed for a few hours now. I think I just reached that point where I could TF no more. Oh how good that bed is looking. So close to being done though. Quite a lot of Team CoH has already finished. Each time someone finishes I am so jealous. But soon my time will come. I’ve turned the news on and I have it a bit loud. From time to time someone talks a bit loud and it gives me a little jolt. North America is going to start waking up soon.
Hour 21 Robin Harvey
I nearly forgot about writing until there was mention of time remaining in whole hours. And it is time for my final look at a CoH team member! This year Robin is playing for Connecticut Children’s Medical Center in Hartford, Connecticut. She’s playing for a very special young lady in her life who was diagnosed with type one diabetes several years ago and thanks to the people at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center has risen above the challenges in her life to be a wonderful young woman and a true hero.
Hour 20!
Wow! So close now. I almost, ALMOST joined the ITF from hell. They just announced the team filled again. I feel sorry for the two poor souls they picked up. Two of them couldn’t get into Cimerora, one of them couldn’t find the mansion in Night Ward to get Midnighter access. Then with only one 50 on the team, the rest of us being a bit low on the ITF scale they decided to make the 50 the leader. Anyway, Ardua and I decided to get out of that team before we even started. It was just going to be pain and agony. Especially at 8 in the morning. Which, now that I mention it, the time is 8am. That means daylight! Every one of these little victories is keeping me awake for just a little longer. Only a few more hours then I can sleep! I hope you’re all doing well out there!
Hour 19
5 more to go! In the home stretch. Also, having some bacon and bagels. It is 7 in the morning after all. Time for breakfast. We stopped doing things in Praetoria and got ourselves on another Yin! This time though I’m playing my character who I think has the best name ever, Sunday Morning. She’s a Street Justice/Willpower scrapper who is sort of the idealized bond girl who actually is a spy and good at it. Here is a pretty picture. This is Sunday Morning and An Innocent Man beating up Freaks in Yin!
Hour 18
And still at it! Praetoria that is. Time is passing quickly thankfully. So quickly in fact that I still don’t have a picture. Plus it is still only the two of us. Not that I mind. I’m having a great time. I can feel the cranky level of tired coming on. I promise not to post while I’m cranky though.
Hour 17
Oh god are we done yet!? The sun is going to start coming up soon. People have stopped chatting as they all grow tired and I’m still in Praetoria. Not much going on with the team either. Even twitter has started going a bit silent. Though as I type that the neighbors upstairs start walking around. I keep wanting to rest my eyes for just a second every time I have a loading time. That isn’t a good sign. 😛
Hour 16 Jonathan Doyle
Jonathan is playing for Our Lady’s Chidren’s Hospital, Crumlin in Dublin, Ireland. Like Danielle many hours ago his hospital of choice was picked because of his little brother. Growing up Jonathan’s brother had everything minor a kid could have. As well as a nasty case of Meningitis which could have left Jonathan an only child. But the folks at Crumlin took good care of his little brother and now he is a perfectly healthy, though strange young man. For anyone who is a regular of OnRPG you would better know Jonathan as the writer of The Secret World article and war correspondent, Ardua. And also the husband of Leliah who does the daily news, Alpha and Beta weekly updates and the weekly article on Rift.
I know! Still no picture. But we aren’t all that interesting. It’s just two of us. Going to pop an XP booster though and get things running a bit faster. It’s 4 am right now. Getting pretty tired. I might take a break here for a few minutes. Step outside into the cool air. At least, even though I’m tired time still seems to be passing pretty quickly.
Hour 15
I’m starting to feel the second stage of tired. Pretty impressive I’d say. I don’t think I was doing nearly this well at 3 am last year. Extra Life has announced that we are nearing the $1 million raised mark. Fantastic! I’m so proud of the 15,500 plus of us doing this. I imagine when I read back over all of this after I get some sleep I’m going to kick myself for saying a lot of the same things over and over. But oh well! Still working away in Praetoria just the two of us. I’ll post another screenshot with hour 16 I think. We need something to break up all this text.
