Greycat

How do I play the game... well, first I bring up the launcher, then hit live (or beta) and play... Tend to use a keyboard and mouse... Eh. Honestly for me it's mostly RP these days. Even if I'm solo, the characters are developing - whether they're getting levels or new IOs or not. And RP doesn't have to be *in* the game, either - especially since there's so much that doesn't quite reflect properly in the game engine. But the character's developing, so for me it's "playing the game," still. Even if I'm not on an "RP" team, I'm considering how (or if) the character is reacting. Granted, sometimes it's just "no, this is just levels" and I go on my merry button-mashing way. It used to involve leading or co-leading SGs - that ended up turning into a second job, no matter how much I loved the group and the people in it. And AE - which went along, for quite a while, with leading said group (and some burnout.) It even involved a bit of base building - I would actually build a base as a set for a specific RP arc, tying it in with AE and the other RP. That way led to serious burnout eventually. So... yeah. While I'll play for basic smashy fun at times, for the most part, it's the creation, development and expression of characters and their stories (shared or otherwise) that I'm in the game for.

... you know, I've had it lumped in with Salt Crystals from Earth Control in my head, which is a PBAOE (which is also the reason I don't take it there.) I've had those two lumped together as PBAOE since *live* for some reason. And I've run both to 50 multiple times, skipping it because I remembered it as PBAOE. Heh.

Salt crystals - that was the other one I'd been trying to think of, yeah. For me, those two aren't low-priority/non picks because they're sleeps, but because of the PBAOE not really "working" with the rest of (or most of the rest of) the set. Everything else is at range (Ice Slick, Volcanic Gasses, Quicksand, etc) and I want to stay at range, not hop in the middle of things for a sleep.

Completely depends on the character. And with widely varied reasons, everything from "that's just the way they see things" to ties into backstory, journeys and the like...

It depends on the sleep. Mind? (Targeted AOE) Yes. Being able to put a group (or, yes, a single, even with an AOE) to sleep is handy. Yes, even if it breaks right away. And yes, there are ... not infrequent times shutting down a group with multiple bosses with defenses a Sleep can shut down (but other effects would not) is useful, even if the sleep is broken right away. Ice? (PBAOE) No. I constantly skip that, since *I* don't want to be in range of anything the sleep would hit - I'd rather use a hard control (or ice patch) on them.

"Pool boy" builds have been a thing since live. Never did it myself, but they are around.

This is an aside, but ... "once in a while?" Since when does Fighting or Leadership (the power pool, not the actual ability) determine if you're a "good player" or not? Neither are required. Play without them. I can guarantee people will get to 1-50 just fine. ... and of course if you don't need them, it does kind of mitigate the desire for yet another power pool, so it circles on back to the thread in any case. ;)

Have to look. Are you entering one of the phasing areas? You can lose NPCs there.

The badges don't need to be equalized. One's for a GM, two are basically participation awards. So "equalizing" them would, in fact, make them unequal. Welcome to Earth is for the dropship defeat, which also awards reward merits - like other GMs. One defeat = badge. Just like other GMs. Master at arms = get a hit in during the raid. Be at 10 raids. Not difficult. You pretty much just have to be there on jumping into the bowl and do.. *something.* Everyone has brawl and one attack, by default. Two, actually, since you have the origin power, which has range. You can hop in at level 1, target U'kon and spam that, eventually you'll get a hit in. Even easier for demolitionist. Team plants bombs, you get the badge. You don't have to plant them yourself (or my dark/pain wouldn't have it,) *and* the number of bombs needed has gone down (used to be 25.)

I've seen this done, too. Between magic, dimensions, etc it was basically "growl at each other like strange dogs for a bit, then get it sorted out."

... with the caveat that that *can* be wrong (showing more hours.) Personally, I miss being able to look at it and see that I'm a Nemesis nemesis sometimes. ;)

They also have an infamous slot crunch if they take both forms. Or, really, even one.

... and another group, apparitions vs drudges, -1, didn't attack the apparitions. Trying to pick out what the heck's going on here... Edit: Except for one drudge. Who came back. Now PA's not attacking any of them. Edit2: Also seems to have nothing to do with level. Brought a 32 Ill/Sonic in. Similar group and level - 29 Apparitions and Talons together. PA completely ignored them. As well as a group of just-apparitions. Phantasm doesn't attack them, either. Or a Shivan. Power analyzer shows nothing stealthy. Doesn't seem to affect MM pets - they'll attack happily, though they tend to be attacked first. At least they respond.

