Greycat

1. HELL NO to prestige. I wish even mention of it in the SG listings was gone. Prestige was nothing good, and was nothing but restrictive back on live. 2. No, it's not going to subscription. It's a volunteer team. And likely couldn't go back to it due to NC.

I'd say the way @Techwright is leaning there is probably right. And that there's *probably* a little more leeway in AE vs player characters, on top of how they're used. An AE that.. say... winds up in a fight between an army of Donald Trumps and Kamela Harrisses... Harrisi? ... would probably get stomped on as soon as it was known about. Living people, current events, etc. Going back to save Abe Lincoln - who's almost more a cultural icon than "person" at this point, if you understand what I'm getting at there - from Nemesis would probably not have someone bat an eye at it. Given AE is "fiction" and in game-reality we have alternate universes and such, *depending on how someone's used* even a more recent person might be OK. Using Macarthur? Explore what happened in Praetoria in his time. Even Manson... say there's someone who wants, for whatever reason, to cause chaos, but in this alternate dimension people love Chuck's Choice flower shop and he's peaceful and *nothing* like he was in our dimension? It might be a little weird feeling as you go back to save that version from being turned into how he was here, but it's also a few steps removed from everything. If that makes sense. As far as GM guidelines? I *suspect* you'll run into "We can't give specific lines not to cross, because people will get RIGHT up to that line." (As well as .. well, it is, in part, a sort of vague, "we'll know it when we see it," and case-by-case judgement.)

- Don't be in a rush. The game doesn't "start at 50." Especially with early characters, just spend time getting to know how things work. There's plenty of content on the way up - Don't assume because you don't like how one powerset works in an archetype, you won't like the archetype. Two different powersets can have wildly different feels. - Don't worry about some superbuild or IOs right away. There are useful tools, like Mids, to help with "builds," but you don't need to have something ridiculous to finish content, nor do you have to run it at settings you're not comfortable with. It's a game. Play however is fun to you. - You have 1000 slots per server. Use them. Experiment. Do "Sounds stupid but looks fun" stuff. - ... don't make your first character an "Epic AT" (Peacebringer, Warshade, Soldier of Arachnos or Widow.) They were initially meant to be unlocked at 50, and have some quirks and complexities to them. - If you're not sure what someone's advertising for in the LFG (Looking for Group) channel, ask. Team requests can often just look like a string of random acronyms. - I *personally* wouldn't start "goldside" (Praetoria - the Going Rogue option.) It can be fun, but also has quirks to it. - Have fun. There are plenty of different ways to do so.

I've heard of one person who has a habit of doing something similar. Think I've seen them once and just had someone mention it was something they did, often for ... non family friendly purposes. In all the time I've been playing, I've run into someone who had an almost-exact replica of a costume I had (obviously ignoring intentional copies and things like "Jeans and a T-shirt") ... once? And that was pre-COV release. In that case, it was 100% happenstance, we laughed it off and I don't think I ever saw them again. Regardless, I'd go with the intent. If it seems like they really liked it... talk to them, who knows, they might have something interesting you can incorporate into your setup, you might have someone worth adding to the SG or the RP storyline. If it really bothers you, ask them to not make that copy. If it seems malicious, make sure you've screenshotted it (and you can grab bio info, open it up, /screenshotui 1 to grab what's on screen,) and ask them to *not* due to the issues you've mentioned. I'd screenshot and/or get date/time of when you asked, too, to back it up. If they don't, get a GM involved.

Just as an aside... this was always just *weird* to me. The only place it really seemed to work was in the (tiny) amount someone gave you on the street for rescuing them. One of the "If I could..." things I'd do is just call the whole thing cash or credit or whatever, and maybe have the "INF****" be something that would start influencing your rep in an area, affecting the discounts (or not...) vendors are willing to give you. Granted, it wouldn't help the "give ways to burn excess money at high levels" - it'd work directly against that, really - but still. Anyway, aside done, carry on 🙂

