Greycat

I'm not exactly sure how a title would help with this. If you're curious who's in an SG, you can always click on them and see it. Not everyone's going to use some custom title - and certainly everyone won't want one forced on them. And that title won't affect alts - I *certainly* wouldn't put the same title on all 100+ alts I have, and if this were implemented (or I were told "As a member of this group/coalition, you must use X title," which, given they change by origin, couldn't happen anyway,) I'd leave the SG with a one-finger explanation. If there are certain people you like playing with, use the player notes feature, then give them 3-5 stars so you can see who they are. You can add a note of your own, or right click and pick "edit note" and you'll see the other alts they're on.

Well, given in said group we *regularly* asked if people had things they wanted to run, offered to help learn (or even just flat out write) AE to create those missions... that wasn't the case. I agree room needs to be made. But when the offer's out there, standing... it's really discouraging to have people gripe but not offer anything even as basic as an "Eh, I think I'd like to see..." idea.

But would they? I've mentioned the Praetorian lab maps. While not "realistic," the individual rooms I don't think really affect pacing and gameplay when you hit the larger, open rooms with desks and devices (liquid tubes, computers, etc.) in them. This is the same sort of thing that would happen in the sort of "realistic" maps I'm talking about. Obstacles wouldn't be "was he drunk driving down a twisty mountain road when he designed this" hallways - they'd be the more natural feeling walls, cubes, dividers, file cabinets, server racks or what have you. They can still get somewhat mazelike (let's not get into when I worked at lockheed martin...) after all. (And again. Not really looking at "*should* the devs do this," but "would your experience improve/not/get worse" with this sort of thing... which is why I only quoted this section.)

Before getting started on this - yes, this would require new maps, creating spawn points, testing, etc. I'm not asking about the feasibility of that. Yes, it would be a lot of work if the dev team chose to do this. So let's skip that part of the argument - it's really not related to what I'm asking. I think everyone's talked/joked/griped about the "insane architect" when going through city building maps. Giant, oddly sprawled out floors, going up to a tiny "S" hallway between two elevators, to another floor in a totally different orientation and so forth. Or warehouses that would be utterly *impractical* as warehouses. What if one (or more) devs got a wild hair and said "Guess what, we're going to make these more realistic inside!" Would it be more or less fun? More or less interesting? I mean, I have two "first reactions." One is that it would be fun to have the new maps. Things would *not* be where you expect. You'd have to learn everything again. The other, possibly a first reaction, would be "so... big, rectangular maps with some shelves or cubicles? Meh." However, thinking about it... they wouldn't be. Office buildings and warehouses both get split up in unique ways. Yes, some are "open" with just desks everywhere (and we get a taste of that in some Praetorian lab rooms, actually.) Others get split up in some fairly interesting (and, sometimes, mazelike in their own right) ways. With offices, shared floors between companies, more- and less-secure areas, different departments having different needs, transitioning from a cube farm to the C-level office suites - heck, some could even have public "first floors" with areas for lunch and shopping (all with their *own* layouts, hiding spots and the like.) Warehouses, despite maybe being the more boring sounding of the two, could be even more diverse. Warehouses, after all, get rented and used for all sorts of things, from the obvious (storage/inventory) to office space of their own (some youtubers, for instance, convert warehouse space into studios.) A "warehouse" could even be a hangar (shown in game,) and some of those even have homes built in. We even have one in Talos with a portal in it. Given our tech (and magic) groups, a warehouse could be even more of a blank canvas. Having "realistic" maps - which would, I would think, be constrained more to size and consistency (and things like elevator placement...) - could be more fun, in the sense of letting you get drawn just that little bit more into the world. Granted, the crazy architect would be out of work, but I hear he wanted to design roundabouts and hedge mazes anyway... Would you find these "more realistic" maps more or less fun? What would you do with them? ( ... secondary thought, here. Having "warehouse" be a default base type and letting you work inside constraints could kick off some base building - both in terms of an easy start for those who don't want to do as much work, and a challenge for those who want to see how far they can go with it.)

OK, yes. I find having "honorary Peacebringer" on my Peacebringers kind of amusing. (Moreso on the Warshades.) But could this possibly be renamed *specifically* if a PB has it? Even a simple shift from "honorary" to "honored" or something similar.

