MTeague

Where are they? in the old Advanced Dungeons and Dragons sourcebooks, obviously.

I very much hope we see a Melee/Support archtype on Homecoming. Do I expect it soon? Hell no. Have I heard a peep about the HC devs feeling like that's a direction they want to go? No. In fact, I dimly recall reading some expressed sceptism on how to make the idea playable at all. I'm still kinda hoping. But it's sorta the same way I'm still hoping to win Powerball. Not really a deep emotional investment to it. Yes, I know other servers have it already, but the point is, I trust Homecoming Devs to EITHER do a professional job and produce a viable balanced Archtype, OR, to not do it at all. I have NO such faith for Cake or Thunderspy or others, and I would NOT want a direct port of any portion of their code without a solid review / QC effort to make sure it was up to snuff.

At high levels, with a decent build, Doms rock up and down the square. At low levels... they can be slow. Which by itself isn't the end of the world. Some characters, if you solo level them, you have to rest practically after every fight. That might be less enjoyable than going "Hulk SMASH!" through map after map, but the point is, that's not really unique to dominators per se. More than one AT has some late-bloomers. Defense based characters used to take it seriously on the chin back when you still needed Training Origin enhancments until lvl 12, and Dual Origin enhancements until lvl 22, because they could just never amass enough defense to go fire-and-forget. Where I do think Doms have some issues, is levelling in particular missions where the boss comes after a dry spell, with a long scripted cutscene,. Something that means any existing Domination will have worn off, and where you mgiht not have enough fodder left over to build up Domination again. This is particularly true if the boss is something very resistance to holds /eye Arachnos Huntsmen, where you might struggle to stack enough hold mag on it without Domination before it smears you. OTOH, some of that is probably my own darn fault for commonly playing at +2x2. But Doms more than any other character, I find myself carefully managing my inspirations and making sure I've got a few reds, purples, and and yellows when it comes time for the big boss during the 1-30 phase. (usually around 30 is when my Doms seem to fully bloom)

well I mean, it can depend if X percent of your team is a 50 exemplared down with wild and crazy set bonuses from purple sets, or if your team is a bunch of folks actually doing it while they're actually lvl 16 or so, no lvl 20 powers available because they just don't HAVE those powers yet, and barely any slots to speak of. And especially back when they might only have had dual-origin enhancers slotted in the few powers they do have, and whiff a lot. Less of an issue now that you can use SO's right out of the gate.

And for a game that lives and dies on Style Points, "cool" matters. https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RuleOfCool

/signed /endored

I would not turn off XP at 50. Even If I didn't want to be incarnate on that character. Worst case, okay, all the slots get unlocked. S'ok, I don't ever have to craft a single power to fill them with. But if I later decide to roll with, i *could*. And in the meantime, I can always spend Incarnate Threads to buy Super Inspirations from Luna.

I always got the impression it's supposed to be a time-lag thing. Yea, NOW, when we have all content available to us now, and you might be encountering it in any order at all, i agree, it's a bit janky. But if Mind of a King and Synapse are stories you do very early, where the Clockwork King is still seen as a tragedy/waste of potential but ultimately a menace who needs to be stopped, it makes more sense. LATER, as you do more arcs where he appears and learn more about him, and see him in a more sympathetic view, attitudes can shift. But I think Synpase TF is supposed to be in the "most people don't know any of that yet" part of the timeline.

I'm hoping that's not such a big issue. Every player has wierdly different costumes. Does that mean their costume files exist on MY computer somewhere if we're both hanging out at Miss Liberty? I doubt it. are full images being transmitted to my computer in real time as they walk around, execute powers, etc? I doubt it. I think what's happening is the Shard / Server informs my computer that they're "using this body type, with these sliders, and these costume piece selections, with these colors", and then it's up to my local client to assemble the necessary legos from the files of all tailor options that are already included in the game install. But the data for a customized pet, I would hope, should be no more additional storage load for any local client or the server, than just another player with another costume. I'd guess one first decisions process is stuck one a) do they want to allow pet customization at all? (and Illusion Control/Phantom Army/Mirror gives me hope that gets a "yes" from the devs) b) if so, do they want to restrict to certain prefab choices? Or, open the gates and let players choose anything. c) If you allow players to choose anything, are they okay with "robots" that don't look the least bit robotic. Beasts that don't look beastly. Undead that look like normal humans. Mercenaries that look like Robots? I'm GUESSING they're still stuck deciding between cooking up multiple pre-fab options per pet type vs just opening the full costume editor. But I have ZERO evidence to back that. Just Wild Posterior Hunches. I know they're smart enough to know people will complain if it's allowed for Thugs/Ninjas/Mercs but not Robots or Beasts or Demons or Undead. Of course, they're also smart enough to know people gonna complain no matter what lol, so, maybe they don't care.