Well, Tank primary/Controller secondary wouldn't work directly. The Tanker primary is their armor set, the Controller secondary is their support set. While some Tank primaries do have damage auras, very little as far as a Controller secondary would. (Imagine trying to level an Invuln/Empathy. You'd have ... brawl, and whatever temps and pool powers you'd pick up.) You'd have a character that would be *painfully* slow to level (and I say that having leveled an Earth/FF controller... ow,) and given the way the game runs these days, would likely be passed up in teams. (Granted, some farmers might like them - a shielded buffbot? And maybe some very specific content, but other than that...) Controller primary/Sentinel (or just control/armor) secondary would be more viable, since you'd be able to ... well, do something 😄 Though I expect the set would be less control-heavy in favor of giving some direct *attacks.* (Yes, I know, many controls do damage.) How they'd specifically look or be laid out, I couldn't say. But of the two varieties, yeah, I'd say control/armor would probably be more likely.

Yeah, as far as work? Set up a template or two (for things that need to go to two pages,) with columns, the "Paragon Times" header and spaces for things like the date, spot for a headline photo, the columns, etc. so it's just set and ready to go. Yes, there'd probably be time spent on what events - either a new release, or announcing things like Halloween coming through again, anniversaries of events or whatnot. Yes, there's a little time writing something up, proofreading (and having someone else check as well,) getting a good screenshot and setting everything up, but I highly doubt that it would have any real impact on anything else getting done in the game. And it would be a way to increase both immersion and involvement - go ahead and have the players come up with what they want in it, even for little ads on the side for in-game things. Those always seemed to be popular on live when they came around. (Granted, they'd probably have to be generic vs. SG or server specific - less "Weekly MSR results!" and more "Sheherizade's Sher-the-love buy 1 get 1 free sale!" but still.) Granted, there are people that seem to hate the fact lore even exists, despite this being an MMO*RPG,* but as far as dev time? I don't think "it would take their time" or "be too much work" really would hold that much water. (Besides, Devs spend time on what they *want* to spend time on, we're not paying them to be on a schedule or have to release X much content per month/year.)

There's a whole thing roughly sketched out between how the Wells, Ascended (and Dimensionless) interact, including Prometheus being a bit jealous and trying to hold back the players because - basically he doesn't want to be replaced. And as far as the well - well, wells - they're all independent of each other, so losing *a* well doesn't seem to affect the others, but would affect the species it's tied to. However, they're all "buffers" between the species tied to them and the Source (which is why beings like DJ Zero and Ruularu, who aren't going through wells but doing things on their own, are "concerning" - the Source is a *lot* of power. As in universe-writing or destroying.) And I didn't find any info right offhand about "what happens after?" for Praetoria if it goes post-Hami-defeat. Especially with other bits mentioned about Cole replacing Statesman here. *Personal* headcanon kind of wants to link his "redemption" to being able to reclaim Praetoria and defeat that Hamidon, but... nothing backing that up. I just think it'd be an interesting way to tie the story together, wrap it in a bow, and - really, just let them recover.

mm. I don't run on Hami raids like I used to, but I could see that being a slight issue during the "Did we get all the buds" check. MSRs tend to be even more chaotic, especially when people target through someone else's MM pets because acutal targets aren't displaying on screen for them because - well, MSR. If they're being used, intentionally or otherwise, in a way that's disruptive, I could certainly see something being put into place that prevents them from being summoned, especially as they don't serve a combat purpose. (There could be a *very* slight argument made for Electrical Affinity, since you need a friendly target for some of those, but... you have the rest of the league, so...) I'm kind of surprised the hami bud pets are targetable. (Never picked one up... might have a recipe on one off my characters.) Making them untargetable would probably help as a first step, though that wouldn't fix (and actively work against) the target dummies.

Hmmm... Villains Against Malnourished Peasants In (the) Rogue Eitoles? Beware - Incoming Toothy Exploration?

