Greycat

*wonders how many people will ignore this and/or get angry when something massively changes or gets scrapped.* That said, I think the game's in good hands here, and look forward to what you guys do.

Were you around on live when the live devs decided to replace powers in the Patron pools that "nobody used?" There was *definitely* not a reduction in intensity of complaints. In the end, we got 5 powers per pool. Sadly that left us with a few tons of feathers and ... I think 2700 gallons of boiling tar we had nothing to use on.

Richter or poorer, he's dead.

You can always go to the auction house and look for sets if you're wondering about the levels they start or stop at. Just search on them. You can also purchase the recipes (or enhancements) for the sets you *want* to use in the future. Nothing prevents a level 1 from purchasing a level 50 IO. Unlike TOs/DOs/SOs, IOs don't expire. If you buy a low level LOTG, it will keep working from whatever its level is onward. You don't have to keep re-buying the IO. (They can also be catalyzed.)

Forming... the Hambringer! Mmmm. Ham.

The E in EAT stands for Epic - and when the devs used that terminology, they were using it in the sense of "Epic of Gilgamesh," tying those ATs to some specific bit of lore or story. Given the Kheldian war and Project Destiny storylines have nothing to do with Praetoria, they're not able to be created there. There's no version of Arachnos in Praetoria since Tyrant killed Marcus Richter (Recluse.) For the Khelds, we don't know what happened. Given history's "the same" up to about the Korean War (though, technically not since Cole had already been wellified,) it's likely neither the Path of the Dark nor the Warshades ever came out of hiding, possibly wiped out by Cole or Hamidon before the Peacebringers arrived to continue the Kheldian war on Earth - or the PBs saw what Hamidon was doing, said "nope" and left.

Hmmmm. Vanguard merits are in an odd place, as far as currencies. They did make some sense when introduced (though, yeah, it was "another new currency,") though I hated having costume bits locked behind them. Right now, there's just not much, though. There are a few one-shot items (salvage increase, for instance,) a few items you probably won't use often (Nectembo's curse breaker, psi shield, psi bomb) and the HVAS for 250. It's pretty much heading towards "depreciated." I don't think they're that *in*accessible, either. Get the vanguard recruit badge, get merits for anything involving defeating Rikti. Get the day job, get V-merits at the end of any mission (not many - it's 1 or 2 - but they add up.) And let's not forget you're raking them in in the RWZ missions and mothership raids. I'm somewhat of a lorehound, so to me just throwing merits at people doesn't really *do* much but dilute Vanguard. And for the temp powers... when I can already buy raptor packs, rezzes, etc. cheaply (or get a permanent power,) why would I burn V-merits on temporary versions? Getting back to the lorehound bit. 🙂 I don't think we should dilute their purpose, but the Vanguard scout being around that *early* does work - after all, we start getting introduced to the Lost just before then blueside (Perez/Hollows.) Having some "related" arcs pop up with this guy as a contact not explaining why they're interested could be fun. Interaction with Kheldians could be ... interesting, as well. (And yes. That can be done redside, too. There are Khelds over there.) We could even get other "alien/dimensional incursions" that they're looking into and containing. More story arcs, more one offs, reinforcing what Vanguard's role is. Which still leaves the question of what to *do* with the merits. Costume pieces are free (and should be.) I'm just not on board with the safeguard/mayhem mission thing, for reasons previously mentioned, plus... honestly I don't think too many people would be excited about them, generally. Plus, personally, I think I'd want to see the rewards stay "vanguard-themed" and varied. Say... - Vanguard jetpack. We have the costume piece. This one's an actual jetpack. (Plus, it's small, so those who don't want the large jetpacks can use this one too.) 1 hour, up to 8 stacked. - Vanguard reinforcement. Similar to the "summon reinforcement" power you can get at P2W, but with Vanguard NPCs. (Melee/Ranged/Support options.) 5 uses. - Target dummy. Because, why not. (OK, granted, people could get obnoxious with this, but they do with other things like Ouro portals, too.) Targetable, use outside of missions. Short term, despawns after 1-2 minutes. 5 uses. - Mini nova/dwarf pet. Vanguard deals with aliens. It fits. (Standard temp pet sizes.) Maybe a mini-Rikti too. - Vanguard rifle/wand/blade temp powers. We'd probably want bigger-ticket items (temporary and permanent,) too - though eventually it'd still get to the point where it's just a matter of "I've got everything, I'm converting to reward merits.") Maybe unique Vanguard-themed IO sets (or vanguard-themed single IO procs/effects?) Pull an AE-ticket-counter and throw a Vanguard merit badge in for 1000? (which is one rikti raid, generally.) For me it's a question of "what would people want that's vanguard themed?"

Eh. I don't mind the alpha +1 everywhere - it's sort of a nice "you made it, have a cookie." The rest? Given they kept cranking levels up in the incarnate content, I don't mind that the shifts we have only show up there past alpha. And +3 as the cap for that... fine. The powers, though, those (IMHO) should only have full potency in incarnate content, if they have any availability. Judgement? Max 5 targets. Lore? Strong as patron pets. Just so they don't overwhelm the AT-specific powers.

