Greycat

Ehh... I mean, standard enhancements are so cheap, it'd be a better use of a converter to sell it on the AH and buy the enhancement. Especially when looking at DOs, etc. Looking at the market right now, they're a bit over 50k (showing the last 5.) Given it takes just a minute or two to get all the explores in most zones, get five merits for that and get a pile of converters to sell, you'd be able to buy several of the SOs at that rate (assuming *they* aren't on the AH, where I've usually seen them going below store value the few times I've checked any more.)

Don't think they've been updated, I do remember some vague mention of it as well.

Others *have* done "comics" of their characters and others, so ... they're not "official," obviously, and HC couldn't do that (not owning the IP.) Nothing but time stopping you from doing your own, for tha tmatter. (And COH stories have spun off elsewhere - Mercedes Lackey (of Valdemar fame, among others) based some stories off her COH SG, as I recall, and Paige Orwin had two books published (The Interminables and Immortal Architects) starring at least two characters she and a friend had in COH - just spinning them off into their own world. ) I'm sure there are others. (The key being they're *not* using COH, they're not set in Paragon, etc. there, so NC didn't care.) In the official runs the chances were fairly few and far between (and, yeah, kind of had to be a hardcore forumite or really pay attention to know they were offered, as I recall,) and they could only fit so many in. And yeah, unless NC gets a massive change of heart and just opens up the IP and gives rights to someone to do so (and they want to go through the expense,) there won't be another official comic.

Generally, love the costume creator. Granted, experience with newer games make me wish we had more flexibility in creating our actual *characters* - yes, y ou have a variety of faces to pick from and can fiddle with the sliders a little, but you're still using Face12 or Young Face 6 or what have you, for instance- but even with the limitations imposed by an engine as old as ours (I want my fingers!) I can only think of *one* time I've run across someone with the "same" (or close enough) costume as me... and that was back in the single-digit issues on Live. (I'm ignoring "let's use this costume together" or "there's a SG uniform" instances.) Strengths are just ... variety. Weaknesses? The way patterns and such are handled (as I recall,) they're mirrored across the character, which doesn't allow for assymetric patterns. They're also at kind of a lowish resolution (again, as I recall.) Probably the biggest *annoyance* I have with it have been when new pieces were introduced... and suddenly, because of how the tailor works, my costumes are "invalid," so if I want to tweak *a* color, suddenly I have to go back and (for instance) try to remember which pants and pattern I had, or they change, despite only wanting to (say) change that character's hair. (That and having some pieces removed, but that was during live - I had one character who had the old ... I want to say "elf ears" and the *real* Malaise pattern - as in that used by the character Malaise - which were both removed and replaced. The current "malaise" pattern just is nowhere near the same.) I don't really deal with CCs. I might look the participants over, but most of the time they're either too large, not moved somewhere like Echo (so a REALLY NICE group of costumes gets screwed by night lighting - even made a base and offered it to host CCs, pre Echo) or there are times they just feel rigged, with 3rd and 2nd being great and 1 just being "I can wear tights!" (or "close to nothing.") The last is, fortunately, rare.

That's exactly how I use bindsave. /bindsave somefilethatsusuallycharacternamerelated.txt. Have since live. Much rather do that than try to hand edit any more. Don't have time for that.

Actually, there were several times cameos were offered to the community. So, yes, some of our characters *have* been in the COH comics alongside various members of the Freedom Phalanx. Here's one of mine, along with several others. The rest of the Phalanx were indeed around a few panels back. (Edit: These are archived here. )

You ask like I only have one. 😄 Most of mine probably would just be "yet another hero/villain/person," honestly. I have very few who'd have some specific role, and that probably as some sort of contact. Deadly Diana dealing with stuff related to the Family (helping them, pointing you at rivals, fixing "problems" that would be messy to deal with internally.) Sandra Thompson / Narcissea working with her on redemption and recovering old artifacts (... that she probably stole back in the day) - basically "no, it really does belong in a museum. Or back in the tomb I took it from." Sweet Child of Mimes would probably just be walking against the wind or stuck in an invisible box out on a street somewhere.

I've only heard one person mention losing anything, and they were using profiles (apparently, something I'd never touched.) I've got a file of binds I've used since live that I copy over, so I'll double what Shenanigunner mentioned. /bindsave and /bindload are helpful.

Random is random. It's not given a streakbreaker. You're not *guaranteed* one after ten kills or whatever. Each 10% chance is independent of any other chance you may have had. Just like every other recipe.

I'm assuming you're talking about the square "City information" ones. The ones that used to do things like track kills and such. Yes, I found it amusing to be a "Nemesis nemesis" on occasion. But apparently that took up more processing power than anyone expected, so... What about them?

I'm glad I'm not the only one with this image in mind. "Woooo wooo wooo." "Wooo. Wooo. Wooo." Thug looks over. "Wha's that nosise?" "Well, I'm a hostage, right?" "Duh." "I've got to make that noise now. New law." *beat* "Wooo. Wooo. Wooo."

