*insert scratching record sound*


We interrupt this regularly scheduled Top Ten List to bring you the following important announcement...

December is Double Donor Days here on HCRealms -
Here's the:



For most of us the 'Realms is our playground, a place we log onto after school or work to get our daily clix fix - find out the latest gossip, read up on the newest strategies for our favorite figures, and voice our opinions on the state of the game. Unfortunately every playground requires some upkeep, and we're at that time of year where our swingset needs a little maintenance. This week we're taking a break from in-game top ten lists and looking at why it's a good idea to be a donor.

But first - a word from Typhon on where your money is going (and no, it's not lining the pockets of Jeff's Brother, or getting dumped into R&D for Powerbomb)

And now - Ten Reasons to Donate to HCRealms -

#10. Freedom of Speech
HCRealms gives players a voice that Wizkids site doesn't allow - a place to comment and critique on the new sets, the rules changes and the state of the game. At the official WK website, negativity - no matter how justified - is severly frowned upon. It's not uncommon to see threads get "black bagged," go missing and disappear forever. Freedom of speech here has it's limitations... certain topics are off limits, bit for the most part game related threads won't go missing without a good reason. Without user donations to pay for this site players wouldn't have much of a soapbox to stand on if something was wrong with thier gaming experience.

#9. Feedback
Fact: The HCRealms Forum gets more user hits per day for Heroclix than the Wizkids site. HCRealms has a heavier "traffic" flow of users - which means more people will see your posts and likely respond to it. The Strategy/Tactics, Combat Formations and Rules of Combat usually have lurkers and posters ready, willing and able to help with team formations and rulings. Likewise, here at HCRealms you feel like you're actually listened to. The other site takes forever to update certain things - gallery errors for instance. We had a vote for a T-shirt design, and even if your choice didn't win it still had a chance.

#8 Trading, Sales, & Auctions
Again, the traffic flow here is greater than the official website - which means more hits on your trade thread. Another advantage over the Wizkids site is the ability to run sales and auctions. This is how I made the money my first donation - by taking a few extra/old LEs I didn't use and selling them here on the 'Realms. The money I made from the sale ($10) went straight to a Silver Donation during last November's Double Dollar Days. If you use the Trade & Sale forums frequently, and aren't currently a donor, you should really consider becoming one now. Justify the expense as "paying rent," as you're allowed to advertise your sales & trades - for free! If you do a lot of trading you may want to donate and upgrade your Private Message Inbox - to keep track of all the deals you have in progress.

#7 Original Articles
HCRealms provides fresh content on a near daily basis. Top Ten Lists, LE Reviews, Marquee/Pre-release Primers, Strategy Guides, Team Building Recomendations are just the tip of the iceberg - that's just what makes it to the front page. Plumb deeper and you'll find contributors like DarkCrisis providing weekly Comic Reviews or DTM's excellent Movie Ratings.

#6 Stratification & Diversity
Hunh? What I mean by this is simply there's a Niche here for everyone. Fan Fiction? Got it. Mods, repaints and Map Designs? Check. From Trivia to Forum Games to User Groups there's something here for everyone, and I haven't even begun to plumb the depths of variety available. At the "other site" there's 4 flavors to choose from on the forums: "General Discussion", "Organized Play", "Armies and Strategy" & "Rules." It's kind of like going to an Ice-cream store that has Vanilla, Chocolate, French Vanilla, and Dark Chocolate. HCRealms has a flavor for everyone.

#5 Dial posting.


HCRealms forum BBCode uses special language that enables dial codes to be shown as they look on the figure as opposed to a clunky 5/9/17/2 format found elsewhere. Along with posting dials of your custom figures you can...

#4 Post Pictures
The more you donate, the bigger your picture allotment. This feature allows members to put up pictures of their Custom Mods, show a gallery of their or break some news by listing a few spoilers from the next set.

#3 No Ads
No distracting ad banners. No flashing icons telling me what to buy or where to go. This speaks for itself. AT the bare minimum for 10 CENTS a week ($5 dollars for the year), you can avoid this hassle by becoming a Bronze Donor. Trust me, it's worth every dime.

#2 Units Section
I lurked for a long time on these forums before actually getting a screen name. I decided to sign up so I could gain access to some of the features provided by the site: namely posting rules questions, and trying to trade my unwanted figures. It was the Units section, however, that made me pony up some cash.

Andrewtarius does a fantastic job of keeping the Units Gallery and Search Engine up to date - better, I might add, than the actual Wizkids website because:

• It allows you to search by Keyword for the new Keyword theme mechanic.
• It enables you to search for Special Powers
• It is not universe specific - meaning it can run a search for any DC, Marvel & Indy unit

For me, a decision to donate was easy - based on my usage of the Units section, where I turn to almost every day to answer some kind of question I have about a figure's dial, or who I can fit on a team.

