Greycat

Don't have much to say about the first two - I wouldn't hold my breath on our LRT version, Shadow Slip, coming back, though I get the argument - but for the third... Starless Step (for the non-'shade among us) went from the ranged TP Foe to our version of Combat Teleport. (I kind of wish they'd changed the name, because this threw me - someone who's played 'shades live and here - with this comment.) I'd say it's a bit early to talk about removing or replacing it, on one hand. I still haven't quite worked it into how I do things on my 'shades. I disagree with your reasoning *why,* as I really *am* "jumping all over the place" when I play, and there's a lot more going on in melee range (TP in - Mire being an early opening, Eclipse being fairly standard fare to start with late game. Orbiting Death is, of course, melee range, as well as Inky Aspect. By late game I end up in melee range more often than at range for most things.) That said, Warshades by default have Teleport from level 1 - no power pick needed. I use that out of habit for travel *and* combat. I don't see myself binding one thing for travel, then binding the other for use in combat. Starless Step's ... advantage is the tohit buff (which is nice for the *first* mire/eclipse, sure, and/or if you're dealing with small groups) and shorter animation. But given my 'shade "does stuff" when teleporting in, the shorter animation between SS's jumps doesn't really confer an advantage. It's one thing when you have to dip into a pool because you *want* a combat teleport aside from whatever you use for travel. It's another when you have TP from level 1. I'd sit on any change for a while 'til we get more of a feel for where this could fit into playstyles... but I'd probably say "fold the buff into the first three times a 'shade just uses inherent teleport" and agree they should replace with... something, the way it seems now. It does feel a touch redundant with our Teleport not requiring a power pick at all and being given on character creation at the moment.

