EmperorSteele

So, funny thing: I DID beef them up (the LT and Boss especially). It looks like female arms don't get super bulky compared to the torso and legs when you play with the body slider; and they're wearing baggy pants so you can't see the extra muscle there. But yeah, I left leg length at normal, you're right that shrinking them down a bit would help even them out!

Ask and Ye Shall Receive (Based mostly around @Aberrant's models with my own ideas from before thrown in)

I had a thought. If we're revamping the Warriors, who base themselves on ancient Greeks and Romans, then maybe looking at those cultures can give a bit more inspiration. For instance, the Greeks were one of the first armies to adapt formations and tactics in battle (instead of just "everyone run that way and try to kill them before they kill you"). Revamping the AI in this game to follow suite might be an exercise in futility, BUT giving all Warriors small leadership buffs (Minions give Tactics, LTs give Manuvers, Bosses give Assault; OR, each unit gives a small buff of each type: minions give +1.5% to all three, LTs give 3%, Bosses give 5%), just might be a suitable substitute. It would also make them a much more formidable threat in large groups. Just an idea!

I'd have to disagree with getting rid of the aura. It's a big help when I'm soloing the TF on my Mind Controller; confuse ftw! The rest of this has the same energy as people who don't like the patches, because it forces them to move. Instead of taking 3 seconds to move to your opponent's landing spot, you want to stand still and have him land on top of you. I mean heck, the Warwalkers spawn in Ambush mode, so they're likely to follow you around anyway, but no, that's too slow. That being said, it probably would be a more significant challenge if they came right down at you, so I'm actually ok with the suggestion!

I could see maybe opening up the travel pools immediately (or heck, make the main travel power a free pick at character creation along with your other 2 powers), but not the rest of the pools.

I wonder if there's a way to make the first tip one gets drop the first time they enter a zone, then? "You find a piece of scrap on the train/road/near your base portal" Mmm, no, that feels like too much of a "gimme". Gotta make folks work for it a little bit! Is there any way for radios/papers to give street-sweep missions?

My cheesy-ass opinon: Give the LTs yellow undershirts, and bosses Orange undershirts, matching their colors for even-conning mobs. Also, have LTs and Bosses have a little more armor (shoulder pads), and maybe give Bosses an Aura (maybe just on fists)? I know they're supposed to be the "natural" group, but they DO trade in magical artifacts, so it makes sense for high-ranking individuals would have a bit of magic on their side. Otherwise, I like what you have here 😃 EDIT: I noticed you gave them different colored bracelets to differentiate their ranks! Cool, but, uh, Gold makes TERRIBLE armor, just FYI. I don't think they'd actually wear it.

The Hollows: Ugh, this is why I wish the tip missions would drop for the closest badge: I was in Cherry Hills (NW part of the zone), when I got a tip to check out the Graffiti Comm tower, the (2nd) FURTHEST badge on the OTHER side of the zone (SE corner)... and me, level 10, with no travel powers XD Well, at least it wasn't the FURTHEST badge out... still though. Yes, I'm trying to stay at-level for the zones. Kinda hard to do when the level range is so wide in some places (Almost got "pwned" myself getting the "Pwned" badge back in KR, since it was surrounded by +5 bosses, heh). But, it's an interesting challenge, so off I go! (and hour and 4 badges later) This is the worst 😭 Visit the iconic Billboard: " Given how frequent disasters and mishaps have been historically, it is a booming industry both figuratively and literally." You couldn't have saved this line for Boomtown?! Well, okay, actually, that'd be a bit too on-the-nose. Still though... Overall, I'm starting to regret my decision to take the zones at their level, especially with a War Mace Brute. I just don't have the AoE to clear enough trash mobs quickly. Or a travel power yet (though that's on me). I wonder if maybe the chance for tips can be raised based on if the foes are even-level or higher to you. Of course, this is all predicated on whether someone really wants to spend an afternoon just hunting for tips, and not just treat them like a little bonus, as I'm sure they're intended to be. Gonna check out Echo: Galaxy City next! EDIT: Scratch that, the tour guide thing is for LRTP zones only, so the Echo zones probably aren't on the list,a re they? =( Well, Steel Canyon it is! EDIT 2: Steel Canyon. I'm just making an edit instead of a new post, because, fortunately/unfortunately, there's not much to comment on here. The writing quality on the tips is good, but nothing stands out (good or bad). I keep bemoaning to myself how long this is taking, though. If this system IS indeed supposed to supplant Vidiotmaps, the process needs to go a bit faster than this. Or, maybe an hour per zone is intended. Dunno which zone(s) i'll tackle next, as the nearby hazard zones all require a higher level and more AoE to have an easier time at it.

