Greycat

*Has flashbacks of not only being in bridge range, but being an emp in bridge range and having to play hidden if I didn't want to get buried in tells.*

Well, I doubt it's a scam. That said, if you want to be sure, you can snag it right from Microsoft - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/cpp/windows/latest-supported-vc-redist?view=msvc-170#visual-studio-2015-2017-2019-and-2022 and according to that page the 2022 runtime does still support Windows 7. It does say "An upcoming game update will require it." So while hitting cancel now will let you play... *shrug*

... ok, after reading through it.... (and not numbered in order) 1, No thanks, Do not change tornado to knockback. This is not a "I hate knockback" - I think players really kind of overly whine about it, people need to learn to *use* their knockback to *help* the team, not just fire it off because it's up. The one place I *do not* want KB, though, is in pets. Players can learn to use KB effectively. Pets (and things like tornado) *cannot.* Even MM minions which you can (theoretically) tell to go to a certain place are awful with KB use. Pets are the only place I *do* encourage people to put a KB-KD IO, for the most part. Honestly... don't change Tornado at all. 2, No, fear in snow storm would be awful. The reason enemies start to run *now* is that the built in -rech means they have no attacks to use, and they have nothing else to do. Yes, *an* attack or two might come out - but we don't need to have them start scattering sooner. 3. Also no thanks to getting rid of thunder clap. It's a very useful stun. And getting rid of it for a vastly different power is what a lot of what you're looking for is predicated on. 4. Also... hurricanes are not known for attracting. And honestly, I don't *want* to have enemies drawn in towards a squishy character. 5. O2 boost... eh? I don't see why it would clear an immob, but other than that... *shrug* Honestly, I think instead of reworking a perfectly fine set in Storm, this should be a kernel of some new set. Magnetic, interstellar, something themed along those lines. (Yes, I'm thinking more black holes than actual stars for the second. You want to pull stuff in, they're great at it. Single target "feed the maw," Acretion Disk which - if the vectoring mechanic the devs were playing with allowed it - could have enemies being dragged along some radius doing a -tohit and fire/energy damage, Stellar Jet to fling enemies outward (not as an AOE, but a very focused direction) also taking Smashing and fire or energy (radiation) damage, which would have the side effect of being able to very directionally reposition mobs... There are ideas there to play with. I just don't think "let's redo storm" is the place to start.

Provost Marchand, Stop the attack on Peregrine Island - "comm" text from Alec Parsons: [02:13] [Caption] This is Alec Parson, we're being overwhelmed by a remote weapon's system! We need you to disable it on the carrier! Should just be weapons, not weapon's. (I'm sure it IS a system that belongs to a remote weapon, but still.)

This really does help. I tend to have the three power bars, and three ancillary "boxes" to the side. One has all the various teleport and travel type temp powers shifted over to it (slightly sparser, now, without things like the Wentworths/Black market TP,) one has sort of "misc powers" (temps, pets, that sort of thing that aren't primary,) and one often carries toggles and the non-Judgement Incarnate powers. Other than that, there's going to be a mix of pick and choose as well as placement and organization. Keep the stuff you constantly use close at hand - say, stack your blasts right on the first row if you're going to open with them, but the nuke can be off on the side, the melee stuff on the next row (where you just have to hold down alt and the nubmer to access them, and any toggles that just get turned on (stealth, the shield you'll get in the anc. power pool, etc) above that, for instance, since you probably won't have to interact with them as much (I tend to put travel powers up there too.) But.. yeah. That works for me, try it and see if it works for you - you'll just have to fiddle around til something clicks for you.

Yes, you are alone. Everything around you is actually AI generated. It's gotten better than anyone let on.

As a side note, for masterminds (and you can almost limit it further to ranged MMs, like 'bots, since it doesn't really mesh with melee based,) it's also a matter of protecting their minions, not just moving them around. Granted, this is mostly MSRs, but there's a *massive* increase in survivability when using GF vs not in those situations (and you can probably extrapolate "other large teams/leagues and/or high +X settings" there, too.) If something's doing large, ground based AOEs (see: Stalagmites, and though they're not as damaging, Caltrops and Earthquake come to mind,) GF keeps the pets out of it - meaning the MM's only real source of offensive power (and, thanks to bodyguard, survivability) is still usable. (And yes, things like caltrops and earthquake are a solid reason for MMs to use it in a mission - a blaster doesn't leave their blasts behind if they get caught in Earthquake, for instance.) Telling them to shut it off in a raid (and at least on Everlasting, most MSRs will say flat out they're "group fly friendly") is essentially telling them "you don't get to use half your character." Which is part of why the push back gets to be loud about it, too - there's a big difference between "I get to have my bots blast things" vs "Oh, wait, resummon again.. T1s, ok, T2s, oh my T1s are dead again, wait for the recharge..." Again, though... that is fairly limited. (I can't say how useful it is on a hami. *shrug* I don't MM on hamis.) So.. yeah, ,for now, Null's the workaround we've been given. I'd think the fastest workaround would be to proliferate him, at least in raid zones, since there's a risk of getting locked out if you forget (or don't know) to turn its effect on you off. Would I prefer a better option, absolutely. And if the devs can make another option work so people can just go into their options and turn it off or what have you, all for it. Even giving MMs "pet fly" by default as an inherent- yes, it means they get a free travel power and we'd likely start seeing 20 threads a week on THAT subject - I'd be for. But until they can do that, and decide they want to do that, we have a workaround available. If you have powers that need you to be on the ground, or just a preference to "just fly when I want to," the power to do that is in your hands already. Edit: The devs could answer this, and it's "yet another workaround," but aside from tokens, would a free START vendor power that gives you, personally, say a -400% -fly debuff work as well? Benefit there is you can see you have it, it's in the starting zone(s) as well as Pocket D, and could toggle it on and off as desired.

