Greycat

It is a *LORE BASED* AT, with forms TIED TO THAT LORE. The reason you shift forms is *because of that same lore.* Are you aware of it at all? Yes, you're just dismissing *the reason for the AT's existence.* You know... *lore.* Because you don't like it. The same reason you're using for deciding it's a "bad" design choice, despite it being *fitting* and *appropriate* for what it's supposed to be. This is an MMO *RPG* - Role Playing Game. Setting, lore and backstory (and participating in areas of the story) are an integral part of that. So yes, whether you like it or not, it is important. Don't like that lore's a reason for things to be the way they are? Play an AT without any tied to it. Problem solved. Especially with sentinels being a thing. You have armors, range and melee damage. Varying degrees of control depending on sets. Don't have to worry about (there because of lore) Quantums or (there because of lore) Voids. Even though they've been nerfed to hell because "Why do I have this weakness, I don't care about the lore!" already and are now barely a threat worth noticing. Like it or not, *it is important to some of us, and is the reason we started playing them in the first place, including their limitations.* You don't care about it? You have other options out there.

I *want* to say yes to that, but can't recall specifically. They did, after all, have a legitimate government pre-Arachnos.

No standard AT has lore tied to it. That's why they're "standard" ATs, not epics. On top of it, the first things you mention are ... temporary powers, not yours. I wouldn't expect to be a world-class fighter pilot by putting on someone else's helmet. And no, your archery characters don't have to model swap, but you *do* need to pull out a bow. You don't have the option to throw arrows or project them from your nostrils. If the devs made a Freakshow EAT? Yes, I'd expect to have to look like a Freakshow and have plusses and minuses based on that. The post is utterly ridiculous. You can do better.

... really stretching for some sort of argument there, aren't you. Foolish thing to say. But, hey, keep trying to deflect and make irrelevant arguments. Edit: Since you probably need an explanation of just how ridiculous this non-argument is: Other powersets are not designed with any lore in mind. They are meant to be whatever the player wants. Therefore, the buff powers *in* those powersets are.... just buff powers. Or heal powers, or whatever else they have. Therefore, their existence is completely irrelevant to the discussion. Kheld forms are tied to what Khelds *are,* as an Epic - IE, lore-based, per dev definition since live - AT. You get more resistance as a Dwarf (and lose multiple powers) because a Kheld can shift its shape to a prior host's form that had those specific powers and that specific form. Nova is not "build up." Unless I'm completely missing something where hitting build up or aim on a blaster makes you lose access to your melee attacks and nuke and grants you a travel power? No? Then no, they're not equivalent, and your argument *isn't one.* They don't. That's why taking those powers is ... wait for it... *optional.* Other people have figured that out since issue 3 on live. If you look at guides made for Khelds, you'll notice that they talk about "humanform" and "biform." That means... they did not take the other, or any, form. Amazing, I know. If you don't want your Kheld to look like a Hulmanim, then your Warshade didn't go there or merge with one of those beings. Go ahead, sit down, take a minute, I'm sure that blows your mind. And the hosts are not individuals. They are *entire races of beings* the Kheldians ran across. They are not copying Sam from maintenance and Eddie from engineering that everyone formed a conga line and merged with one at a time. They are copying *races of beings they ran across before coming to Earth.* You know, entire populations. And there are only two because game, time, and developer limitations. Especially with a fairly new dev team leading in to a very early issue on live. Epic has been *repeatedly explained over the years by the devs that came up with this* as being.... *tied to the lore.* I don't give a rat's rear if you don't like that. Try again. Or, better yet, don't.

See, to me Longbow being there intitially - in a very limited fashion - seems like the "proportionate response" to a nation breaking out and bankrolling criminals. The place this falls apart to me is that Longbow isn't a nation's armed forces... and yet the recognized police/military force of this (honestly) dinky little group of islands *has* invaded another nation. If Cuba decided to take over Miami (which, aside from super-powered-ness, is probably the closest we could find to an analogue,) and the US decided "Meh, that's ok, they can stand around there and threaten and murder civilians and destroy property, it's fine, let some unofficial mercenaries stand around in Havana," there'd be a nationwide "WTF, Washington?" Besides, the military would have to have metahumans, as well - and some things specifically should trigger a military response. But that's me.

