Greycat

That's why I limited it to "a mission." Just a little something extra.

The EMP glove isn't really tied to a zone's overarching story, though. And we do both get a good number of missions (even task forces) involving the Clockwork and learn their actual story. (The glove *should* honestly be tied to something, though. There are ... what, three one-off missions that have you testing things against the clockwork? Tying those together would be interesting.) And yes, we do ... "learn" about the ghosts, but it's so... "eh" and "so this happened" and then they're done, so I wanted to give them something more.

Two questions. One, how does one tie an AI to a chair, and two, since it doesn't have a face (generally,) where do you shine the light?

So the last thing you do for Gordon Bower in Salmanca is go see Skipper Legrange to get the Divining Rod temp power from him and "get information from all ghosts." Temporary power, has 20-ish charges and only lasts in this mission. However, the outcome of the mission is fixed, whether you used the rod or not. So, how about a tweak: - Shorten the cooldown on the rod and give it more charges. - Get rewarded (with another mission) if you use it enough. Now, the rod can miss (thus, more charges,) but - say - if we give it 50 charges and you use it successfully on 30 ghosts, Skipper gives another mission to you specifically dealing with the ghosts (and gets a little bit of a dialog change - if you don't use it at all, something like "well, this doesn't seem to have gotten anything, fortunately just from exposure to the environment I can tell a little," if you only get - say - 1-10 or 11-29, he can give current dialog and at 30+ he'll be thrilled, give even more information and mention having something else that may give more information. I *suspect* the best mechanic for this would be a badge that gets awarded at "defeat 30 ghosts using the Divining Rod." Doing the mission (or not) has nothing to do with completing all the Salmanca arcs and getting the bonus merits. Purely optional. And for Ouro, while playing through Gordon Bower's arc again would work (and suck if you had to do it again because you happened to just get 29...) for convenience I'd almost want to see just something similar to the last mission get handed out, with Skipper as a contact. What the mission itself would be? Honestly... not sure. There are so many nooks and crannies to poke around in in Salmanca. The ghosts just sort of are used a very few times and forgotten.

I *want* to say it's affected in some way by how or in what order they were put in - someone mentioned it a while back to me. Not 100% on that, though, So it's likely some odd database-type thing. Whether it is or not, though, yeah, having it stabilized so it doesn't suddenly reorder while pulling enhancements would be nice. And no, the salvage racks don't - you can pull entire stacks and *sort* them, where the enhancements are shown as a list that occasionally changes as you pull stuff.

No, no, hyper. They're not asking if the graphics setting/technique has anything to do with AI. They're wondering if the *poster* is going through and using AI given their posts consistently being ... well, like their posts.

You should see the OP's post history.

... thus an "extended info." CLick or hover over it, see what that character has, inf, vl, last logout spot, whatever. Keep from cluttering up the character select screen.

This is something else I think I'd rather have on an "extended info" screen rather than on the main character select screen - at least not showing with name and level. But an overhaul of the character select screen would be nice - depending on what that part of the system can "see" about our characters.

Well, three if you count swoon and collapse... falling down facefirst just short of bed just *fits* some days. 🙂

I'm ... not sure why we're having this conversation. I'm using what I like and am used to, and have on screen what I want... if that works for you, great, my binds work for me.

Prefer binds. Have since I3. Switch forms, tray switches and (for the warshade) the teleport binds, proper powers on the active row.

Honestly... I'd rather not. There are times I'll throw pets against the last whatever's attacking me and back way off, enough to use rest - I wouldn't want them to stop attacking (and take the -def) when I do. Now, having a command or power to put them into rest? Sure.

About the only changes I make are binds which load for masterminds and Khelds - both using the numpad. (Yet another reason I'll never go tenkeyless.)

Nothing. If I don't enjoy it, I don't do it. *shrug* What "it" may be changes over time. Used to do a bunch of MSRs, now it's rare. I'll do them again later when I get the itch again. I just don't really care about "rewards." I care about time with friends in game, RP and developing stories.

You *do* have a heal. Several. If you're looking at Dwarf, one of your attacks is ... a heal. And don't forget the nice, big one in human form once you have some dead enemies.

It's always been a *chance* to combine. Nothing about monetization there - you're trying to do something to get higher power. That's not being done for free - the cost is the *chance* of losing one of those enhancements. But it will, as I recall, always be the lower power one. Yes, it should still exist. You want a guaranteed result, pay for a booster and use IOs (which *also* have a cost, either on the market or to craft.) Or hit the "upgrade" button, at least for standard enhancements.

As your lack of understanding and your posts so far indicate... you have none of those, so on the ignore list you go. Ta ta.

Reading the post explains the post.