Finally, and this one is a no brainer...

#1. Custom Features:

The most obvious reason to donate is all the "crunchy" features you'll have access to, including custom Avatars (free rep to the first person who remembers what my original non-custom avatar was !). Here's a breakdown of donation levels.

• $50 dollars gets you in at the Adamantium Level (for less than one dollar per week) where you'll get 10% off RealmWorx purchases, the ability to upload attachments, ignore ads, a 100MB photo gallery, PM box size of 1000, an Animated Avatar, custom user title, the ability to cast forum Polls, and much more. I realize Adamantium is asking a bit much of some of the fanbase - even I can't afford it with my respectable job. It's a good thing there's other options for those of us unrelated to Thurstin Howell III.
  
  
• At $25 - half of an Adamantium Level membership - Diamond Donors get the ability to upload attachments, a 100MB photo gallery, a PM box size of 1000, an Animated Avatar, custom user title, and the ability to cast forum Polls & ignore ads. Not too shabby, donkey.
  
  
• For a little less than the price of 2 boosters (Mutations & Monsters - 10.99 MSRP) you could be a Platinum Donor - all the goodness of a Diamond Donor without the ability to load attachments and a 50MB photo gallery.
  
  
• Gold Donors rank in next, with a donation of $15 earning the perks of ignoring ads, a 50kb (100x100) custom Avatar, custom user title, PM box size of 500 & 25MB photo gallery.
  
  
• For just under the cost of a booster of clix you can be a Silver Donor at $10. You'll ignore ads, get a 250 capacity PM box, custom Avatar (75 x 75), custom user title, and 10MB photo gallery.
  
  
• Last, but certainly not least there's the Bronze Donor. For less than half a pack of Mutations and Monsters - at nearly the cost of a comic book - $5 bucks lets you ignore advertisements, sport a custom user title and custom Avatar, Increase your PM box by 50 and display your photos in a 5MB gallery.

So what are you waiting for? http://www.hcrealms.com/forum/paymen...]Donate Today!

Thanks for reading! If you've donated in the past and want to chime in on why donating is a good thing, please do so below. In the meantime, stay tuned as next week I'll post a real "Separated at Birth" list... unless NPR needs money . Appologies to everyone I fooled this week.

Hey all, I feel the need for a disclaimer and want to clairify that the above post is my own intention - nobody put me up to it, and it doesn't necessarily reflect the views of the site owners.

It may appear that I'm knocking Wizkids around - by pointing out our pluses and comparing them to thier drawbacks - but it is not my intention to poke at Wizkids. The facts are that this site gets more traffic than the Heroclix official game site. The reasons behind that haven't been proven, but it also can't be disputed.

We wouldn't have the game without Wizkids but for whatever reason this site appears more popular despite it's non-official stance. Let's help keep it that way. Thanks!

-m0use

Awesome! Love the Character card for your momma!!!!!

One of the reasons I have never donated is that I was unaware of everything that comes with the donation. I thought it was another 'give me money' type thing. As soon as I get home I'll be kicking out for a platinum

NO ONE TALKS THAT WAY ABOUT MY MOMMA!!!

Excellent points. And you can get your current donor status to carry into your new one, if you want to upgrade (I did that when I bumped from Bronze to Diamond).

Will we be getting 'Separated at Birth part 3' this week? I was pumped for it! ;-) Either way, good article up, and a good idea to let people know why to donate. (Do I sound stupid saying that with my 'member' status?)

I say we changed the level names as follows

Adamantium level = Adamantium level (NO CHANGE)
Diamond level = Vibranium level
Platinum level = Platinum level (NO CHANGE)
Gold level = Titanium level
Silver level = Steel level
Bronze level = Iron level

Oh, man. Would I have to sell my car to afford Nth-Metal level???


Hey, whose spherical Plastic Man is that? That's mega-cool, daddy-o!!

Cool like the fishies in the sea!

One minute quibble: the Dial Generator is open to non-donors, too. Or at least it was last time I checked. "I'm not a donor!" is not a good excuse to avoid posting the dial in a thread when new figs are posted at WK!

(and yes, I realize I haven't donated yet. I'll try to rectify that later.)

WizKids has a website?!?

Right.

My point was that with no donations whatsover we wouldn't have a site to post dials on.

Also - trying to post "Dream and Desires" dials without the BBCode, while possible - is certainly less than satisfactory.

But yes, no one should be able to use the excuse "but I'm not a donor - I can't post the dial." However "I'm at work and my filters are blocking certain scripts" seems to do the trick (as is often my case). :cross-eye

One little note. It says you can use animated avatars with silver and gold donations. I tried and it doesn't work, when I contacted a mod, I was told you can only use animated avatars with Platinum and above. Might want to change the donor descriptions.

My bad. I got the info from the donation page. I assumed it was correct. :cross-eye