Further testing, finding a group of even con *just* apparitions, PA attacks just fine... Even weirder. (Have to get a video of this up, because.. yeah.) Found a rooftop with that same combo on it (Talons vs Apparitions,) and Apparitions in the distance - same rooftop. All even con. Same thing happened. Pulled PA over to the group of apparitions, they attacked... but not the LT. And still completely ignored the other group. (Edit - forgot the second link. )

The leaderboards were dropped back on live - those things actually took a *lot* of resources, apparently, far more than we'd have guessed. New stats are - either SCORE or from here.

So, noticed this at least once before, but... Running an Ill/Storm through Night Ward, level 29. Ran across a group of Talons and Apparitions facing off on a rooftop. Cast PA right into the middle of them. Result? PA wanders towards me like nothing's happening, even while being attacked, attacking nothing. Try dragging them through the spawn again - same thing. They're being attacked, I'm being attacked, I even initiated an attack with Freezing Rain - no go. Took down one talon, confused another - the confused talon (facing three Apparitions) didn't attack, either. Inside an instanced mission (one of SIr Lionel's,) versus Drudges - no problem. Everything works as intended. I have no status effects such as confuse on me, so... Did it with another group that was -1 or -2 to me, just apparitions - no problem, they fought. Found a third group of the same make up, PA killed the lvl 29 Talons minion... then ignored the Talons LT and apparitions. Edit: And since we can do this now - (... not the *best* capture, but still. Up the resolution :) )

... what, you got something against the classics? Like my Mac Classic? :) (... which, actually, I need to see if still boots...)

I'll admit to liking SG-based RP. Usually it means you have something you know is going to *be there* at a certain time, you can develop characters, you can keep a plotline going even outside the game, should you care to - it's great for long-term development. The hard thing is *finding* the people to start with. Elsewhere, I was co-leading a fairly long lived RP group. It was *great* ... well, ok, it got to be kind of a job after a while, partly because I felt obligated to provide drivers, which was not the fault of others, really. I also got feedback after a while that new people felt like there was "too much" to catch up on. I never really found a good way to work around that, even as I tried to keep things welcoming. You *can* do that through things like POcket D... but, eh, for me it just didn't really click. What you might try doing is advertising for some short-term, set plots (mostly as in "we're going from A to B and seeing what people do, for the next 2-3 months or until we finish") and see who's interested. It gives a set environment, definite duration, and brings in people you might not otherwise interact with. You can build up a nice little "rp phonebook" that way, even if it's not on those characters afterward, by finding people whose style clicks with yours. (Basically, think of it like a task force writ large.) As far as the emote thing... well, it's up to you just *how much* of it to do. Latex's idea of "hooks" is probably a good way to start. Or just think of the important bits that might show your character's state of mind at the moment.

There are times losing or lowering costs is a good thing. Having to hope your SG mates scrape together enough for your base builder to add a desk *and* chair? That's a cost that was decidedly limiting. Losing the need for Prestige to base build (on top of other changes between SCORE and here) was good - it really did allow creativity to practically explode in some instances. Losing or lowering the cost of "do I take this power / use this pool" like this though? I'm less for it, and don't honestly buy the creativity argument. That has a direct impact on gameplay and the overall power / difficulty of the game. About the only way I'd go for this is if it opened up at 35 - with the cost of not taking a patron/ancillary pool. Otherwise, people have been working around this for years, even on live, and if nothing else I'd say that's made them more creative... even when going for "theme." IOs also lend themselves to this, and the P2W vendor is just icing. Have a stealthy character you can't fit the pool in for? IOs in an extra free sprint will get there. Trying to fit in a travel power? Several free - though unslottable - options exist, as well as paid (and fairly long duration) temp powers - and so forth.

Yeah... built my system a couple of years ago and even then, trying to find a case with an optical drive opening was... difficult. (All the LEDs and tempered glass you could shake a stick at, though... neither of which I cared about, and of course they kind of forgot little things like airflow in a lot of them.) Regardless... yeah, most modern systems shouldn't really have an issue with COH.

You're aware that there are *other* levels between -1 and +4, right? And that nobody has to build characters to your liking, or that doing so or not has any impact on how well the character's built? Or, for that matter, *how* anyone wants to play at any particular time?

100% subjective. I'd say play them all. You have 1000 slots per server after all. :) (Try an ice/ice Sentinel. It *will* eat END early-ish on, but does well later.)

Couldn't you just /t yourself? Fairly sure it works (local or global... ) Edit: Just double checked. You can just /t yourself. Or create a channel of your own and call it "my test" or whatnot and send output there, I suppose.

I'd still go for a menu option or slash commend being available for the same reason ironjoe states, but I wouldn't be against this - especially as someone with a lot of alts. The option's there already, just swap what it already is set to by default.