SO, one, hover isn't "Bright." And it's very easy to see through the little effect it has. Yes, even in "dark" caves. It's surprisingly even *easier* to see through if it's brightly colored - just took a peek at it after coloring it the brightest red and yellow I could find. Two, you can move. Yes, even in the Caves of Bagel. Three, you're aware you can ... hit tab and it'll select enemies, even tell you what they are? The only way that doesn't work is if you're hit with a "blinded" effect, which the COT doesn't have (and doesn't prevent you from targeting through allies) or they've gone invisible and you don't have +Per. Otherwise, it doesn't care if you can "see" or not. Four, you're going "Only use the powers I say you can use!" and calling them selfish. So.... I think someone *was* being selfish on that, but it wasn't the people hovering. And I highly doubt they "Screamed" anything.

I was debating a bit about "set appearance" - with what little we have, they should (generally) be able to "pass" as human, other than the wings. (I don't think anything was ever said about feet and such.) Talons and what not would make sense. Restricting some birdlike heads and such to them, though... there have been people requesting additional (and better...) animal heads, really tweaking and twisting costume pieces to look like beaks, etc that I didn't want to lock something like *that* behind it. But if it pushes development of those, weell, I wouldn't argue. 🙂 The "more vulnerable to smashing" makes sense. Not going to get *too* much into powers - like I said, I kind of envision an extended powerset to choose from - but the only thing that jumped to mind reading through is that something like "Aggressive flier" vs "Evasive flyer" *almost* sounds like what I was describing as being themed, in part, around motion (as far as effect.) So it would be one power - or part of the inherent, or split the difference - where, you're stationary or not moving *fast,* you don't have that +Def bonus (you're standiing still after all) but have better tohit, or you're moving and it's adding to the defense - in some ways, like momentum, conceptually, but without being anywhere near as annoying or making you sluggish. >.>