I tried to farm Peregrine Island once. Just kept punching at it. No XP. All it did was create another cave after a while that the various villain groups rotate in and out of. I don't even get rent from them.

The policy was not put in place in the last patch. It has been *activated,* but the name release *policy,* including the warning system for characters who would be affected, has been in place for years. On top of it, we were given a solid month's warning before the system was made active. This is not (a) a problem or (b) "recently created." As far as any mockery? The original poster says the character is level 4. To make the character safe for *A YEAR AT A TIME,* he has to put in literal minutes of effort (*Gasp!* How horrible!) to get up to *level 6,* and yet they state IN THEIR OWN POST that they don't want to do it. The only problem to be solved here is their own laziness, and yes, that is an *entirely appropriate* word given their own post. "Change the world so I don't have to do maybe five minutes of "effort" to solve my own problem" doesn't deserve the slightest bit of consideration. Basically, they brought any mockery on themselves.

Wow, so many people can't seem to handle a simple "The devs do not know how to have the game do this currently. It may not be able to be done at all. It may be able to be done with a new technique or a rewrite of something in the systems that back up the game in the future. But currently it's unlikely to happen because of how the game's written." Yes, other things that couldn't be done were... wait for it... worked on and a way was found. That does not mean every little idea that comes into everyone's head can just magically be done, or that "it cannot currently be done" is not valid feedback. If something cannot be done because of how the game is written and/or the devs knowledge, abilities, or toolset do not allow it, that is a fact, not an excuse, and it's something to be pointed out. It's a simple fact. Putting it a different way, I cannot run a one minute mile at the moment. If I had a suggestion board and someone suggested I run a one minute mile, someone else saying "they're not able to do that as they currently are or would reasonably be able to train to achieve in the near future" would be correct. That doesn't mean in three years, I wouldn't have made enough changes in multiple things to be able to, but with no sign of me being able to (or interested in) making those changes, well, there's nothing wrong with pointing that out. Don't make the suggestion and expect me to do it next week or month. Similiarly, there are things such as certain UI changes that keep getting brought up (such as the costume selection window having more slots) the devs can't, at this point, change, and which they do not see being able to change at this time. Pointing that out does not diminish the idea, but does give the person making the suggestion an idea of how realistic (or not) it is to be implemented right now. It's "repeated ad nauseum" because *there are many things currently in that category.* Does it mean nobody WANTS to see things moved out of that category, or more things made possible? No, despite how some people want to paint certain people on the forums. Being able to give a realistic framing for how possible a suggestion is, if we know, helps people temper expectations. It is not a rejection of the idea or the poster suggesting it.

You could always just ask the various aliens around for a blood sample, too.

More like: MSR on Everlasting: 25-30-ish minutes of BSing and joking around with people while gaining badges, merits, XP and INF on the side. (And don't forget to kill the dropship.)

This has been a "thing." And also part of why I'm looking forward to the app. Never having to sign in just to see if there's a driver.

So don't join it if you feel it's a waste of time. "Problem" solved.

Through actions, probably not. Though you can always use /gmotd if you needed to see that again. (Not the same popup, admittedly.)

So you mention support characters. You can deal with mez like some of them can - get the control in first. You've got Inky Aspect, a PBAOE stun. (You *are* taking that, yes?) You have teleport inherently. Even if you want some other travel power generally, you will *always* have this in your toolkit. And which, on arrival, gives several seconds of "untouchable." Which is typically where the alphas and mezzes will fire off at you. Those two together open quite a few possibilities - on top of having several seconds to fire off mire and nuke, or mire and eclipse. Plus, of course, the goodness of Extracted Essences, which are fairly easy to get multiples of and provide not only offense but something else for the enemy to mez instead of you. I don't disagree with Wavicle - throwing some mez protection in Eclipse wouldn't be amiss, it'd be in line with the power, and it's got a "cost" already in needing enemies around to do anything - but as someone who's mained a 'shade, you've already got quite a toolkit to deal with things.

Standard Greycat answer to stuff like this: "The entire login screen needs to be revisited and given more search, filtering and informational options."