Disclaimer: This is only tangential to my post in general discussion on if or how Hamidon should be changed/buffed/whatever. I'm actually going to be ignoring the Hami raid here and focusing on lore and missions. That post is discussion, this is ... to figure out some updates. I will say that post is what got me started down the path of thinking about this. That said, off we go. So, the Devouring Earth haven't really been updated much, primal-side. They hang around in seeming random zones, you can ignore their missions, then suddenly *boom,* Hami's the end game non-Incarnate raid. The flip side of that is Hamidon *is* the big bad for Praetorians. Unlike Primal, in Praetoria we get to see him (sort of - more like see his effects) in nearly full glory. He has avatars. He has seeds. He is destroying cities, he's on top of and beneath the earth, for all we know he's trying to figure out how to get to space and spread to other planets and become the Praetorian Coming Storm for their universe. Primalside, though, it's ... rather... bland. We have creatures hanging out in Talos and Croatoa for... some... reason? And founders, though that makes sense because there's a direct link to Eden and the Hive. (There's also the Abyss, with them trying to bring Hami through outside of paragon... which, and I'll bring this up later, should have characters that started as Praetorians absolutely ecstatic that they wore the brown pants today.) You have to run specific arcs to get a touch of the horror in Tanya, Pyriss - even Psi Knight asking you to kill him before he's completely converted to a Devoured. Otherwise, those are just... funny shaped sacks of XP. Oh, and of course we have some in Crey's Folly, which makes sense since it's an ecological disaster that would be *infuriating* to the Hamidon... but, again, they're just sort of there, mostly as swarms, it seems. Plus a few stragglers in PI, and around the island in IP that Terra Volta's on, which should be much more alarming than it is. It's past time that the Primal DE storyline got updated. These arcs are some of the oldest in the game. I don't think they've been looked at since being put in. Even redside - which has "newer" arcs - they're from around redside launch (with Pyriss - and I will say I liked that she was brought in in the incarnate content, too. It was a nice cameo.) A lot has changed since then. It'd be nice for the game to reflect that - and possibly add content in areas there isn't any now. A note on mobs. I don't think the mobs need updating. Yeah, really. They've got a nice mix of abilities, resistances and debuffs that they're still a worthwhile fight. I honestly think that - other than perhaps a cameo or special mob here or there for story reasons - the DE as a group of critters can be left as is. Yes, incarnates can still pretty much roflstomp them - but they *exist* in a wide enough range that, by the time you get there, frankly, you've earned it. (Again, not talking about the raid - that goes into the whole long running "incarnates vs high end content" thing I'm not touching. I'm talking "if you can now nuke the rank-and-file mobs in missions that have been annoying you for 20-odd levels? Go for it, it's probably cathartic.") The DE currently start at 25, with one very easy to miss contact in Talos. (A contact in IP can give the same mission. But you're *much* more likely to get the Wheel of Destruction, for instance, or the Freakylimpics, or the Sky Raider secret. Serieously, it seems like ten contacts in each zone could hand you any of these others, so this one's easy to miss. ) This is the Will of the Earth arc. (An Unnatural Order.) It's ... an all right arc, but it's also kind of coming out of nowhere. I'd almost want a 20-25 arc - or a few - that introduce some "ecoterrorists" who turn out, at the end, to be following the DE's/Hamidon's directives. For Praetorians? You get a special one... with fellow Praetorians who, on having escaped Hami on Praetoria, learn he's here too, give up, and see him as inevitable... and start working to bring him to power. 25, then, brings us to the Will of the Earth arc with a little less suddenness. I'd also like to see a new one in IP, honestly, just dealing with the fact they're *at the walls of the zone that houses the city's nuclear reactor.* Probably dealing, initially, with more of either the terrorists and/or Praetorian "inevitablists" working to breach the walls. There are tunnels enough, you work to discover the plot, stop them from planting something that starts a DE attack that, unstopped, would break through. 30 - 40 is where things should get interesting and let you continue the plot. IT's also where there's a technical question - does the game keep track of those who started as Praetorian? You can't do it via badges or arcs, obviously - you can ouro those, as I'm recalling. If it can keep track? In my mind, there should be people reaching out to ex-Praetorians about how these "damn Primals can't even keep their own Hamidon under control." If it's possible, again... this should be *really* giving some nice possibilities to ex-Praetorians... to either help or hinder Hami. Yes, including redsiders. If you want to help, you can get missions to get like-minded people to some point to eventually be converted to Devoured. Primals can get this, too... and yes, perhaps even end up with a Devoured temp summon. (I was thinking "end up as..." but so far the process isn't reversable, in lore.) Crey's Folly should also be coming into play here. Yes, the zone gets content. Hami fighting against the pollution - could it even be a *sympathetic* arc for Hamidon? - and maybe seeing if, in its efforts to clean up, it can *use* the toxic sludge to bring forth even more powerful creatures. "Let mankind die at its own hand," basically. Crey, of course, would also be a major antagonist - and I can see these arcs being very grey and ambiguous. Heroically, you wouldn't really *want* to help either side - you'd want to stop Hamidon and put Crey in jail - but what if you didn't have the choice? Given ten levels and several arcs to develop this - and maybe a RIkti side interest in seeing if they can use these creatures, just as they did the Hydra - should fill up plenty of the Folly. Founders should also have its share of issues, 35-40. While it may not get many story arcs for this, it could get something else. Buds. yes, the little guys that show up after you defeat Hamidon. They end up randomly showing up - thus the Praetorians "they can't control their own" freakout. They shouldn't be allowed to build up too badly (there are population fluxes, after all,) and no, they don't develop into a full Hami, but something GM powerful a team could take down? Sure. Rally the other DE around, too. 40-50? PI time. Both Portal and Praetorians do *not* want Hami finding out about Praetoria - and don't want anything coming through from that side, either. You can help - or hinder - this effort. (If you want to do this redside, it'd be missions and instances, of course.) And just for fun (and this'd be work,) well... you know those odd, giant bones on Monkey Island? What could Hamidon get inspired to do or make by those.... So by the time you finally get to the *raid,* you should have a healthy dose of lore and/or respect for Hami, versus just showing up for whatever reason to fight a jello blob. Granted, this has been a bunch of rough ideas, sketches and outlines - and barely touches on redside (which is kind of problematic on its own,) but there's a *lot* of potential with where the game sits now, lorewise, to update the DE and make them much mroe interesting and built up into much more of a threat, and I think it'd be worthwhile to do. It'd be a project over multiple "issues," with other things going on, I'm sure, but I think it'd be worth the effort.

