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Roster Updated
July 26, 2008; Dark Insanity
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Just in case you were wondering, I finally got around to updating the roster since double XP weekend (last weekend). And apparently quite a few people got some levels (I myself hit 50 on Doctor Insanity last weekend!), and apparently everyone earned a nice hunk of prestige for the Justice Strike Force.
Also Wraith now has two characters in the top five prestige earned list, Government Official and his new 50 Randal Fiendslayer, which is ridiculous for him only having been back in the SG for a few months. What the heck, everyone.
As for what we'll actually be doing with all the prestige we currently have banked... well, probably not much at all right now. We have our base's current plot size completely maxed out, so that no more rooms can be placed. Then the next plot size up is oddly shaped, so that I wouldn't be able to easily or sensibly add in anything that would "flow" with the base's current layout and kind of airship-like theme.
So what can we do? Well, I'd suggest just saving our hard-earned prestige until we have enough for a real upgrade. Something like the plot size after next, and then throwing in a few more rooms all at once. Like crew quarters or a lounge or something, along with maybe a larger conference room or more storage.
Anyway, the roster's updated, and now you're updated on our current prestige-base happenings. And, as always, if you got any suggestions, comments, or questions on either of the topics I mentioned today, or anything at all, feel free to tell 'em to me in-game, via an email, or on the forums.
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News RSS Feed
July 19, 2008; Dark Insanity
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So I set up an RSS feed for the Justice Strike Force's news, where it shows the latest ten news articles and links to them on the news page here. You can sign up for it here, or view it, or whatever your particular browser does.
For those of you who don't know what an RSS feed is, or have never used one, it is basically a bookmark folder that changes based on whatever feed it's attached to. In this case, it changes to be the ten most recent news articles on the Justice Strike Force's news page. It's mostly just used so that you can quickly and easily see the latest headlines or updates on a news page, or anything else a feed is linked to.
But, of course, it is completely unnecessary: you can simply just visit the page and see for yourself, and I probably could have saved myself the trouble of making one for the Justice Strike Force's site. But it does save you some time, and gets you right to the point. And besides, all the cool sites have one, so obviously ours had to have one.
Oh, and I'm thinking about holding an SG picture night in the next couple of weeks (as in either next weekend or the one after that), so save the next couple of Sunday nights for the JSF!
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Double XP Is On!!
July 18, 2008; Dark Insanity
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So as of this morning, double XP weekend is live! This means that, once again, everyone will be receiving double the experience, double the influence, and double the prestige than usual, all the way 'till early Monday morning.
I'm sure we'll get at least a couple of people who ding 40 this weekend, and possibly a new 50 or two! And another benefit of this weekend, of course, is the large infusion of prestige the SG is always more than happy to receive. So make sure you're fighting in SG mode out there, as the double influence should more than make up for whatever little bit you would have "lost" from it!
In other news, the new Batman movie, The Dark Knight, is SO AWESOME. I'd suggest seeing it as soon as you possibly can, even if it means quitting your job and/or having to murder several people. It is that good.
On that note, everyone have a nice weekend.
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News Archives Live
July 13, 2008; Dark Insanity
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Alright, I finished up the news archives section of the site last night. There's now a link to it under the recent news items, or you can just check it out here. Pretty nice, no?
I also went ahead and ported over all the old news articles, from the Justice Strike Force's previous sites, all the way back up to January of 2006 (when the first JSF site was made). Even with leaving out patch notes, it was a bit more work than I expected, but I think it was totally worth it! I'd suggest sifting through some of our older news articles, just to see what we were doing back during our unanimously defined "prime." It made me miss the old days, reading some of those articles...
Anyway, I think I'm about done with making major changes to the site, for the next couple weeks, at least. Well, maybe I'll rework and update the base section... it certainly does need updated, considering I redesigned the base almost a month and a half ago.
Yeah.
Well, I hope the news archives gets some use, though honestly it was mostly just for, well, archival purposes.