This exactly why my Fire/Fire/Fire Sentinel is a Sentinel and not a Brute or Blaster. (yes, I skipped FSC in his epic pool). And yet... I don't mind the Psi-Blades in Psi Melee. For whatever reason the flaming scimitar is a total non-starter to me, asthetically, and feel like "why concentrate fire into the shape of a blade to strike a physical blow with it, why not just BURN THEM!!?". But the Psi-Blade, work for me. I guess I can see it especially for a character who's background leaves them half-or-totally-untrained, and they're just making it in the shape of a blade, out of instinct, not really knowing HOW, just reaching for the familiar, trying for a knife, to attack with because they don't KNOW how to just do a psionic blast from afar. Why don't I afford Fire Swords the same latitude? I don't know. But that is how the very odd thought process works in my brain.

I hear you. Frankly, I find the 1-44 game vastly more fun than the 45-50 game. There *are* times.... infrequently.... where I do enjoy an incarnate romp. Where I want my main character to go Full Gandalf revealing the hidden power within But most of the time? No. I would enjoy an OPTIONAL difficulty setting for "Disable Incarnate Powers", similar to the Ouro challenges for "No Inspirations", "Enemies Buffed", "No Travel Powers", etc. I have very limited hope of that ever happening. For the time being, @Outrider_01's solution of a Gentleman's Agreement, among a group of like minded people who choose to simply unslot all Incarnate powers when forming up the team, is really the ONLY option for this. Yes, that's a lot more work. No, it's completely not pug friendly. But, well, that's life. Your average pick-up-group player probably doesn't WANT to not have access to their incarnate powers. Even if an optional setting were created, you'd have to advertise it up front and it would probably take you a lot of time in LFG chat recruiting to get a reliable squad. The good news is there is an Awful Lot of 1-44 content. In particular, I think you'd really enjoy First Ward and Night Ward. The story arcs there really kick it up a notch and make you bring your A game.

Nova Praetoria: use the "No Xp" option at lvl 9 / prevent you from dinging 10 for any Nova arcs you want to finish. Imperial City: use the "No Xp" option at lvl 14 / prevent you from dinging 15 for any Imperial City arcs you want to finish. Neutropolis: use the "No Xp" option at lvl 19 / prevent you from dinging 20 for any Neutropolis arcs you want to finish. First Ward: use the "No Xp" option at lvl 29 / prevent you from dinging 30 for any First Ward arcs you want to finish. Night Ward: fuzzier on this one, but I *think* its 39/do not ding 40.

Anyone know if the Redside Brokers have any such TV/Film/Literature connections? I'm kind of assuming no, at least, I can't place a single one of them.

I only rarely deal with invasions because when i logged on that night, I logged on to do various story arcs. I didn't log on for the sake of a Rikti invasion. If the mood hits me? Sure, I'll go. But more often than not I'm firmly in a "Nope, I'm NOT dealing with this" mode.

As a programmer, I believe this is the kind of code you try to say "Functioning As Written" and hope one looks toooo closely at that statement. I don't think it's wrong per se. I do think it's deciding on a "level to be used for conversion purposes". And then since there's no others in that category for that range, you can't convert by category. The real questions are "what SHOULD be the use-this-for-conversion-purposes" level of an attuned? And is this so big a deal that it's worth upsetting it now? Say a change is made such that it always takes the max level for an IO. What OTHER set conversions would be impacted by that? Would we replace one problem with another? Or if it were recoded to encompass anything possible anywhere in the attuned range of the current set, what issues might that cause? Would that mean you suddenly need 5x the converters you needed before to get a Steadfast Protection+Def, or a Karma/+Acc? I'm sort of leaning toward "not worth it, leave it as it is." Although it would definitely be nice if there was some way you could SEE what the "treat this as lvl X for conversion purposes" value is, at any given moment. Maybe it would be enough to just reveal that value to the end-user.

I understand there are a lot of people who feel that way. but I tell you, I have a lot more fun playing my /Regen stalker than my /Willpower scrapper. Honestly, the /regen Stalker feels a lot more durable. No small part of that is he KEEPS his sustain, the entire time, even as mobs die around him, where the scrapper starts to have issues if I kill too many mobs with AE attacks before the Big Bad (Staff/WP, scrapper is an AE beast) and I don't have enough mobs for RttC to spike the scrappers hp/s enough.