Since this sort of thing has been mentioned, it should be pointed out the Hamidon raid *has* been changed (whether players liked it or not) in the past already. There's no Golden Dawn that can cause a raid to fail. There's no Hold phase any longer (we send controllers to hold the green mitos, but that's about it.) The people that enjoyed those had the raid changed on them and had to adapt. So, to me, this is kind of an invalid counterpoint. The devs can and will change the game no matter how happy or unhappy any group of players is with it. The live devs did it, the devs here have done it - after all, just look at the transportation changes and power changes *this issue.* Those changes were forced on players. Having a level cap raised from 40-50 was forced on players. The Faultline change was forced on players. The RCS turning into the RWZ with missions and a raid was forced on players. Your options, when it comes to changes, are accept the change, don't and stop playing, or go to another server - the third, of course, forcing its *own* set of changes on its players. That's the nature of a live service game model - you can't choose not to accept a patch and continue playing. I will stress this does not mean "I like it as is and wouldn't like to see it changed" is not an invalid position to have, though. You're (generic you) perfectly welcome to have and state that opinion. A "why" would be nice, too, just to flesh it out. Even so, we've had 2-3 of those. And I'm *perfectly happy to see people say that, too.* (Just stay polite about it.) And I kind of feel it has to be mentioned, since some people sound outright offended I brought up anything - I'm not actually advocating for *any* of these changes. I'm taking a player comment and, finding it interesting, running with it here for discussion. I'm not a dev, I have no particular pull, even though I threw out some example ideas does not mean I'm saying "change it this way." You don't have to argue with me or be angry with me, or the original commenter, for bringing it up. It really *was* an offhand comment that, thanks to the followup commentary in the raid, I found interesting enough to start a discussion here. Discussion, folks, not argument - some of the posts started sounding a bit personally-offended here. And, I should note, the discussion isn't necessarily about making hamidon *harder,* though that can be part of it - yes, even though I mentioned buffing him in the title - but shaking up the experience. (Also mentioned in the top post.) It can be mechanically *changed* without nerfing anyone or taking anything away - but it seems very few people are even noticing that was mentioned. Throw some ideas out there on what you'd maybe find interesting. Whether it's on the primal raid or - as some people have picked up on - the Prae Hami, which honestly is a more powerful hamidon in all its earth-spanning glory, it seems (which is part of why the main hami raid, to me, feels like it may not be living up to its "big raid" potential any more.) If I were going to define a *problem?* To me it would be this: Right now on a Hami raid, there only has to be at a *max* five people actually paying attention to what's going on, out of a full zone of 50. The raid leader, Hami taunter, and lead for each mito type - and the raid leader is probably taking on one of those roles. The rest? Follow, target through mito type lead, press attack keys in sequence, occasionally take an EOE. If I'm on my Mind/Time, for instance, I'm literally going 1-2-3-4-1-2-3-4-1-2-3-4 EOE 1-2-3-4. It's pretty much true for any other AT I bring along, with only a minor change for hamikazes. (And this is without me even needing to *use* any Incarnate abilities - Judgement on the buds, maybe, other than that, I'm just getting a single level shift.) And you know what, I'll admit sometimes for me this is *just* fine. Long day at work, it's a no-thought process 'til Hami's down and I need some AOEs for the buds. Repeat twice, 120 merits, or 80 and 4 Emps or what have you. You tell me, though. Is that good or bad? Should the "end game" raid, the big bad, allow that? Or should it be more engaging and interesting? Thus... "Shake it up."

Well, lore wise there's apparently a difference - at least for the Bane Spiders, they get added to a sort of psychic network. Psionic females go to the Widows/Fortunatas. And yes, that was set up before VEATs kind of tossed it out the window. So, right now it's just... "they haven't made any," I guess.

I've got to say some ATs are going to have a ... let's say much wider range than others. Sure, blasters are damage/damage, with damage on top and damage sprinkles. Does that offset (say) a brute having built in mez protection? But that aside, something like a controller can go from my "... why am I trying to solo this, it's taken me 5 minutes on two even con mobs" earth/FF to the "yes, we used to use these to farm" fire/kins. Are we considering a defender's boost to damage when solo? ... and no, I don't have data sets or anything. I don't do a *thing* with numbers. But I will watch this out of curiosity. Discussion can be fun. (Or it can get locked. Let's lean more towards the first than the last.) Only rating I'll put is "most fun = Warshade," for me. *shrug*

Aww. Wish I'd been on!