I felt the need to point something out, given the mention of the "threat" of Quantums. As mentioned, the unresistable Nictus damage is gone. As I type this, I'm on a level 29 triform. I have no sets boosting resistance - three pieces of each Kheld set, beginnings of Thunderstrike in some of my ST attacks (which does nothing for resists, adds a smidge of ranged defense.) I'm in humanform. I have a KB resist IO and a single lvl 30 resist in Absorption, a single -end and resist in Shining and a single resist in Quantum shield. I'm not "built" to resist much of anything. Facing even con Family. Which, of course, has quantums. I faced a set of four and *let the quantum keep shooting me.* 9 hits, one miss, on top of combat with the others... and I still had a hair under 400 HP left. Max HP with Essence boost... 1189. If I can just stand there and take hits like that and still have a comfortable amount of HP left... *they're not a threat.*

This is ... almost purely a roleplaying thing. However - I'd *love* to be able to place/summon groups of enemies, preferrably both "native" to the game and AE-created, in a base for SG events. It would open up a *lot* of options - from having a single COT mage in your own crystal prison for interrogation (or demon summoned in a circle) to having your base under attack from custom enemies your group's been fighting for a while. Or even just "training" versus "holographic targets." Options would be, say, single/small group/large group/random, hostile/friendly/neutral, static/mobile. There would be no XP for these, no rewards, just to avoid the inevitable "I can PL/farm in my own base all day now!" arguments. Like I said, this is purely RP-based. And no, they don't count towards badges, for the same reason. They would despawn either after a set time (another option) or when everyone left the base. The main issue with these, I think, would be the lack of pathing in a base - which can be seen when MM pets just sort of stand around scratching their pixels. But if one of the options is, say, a placeable point that taunts NPCs across the map (and you can place one or several, like another mob,) they should be drawn to it. They'd possibly require a SG permission item (and, honestly, permissions and ranks in a SG need to be overhauled anyway.) An SG leader knowing an event was coming up could remove the permission from everyone to avoid someone deciding to grief it. It could be a fun little addition. *shrug*

And the flipside of that is that ... oy, it can burn the people who DO try to out. Used to co-lead an SG, kind of felt responsible for doing some writing. Turned it into another job, basically, and then a few people (who, despite offers, never really did *provide* anything or offer their own plots) insisting the leaders were "doing it wrong." Surefire way to make people not want to push stories.

While the papers don't do this right now, tip missions already do, though they don't create level 50 (say) skulls or hellions if you take missions in Atlas. And yes, it would take work to get level 50 versions of those groups that don't have them. (And, frankly, the skulls - for example - should not be, or have, a level 50 threat. You smack down their big-bads by the teens. They're a drug-pushing gang.) What I think I'd rather see, as parts or as a whole - - Ability to take paper missions in any zone unlocks at 50 (to keep someone from not really progressing by staying stuck in one zone.) - New missions written up for groups trying to take advantage of hazard zones. Get people in there. Yes, this includes the sewers and abandoned sewers. - Missions = plots to manipulate or recruit the lower level gangs (or plots that have done so, and you need to stop them from being enacted.)

To me, menu items should be things you need easy access to, or might have to toggle on and off or change a value on with some degree of frequency. I don't really think the insp. options fall into that category - they're more set and forget. But that's just my take.

... honestly, my brother worked in security when he served in the air force. His headgear (a blue beret) led to me calling him Sgt. Blueberry long before COH existed...

All of them. *All* of them. (And I will never call any version a "gimp" version because of AT or whatnot. I really wish people would stop doing that.) Besides, I have fun with projects like "every X AT's powerset" or the like. And yes, a tank *does* play differently than a Brute or a Scrapper (and, obviously, than a stalker.) Especially on the way up.

"Desirable" is a 100% personal and, honestly, shouldn't be weighted anywhere *near* as heavily. Yes, there's a wide range between 2p9384yupekgfwdpfugyperhfqihe and Mr Superspeed (or whatever generic-you considers deisrable, and as a side note, that's available on Everlasting with and without the period for Mr.,) but any constraints beyond that are purely player-imposed on themselves. Of course, some of those limits people come up with - maybe "themes" is a better word - end up opening up a lot for them. Especially when they get into alt groups or families... "These are all part of project Starstrike. Starstrke Alpha. Susan Starstrike. Starstrike Hunter...." probably wouldn't have a hard time, for instance, and doesn't seem to be uncommon.

Nope, that was in the first few days I was playing. No winter event. Just a texture that didn't load.

See: Atari Then: Game developer, console maker, leader in industry Now: Name attached to overpriced (even if I like the case) Linux console and emulator, pusher of failing cryptocurrency.