King's Row: First things first, I got REALLY excited for a split second when I saw something like this: "KR0-1089.0-42.896" At first, I thought those were supposed to be coordinates, but our /loc system needs 3 variables with decimal places, so it doesn't look like that's it. Unless I'm mistake, or these file-numbers have some other Easter-eggy thing going on. But then I got the one for mystic Queen/King: 376.70.245 Which matches! So, the one for "Wentworth's history buff" should probably lose the dash in lieu of a period, that would make it correct (1089.24.896); unless you're mixing it up on purpose so it's not obvious, in which case, maybe Mystic King/Queen needs a dash somewhere instead of a period? ...So, you know how the Keen Sighted tip mentions how embarrassing it would be to get stuck on a power line? Guess what happened when I tried to jump up there? Yup >_< Power-line got in the way. I got stuck. Then some Skulls started shooting me. Figured I'd share that little laugh! The tip for "Smokey" is 3042.0-41.0-1357. Probably doesn't need the dashes or dot-zeroes, unless, again, you're trying to keep the pattern from being too obvious. Also, the "accept" line, "Discover what is Smokey", ... eh. On one hand, I think that could be phrased better, on the other... I don't have any suggestions on that end =/ However, for the "Upgraded" tip, I think the accept text should say "Check out the building that was Upgraded". Incidentally, when -I- was there, it was filled with CoT (doing a Hordeling summoning ritual gone wrong), not Skulls as the tip implied. For "Vengeance", the PPD report number is KR573.0-42.704, where all the other one's I've seen so far started with KR0. Again, not sure what the intention is. Same with "Pwned" (#KR474.0-42.0-2685), not following the pattern I though I was seeing so far! Speaking of Pwned, this line needs fixing: " Given the Freakshow seem to love whatever it is, you guess it is likely dumb, but decide to go see it anyway. " For some reason, tips aren't dropping as frequently as in AP; though it's probably because I did a fair deal of tip-farming for Atlas near Prometheus lake, where LTs re-spawn regularly by themselves; KR has no such area afaik (unless Paladin is active, in which case, you can smack around all the Boss-level "Psionic resonators"). I DO like that each zone seems to have their own "style" of tips. I was afraid I'd be looking at "Tourist pamphlets" for places like Crey's Folly (which would actually be kinda hilarious, NGL). Doing Hollows next 😃

I think the Explore tips are only one at a time, so you have to finish it before collecting another within that zone (so if you're in Brickstown, get a tip, then go to Crey's Folly, the Brickstown tip will be hidden and allow you to get a Crey's Folly tip). But yeah, one at a time per zone. Kinda wish you could collect a bunch first, but I'm sure it's this way for a reason.

Feedback General: The drop rate is in a good place. I got all 8 Atlas park badges in about an hour. Using VM would have been faster, sure, but I also don't think there's any risk of someone Street sweeping for an annoyingly long period of time just to get that last tip. Part of me wishes the tip would be for the badge that's closest to you (I laughed when I literally had to AVOID triggering 2 badges on my way to the one I was going to, because I wanted to be able to read all the tips for testing); however, I realize that either the tech for that might not exist in the game, and/or, there's nothing guaranteeing that the player will be in the same spot when they read the tip as where they got it, so, random is good. Atlas Park: * The intro text has what I -believe- to be a grammatical error: "loaded up with all the latest information and cultural going-on." I feel like that should say goings on. * I love that the Edge of Chaos pamphlet reads your actual level; it's funny when you're only level 1 or 2 and you essentially want to peek at a door reserved for level 45+ heroes XD * The rest of the tips were good, too; I usually get most if not all these badges, and forgot some things about them, mostly because I've stopped reading them. But reading the tips first got me wanting to read the badges again, such as for Undefeated, where "reading a name I did not expect to see" got my curiosity piqued, so I actually read that badge when I got it, and felt rewarded for doing so. This is exactly how these sorts of things should be written, IMO! I'll post further feedback once I get around to doing other zones. But for now, I like what I see!

Plus, like I said in my post, it looks like Hover can be over-ridden with a flypose animation, so long as you put the commands in in the right order.