More D not knowing what he's talking about. Baldur's Gate is not an MMO, for instance. It is an RPG with an (optional) online teaming component. Neither is Warframe. Warframe's as much an MMO as Call of Duty or Overwatch is. Or are you going to claim those are MMOs as well? WOW was and sort of still is a behemoth. It has a long time to come down from its peak population of millions. I seem to recall numbers (and arguments about the numbers and how Asian cafes affected them) in the 7-12 million subscriber range. So them being down to 300-odd thousand? "Yeah, and?" There's no MMO named "Sierra Online." Sierra Online was a game development company founded by Ken and Roberta WIlliams that made outstanding games (like Kings Quest, Police Quest and Phantasmagoria) before they were bought out a few times and finally shuttered. Were you maybe thinking of Ultima Online? (Said game not created by Sierra Online.) There were also more than three MMOs running in 1999 (25 years ago.) Some were simpler, yes. The genre, the ways of accessing the internet and the computers that ran them were much less capable. This is also not an "emulator." Look up the term before you use it. As far as "the gaming population of the world has moved on to..." - so what? COH at its peak - when people could see the boxes in store and buy them retail - was never huge. And most of the people interested in COH are people who played COH when it was live and/or their kids. We're a small, volunteer run server, no budget, no advertising to speak of. Your comparisons are ridiculous. Or is this another post where you promise to leave, but don't? Also "Can't find one player" on Saturday night? I know full well *that's* not true. Maybe not responding to D. That I could believe.

Personally I think there should be two badges. One for doing it the first time, as is. If you fail and get it through Ouro? An "If at first you don't succeed" badge. Badge count wise, you'd only have one or the other. Even if you succeeded and then re-ran it through Ouro (in which case you'd still have the first badge.)

The devs don't accept assets from outside the dev team. See the FAQ:

Other powers that affect others against their will: Transfusion Increase Density Speed Boost Inertial Reduction Transference Fulcrum Shift Healing Aura Heal Other Absorb Pain Fortitude Recovery AUra Regeneration Aura Adrenalin Boost O2 Boost Steamy Mist (Can make an argument for Hurricane, given visual effects and mob placement being affected.) Deflection Shield Insulation Shield DIspersion Bubble Damping Bubble Assault Tactics Vengeance Warmth Thermal Shield Cauterize Plasma Shield Thaw Forge Tangentally, powers like Fold Space and Wormhole .... and the list can go on and on.. I know, nobody complains about a heal... except when things come up that make them problematic (remember Defiance 1.0? There are also other powers that give a boost depending on your lower health.) How about shields? That's a common one. Accuracy buffs? If it was buffing Tohit, then yes, that did impose an unwanted buff if it brought my blasters into Fast Snipe, before that was reworked (and I still long for a "disable fast snipe" IO.) Hell, Sonic Resonance was making people physically ill before the graphics were finally reworked. That was definitely against their will. And yes, arguments pop up (or used to at least) where people *do not want to be buffed at all,* including drive-by buffings, and will complain loud and long about it because it affects them and how well (or not) they can handle the fights they're in. So... "Affecting others against their will" - how far do you want to take that argument? And yet nobody's mentioning Speed Boost here, which (along with team teleport) is also explicitly listed in Null because of the "unwanted movement condition." They just quietly go and see Null. I'm not against making it easier to turn Group Fly off for people. Though the last time I suggested "Hey, put Null in teh zones where people gather for raids, since leaving those zones might cost you a spot if the zone fills" I had reactions that apparently equated it with barbecuing babies and kicking puppies. But this just doesn't really fly (so to speak) as an argument. We have laws against that and punishments for the people who do it. That seems like a universal "Society as a whole has agreed not to consent to it."

There was a book... dragon-something, dragonhenge? - which described dragon fire as a dragon breathing out tinier dragons which breathed out tinier dragons all the way down...

So, couple things with this - 1. Would it be applied to all existing arcs? 2. Would everything *else* need to be tagged, too? 3. Would it be automated? 4. If it's not automated, who's going to police it with our small volunteer dev team? (Especially if they'd have to be reviewed to make sure it's not 'buried' a mission or two deep.)

I seem to recall a little annoyance that some development funding was going towards COH 2 preliminaries without an OK from NC.

The "sidekick run" sounds like some teams I've heard of and played on. (Had friends that did all Shield characters, all Electric, etc. And with the electric we put in the ... forget which endmod set, but the "chance to stun" proc in pretty much everything. It was fun.) I know of people who have done "poolboy" challenges... where pretty much everything had to be a pool power (after the first few levels, where you don't get a choice.) Also had heard of someone doing "only brawl" - granted, sets in everything else and a heavily procced out brawl, which apparently did surprising amounts of damage, but they could only attack with Brawl. The stuff I've done has generally been long term (and probably related to all the alts) - getting one of each control set to 50, for instance. One of each AT to 50, one of each armor set, etc. Even Epic ATs can lead to a number of alts... Khelds? Not just Peacebringer and Warshade, but - say - human, human/nova, human/dwarf, triform, and inhuman (using human form as little as possible, sticking mostly with nova/dwarf,) or SoAs - Widow, Fortunata, Bane, Crab, Huntsman (basically bane but sticking with the rifle versus the mace.)