Well, we only know about one of them - Genesis, which would be AOE buff/debuff patches. What the other four would be, we don't know. (Or haven't dug them up, at least. I ran across that one some time ago going through an AMA.) As far as what we'd be facing? The Battalion, of course, was the next thing. With the final challenge from them being the True Batallion, who were the ones "eating" the wells. There *was* some talk about a "final showdown" with Prae Hamidon. Not a lot of detail there, it seemed to be just "this would be ideal." It'd probably be what really finished out all the Praetoria storylines. Other concepts to follow that, which were getting more and more vague? Fighting against Prometheus (Ascended) and the Furies - and the Well itself, to free yourself from it (no worry about "draw too deeply and it can take you over." ) There are higher beings such as Dimensionless, as well. Once you defeated Prometheus/Furies/the Well, the next one mentioned (as we keep ramping power up) is listed as "The Primordial who came close to destroying the Source at the dawn of existence" (as in a Primordial, one of the beings that leads the Dimensionless, who did so.) You'd be the one rallying multiple Wells and some other NPCs to fight at your side (maybe this part of the Incarnate tree would have powers named after the wells. *shrug*) So, yes, power levels go from - 1-50 super => Incarnate => Ascended => Dimensionless => Primordeal. (Just picture that tree. And grinding up those trials...) Not enough? One step *higher* was mentioned where you have to survive a Primordeal/Dimensionless civil war, and *then* fight against the *concepts* of Order and Chaos who erupt from the Void to fight their personification and another being listed as "The first Primordeal to save existance." Granted, we're probably talking issue-late-30s at the earliest by that point, but still. How's that for scale? Edit: For those curious, this is primarily from the AMA/"loregasms" - should be the 2014, as I'd had that handy for other things.

...like people care about lore. It's been made quite clear to me lately that, with few exceptions, they don't. While I'd love to see it? *shrug*

It's counted as two "hits" as far as the one shot code is concerned. Or at least it had been for quite some time. It was specifically called out in a discussion on it on live.

If you put on a doctor costume at halloween, do they let you walk into the hospital and start giving people drugs or do surgery? A doctor is defined by their interest, years of schooling, internship, licensing and the like. A halloween costume is a halloween costume. I leave the rest to the readers to ponder. Good luck.

Wow. You really don't get the difference between "Here's a Halloween costume" and the rest of what's being said. I'd say I'm shocked, but... Neither you nor the thread are worth it any longer. Haven't been for a while, but I'd been holding out some degree of hope. Should know better by now. Can probably stop working on updating the lore/backstory guides, too, since obviously nearly nobody gives a damn. (Yes. Guides. Since there are plenty of nooks and crannies with interesting... oh, wait, it's lore, you don't find it interesting.)

... it's a halloween costume. Impact: 0

That may just be the one in the RWZ, as opposed to the ones that fly over during invasions. I don't think the invasion ones reward anything.

... just caught my eye here. This isn't even DOTs. There *are* attacks that have multiple components and thus can, indeed, "one shot" you. For instance, look at your combat log when hit with - I believe it's the Rikti energy sword. You'll see two "hits" of damage - they're not DOT, they're just two damage types hitting at once (Lethal and Energy, I believe.) These get around the "no one shot from 100%" rule, despite being one non-DOT attack. (Assuming it hits you hard enough.)

... MDC? Trying to think of what that is. The target dummies?

So, since I've slowly been working on that "Kheld backstory guide update," which requires things like... looking through the sources and what actually *makes* a Kheld, from the developers intent, after all: The Kheldian backstory bible specifically says they change their *form.* Not their arms. Not their powers. Not how curly their nose hair is. That they've done so since before they had an actual civilization - they changed *form,* not just part of their bodies, to move between the rocks that formed the rings they actually lived in around the planet of Kheldia. It's *very* specifically mentioned that way. (Edit: In fact, it's even presented as a choice - they use their energy, OR they change their form. If the intent was "They just shift part of their form to direct energy," it would have been stated differently. So even this early, *it's an obvious choice.*) "Form" for khelds, in game, is that entire look. Upsides (buffs) and downsides (fewer powers.) You know, the ... whole-body shape shift that Khelds do. That's been there since *before they were released.* It is, therefore, integral to the AT. Nowhere is it mentioned "Oh, they just change their feet" or "They just alter powers for what they need." The exact opposite is implied by the very deliberate description of changing *form.* Even later sources stick to that - there was never a developer change in attitude that, oh, they only change X. Even the later description of *how they travel between stars* relies *specifically* on the differences between the forms (using the pure-energy "native" form to get to, or close to, light speed, then suddenly switching to the very massive Dwarf form - *specifically because of its mass* - to (*handwavey-comic-book-explanation*) essentially form a wormhole *right there* to get them where they're going. (Source: Email with Floating Fat Man, original COH forums, from the developer Avatea, quoted in my *original* Kheld backstory guide.) If there were ever intent to have them take on properties *without changing form,* much like... oh... taking Dwarf without swapping that physical form, they could very simply have said "They alter their mass and makeup." Which is a different sort of shape shifting... and obviously not what Kheldians do. And yes, anyone saying "Forms don't have downsides" definitely doesn't sound like they've played a Kheld. Then again, the person you're quoting, well... there's a reason they're on ignore.