Question: What, if any, is the intended animation override between fly, hover, and the flypose animations? Related Observation: As it is currently, hover will override the normal fly animation, but if you're in a flypose, the hover animation will NOT override it. Other feedback: While I appreciate the speed increases, there doesn't seem to be a lot of room for speed buffs (siphon speed, speed boost, Accelerate metabolism, etc) to have much meaningful effect. Heck, trying it out, I actually SLOW DOWN for several seconds when using siphon speed (animation rooting, I guess?). The patch notes SAY that now these things matter, but toggling on all 4 powers caps my fly speed. I think it would be nice if outside speed buffs maybe gave a small buff to the speed caps, also, if only by a few percentage points, so that it feels "worth it" to siphon speed a dude before hitting afterburner and taking off. Without Afterburner, then yes, Siphon speed improves my speed, but only after losing a lot of it first. The application of flight speed buffs and suppression is also either whacked, or just the recording of it in the combat attributes. The number jumps up and down all during combat, though my speed cap does return just as the last bad guy dies. (Note: the character I tested this on doesn't have any fly speed enhancements in the flight powers, just one inf Swift, but does have a Large movement increase and a Moderate movement increase in her set bonuses, totaling 1.93 mph) As for Evasive Maneuvers... I feel like there's some overlap and toe-stepping going on with Hover. What's the intended use of two defensive powers that make flying easier and more maneuverable and give a defense buff (except EM loses its defense buff when in combat... which makes no sense to me? If you're practicing "evasive maneuvers", you're in a dog-fight and fighting back). Also, lol at the name, guess we're turning into STO now =D I mean, is the intended goal for EM to be an "oh crap" button to toggle on and get you out of a jam? Doesn't seem like it works that way if it waits for you to not be in combat for 5 seconds. The defense cooldown is also affected by being mezzed (either that, or the effect is suppressed), which is when you probably really really need that extra defense the most. Is it to be turned on while flying through a dangerous area so you don't get sniped or ambushed? What's the point of taking it over hover, or vice versa, besides as an LoTG mule? Afterburner also doesn't always work. In the attached screenshot, I have all 4 fly powers running, yet my flight speed is only 77. This seems to happen just after I zone: one of the fly speed buffs doesn't want to work. I have to turn everything off then back on for the correct values and speed to be applied (this wasn't just a display error, i was actually moving slower. I'd show proof but, no videos allowed 😃 ) ADDENDUM/EDIT: It's Evasive Maneuvers' +fly that doesn't carry over. Afterburner just increases fly speed and isn't listed as it's own buff in the combat monitor. Dunno if that's one bug or two =/

So, someone could be a floating coat and hat or something... sounds cool! There might be gameplay issues to address (i can just imagine people getting confused that NPCs can all see their "invisible" character who doesn't actually have stealth powers, not to mention PvP), but otherwise I like the idea! In fact, I think some tech for this may already exist: the "living" swords we face at the end of Apex are just invisible dudes carrying swords (certain debuffs and environment effects will outline the bodies). Would be nice to see this expanded!

The alert is only for when Jack and Eochali (or however you spell it) are going at it in the northern part of the zone. Well, IIRC, anyway!

This doesn't mean the screenshot will take happen, just that the game won't crash when you try. Unless I'M reading it wrong. Which is likely!

Yeah, this is what people don't always get about Mind Control. It is literally the safest set to play, when its tools are utilized correctly. The downside is that it's not very suited to the current team-meta. You can't keep foes afraid or slept if everyone else attacks/kills them. Confuse a field generator or a Sorcerer? Nope, they get killed first. Heck, you can't even keep foes TKd if someone kills your anchor. And yeah, it's not very well suited for taking down AVs (it can, it just needs a lot of help from pool and secondary powers). But solo? You're safer than any other Controller vs a large number of trash mobs. That's its strength. It'd be nice if it were stronger at other things, though 😃

The AI cheats because they don't have the intelligence or capacity to adapt of even the most stunted player. They don't have inspirations, they don't have set bonuses, they don't know how to flank, outmaneuver, or focus fire on anyone who ISN'T taunting them (a status too few NPCs utilize, btw). The only "cheat" I'd like to see addressed is endurance. You can drain them to 0, and they'll just instantly get a huge chunk back, even though they don't need it because all their abilities only cost like, 1 point. But ah well.

Naw man, they ARE literally terrible, and any percieved effect they have is a placebo, especially at early levels when you only have 1-3 slots per power. Unless you want to tell me that 8% of 10 damage is a game changer. Also, this change was made as an inf sink. Most people have a farming toon, or a high level character, or one they use for marketing... some way to bankroll lower level toons. If you don't, that's okay, but the reality is that there's trillions of inf sitting unused by the playerbase, and this change was partially made to address that. Also, at least one part of this problem is self-inflicted: you play with 2x XP on for those low levels. So not only can you not afford new enhancements, but you're probably outleveling anything you happen to have slotted within 1 or 2 missions. And you're getting less drops at a given level than you would normally (lets say you have to defeat 50 bad guys to go from level 5 to 6. Those 50 bad guys would drop 10 enhancements. But you're only defeating 25 bad guys for that level, and therefore only getting 5 enhancements. After that, its the next level range, and your enhancers are already going bad). THAT is entirely on YOU. If you choose to not earn inf, and to speed through the low levels, well, you still have the right to complain, but it's hard to take those complaints seriously =(

I don't think "making TOs less available" is an unintended side effect of, well, making TOs less available. TOs are literally terrible, their only good side being origin-independent, like you said. Though maybe something should be done about how DOs and SOs drop, and making it easier to acquire ones you can use, instead of pretending that TOs offer any tangible benefit and trying to cling onto them.