Oh, and in other news, I, as well as Justice Reaper, were thinking that we needed a new SG group picture, like the one on the roster page. So we may be holding a new one some time during the upcoming weeks, once some of our members come back from vacation (Wraith!) or get their computers fixed (MoE!). And maybe I'll go on a recruiting spree myself. So get ready for that!
So as always, if you have any suggestions or comments to make, or questions to ask, about anything to do with the site or the Justice Strike Force, feel free to tell me in-game, in an email, or on the forums. How do you guys like the images I used on the archives page? Would you like to submit a news article? Drop me a line!
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News Backend Redone
July 11, 2008; Dark Insanity
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So after my successful rewrite of the roster page, I decided that I wanted to rework the news page for easier updating and displaying. And so I spent the better part of my last night completely redoing the news page.
And I can tell that my time was not wasted because the news page, to you, looks exactly the same. However, now I can add a new news article with the press of a button. Well, after writing the article. But still.
This should mean more news and updates more frequently. Also, if you're interested in submitting a story for the Justice Strike Force news page, just ask. If it's something to do with City of Heroes or the JSF, I'll probably put it up here (though no promises). You'll even get your own little avatar like mine up there in the top left. It will be nice.
Anyway, I hope everyone enjoys how the news looks exactly the same. Though, like the roster, I rewrote it in PHP using a MySQL database, so, like the member pages, I should be able to add a news archives system, which I'll be working on soon (read: probably today or tonight). After adding that in, I'm thinking about going and getting all of our past news articles and porting them over to the new site (this site) and into the archives. "All" as in the old GuildPortal, ElWiki, and wiki news articles, with images and everything. It will be a walk down nostalgia lane, to say the least.
And maybe I'll easily post a new article about it if I get (when I get) it done. Hehe.
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Brand New Roster
July 2, 2008; Dark Insanity
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So I've stayed up way too late the last few nights working on a complete overhaul (for lack of a better word) of the site's roster section. I switched it over from a hardcoded, static HTML page so that it is now running off of PHP and a MySQL database.
What does this mean to you? It means it takes me less time to update the roster, so it will be more up-to-date more often. It also means it looks better, and with a roster database, I can easily (well, relatively easily) reintroduce two things that got left behind when we abandoned the wiki website: member pages and JSF merit badges!!
Why am I so excited? Go look for yourself, if you've forgotten already! Over on the roster page, after first noticing the nice new top five prestige-earners list and information on how to use the roster, you'll see the big 'ole list of names itself. And then to get to a character's member page, simply click their name or their row. Bam! You are now looking at up to four screenshots or images of that character, their biography, a list of their JSF alts, and any merit badges they have earned. Examples of at least partially completed member pages can be found using the random member page link on the roster page. Oh, and while you're still at the roster, note that you can sort each column just by clicking its header. Nifty!!
And so what are merit badges? They are little Justice Strike Force medals that you are awarded for completing certain SG-related activities. This includes earning prestige, being in the Justice Strike Force for a certain amount of time, increasing your rank, and so-on. You can see what badges your characters have earned by checking their member pages (every character has one, whether they are filled out or not). Right now there are a total of 18 different merit badges that can be earned (courtesy, once again, to the Green Warden for creating the majority of the medal's graphics), with more on the way. If you have any suggestions on what other merit badges should be added, or are interested in helping create the art needed for them, feel free to tell me!
As for submitting content for your member page(s), such as screenshots or a biography of your character, you can either post them on the forums, or you can contact me (Dark Insanity) in-game at @Dark Insanity, or via email at Dark_Insanity@thejsf.com. A few members have already started giving me some stuff to put on their member pages, and you can join in on the member page palooza any time you wish! You don't even have to call it a palooza if you don't want to!!
So the new roster looks great, and works great. Though if you encounter any problems or have any suggestions, feel free to point them out or tell me. The worst I will do is appreciate your input.
I hope everyone enjoys and uses the new stuff added to the site. The next thing I tackle will probably be either re-doing and updating the base section of the site (gotten a bit lax on that), or re-doing the backend of the news section of the site. Or maybe I'll just get lazy and actually play City of Heroes for once. Who knows?
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