I don't count T4s, etc. for "finished." "Finished" is when their story is completely done and I have nothing else I feel I can do with them besides, say, sit in one of the club bases and drink. At that metric... 0% 🙂

I just ... don't do Mids, generally. I figure I"m playing a game, not a spreadsheet. 🙂 Depending on what you're trying to do with the respec, though, you can always use your second or third build (with cheap common IOs, SOs, etc.) to see if you like the baseline, then transfer what you did to the main build before really investing.

Imagine this - Someone asks what I mentioned. Answer one - "Go load up the test server. Go to the forum. Do a server transfer. Once your character shows up, do this command, go here, get this, get that, craft this, craft that." Likely response: "Nevermind, then." Optional answer two with this suggestion: "Head to Icon, see the guy at the back, go in and take a look." Likely response: "OK, thanks" from a happy player who gets to check things out with an easy way in game. We can already preview what our primary and secondary look like on creation. We don't have to wait until we have each power to see it and customize it. We don't have to load up (or do an initial load of) the test server and do the whole runaround to check that out. This is an extension of that. We have "test dummies" in game already, so there's not exactly work there. The powers already exist. There's a little work to make temp versions people can check out. I'm purely suggesting this as a "this would be nice." (Also, for the record, I'm aware of - and on - the test server, and know this can be done there, but that's also not a particularly convenient solution for someone who wants to just check the powers out quickly.)

Except not everyone's going to want to go through transferring a character, setting up beta, etc, etc. to take a quick look at powers. Thus the in game solution.

So, I think anyone paying attention to help or chat sees the inevitable questions about what certain powers look like, do, etc. While our normal primary/secondary/pool/ancillary powers can be recolored or have alternate animations put on for a few inf, Incarnate powers actually take resources to craft - and you can't back out if you decide you don't like it. You just have to spend time crafting something new. So how about having a room - probably in icon, since, well, coloring powers and such anyway - where you can go in at any level and see how these powers look and get an idea of what they do? I'm imagining one large room (or maybe just two rooms) with a "vendor" for each branch. Want to see what a judgement looks like? See the judgement vendor. Get a temp power (recharge, etc. matches the actual power, but it disappears outside of this room,) go to the test dummies (or the other room with non-XP mobs) and fire away. Get a couple of Lore pets from the Lore vendor - yes, you can hve more than one at once, these are just temp powers - and see what they are and what they do. And yes, you can pick these up at level 1 if you want to look and plan ahead. These have no cost (because, why would they,) and vanish outside of the testing room. Should there be some bug or exploit where they don't? It wouldn't matter. They have no actual effect on the game world - no damage to mobs, no buffs, etc. (And would probably expire in 30 minutes just to keep the powers listing clean anyway.) Getting info on the powers would report the "real" power's stats (so you can tell this one is the one that does support and damage, this one's the one that just does support, no damage, but is untouchable, etc.) Vital? Nah. Useful? Given how much time some of us spend on costumes and the like, I'd say more for some than others. 🙂

I wouldn't argue with more low level stuff to do redside.

Perhaps... but I had a lot of fun with stuns. Especially in PVP... though that was pre-PVP revamp, too.

To what?

I *believe* (from rusty memory) it's a question of offensive vs defensive toggles. If it's doing damage, -tohit, etc. it'll get detoggled.

Yeah, early on I loved Siren's. I do wish the "+5 levels worth of powers" could be disabled in it. I like things not being a T9-fest. Then again, I don't see people, so... Eh. The system and rewards need a rework. But it's fairly easy to understand. now if you only would (a) gain some by doing the missions that affect the zone and (b) not lose it because you "left the zone" to do the mission... You've seen the zone population, right? 🙂

Are you sure there's not supposed to be some punctuation in there? The faculty who had chosen to eat outside on this beautiful, fateful day had their otherwise peaceful lunch interrupted by the sound of breaking glass. Looking up, they saw Dr. Streusel tumbling out of a window, with what they swore was a beam of waterfowl propelling him, reaching into the sky as he fell out of its path. Mad laughter followed as another figure came to the broken window and yelled down at the reesearcher, who had fallen into the decorative shrubs around the entrance. "See? Duck ray! You'll never call me a quack again!"

I ran both an Energy/Energy brute (recreated here) which I loved - I tended to call her a "heavy stalker." It was a lot of fun. First villain to 50. When I tried a fire/energy tank... I hated the set. I'm not sure just what didn't click there. It's not like I didn't know it was ST heavy. Something about it with tanks - or at least that one - just didn't mesh for me. And, yes, I like having "big rewards come with a cost," so the way ET was appealed to me.

Looking at it, I *think* it's supposed to be a speedometer or tach suddenly ... showing acceleration. But it's a little odd. THe black bit looks like a top hat.

Redside tips - Annotated codebook " [NPC] Archon Arcadio: Feliney Assault eh? Come to deliver the other half of the codebook? If you think you're going to use OUR weapon's system, you have another thing coming!" " [08:18] It's a shame that you couldn't get more use out of that weapon's system, though this will leave both Longbow and the Council hurting for some time." It's a weapons (no apostrophe, it's not posessive) system.

Hairless, other hairstyles, including other hairstyles - on female you *must* have a ponytail with a ball cap and short (or, I suppose, pulled under the hat) with a fedora. So, yeah, my female characters' hair length can change multiple times in a night....

Y'know, I wonder just how many people made characters and said that. I think we'd have more than 90. 😉 But yes. More options!

As alternates? Sure. OTOH, the way they look is also the way others think a mine should look (granted, without the lasers.) More variety? I'll take it.