Greycat

Everlasting's my primary server. That said, focusing on the above - why do you assume I die on a TF? I can play the same TF ten times, with ten different teams, same settings, and have the experience range from "never dying" to "seven team wipes in a row" depending on who's playing. Builds are only a part of that, after all. And frankly I'd find the second experience more interesting, finding out why and trying to fix or work around it (barring some odd gameplay bug, like, say, all Council Vampyri suddenly spawn as AV-level Nosferatu or something, and every spawn has three of them at least.) Honestly, using ITF is ... meh, as a measure. It's almost guaranteed, unless you specifically recruit not to, that you'll have a couple of Incarnates (if not a full or near full team of them,) and it pretty much trivializes the run. Which, sure, can be fun on occasion, but... That whole "I never die" thing is also *part* of why I don't do builds. I find it *freaking boring* to basically have no risk. It's why I want the old Quantums back with their unresistable Nictus damage for Khelds, the old Cysts, etc. And yeah, I have characters that can do +4x8... but I don't because I tend to find *that* boring. "Minions down, let me punch these two bosses for a while... next group... " (on top of the just-plain-silliness of having a full city's worth of people wandering around in a lab or office or cave to beat up. I know it's a game, and that that gives the XP for a full team, but ... eh.) I've been a standard part of the "not dying" thing. I was in a SG where we'd run at max level... and it was basically myself and the SG leader going nuke-nuke-judgement-judgement-nuke, while the others were soloing spawns as well. It's amusing, sure... for a short while. Neither of us were tanks, but... there just wasn't much there. Even trying ot keep up with the story on AEs, it still got rushed through because it was just that hard to challenge that group. (Which also got *me,* as one of the main people writing the AEs, to come up with things like time manipulation using groups... as in *everything* had it. Have them try to figure out what to do with their recharge - even IO-boosted recharge - floored.) (Part of the other reason I don't do builds, at least copying other peoples' builds, is that I end up not playing the character... since it feels like I'm playing someone else's character. I have no connection to them. It's just numbers that produce other numbers then, and if I wanted that, I'd open up Excel. But that's neither here nor there.) Got off track there a bit. Regardless, even without "builds" (and don't get me wrong - as I alluded to before, I do use IOs. I tend to throw things in organically, "that looks interesting" or "that looks helpful" as I level) death is still... fairly infrequent, especially as I get higher up in levels.

No you aren't, and no you don't! :) This can ... already happen now? And what's more, players have more control over who they give INF to and when. *And* can give it to non-SG players, too. ... which basically... does nothing, so why enable the system (and the potential for some people to start in with "you're not doing anything for the SG, look at the prestige numbers!" arguments, even if they do mean nothing and there's no loss.) Even ignoring that, say you have two members of an SG. One is on for several hours a day. He farms, maybe, for his own build and INF. Or just solos, Doesn't really do anything much with the SG but show up for an hour a week and BSes with them. Has Prestige on, so while he's only with the SG an hour a week, with the rest of the time he plays he's the highest prestige earner in the group, has all the Prestige badges, etc. The other is on a few hours a week, base builds and tweaks (which doesn't earn Prestige,) builds and tests AEs so the SG has a good, new, relevant arc to run every other week to once a month, crafts commons and other IOs for general use, tosses extra salvage in the bin, but rarely if ever has Prestige on. Even if he *does* remember to turn it on, none of the things he does earns Prestige - there's no real way to have it affect Prestige earnings, after all. Which one's doing more for the SG? Which one shows more "prestige," and how does that relate at all to the SG? This was one of the issues with the Prestige system even from the start. It didn't reflect anything except itself. Not how good a SG was, not how much a player contributed (aside from that number) to the SG itself. And yet it caused problems. "I earn X much prestige, I deserve to be promoted/leader/whatever else," even if there was no real contribution to the SG as a whole. Or even "you owe me." Prestige is something best left dead and buried. Just want new badges? "Distance traveled using Walk" is more interesting.