Because unlike blasters, brutes, tanks, scrappers, controllers, sentinels, dominators, etc. which are meant to be blank slates for the player to do whatever they want with, Khelds are *tied to specific lore.* The "E" in HEAT. They are designed with that lore in mind and around that lore. That lore specifically how and why they go into shape shifting and what they shift to, even naming the original beings and giving them descriptions of where they come from to explain "why." Don't like said lore? Option is not to take the powers related to it - which, after all, makes slot placement much easier as you now have fewer powers to spread them around to. Yes, as far as I'm concerned, they are part and parcel of what makes a Kheld a Kheld. They should not be demoted to "it's like popping an inspiration for a buff, but it doesn't use an insp."

Well, no. For a task/strike force, the badge is there for finishing said task/strike force. If you're there fighting through all the missions and have to hit the hospital at the last moment, you've still been doing what you were sent out to do. And you've been committed to it to the point where you can't invite others in and you can't start doing something else - you and your team are locked into it. The person's already "penalized" by not getting the XP/Inf/drops for not being there while they're coming back from the hospital. Now, no, if there is a GM at the point the person's gone and they don't get to participate in that fight? No, they don't get the badge/merits for *that fight.* Which, given how fast so many of them can melt these days, is a possibility. That *is* a "sucks, but you weren't here" situation. But not getting credit/the badge for the entire TF because you missed a small portion of it? *That* should still be addressed. IIRC there are "invisible" badges that can be used for tracking things. Maybe some variant of that could be used for addressing this - if you're in the missions for X amount of time, the badge completes and you get credit at the end. (It'd have to be tweaked for special situations like - I believe it's Hess? that has the "destroy the radar installations" that can be finished in a few moments easily without the entire team there, and involve a good bit of travel around if there's not a bunch of team transports/assemble the team,, but there's not a lot of tf/sfs like that.) AFKing would have to be solved by the team leader kicking... rather like it is now.

That's exactly what I'm describing...

Don't like the forms, don't take the forms, "problem" solved.

The "NE of Bermuda" always seemed the most fitting, and I'm not sure why the others were considered even, given the "history" of the Isles. Then again, none of them really fit the "And we can land troops in a major US city and not be nuked" status...

Isn't that what they call a toupee? Hair Apparent?

That's part of why I was thinking of putting the rough idea for Genesis, for instance, in the ... parallel tree? ... of Judgement, and a similar one in the other side for control. But - purely conceptual at the moment, so lots of room to play.

... you know, there's a (last I knew unfinished and untextured) housecat model in game. This is why I'm not a dev. T4- Ultimate power on othat! .... *turns into a housecat. No powers. But enemies go 'awwwww' and are placated for a while. Random chance of CC as some enemies are allergic and will start sneezing.*

If you went to 0 health, even if you rezzed a second later, you're dead if you're doing iron man. (I have no reason to worry about "gave inspirations to others" - after all, what are bodies for if not to be looted as needed? Er.... I mean, other than that, no intel, etc. should be had. )

Honestly, consider this a framework of sorts and pitch what you might see in those trees.

Ahh. Trolling, I see. I'll put you in with the others. Ta!

Nope. You'd end up with the same number of Incarnate powers available - just a variety in what powers you can craft for those slots (IE, not just a nuke at the same Incarnate level as Judgement, but a tree to the side where you could pick, say, a control or de/buff patch instead.)

Really? I don't recall anyone asking, and you certainly can't see other peoples' builds. Care to back this up? (Especially since I have characters in an SG specifically designed to emulate issue 1 as close as possible... which means SOs.)