They're also not an Epic (meaning story-driven) class with their own storyline, which those specific mobs are tied to. It has nothing to do with being "a ranged class with shields."

02/26/2005. Earliest screenshot! ... how did I ever play on a screen that small? (And which zone is that... :) ) Also, textures, what textures? And life (and defeat) before ragdolling...

2009. Yay, widescreen! ... five costumes. Old Atlas...

... because why not. Old live shots. 2005-06-01. Looking at this and remembering ... this was my high res at the time... Comparing to my interface *now* - oy.

Yeah, that's going into modifying the textures in COH's own file format (that .dds, multipart thing) - and as noted you can't increase the resolution, which honestly would probably make them look *horrible* thrown on something in Poser or Daz3d. (I mess around with Daz a little. I usually just try making do and repurposing things. I *should* sit down and (re)learn how to do more 3d modeling, deal with textures, etc, but ... ugh. Need to clone myself.) If you look in your own Daz3d library (and I'm assuming Poser as well, given how much is, or was, shared with them,) you'd find textures under your Runtime library. Looking at them - or loading up a model and looking under its own surfaces/colors - you'll see sometimes just a color, sometimes a pattern (say, a painted scene on a wall,) possibly with a related glossiness map, bump map (often looks like a greyscale version of the scene) and a few other things. What I'd search for are tutorials on texturing in Daz3D. Read those, and the info from the other linked post will probably make sense - they touch on the same things, but the format's different. One quick example (looks like it's a few years old, but you can kind of compare and see how the two line up... https://turbofuture.com/graphic-design-video/How-to-Make-Custom-MATs-for-DAZ-Studio ) (I should do this myself, really. There are a lot of things I'd like to have new textures and patterns for in Daz. But... time, energy, alll that.)

... assuming I remember... and can decide on a character... though I'm not sure what the heck I'd be doing there... I don't tend to fill out what my character is, what they're looking for, motivations, etc. I try to put something up - formerly on virtueverse (though what I had there and what's there now is... interestingly scrambled,) and on FBSA (which is ... mostly names, now,) but I'm horrible at keeping anything relevant updated, and I don't want anyone to think what I mention about a character *there* is somehow locked in stone. My characters are like my builds - they tend to come around fairly organically, and can go from very generic with a sudden bit of inspiration to detailed before I log in, so...

Oh, it's nothing wrong with what you said, it just highlights one of the issues with redside that could've been handled better.

This. (Also one of the reasons given for not liking Redside, at times. Getting forced into actions you *would not* take. There's a lot of forms of villainy out there, it's not just "boy scout good, or mass murderer laughing psychopath evil.")

Just because it'd be amusing: Alternate animation for Clear Mind type powers - Caster throws a coffee mug or coffee pot at the target. "Wake up! *whack*" Could be done on its own, or hey, throw together some other animations for a buff/debuff set to go with it...

Well... I mean, one person's definition of "fun" isn't necessarily someone else's. I could say (for instance) "I love stalkers and being able to sneak through missions, it makes me feel like I'm getting the better of the bad guys" but if beating down a ton of enemies and coming out with nary a scratch is what floats your boat, that doesn't help. :) Honestly I think most of my answers would have nothing to do with abilities or gameplay - I lean heavily into RP for mine, so it's "I like this character because..." If I had to pick characters due to setups I've liked, power wise (and not "I've put eleventy billion inf of sets in" and the like, either,) and look at sets and not RP reasons, I'd have to think about it a sec. But probably these. Warshade. Just... yes. (I like both Khelds, honestly. This is mostly annoying in invasions where bodies fade faster, or against things like ghosts that don't leave a corpse, but otherwise, yes, Warshade.) Mind/Fire Dom - I like mind to begin with. When I started this one up back on live, I started cranking the difficulty early... like single digits early. Still a blast to play. Ice/Dark Corruptor - Takes a *little* bit to get going. But can chew up groups. Pain domination. Paired with pretty much anything... mostly because I like going on mothership raids, I can help out in the center while still blasting away with two AOE healing powers going off, one of which doesn't interrupt anything. (Mastermind-wise, the toggle's a +regen, as I recall. But I don't like bringing MMs to raids. And anyone who's seen Rez Dispenser on Everlasting can tell I don't just sit still, either. ) Most of my Sentinels. Ice/ice, Elec/elec... just ... any of them. I like them. Have to mention my Staff/WP brute. Yes, it's pretty much "you'll be tough without needing to think about it," and the character's also an RP staple, which is part of why I held off mentioning it, but it is also fun to play.