Sands of Mu (and I think Ring of Pain, I don't recall) should be from the Wheel of Destruction arc. It grants a couple, most of which disappear pretty quick.

Well, as I mentioned, there were other followup comments - none of which, honestly, were disagreeing or disparaging. Mind you, this is a regular group of raiders. They must enjoy doing this (or, well, just getting the fast rewards.) If I went to all ... three or four... evening raid sets, I'd see many of the same people. They *know* Hami. The idea of shaking up the Hami raids by doing *something* to make it different again seemed welcome. Thus the topic. I find it interesting that there are replies here that seem focused on "nerfing players." In the two posts I made setting up the discussion, only one (let's say 1 1/4) points had anything to do with really affecting the players' slotting or abilities. And provided workarounds or explanations. I suspect at least one person actually didn't read it and gave a rote answer. 😉 (Not necessarily you, WJR.) So - for everyone - let me reiterate the main part of this that I wanted people to look at to spark discussion: Think of ways to shake things up - and why! Or why it shouldn't be. (And let's not put the "Dev time" argument in. It's really *not* an argument, just kind of a lazy way of saying "I don't like it." I've made my argument against that reply before.)

OK, brief testing - Illusion controller, went to the "back 40" of Faultline and the Arachnos base there. Found a patrol of Arachnobots. Picked a LT Arachnobot Blaster: Spectral Wounds is slotted. [14:51] You hit Arachnobot Blaster with your Spectral Wounds for 39.5 points of Psionic damage. (Attack made.) (about 10 second delay) [14:51] You hit Arachnobot Blaster with your Spectral Wounds for 15.78 points of Special damage. (Illusory damage healed back.) And just natural regen did bring back much of the rest of the health in between. (I didn't do multiple attacks in between since I wanted to watch for this.) Since it is slotted, it'll do more damage than heals back when the spectral damage disappears (showing under "healing delivered," if you're monitoring it.) PA, of course, doesn't show up under this, so it has to be a matter of watching. Arachnos Drone Coordnator (LT) finally showed up - [14:57] You hit Arachnos Drone Coordinator with your Spectral Wounds for 46.62 points of Psionic damage. [14:57] You Hold Arachnos Drone Coordinator with your Blind. [14:57] You hit Arachnos Drone Coordinator with your Blind for 25.47 points of Psionic damage. [14:57] You hit Arachnos Drone Coordinator with your Spectral Wounds for 46.62 points of Psionic damage. (damage plus containment.) [14:57] You hit Arachnos Drone Coordinator with your Spectral Wounds for 28.42 points of Psionic damage. (damage without.) [14:57] You hit Arachnos Drone Coordinator with your Spectral Wounds for 18.63 points of Special damage. (Shows under healing, illusory dmg healing back later.) [14:57] You hit Arachnos Drone Coordinator with your Spectral Wounds for 18.63 points of Special damage. (ditto.) [14:57] You create a Phantom Army of pure illusion! There was a definite lag between damage done and spectral damage disappearing. (Sadly this just gives minutes, not seconds.) PA also managed to do damage and have it stick. Granted the coordinator was lower level than me (couldn't find an even level one) but it still took damage (and lost damage) the way I'd expect. (Noting again, my powers are slotted, so they will do more damage than should heal back.) In short - everything worked the way I would expect. Not sure what happened with you.

Wanting to get this straight before testing to see if it does it to me. - Attacked Drone Controller LT for (making up numbers, not really the important part) 10 dmg +10 spectral damage. - Normally, Drone Controller would take 10 damage and keep it, 10 spectral reverts back after time. Instead, it got 20 back immediately. - Phantom Army attacks also healed back immediately. - Specifically affects Arachnos robotic *Lieutenants* (Drone commander, LT rank spider folks.) Even level? Anything slotted?

.... Are they too powerful, and have they really had an impact, though? OK, maybe you can make the "too powerful" argument for the signature summons (they *should* be for what they're costing, with the usual couple minutes of life,) but the lower level reinforcement doesn't do much. If I pick one up, it's usually to let it be a distraction for something so it eats the alpha instead of me. I can't think of the last time I saw anyone *else* using them. Honestly, the Shivans (which you pay only some time investment for, given most servers don't really have ongoing PVP in Bloody Bay) are more powerful than the reinforcement - and I *do* see them used more. And on the upper end, I think Lore has probably eclipsed the signature summons. I don't disagree that they shouldn't be permanent, I just .. question saying they've had much of an impact on the game.