Then set it so you *must* burn a costume slot for each, and said costume slots must be significantly different from your human form.

I honestly have a hard time believing this is actually going on to *this* extent. "Numerous people" with "thousands" of names? Granted, I can admit to having several accounts on live with names I never used... because of the SG grant they did once... and all the names were things like MBSGG1-001. Strangely nobody ever asked for them. But it still was "a lot of names." And peeking at Atlas Park on EL right now shows lowbies with perfectly fine names, no "tricks" to them. (As in non of the I for L, 0 for o, random numbers or punctuation.) (Correction - I see one. But it's both a fairly obvious name, and one that *might* be copyright blocked, as it's also the name of a Battletech 'mech.) And this is fairly typical when I hop into Atlas over there. So if there are "thousands" of names being held by a few people... it doesn't seem to really be having an effect on others making characters.

Arakhn's older, as I'm recalling. Seem to recall she recruited Ridolfo. She's in charge of the Void Hunter mercenaries as well as the Nictus on Earth, and the Quantum weapon tech is referred to as hers. Requiem would be around 100- possibly older, as he was specifically mentioned as being one of "Mussolini's lapdogs" - so if he were younger then (let's say 20,) and was *right there* when the Italian Partito Nazionale Fascista took power (1922) ... yeah, that would end up around 120 years old as of now. But we don't know exactly when he was born. They are, at a minimum, near the same age, as Ridolfo (Requiem) wrote to her: "Even before you joined Arachnos, I saw how you and he would court over wine at your villa. In my old life as Ridolfo Uzzano, as a flunky to Il Duce, I watched the two of you." The Center mentions his attempts at recruiting Arakhn first, in 1926 and also mentions the "many long talks sipping wine into the night." Whether she was a Nictus then is unclear, but he also mentions she hasn't aged a day, which does kind of imply it. He mentions Requiem coming along later (and giving him the 5th column to lead in hopes he'd ... well, grow up and stop bickering with her, basically. That's formed in 1938.) He obviously knows they're both Nictus. So. Timeline wise, the Center (initially a "mid level Italian diplomat") exists at some point, recruits Arakhn in/around 1926, and Requiem later. (Now how old the Center is... he's growing old, so non-Nictus, and it's a question of when you'd consider someone an "Italian" versus ... Roman or Venetian... 1802 with Napoleon's italian republic/kingdom, or maybe 1861 for the Kingdom of Italy - I'd lean towards late 1800s, given there's a 20th century bust of him the Council tries to destroy.) (The Council is listed as just stretching back "more than six decades" - WWII era, given the game's start in 2004.) Regardless they're all pushing at least over a century at *minimum.* Of the three, Arakhn has the most wiggle room to be older, as we don't know when she became a Nictus. (Also Nosferatu mentions seeing Requiem as a/their leader, not Arakhn, and being bothered seeing the hold Arakhn has over him. He thinks Requiem's infatuated with her.)

*nod* I'm mostly in the "I'm not sure how/if that would work, tech-wise" camp there, to be clear, not objecting to it 🙂

Honestly (and as much as I hate to bring politics into things,) given a number of areas very publicly being sure to allow "open carry" IRL... the police very well may *not* have reason to be "all over them" for having weapons in the open. And in the game world it may be even less of an issue given they're in an environment with people who, themselves, are in essence living weapons. I mean, c'mon, even the civilians can casually push aside the toughest meta and keep a purse from being stolen despite it being tugged on for *days.* 😉