I looked back at my old (from live) guide to the status of EATs - live, dead, ongoing/unknown - thanks to another post. One of the very first ones to go from "proposed" to "dead" were... Avilans. These were a winged AT, proposed as a way to give players wings when they thought putting them in as a costume piece would be "too difficult." Obviously, we have wings and no Avilans. So, I thought to myself... why not fix that? What would this look like if we brought these into the game now? Now... yes, this is almost more of a thought experiment than a suggestion. EATs were a handful and a half for the *live* devs - not least because they also involved writing 1-50 story arcs (EATs being tied to bits of lore, after all - I always looked at them as being "deep dives," the points where COH went deep instead of wide in its story.) It'd be even more of a handful for our much smaller, volunteer team. But still - I thought it might be interesting to come up with a take on them. So: Avilans (2.0) Theme: Speed and flight. Setup - why are they here? Avilans were an ancient offshoot or near-human species. In their eyries, they developed while wars and disease slowed humanity. They developed technology and magic of their own - and a blend of the two. However, as humanity advanced, their resemblance to such creatures as the Furies led "monster hunters" and "heroes" (small H) to start hunting them down. Never a *very* populous species, they fought - and retreated, eventually dwindling down to the highest places they controlled. Before Humanity could reach them, they enacted rites, shaping the landscape to hide their homes and putting them to sleep... for a time. Now, with evidence of them having been found in the form of old bones and unusual tech and magical artefacts, curious (or greedy) humans have triggered their awakening. They've emerged into a vastly different world, one in which they'll work alongside humanity - or try to take out their vengeance for long-dead friends. (Full set of blue, red, and crossover storyarcs, chance to cross over (change of heart) at 15, 30, 45.) Already in game: We have ONE clue in game about them already, as you recover artefacts from the Hellions in the Hollows - a bone that looks human but hollow and lighter. (Honestly I'd like this to trigger something.) Characteristics: Wings are a must. All Avilans have them. Note, though, that they do *not* have to be feathered - there can be costume pieces for emergent "points" for energy/magical wings. There are points where these *will* emerge during gameplay without "I turn on fly." Flight is inherent to them - it's their birthright, and they absolutely master the air. Also - they've got the low end of resist caps (hollow bones, remember) and some vulnerability to knockback for the same reason - *though,* that's one of the points the wings emerge. They're knocked back, they instinctively brace themselves in the air and gain resistance to it for a time. So, if hit with (say) three KB attacks, the first *wiill* (ignoring IOs) knock you back, but instead of being on the ground you'll be hovering, wings out, the second will have little to no effect, and the third mostly gets a "... really, you're still doing this?" look from the character. 🙂 This will pretty much *not* be a character to tank with. But again... speed. Won't take, or will take *very* minimal, damage from falling. Damage increases with speed - while there aren't always maps you can take advantage of this, if you can drop on an enemy, you *do* get a damage bonus. But you don't have to *drop* at all. You start rushing an enemy, or continue kiting them (stay in motion,) you get that same damage bonus. Plus, the wings emerge for their own additional damage on top of it. (Likely Lethal plus something exotic.) Where is it in combat? (Fast) Melee, range (which should be obvious) and control. Melee's going to be similar to what some people request as "speedster" combat. You want to keep moving for that damage bonus (and probably +def too.) Range... might be interesting to have "Movement = faster attacks, though lower damage, stationary = higher damage but longer recharge" to give some tactical/gameplay options. Starting alignment: None set. Not side restricted - but the starting side determines the start of your story chain and contacts. Are you of the mindset of "See if we can reach out to the humans - and others, wow - and work alongside each other, sharing our knowledge?" Or do you want vengeance for the long-dead and you'll start with the first human you see? (Note this sets a hidden flag on the character. There are three change-of-heart crossover missions that can set their own as well, and will affect how contacts on the *other* side treat you, for good or bad. Mostly affects dialog.) Visuals: Really the main thing is the required wings (or emergence points for natural/magic/tech wings, for those that don't want wings on their back ALL the time - lorewise, have their culture have advanced enough that there's a lot of crossover between what's "natural," magical or technological.) I do somewhat envision some of the attacks having wing-related options for visuals - ranged shooting quills (magic or otherwise,) for instance, melee "wing hits" leaving feathers at the combat site, talons emerging (even if not as a permanent costume piece - again, either showing up or sprouting magically/tech-ly) for up close slashing or other attacks. Powersets: Honestly haven't developed them. They'd have to be extended sets, much like Kheldians, with more choices to handle everything unique to them. (Unlike Khelds, these extended sets wouldn't leave anyone slot-starved more than any OTHER AT - they're not getting forms with their *own* set of powers, after all, and some of the powers would likely be one-slot wonders that wouldn't really need anything added.) Main thing is working with flight and *motion* as their theme and the source of buffs or power state changes. Other thoughts: This is an EAT. It's story based. Honestly, I'd kind of love it to have you rewarded for *going through the story,* rather than being PL'd 1-50 (which for me kind of misses the point of Epics.) Yes, you get reward merits, you have your own contact and story chain with their own rewards, but something like having your *own* ATOs drop if you're an Avilan finishing an Avilan arc, for starters, as a bonus for at least playing through the stories. Other ATs wouldn't have them drop if they were playing along or Ouro-ing them. And yes, I'd extend this to the other EATs as well. You'd end up with 10-11 of them - the crossover arcs don't drop one. Maybe an Avilan themed TF - similar to Moonfire vis-a-vis Khelds - would drop them as well, and of course... market, merits and conversions. There aren't many chances to fly while fighting and have that be the location and *point* of the fight. Yes, people hoverblast and such, but there are almost no midair fights. There *should* be - at least for these. Maybe some of what would need to be developed for these could go into underwater fights... and, well, another never-finished EAT, but that'd be another post. (Further edits) Lorewise... I kind of want Thoth (the ancient Egyptian god) to have either been or been inspired by an Avilan ambassador to deeply ancient Egypt. Obviously didn't have a bird head - that was put in as a representative of the fact he could fly. And could also tie in to, say, Blood of the Black Stream being part of why they had to eventually go into hiding. Yes, I *do* want some ancient/modern Egyptian stuff going on in game, regardless! Mapwise - some of the EAT-specific missions take place in EAT-specific *maps.* As in, designed for characters with flying, and after all they were defending in their last days. So there'll be gaps that "only" a flyer can cross easily. If you play the maps as a non-Avilan, but play with them on the team, what's essentially an invisible Group Fly generator lets you cross with them over the gaps, even if you don't have fly. (Similar to the Seed of Hami's buoyancy mito.) If you're ouroing it on a non-EAT and don't have fly, there'll be a way across - you'll just be hopping across rocks on the side, or (for areas that were attacked in the ancient past) having to find the invaders' tunnels to cross.

Attaboy. Cat. Stone. Whichever.

Weeeeeelllllllllll..... yes and no. Incarnates were, along with Coralax, Nictus, Blood of the Black Stream and Avilans (still not sure about that spelling) mentioned as Epic ATs *waaaaaay* back. Actual ATs in and of themselves. How far back? Nov 13, 2004. ... that "Jack" being Jack Emmert. I want to say the next mention of them we had was a stone tablet kind of showing them as a "lost origin," and that kind of fizzled. And then, of course... we got what you describe. (And that would have *kept* branching... presumably as long as COH ran, from Incarnates to Ascended to ... I forget the chain, now. But it was, and still is, so... un-COH.) So, yeah. Lore and plans for lore *absolutely* change, but Incarnates have been planned as *something* since the start. (Yes, I've been interested in Epic ATs for quite some time...)

For one SG (that... frankly was fairly overpowered) I'd written some AE arcs with a villain group of Time users. With all *sorts* of -rech. Wasn't so bad when *I* playtested it - smaller groups, after all - but when we had full teams vs full-team-size groups? Yeah... it was brutal. So it's not just a low level thing, if - let's say overdone. 🙂 You want to see your team standing and waiting, stack that -rech. ... hmm. Maybe I should throw an arc out there with that group...