First inclination: Electric armor (for the "power" side) Stalker (for hide to help... well, Creep.) Barry was already a bit of a peeping tom. And was getting known for it. People called him a creep as they passed him on the street. One night, he just happened to be peeping in the wrong place at the wrong time, having cut through an industrial area and slipped, spilling some mysterious chemicals on himself - and then leaning a foot against that outdoors outlet to get a better view in his target's window. The outlet broke and his target wasn't the only one that got shocked that night. After that, though, he had new abilities. He had become... the Power Creep.

Because the oddest thoughts take up residence in my mind thanks to comments elsewhere... Create a character named Power Creep. What AT/powersets? If a powerset doesn't quite exist, what would you want them to have? Bonus points for a bio. (And for anyone who *has* a character named Power Creep - not picking on you, I didn't check to see if one existed. 🙂 All just in fun.)

Which is a perfectly fine answer too. I just want to point out this isn't necessarily saying "it needs fixing," it's just something created for discussion thanks to a comment (and followon comments) during a raid last night that I thought people could have some fun with. (Otherwise I'd probably have put it in suggestions and fleshed out my own ideas more.)

... or, hey. Posi 1, with team leaders regularly saying "Take out the controller first!" Not the tank, blaster, or scrapper - that should be an indication, too.

Well, they're meant to be an INF sink on top of everything else, so making them perma does kind of defeat the point. (Also I don't think i've ever used Resuscitator all that much - sheesh. 🙂 )

I don't remember ever *not* getting them from part of the arc, and some of them are truly temporary, so I think they'd be legit for an 04 runthrough.

While "in theory," sure, I'd actually say no, it wouldn't. MSRs - at least on Everlasting - have people of all level ranges coming through and still deals with large chunks of the league getting killed (usually between bomb and bowl, though if a pull gets a lot of mages, it can do Bad Things,) and while the ITF has... issues, which have been brought up previously with how it's gone from a bit of a fight (remember having to use *strategy* to fight Rommy?) to Incarnate Roflstomp, it's not *just* incarnate content. Plus there's no *lore* reason to do much to them. They may warrant a look at tweaks, but they're still just big mortal fights. Even Rommy is just newly-Nicticized mortal, at best on par with Arakhn and Requiem without the experience (though, arguably the Nictus now powering him has that, but it's driving a new body and nobody told it how floppy the shifter was) so... yeah, versus "they are gods" (even without Incarnates,) he's goin' down. Besides, ITF *also* has a much wider range, so a buff there would hurt the lower levels it's available to. Hami's solidly 45+ and you don't get all the reward options 'til 50 - just the merits (mind you, 120 for a few minutes of work to do it twice isn't shabby.) Also, @Veracor , I usually miss your raids - you do the early one I tend to be working still 🙂 but appreciate the leading. The point brought up there about spicing things up and paying attention is also part of why I decided the comment in the late raid should be brought up for discussion on the forums. Half the time, the only reason I know I've moved from whatever I'm fighting to greens is that I've moved past a green. Other than the raid leader, taunter and targeters, most people don't really have to pay much attention to what's going on. Follow, hit some keys, stop fighting Hami (unless it's hamikaze time,) get reward, refresh, do it again. For what used to be *the* capstone raid... it could use some shaking up. ... something else just popped into mind (as a general thought. Call it #5 on the list - and hey, folks, throw some ideas out there.) Create multiple versions of Hami that look the same but behave differently... and you get to find out which one you have when you hit the soup. No, I'm not sure exactly *what* variations there could be - vampire greens that latch onto a player and heal the rest while damaging the player? Affecting player damage/effects/travel speed so you *have* to knock down some to get back up to full strength, the first few are the hardest? I Don't know. Throw some ideas out!