Keep in mind, Mastermind Henchmen cannot be ressurected, period. You can resummon them. And the re-summoning time is actually very small now. But your MM pets are never a valid target for Ressurect, or Vengeance, or Fallout, or any other power that you can use on a fallen player-controlled ally. That said, Empathy can work quite well as a secondary. At low levels, I find it works best Tankerminding. Keep your pets in Bodyguard Mode, charge right in and take aggro yourself. Incoming damage will be distributed among you and your pets, and they'll all be in range for heal auras. At mid-levels and up, Fortitude makes it very tempting to have your pets be your full time tank. and will a well-slotted Fort, those pets you buff will be able to do so. But keep in mind you're not really going to be able to Fort all of your pets. Most likely mid-game, your Forts will go to your T2 pets when soloing. And the T1's will just... need some care. That said, it'll get the job done. Will you be solo farming +4x8? Maybe not. But if it's a playstyle you enjoy, it don't matter. And even if some people hold a worldview off "everyone should be softcapped to everything, all the time!" the reality is that's often not the case, and I don't know of any team that's ever said "God damn it not another Empath".... So Long As, you use your Whole Toolkit, both Primary and Secondary. Someone who AFK-Follows while Autocasting Healing Aura, I have no use for. But an Empath who also uses their buffs, and either pets or blasts or controls (depending on AT), is always welcome on any team of mine.

There's a lot to be said for Brutes. But if I'm rolling up a character to use when I have absolutely no desire to EVER be asked to tank for a group? I roll Scrapper. If I'm in a mood where I wouldn't mind pulling some tanking duties on the character? I'll roll Brute. (not saying Scrappers are incapable of tanking in a pinch; but if you're a brute, at least half of teams will expect it of you as a matter of course. Scrappers, they expect to be frenzied scrapperlockers :))

While I don't have anything Kheldian specific, Bind Files are at the heart of some very popular MM binds. i recommend reading it through; https://forums.homecomingservers.com/topic/6500-the-homecoming-of-sandolphans-mm-numpad-binds/

You've got Warden and Crusader backwards. Crusaders = Calvin Scott's Blow It All Up, Win At Any Price faction. I'd say Villain or Vigilante. Depends how focused you are on killing Cole (vig) or just blowing things up (Villain). Wardens = Vanessa DeVore's win the hearts of the people, try to enable change from within. Honestly, more Hero than Vig. Responsibility = the folks who know the Praetors are... jerks... but who still feel the human race would no longer exist if not for Cole and the Praetors. They do believe in justice but they're also generally good people stuck in a complete lose-lose scenario. Trying to keep things together and hating what they have to let slide. Like, Inspector Kang. Has to let his own daughter be taken and turned into a Seer, turned into a husk of what she once was, in the name of "helping hold praetoria together". Very much a "Good of the Many Outweighs the Needs of the Few, or One" even if that means you have to inflict serious INJUSTICES on the Few, or One. They probably would be Heroes if not completely surrounded by the lose-lose scenarios though. Power = All about Fame, personal accolades, living large, and keeping the noses of anyone who might challenge them firmly pushed into the dirt. Villain for sure. Possssibly a more ruthless Rogue if they still have some lines they won't cross.

Just curious. Why do people feel this is not also the case for Primal Earth heroes? Do you really feel that Bonefire arc or the Vahzilok Plague Arc or Posi 1 or even talking to Stephanie Peebles on Striga really count as "part of the present narrative" in a way that Nova Praetoria does not count? It's all story arcs we've all done a bazillion times. Maybe you don't find some of them fun, sure, no problem, I can work with that. But I mean, it's not like your hero is the very first hero to ever help David Wincott or talk to Frostfire or handle Veles. And if you say "well I'm the first character to do it in my character's narrative", well, okay sure, but then in that case, how is the Praetoria 1-20 not the same?

Mind. Blown. I was still locked into thinking of Teleport Target as "Recall Friend" or "Teleport Foe". Never occurred to me to use it to forcibly reposition a pet..... or to teleport a friendly somewhere OTHER than "right next to me".

I'm barely at 40 characters grand total. I know I'm such a slacker lol. Only 4 of them are lvl 50. the other 36 are pretty well distributed, some in the 40's, 30's, 20's, 10's, and single digits. But i deliberately lvl super slow, turning off XP a lot as I go, until I think it's "time" for them to graduate a level.

Dunno about Earth Blast. Does remind me of some of the powers used by https://hcwiki.cityofheroes.dev/wiki/Talons_of_Vengeance#Oracle_.28Earth.29 though.

I get that. The amount of time I spent fiddling with the body sliders to get the height/physique/leg length etc to match my old screenshots, and poking through every last costume option and sub-option in every category until everything was just right, was very real. Just do be aware. Homecoming came online April 2019. It's now May 2021. You may or may not be able to get the exact precise spelling of the names of your original characters. There are multiple shards; if you can't get it on Excelsior, try Everlasting, or Torchbearer, etc. But you may have to go from "Iron Eagle" to "Iron Ace" or go from "Firehawk" to "Doctor Phoenix" or something along those lines. Hopefully you can get exactly the names you want. But be ready to get creative if not. I had to alter the names of 4 of my original 10 characters that I recreated, and cooked up another 30 originals afterwards.