All I can say is that I 100% disagree with the premise you're starting with. Can IO builds make a difference? Sure. But I play quite a bit of support. I don't do "builds." And I haven't had survivability problems, or support problems. I'll be on commons late into a character's life - and, of course, played back when we didn't *have* IO sets and the game was a bit rougher. What it *sounds* like, to me (and I may be wrong on it, but I've run into it enough that this is sounding familiar) is that you might be concentrating too much on one side of the character. "I'm a bubbler" or "I'm Kinetic" or (shudder) "I'm a healer," that last one being the worst because of concepts hauled in from other games that just aren't needed here ("Focus on healing, let the DPS do the damage, if you're doing anything but healing you're doing it wrong" - and in some other games that's certainly needed... but not *here.*) A more *balanced* character can do a lot more *without* having to focus on just one side or the other. Granted, it's easier with some sets - FF throws out bubbles with two clicks on the team every four minutes, for instance, and hangs close enough for dispersion bubble to help the squishies who are probably a bit away from the fight - than with others, but your blasts (which for most sets are also debuffing) and / or controls are going to make a huge difference in team survivability as well. And sadly they're ignored by some percentage of support players in favor of "I need full leadership" or "Hasten+Medicine pool." They also, though, can give that survivability you're looking to new IO sets to add. For instance, defenders and corrupters... just out of *habit,* I tend to load their ST ranged up with thunderstrikes because I like the set and it's reasonably cheap. What does it end up giving as bonuses? Recovery (helpful on busier support sets,) and ranged and energy defense. You're not going to softcap that, but it's enough to be pretty useful.

Yeah, I'm confused as well. Those buffs were made AOE on *live,* so it shouldn't even be a different branch of the sunset-era code. All you have to do is visit Point du Hoc while a mothership raid is being set up, if there's any thermal, sonic, cold, kin or FF you'll see everyone buffed in just a click.

I ... honestly have to wonder what you're doing if your support is getting killed/mezzed that fast and that often. About the only time I see that is on MSRs during the bomb (and very beginning of bowl rush) phase, and even that's not always a mass of death. Maybe in PVP, but that's a vastly different environment with very specific needs. Plus... yeah, I'd have to agree, these would just be gobbled up by DPS. Most have some sort of self heal (or +regen) that would use the exact same sets, and probably more than one if you're throwing bonuses in that early. Other support types? +Def (FF, fortitude, etc.) and +res buffs would obviously be grabbed instantly, and even some you think might be "safe" to do this with (say, def debuff) can be taken - and probably would, for the min/maxers - in some attack sets.

... not really a fan. "More prestige" does not equal "better supergroup," yet people tried on live to make it seem that way, and getting rid of the "You must run in SG mode" dictators was a big plus for actually *enjoying* SGs. There are far more interesting ways to have SG contests and such than "go grind this." Personally, I'd rather have any and all references to prestige purged from the game. Yes, even in its current inactive state.

Chewing on it a bit (and I see a few echoes of thoughts in some other posts) - Go to patron pools... not 2.0. I'm not even sure it's a 1.5. Maybe a 1.3. Villainside - sure, add red widow. Or generic "Arachnos." Heroside - FBSA pools. The arcs themselves are themed. Not going to go into "what the powers are," since - well, lots of balancing and rebalancing would need to be done anyway. Grey - For those who don't want to swear fealty to a patron, or tie themselves to heroside city hall. Midnighters, perhaps put Arachnos here, Longbow, Hammers, NPs... or whichever other groups. Drop the unlock to 33 instead of 35. Why? It means you finish out your primary through T9, while getting the arc to unlock late enough you're not wondering why it's not available... while having it available at 35. And since Patrons are RP-flavorful - expand arcs on all of them. Do more jobs. Primarily for replay value. Also, a 2-mission "switch patron/organization" arc, for those who'd like to switch the badge/patron, given it's an expansion on preexisting content.

On Excelsior, *Everlasting. Lord knows why I put Excelsior, Krow typically does these every once in a while. It's fun. (Plus our dropship bounties on the MSR *never* stay at what they start at... we seem to always have people donating there. :D )

About the only reason to do it now (other than "I want to try a petless MM for challenge") is that it's the only way to get whips. (DP was the reason before that got turned into a blast set, after all.) Though... I mean, not taking the pets, I'd think you kind of *have* an END discount there. You don't need to buff or support them. Varies by secondary and pools, sure, but still, if you're not having to heal/bubble/buff your pets (on top of just not having to re/summon or upgrade them,) that's END you're not using.