This is true - and I get your points in the bit of a side talk, here. Lore (and the rest) still came along fairly late in the game's life. Had we had another few years, maybe they'd have been subject to some rebalancing. Or maybe we'd have that second "tree" of powers and things would be thrown even more out of whack. 🙂 That said, I don't really want to focus on general nerfs or buffs to powers overall (though, again, your reasoning for bringing this up was perfectly clear and I see why you did.) I'd *like* to focus on how they interact with Hamidon, both on a mechanical and a lore level, to shake up this raid. (For instance, Hami can smack around otherwise untouchable pets, as I'm recalling, which both requires different tactics from - say - an Illusion controller, and lorewise points again at the power that Hami should represent.) .... side note, should EOEs be "pet-affecting AOE?" One class that falls at a bit of a disadvantage here is masterminds, who need to feed EOEs to their pets (and thus burn through their own supply fairly rapidly.) Given that *is* where the majority of their offense comes from, that's kind of an extreme disadvantage that's focused on one class. (It's less of an issue, to me, for controllers/dominators. Not everything's focused on their pets, if they have them - Illusion aside - and besides, they have green mitos to take care of, and that requires their controls, so their pets dying isn't as much of a handicap if they have them out.)

*points down a bit* Suggestions forum, down that way. (I'd also suggest fleshing this out a bit - the "feel" can vary, set by set, and is also kind of a personal preference.)

Since I asked the question, only fair I should throw some ideas out. 1. Bud Hami more often. Not just in zone, either. Once youv'e done a raid, there's a chance Hamidon might bud (in non-starter zones, no killing level 1-5s) a weaker version somewhere. Give it that "Becoming a threat to more than one zone" vibe. Perhaps starting with where there are currently DE - Eden, Crey's Folly, Croatoa (yes, there are, go check the corners,) PI. This wouldn't necessarily be a full strength Hami, as mentioned - but it'd be a threat that would have to be dealt with (and which Praetorian refugees would probably, IC, *not* be thrilled with hearing about.) This is more of a "lore" solution for giving the feeling Hami's getting more dangerous... it's heard of its Praetorian version and is either getting ready to break its seeming lethargy of staying in one or two zones, or even (giving PI is a target) taking on or *joining* Praetorian Hami. I could see this developing over a few issues, honestly, with the threat evolving. 2. Create a Prae Hami raid. Bigger, badder, and Incarnate content, sure. With some of its unique creatures (seeds and avatars, with an option to introduce more, or even an "infection" mechanic - though players hate losing control of their characters, perhaps it can copy a few to defend it alongside some signature NPCs.) 3. Disable/weaken Incarnates and/or IOs, but.... Yes, I know, boo, hiss, throw rotten tomatoes. It was mentioned Hami has a connection to the well. I don't *recall* that right offhand, not for Primal at least, but you have to admit "Drop Lore pets! Judgement! Drop hami!" does make mincemeat of the old blob. And there are arguments on the board and in game about just how much sets have "hurt" or "made the game too easy." The thing is, we already have a pattern for getting around this. We *know* Hami (primal) does untyped damage, it can get through defenses and really hurt - thus, we use EOEs. And, we have something *else* hami specific we can pick up in every raid... Hami-os. So why not have *those* regain some value and not be affected? They can be the key to helping keep powerful attacks powerful. Swap out an IO for a hami and the power effect of the IOs don't get diminished as much. Heck, this can tie in with the idea of the Prae Hami raid. Prae Hami is everywhere, there. It's *powerful.* Beating it down in one place just isn't that big a deal, right? It would potentially have the ability to *really* beat back some of our abilities... but how would it weaken what seems to be parts of itself - Primal Hami-os? They might even be more powerful. (Heck, we could give them a pass and give some sort of buff to having multiples in this situation. Fights off hami's damage, etc.) 4. Other effects A few things thrown out in discussion included making fly/teleport more difficult (jetpack? It's not designed to work in goo!) slowing down SJ and SS, just making movement more difficult, making the higher mitos more of a challenge. Making hami Move. (What if the safe rock ... wasn't safe?) Not taking credit for them, it's just a few things that were thrown around. Of course, the argument that "hami's fine as is, it doesn't need change" is perfectly legit, too. Some people like it as is. But it wouldn't hurt to discuss ways to shake things up, either.