Hour 14
Really starting to feel the tired setting in. Finished the Moonfire easily enough and we just got a Praetorian pair to 20. So they’re ready to escape whenever we feel like roleplaying it out. @DrewBlue is just an hour behind me and been leveling his Peacebringer today. While @Kalikamata has only just started into the caffinated drinks. Her character, November 30th has gone from level 1 to 32 so far today. @BLU Patriot has been broadcasting on AFK radio and will be the rest of the night. So there is a quick update at hour 14. I’m off to level some more Praetorians!
Hour 13!
Lucky number 13! I’m smack in the middle of doing a Moonfire so I’m going to keep it a bit brief. I’m back on Rayne again. Still enjoying the hell out of her. I will most likely go back to my Praetorians after this unless something else interesting forms. Have a mentioned yet that it is 1 in the morning? Its going to start getting tough. Ardua and I are already thinking about plans for next year. Of course we sadly won’t have City of Heroes anymore. But there are plenty of other games to play. We have 49 team members now! I’d love it if we could get one more and make it a clean 50. Keep up the great work!
Hour 12! Half Way!!
So! Here we are at the half way mark! At least for a few of us. We just finished taking down Hamidon. It went fantastic as always thanks to Exxcaliber’s leadership and Zombeh’s nachos. City of Heroes has raised over 8,000 dollars! I am so proud of the team. All of this has my blood pumping! I am feeling fantastic. Thank you to everyone who has been reading so far! If you haven’t already please retweet this article to your friends. Here is a picture of Virtue trying to find the rear end of the giant jello so they can kick it!
Hour 11
It’s Hami time! Seems pretty slow to gather so I’m not too worried about taking some time to write. I’ll post screenies when we’re done. I have some lovely pie to keep me awake. Oh and quite a few of us at Hami are Extra Lifers. Team CoH is quickly coming up on the $8,000 mark! Not much else to say right now. Nearly at the big half way point! Woo!
Hour 10
Double digits! Woo! I’m starting to get tired again so I’m going to put some food in me and get some fresh air. Team CoH is soooo close to $8,000! I’m still in Praetoria with Ardy. Only Koi has rejoined us! He’s the big guy a couple of pictures down. He isn’t doing Extra Life, but he’s still awesome anyway. You know, I was worried that finding a team would be difficult today. But it seems like it has been going great for everyone. Sure, when we moved to Praetoria there was no one else to be found. And no one wanted to join us. But these days that is really to be expected. Hami raid is coming up in about an hour. So I may be a little late/early on my update depending on the time it goes. But I promise an awesome screenshot!
Hour 9 Danielle Hall
Time for another City of Heroes Team feature! This time it is my friend, fellow Brickhouser, Danielle. Duke Children’s Hospital in Durham, North Carolina is the hospital of choice for Danielle. Duke is very special to Danielle as this is where her little brother spent some time as a baby. He was born with a condition that caused the area around his stomach and umbilical cord not to form correctly. Thanks to Duke Hospital he has been able to have a completely normal life. The hospital was the hero of her brother’s story, and now she is playing the role of hero for the hospital that means so much to her and her family.
During my Ms Liberty TF I dinged 50! Woo! So did Ardua, who is my partner in crime(fighting). Sadly we didn’t get screenshots of our plumes of awesome. So have a screenshot of us kicking Recluses’ face in instead. Oh and now Ardua and I are running around Praetoria trying to get our Officers out.
Hour 8
The Liberty TF is going quite well so far. It made me realize that I’ve never done the villain respec, or treespec if you will. I may have to change that before the day is over. I’m starting to feel the first bits of tiredness. So to wake myself up I ate a banana. Team CoH has raised $7,808.33! And Extra Life has said that #Extra Life is trending. OnRPG’s very own Ardua has said that his 8 hours have been going very well, but earlier he bit his tongue. The poor baby. @Knightward is feeling blurry eyed but happy to help a good cause. We’re right there with you my friend!