Yeah, when I was doing more commissioning (back on live,) half the time I'd just go inside or in a base to get steady light. Between in-world buildings (stores, police stations... don't recall, is the AE "quiet room" affected by time-of-day lighting?) and bases, though, I think we sort of have control over this already. (Heck, I made a base specifically for costume contests to avoid "welp, day went to night halfway through and nobody can see the details of the costume." Not that anyone uses it to my knowledge...)

Which is kind of a tangent there, really - mostly annoying to some RPers. Sounds like the OP knows it already. Though, I suppose, the argument could be made "it's at least one thing red side has to draw people over to play, even if only for a little bit." (typically one mission, though.) Regardless - yeah, this has been suggested since live. Not really against it, though I don't know if heroside (flavor-wise) would have individual "patrons," per se. I could see them being linked to organizations, though. Hmm. We have MAGI, DATA, etc. already (though that puts us at one over, hero-side, and do we want them tied indirectly to origin like that?) Getting some "grey" pools wouldn't be bad, either - Midnighters, Vanguard, possibly the New Praetorians and Hammers? Granted, most would probably just be different crayons in the same lines, but "grey" pools would also give redsiders (and vig/rogue) a chance to pick something not tied to Arachnos, which would be worthwhile. Edit: Also, should probably be in Suggestions.

Heh. I used to do different things - take a FOTM combo (say, when Ice/Elec blasters were popular) and either reverse it (Elec/Cold... which was ...odd) or stick it onto a different AT (Fire/kin? Sure... I'll make it as a tank, though, not a troller.)

... tell the kids to go back outside and play so the price goes back up? :)

... which server are you on? On Everlasting I see requests for GM teams frequently, and GM hunt teams that go after multiples are ... probably a couple of times a week that I know of. And yes, anti-player Confuse does exist in game. (I believe one of the BAF mobs does, or did, this, as well as the Succubus from the COT, from memory.) I'm not sure I'd go for this as a GM - I don't honestly think there's enough in Cim to really have it fit - having more arcs in Cim going into gorgons (and perhaps other easily-reachable representations of myths) for something to do pre-Incarnate would be great. Edit: GIven Medusa's story in the Metamorphosis, specifically (might be monsterous, but not a monster - she's the victim of a curse from Minerva/Athena,) an arc that gives a choice of defeat or "free from the curse" might be interesting and a change of pace. (Especially if she's an AV....)

Yeah, respeccing needs a rework. There have been a *lot* of suggestions on ways to do it (even just "free un/redo of the last power/slots placed" seems popular.) "Respec any one power at any time" would probably be more techncially challenging (just because of things like pool dependencies for prior powers and the like,) but ... yeah. Respeccing needs a look.

The only thing I can really add is that,to me, the "pros and cons" part are ... pretty much irrelevant to the timer. Which somewhat reinforces Hedgefund's initial response. If a team's going to rush, I don't think it has anything to do with the timer - *everything* is faster these days. I last ran this with my SG (fair mix of characters, a couple like tweaking characters, a few - like me - don't bother) and it still was reasonably quick. We weren't *trying* for anything. Wasn't a 10 minute run, included some RP in the mix, nobody was bothered one way or another about a timer. And the pro point you bring up? Well... it's more a matter of the players than the timer. I love seeing the map, and yeah, wish there were reason to revisit it in a non-TF context, having reason to investigate giant bones, that sort of thing (also mentioned in one of the PI badges or plaques in the norther islands.) Some have seen it a bunch and just see it mostly as "a map" now and are going to get through it without payin gmuch attention... again, though, I don't think the timer or lack thereof enters into it.