So, in the Hami raid I was just in, someone brought up... "Is it time to buff Hami?" It's kind of a legit question. Hami was "the" endgame raid, for quite a while. Only source of Hami-os, causer of mass death via golden dawns - heck, my first 50 (blaster, of course) went from 0 to 1.1 million debt in one raid, the cap at the time. Then again, blaster. 🙂 Now, we run them a few times a day, we can do two in - what, half an hour if things are slow? Hami's essentially one big farm. This is the Primal version of the creature that pretty well owns Praetoria now. By definition, a huge threat. It only didn't wipe out humanity because Cole talked it into letting him prove Humanity's worst excesses could be controlled. So, honestly... from both gameplay and lore, it's kind of a legit question. Does Hami need to be buffed? The raid changed? If so, how would you do it? Edit: No, I'm not mis-posting in the wrong forum. I'm not really making this a suggestion, I just thought it'd be an interesting discussion. Of course, if the devs like some of the ideas... *shrug* Edit #2: Some of this has turned into an "Incarnates are the problem/need nerfing." It's 100% true that this is in the range Incarnate abilities have an impact. But let's not just focus on that. Can you think of other things that might make the raid more fun / interesting / engaging again regardless of that? Or if you think the raid's perfectly fine on its own - why? (In isolation. No "I want other content" or "dev time" comments. Just look at the raid and what's related to it.) Edit #3: Came to mind and it might help get an idea here - whether you think something could be changed or not, how often do you join in (or run, for that matter) hami raids? Mostly because I'm curious if "hami fatigue" brings up a desire for change - or, conversely, familiarity makes you want to say "it's great as is." This does not make anyone's opinion more or less valid. It's 100% curiosity.

Can I dance away loudly? I found a boom box in the local Goodwill. I'd like to put it to good use. Would that be good use?

These days, a blast set's T9 nuke is pretty much just a big AOE attack. You can throw it out when it's up and not worry about it. It *used* to be that the nuke had a side effect - an endurance drain and -recovery debuff that would last for a bit. This meant you'd have to consider whether to use it or not - which meant, for me, I'd often skip it or hold back on using it on a Defender because I'd need that to help keep buffs or debuffs up, and the defender-level damage wasn't worth that in many cases. I *like* that playstyle and having to weigh that plus (big damaging attack) versus minus (no recovery for X amount of time, no END.) Others didn't, obviously, which is why we have crashless nukes (and T9 armors*.) However, for me that tradeoff has to be worth it - in this case, as you might be able to tell from the defender mention above, the damage has to be worth it. I'd like to see the option for that come back - with a twist. If you choose this option, you'll get more damage out of the nuke, but you'll be debuffed. You can also *choose* to slot in an Endmod for more of a debuff that lasts a bit longer, but gives even greater damage (and, yes, for elec, does more -recovery and drainon the enemy still.) Defenders and corrupters would be affected more (since they get more out of buffs/debuffs anyway,) but in return if they slotted that they'd also get more damage out of the nuke. As an option, I think this could give people more variety on how to play and make having that decision an interesting part of a play session. I'd *like* the option of "you can give it all for one big attack when it matters, but you will pay a price for a while." Not everyone would use it or like it, but they can stick with the current version in that case. Now, would this be trivialized by Judgement and/or IOs? Maybe, maybe not. Yes, there'd be some offset by IOs that just give a set amount of END back (Performance Shifter,) but if you're totally drained and have no recovery, it would still take a bit for those to fill you up and keep you in the fight (by which time the debuff would be done anyway.) And as far as Judgement, that's only a consideration from 45 up. Nukes, by contrast, are available (if exemping) down to 27. *T9 armors are harder in the current IO game to come up with a "worth it" side of things for a similar crash, and it wouldn't affect all sets - Fire, for instance, has Rise of the Phoenix as a T9, and you can just slot that for more damage when you rez.

I'm not against it by any means. It would also help, say, French and German, for instance. Plus, I'll admit, silly usages like various metal bands who use them to look cool. (I had a character at one point called "Rock Dotz," who should have had an umlaut over those Os. No, it makes no sense pronunciation wise, but it did stylistically.) Potential issues: Running a team and someone says "Hey, invite *name with diacritic* to the team." It's one thing if they send you a tell or whatnot, it's another when you're not used to typing them and have to try to figure out how. ... and I had another one pop into mind and pop right out again. *chuckles.* Ah well. Probably "unintended side effects with the game having to understand these letters now."