Hour 7
We’re just about to finish up our second Yin TF of the day. We decided to run one while we waited for the person who wanted to run Liberty to come back from a lunch break. I’m going to have to restart my computer because all this alt tabbing and having so much running is killing me! Not literally. Team CoH is doing an amazing job. More donations are coming in all the time. There are a couple of people live streaming Extra Life from City of Heroes, and AFK radio is broadcasting as well. Oh and we’re at $7,776.33! Someone donate a dollar!
Hour 6
Wow! We finished that Kahn just in time for me to do my hour 6 update! Team City of Heroes is plugging along nicely. @resolute is working on 15 hours now! Way to go! Now we’re considering doing the Liberty TF, though the person who wanted to do it isn’t here yet. I’m looking at you Baronesa! I think that was the best run of that TF I’ve ever done. And I was on a tank! It was amazing. Going to keep it short and sweet this time. Come back again for Hour 7.
Hour 5
So, I’m posting this one a tiny bit early as we are about to start a Kahn TF. I alted to Nydia Caito, a level 46 Elec/War mace tank. She’s really my only tank. And I have plans to play her again later on for a Statesman…sorry, I mean Liberty TF. Which is where I hope to get 50 on her. She’s the head of the super group Statesman’s Watch on Virtue. And as you can imagine she took the death of Statesman quite poorly. I haven’t done anything else with this hour because I needed fuel. Made myself a sandwich with what I swear is the softest bread I have ever had. I know, not very exciting. I’ll get another picture of Extra Life adventurers in a little bit when I get another break from saving the city. Until then heroes!
Hour 4: Monique Boulanger
So, throughout the remaining 20 hours I have left today I’m going to be featuring fellow team members who have reached out to me and told me their personal stories. The first who did was Monique Boulanger. Monique is playing for IWK Grace Hospital in Halifax, Nova Scotia. This hospital holds a special place in her heart as her family and friends have had to use it a some point in their lives. Some were battling pediatric cancer, others were nursing injuries. And as a mother of two she recognizes that someday she may need to use the services at IWK for her own kids. This is her first time taking part in Extra Life.
As for what I’ve been doing this hour, I’m on a Penny Yin. I didn’t like Yin when it first came out but I can’t deny that it is fantastic for XP. Though we’re about to finish. Afterwards I might pause for a few minutes for some food. Team City of Heroes is quickly approaching the $7,500 mark!
Hour 3
Hello again! Three hours down. I have to say time is flying! We’re on the last mission of Posi 2, not sure what I’ll be doing next. I’ve been playing my character Rayne Forrest, a Nature Affinity/Water Blast Defender. This is my first time having played either powerset on a character and I have to say they are epic. I wish I had started playing them sooner. Our team seems to be doing really well this time around. Oh and I have I mentioned the XP? It in rolling in! I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve leveled during the two task forces. See you all again in an hour!
Hour 2
So, we had a bit of difficulty finishing up the Posi 1. Confuse is a pain. Only had a couple of team wipes. We’re about to start Posi 2. Just finding a new team member as one of them left. Been having a lot of fun so far. But I have to admit, I’ve been seeing a lot of things that sparkle and it makes me want to loot them. I’ve been playing other games. Cheating on CoH! I know. I’ve been playing with the sound on and will continue to do so for a few more hours at least. If only because this is going to be the longest and most I will see of the game before it is all over. Thinking about that casts a shadow over the whole event. But I won’t let it get me down. This is a time for celebration and fun! I’m going to take a few seconds before we start our task force to pimp myself. I’m playing for Crumlin Hospital, Dublin.
Hour 1
Well, Here we are! The first hour is complete. I’m running on a Positron 1 team with a few fellow Extra Lifers and thanks to it being Double XP weekend I’ve managed to get about five levels. We will be finishing up Positron 1 and moving on to 2 in just a few minutes. I was surprised to see so many people have already started their 24 hours. I thought I was going to be one of the first. By the way, I am playing Extra Life today for Crumlin Hospital in Dublin, Ireland. I’ll tell you a little bit more about that later on. Other than that though the last hour has been about settling in for the long run. It’s going to be a long day. But totally worth it.