... they have an armor secondary. With mez protection. Not sure why you think they'd need more or why... apparently turning mez protection into their inherent somehow would do anything. Hahahahhaha... no. WIth any change there'd be some spike of having more people play it to try them out, yes. But... *people like different play styles.* Sometimes even the *same* person. If I feel like playing support, I'm not playing a sentinel (or a blaster or a brute.) If I feel like getting in the mix in melee, I'm not playing a sentinel (or a controller, say.) I'm 100% against trying to tune things for (or against) anyone's play preferences. That should never be a consideration. Besides, who decides who the "true" any-sort-of-gamer is? Honestly, reading both of these, it sounds like you were told they were bad, read forums, looked at a spreadsheet to see how "bad" they were, but haven't really played them 1-50 (or even to a "significant" level, like, say, 35.) As for why sentinels are undertuned - which, yes, they are, but not to the point you seem to have assigned them - well, they were created by a small playerbase, not the live team, with a very small beta testing group. Starting too far down and buffing them up gradually was likely seen as more desirable than having them overpowered and having to dial things down (aka "nerf") them later. We *still* have a small dev team and small community compared to live. Things take time. Yes, more than two years. In the meantime, I for one find them enjoyable, they're fun for me to play, they fit certain concepts and I don't even mind the inherent.

They look different enough to me (plus I tend to have LFG and SG in their own tabs,) but I can see where people can see them as "too close." Being able to customize those colors (or channel colors overall) wouldn't hurt, if it's possible.

This post came to mind when I was messing around with an AE, actually. Time in the Cities - especially with the 'missing years' - is strange. It may not matter to people who just want to smash stuff if it's 2012, 2021 or 2112 "in game" (which is a perfectly fine approach to take - it's a game, enjoy it,) but on the RPer and lore side it kind of caused a bit of chaos as people tried to unofficially handle it. Some people didn't care. Some people tried to pick up like the "missing time" didn't happen. Some tried to explain what happened (from "snaps" to "well, I did stuff," to ... well, as many explanations as there are RPers.) What ended up bringing it to mind was a reference to orphans from the loss of Galaxy - which we only had for about a year pre-sunset, but "now" would be nearly a decade ago. Which TBH doesn't really affect *that* story as much, but makes things like the crowds of people in Atlas asking desperately for information on when they can go back and looking for information on loved ones seem *odd.* So, with both those in mind, here's a thought. Instead of trying to fill in the gaps of "What happened for that decade," why don't we tweak the timeline and bring some of those events *forward* instead? Space out some of the later canonical events to fill in time, given we don't have the dev team to actually *create* that much content or fit that many events in. Find some events that make sense to do it, figure out *when* it would make sense for these to happen and just tweak the years they happened in. Then develop the rest of the timeline (and new content/tweaked content) from there.

Welcome back. 1. Server - You can always check "Server status" at the top of the page during the hours you play, but typically it's the two Es - Excelsior and Everlasting, the second being the RP server. 2. Modifications - Maybe, maybe not, depends wholly on your character and if you feel you need to make changes. I haven't yet, personally .

I've been seeing the same thing, though somewhat rarely.

Or you can just note exactly what you mentioned above. "Intended for myself and some friends. Non-English. Plenty of jokes you won't get. Non agricultural."

... or, since Paragon had this thing of "we want writers to explore their own ideas, not complete old ones," one of the writers thinks how silly it is for a little island to forcefully hold territory in the US and the Isles is taken over by a combined military/meta force, driving Arachnos underground. LR is only seen in propaganda (until later levels,) but since Ghost Widow still exists, you know Arachnos isn't gone... Boomtown's slowly getting rebuilt. But the edges are still a veritable war zone. There's a Rikti enclave in the city - not the war zone, though Vanguard has a presence as well. The Traditionalists are working to redeem the image of the Rikti, providing technical and medical advances while trying to ensure the Restructurists / Lineage of War don't start another assault. The Restructurists realize the mothership and that area are just a bottle waiting to be corked and occasionally pop up elsewhere. DA gets de-Motted (current zone moved to Echo status,) but instead of going back to just-plain-Astoria there's so much negative mystic energy, misery and pain that it becomes the new location of City Hall a new political party's home the focus of a new high end group focused on using that energy to twist the world in ways that would make the BP blush. We'd get to see more of the world, both in terms of new locations (Egypt - Gadzul Oil, Blood of the Black Stream) and being able to *see* it (moon/space environments.) Egypt, at least, becomes a new starting zone option for both heroes and villains. (And no segregation - start off as a hero/egypt, you can hop over for a Synapse, then hop back to finish your story arcs, for instance.)

No! ... just kidding. If/when it's possible, yeah, all for more options.

I ran across a small group in BB... geez, must be two months ago now. First time in a long time. And it was a lot of fun. I miss that being a common thing.