I like making shit up, so as a follow-up to my post, here we go: Elemental Blast: Instead of limiting yourself to one "element", you are able to blast your foes with a variety of attacks. Utilizing the full force of the elements allows you to more easily overcome a foe's resistances to one specific type of damage or debuff. This amount of versatility comes at a small price, however. There's no Aim or Snipe, and the base damage of these powers are slightly reduced compared to other blast sets (though this can be overcome). It's like the saying goes: "Jack of all trades, master of none". Elemental affinity (Active as of level 6): Each power here does 7.5% less damage than other blast powers in it's tier or type; however, using 3 or 4 different elements within a 15 second period will grant a 10% damage buff to the T1-T4 attacks, and a 12.5% damage buff to the T5-T9 attacks. This buff lasts for 15 seconds, and locks out for 5 seconds thereafter. Using the T9 will satisfy this condition automatically, if it's not already active or in lock-out. T1: Lightning Bolt - You zap your foe a with a quick bolt of lightning, dealing moderate/low energy damage. They may be shocked and unable to act for a moment. Moderate chance for a 3 second, Mag 2 sleep. T2: Gust of Wind - You use a focused blast of air to deal moderate smashing damage to a foe and possibly knocking them back. T3: Fireball - You blast a foe with a bolt of fire, which explodes on contact, dealing splash damage to any other nearby foes. Light Fire and smashing damage, light fire DoT. T4: Freezing Blast - You overwhelm your opponent with cold air and wind, slowing them down and possibly freezing them. Moderate Cold DoT (4 seconds), Mag 3 Hold (8 seconds) -20% runspeed debuff (12 seconds). T5: Chain Lightning - You blast a foe with a powerful burst of lightning, which will jump from foe to foe. Max targets: 5, deals high damage to the first target, then moderate to low damage to successive targets. T6: Updraft - You summon a powerful blast of wind to come up from under your foe, spinning them around and tossing them in the air. When they land, they will take a good deal of smashing damage and may become disoriented for a few moments. High damage, moderate chance for an 8 second, mag 3 stun. T7: Cone of Fire - You spray a 15 foot, 90 degree cone of moderately high-damage fire out in front of yourself. Foes caught in the blast may continue to take fire damage over time. T8: Sleet - Icy rain patch: light DoT (cold and lethal), fear and slow, like other rains. T9: Elemental Wrath - PBAoE nuke, you combine all your powers to create a small zone of chaotic destruction all around yourself for a few moments. Fire and earth erupt around you while ice and lightning hail down from above. Elemental Wrath deals its damage in 4 separate ticks, one for each damage type that it uses (Fire, Cold, Smash, and Energy). Has a high endurance cost, and nullifies recovery for 6 seconds. As I said in my previous post, this is meant to go along with Storm or Nature (hence the high number of debuffs and controls), though I'm sure it would also do well conceptually or mechanically with other sets or ATs (Dibs on an Element/Mental Blaster named "Ella Mental" =P)

The issue with "Don't use it" doesn't actually address the issue, though. The complaint that "the game is to easy." ends there. It does NOT necessarily have an implicit "for me" at the end. If it did, then yes, removing your level shifts and reducing your character's power would be an effective way of regaining some sense of challenge.... EXCEPT if you get on a team and suddenly everyone ELSE is judgmenting spawns before you can get an attack off. And they're all taking hits that would kill you, and avoiding attacks that you can't; or maybe someone ELSE hit you with their barrier and you're safe as a house anyway, despite having removed your own incarnate power. Now, if you wanted to get a bunch of people together and do a non-incarnate, SO's only run of some things? Sure, go for it, but at this point, most people would have to build for that first, because let's face it, this game is a power fantasy, and very few people are going to purposefully avoid all IOs and the incarnate system. Any who do probably do so because the systems seem too complicated or daunting, not because they don't want to improve their character. Though I'm sure there's a handful of those folks, as well, but they are in the minority of a minority. In any case, we don't need to purposefully weaken our characters, we just need more content befitting characters of that power-level. But, that's complicated and takes time to do.

That was the idea 😃

I had a similar idea, basically an "elemental blast" set with lightning, fire, ice and wind attacks so you could vary it up a little bit. Something that would go perfectly with Storm/ or Nature/ without hamstringing yourself.

Probably not; Alphas are just power enhancements, not global buffs. The other incarnate abilities do not take enhancements. So, yeah, no =/