*chuckles* Well, hack away at the other stuff, it's why the suggestions forum exists. 🙂

Mind you that's more a sub-suggestion, not really integral to this. Though it's the way I've felt about Alpha pretty much since inception - it's sort of the tamest of all the Incarnate powers.

I'll say, to start, I'm not generally a fan of the incarnate system. And part of that is the structure that was going to be imposed on it - where it just started "tree" upon "tree," growing into ever more rarified powers. Philosophically it's always felt ... kind of opposed to how I've otherwise seen COH grow, which was "wider" - more variety in the same level structure, more ATs, more powersets, more to do with them both in terms of enhancing (IOs) and content. Well, with Hybrid, the Incarnate system got pruned. And, honestly, I think Hybrid's a good place for it to stop its upward growth - but it still has space to grow "wider." This doesn't just mean more Incarnate-level content - I'm for more content in general, Incarnate or otherwise. But giving us more choices in the structure the Incarnate system started. Essentially, I want to turn the Incarnate tree into a bush. Similar to VEATs (and no, I don't believe I'm saying that,) the Incarnate system could be widened out, not just in the power choices in the existing Alpha/Judgement/Interface/etc. branches - but in more branches to the side. And, since I'm a believer in choices - or perhaps decisions would be more accurate - giving variety, the branches would be exclusive to each other. (For instance, you could have Judgement OR -thing from other tree- but not both.) For instance, we know Genesis was supposed to be placing AOE buff/debuff patches. Another branch of this could have AOE controls. In *each* of these, one of the powers wouldn't be a new "power" per se, but an extreme buff to the appropriate AT power - an elec blaster, for instance, could choose this buff power to supercharge Thunderous Blast while in or close to Incarnate content instead of having a secondary blast as a choice. It would end up slightly more powerful than the Incarnate version because it is, after all, *their* power, not something given by the well. A defender/corruptor would have this same choice in Genesis, or a controller would have the same choice in the branch the "other" way. Or, of course, they could pick another Incarnate power. (Lore might get the same thing for Masterminds, specifically, but if a controller/dom wanted their pet buffed, they could pick that instead of new lores.) Alpha, for its part, gets its buff (to some extent) extended down to - once earned - having a degree of effect all the way to level 1 if you exemp. Lessening values of course, but still a reward for getting it unlocked. The new slots themselves I don't believe should have to be unlocked on their own - Judgement, for instance, would unlock the slot in the same "position" on the new branches. So what new options should we put in them? Honestly, I don't know. For the Judgement slot on the other two, expanded branches, as mentioned - Genesis, for AOE buff/debuff patches and perhaps a control buff/debuff. Interface, I kind of have the idea of adding an elemental aspect - essentially a universal proc that's specifically damage types or something similar to powers. It's mostly a flavor thing, and/or some sort of extra resistances on the other side - this is *not* fully fleshed out. For the rest of the branches (Lore/Destiny spots,) honestly I don't know. And yes, you could still - say - create a Genesis power and a Judgement power, if you wanted. That doesn't affect availability in that way. (No, it would not affect higher tier power availability - you already "sacrifice" a T2 you created, for instance, to make a T3.) You'd just have to choose which you wanted to use for whatever content, just like you can swap out different Lores or Judgements or whatnot now. So why not just make these extra powers in the existing branches? It would accomplish the same thing, yes, but it feels like it'd dilute the personality of each slot we have now. I'd like to have the new side branches of the "bush" more related to each other thematically, somehow, like the current ones...aren't, really. It's really more organizational. "What should I pick?" "Want damage, go Judgement, want control, go (name not determined,) want buff/debuff, go Genesis." (Oh. And again, yes. More Incarnate specific content... preferably that has nothing to do with Praetoria or Mot. Just for that "we should get more content first" comment that someone's inevitably going to make anyway.)

TOs are only available by *specifically* going to a vendor (think it even has to be a base NPC) and purchasing them.

Not just no, but f*** no.

Because that was tacked on afterward, when we had alignments to *choose* from. It is not as baked in as origin, AT, primary or secondary.

No. Please go back and work on your reading comprehension.