... interesting. And I'm far too amused (since this was listed here as a power set *and* I still have the other food definition in mind) at "practice poi," "glow poi" and "fire poi" in that article...

... isn't poi hawaiian/polynesian cuisine?

... I do recall at least one person going 1-50 on Brawl. I believe IO silliness was involved, but Brawl apparently got fairly scary.

Well, that and they take more time, generally, even with the coordination. At least from what I've seen.

Ehhh... I could see that being extremely frustrating more than fun. Especially when the players that *aren't* high damage/high durability suddenly get dropped into a team-size ambush and/or boss fight. Some interesting bits in there, granted. But this *specific* implementation...

And what makes Fire blast not magical? (And please explain it to the generations of D&D players who've cast Fireball.) What makes anything else so non-magic that we "need" an "arcane" powerset... which always seems to come down to "I want to wave a magic wand around?" (Which... again, animation/costume options! Hell, it'd probably be more sensible for Dual Pistols than flipping guns in the air for every shot. Elfstones, anyone?) Nothing that the OP said, you've said, or anyone else that's suggested a "magical" set has really offered anything that *couldn't* be done with different animations. Yes, I know you don't like that answer. No, I don't care. And no, there's no particular reason to have a powerset called "magical" or "arcane" or "abracadabra" just because it has some different secondary effect. Why pigeonhole it into a "must be arcane" instead of having the *player* decide *for their character* why X powerset has Y effect? Especially when things *with lore reasons* to be restricted - namely Khelds (with their origins) and VEATs (gender and origin) - no longer are and haven't been for quite some time? And why *shouldn't* fire/dark/empathy/pain domination/earth control have the option to wave a wand or staff or rune or whatever to have their powers trigger? Why do you want to restrict them just because a costume/power customization option isn't good enough for you? Your argument basically boils down to "I want it." Which is fine. Want stuff. Just realize it's not very strong as an argument.

... which would be why I mentioned it.

Someone sounds sore over a raid. Group fly is generally *beneficial* for pets, so no, telling them to turn it off mid mission or raid is no more valid than telling (say) a tanker that their armors look ugly and upset you and they should turn them off. I don't disagree that it should be off by default, or be able to toggled by a slash command (that could be turned into a macro,) and/or having null available in raid zones (which jus really upsets some people apparently.) But right now the power's in your hands. You don't have to be affected by it. So how about nixing the "other people should use or not use the powers I say" thing. It's not *their* "forgetfulness" that leaves you affected by it.

... why would you want a "fast XP" option for a side that's fairly strongly story-specific and already kicks you out at 20? Sounds like saying "I really want to see this movie," then fast forwarding to two minutes before the credits roll...

Stopping *right* there. Magic is an origin. It's up to you to decide how any specific powerset is "magical." (And yes, I've seen people using guns, swords, etc and having them be "magic." The Rune rifle customization for beam being a sort of "focusing wand" for instance.) Now, if you want to argue for more magical (or, frankly, "origin themed") power customization for sets? Sure. All for it. It keeps and even expands the flexibility for people to create their own characters the way they want... far more than a "magic powerset" would. If you want "boundless limits?" Don't put bounds on it by creating a set like this. As far as the rest? Ehh. Sort of vague and all over the place. As part of an arc, you already go and collect items. I wouldn't argue with MAGI, DATA, etc. being more involved with giving origin-themed missions, honestly, more focused than a newspaper, possibly even with mini-arcs (saying, sy, up to 3 missions per.) We do already know the game itself is semi-aware of origin thanks to different dialog options (something that was starting to be introduced near the end of the live game,) itself good for flavor - I'm not sure how much more that "awareness" can be expanded, though.

Since the "breakfrees already deal with KB" was covered - this would be yellows.

So just as a breakdown: In your mid 30s, regardless of side or AT, you'll have ancillary / epic pools show up. At the same time, *redside,* you'll get a mission from Arbiter Rein which introduces you to the patrons and has you pick one to do an arc from. This is where you get mu/leviathan/socrp/soul from. *Unlike live, you are not locked into the patron you do the arc for.* Quite a few people do Scorpion's arc. Still unlocks all the pools. There is no blueside equivalent. Then, at 50 - once you train - a few things will happen. You don't have to do anything to start in on Incarnates - as you play stuff, you'll get shards and threads dropping and start getting XP towards vet levels (every few will give a badge and some incarnate stuff 'til vl99.) You'll get a contact to take you into dark astoria, where you'll play arcs which will deal with Incarnate-focused enemies and give rewards that'll help get Incarnate stuff built out. You'll also be contacted by ouroboros to do a mission for mender silos. This will *also* unlock your Alpha slot. Personal recommendation? All the Incarnate XP you get on this goes towards alpha... which is automatically unlocked at the end of the arc, so fighting everything is pretty much wasted time and XP. Run at -1/0, ignore everything you can and do the minimum possible to finish it. (The only one that's somewhat *involved* is the second mission after talking to Lady Grey, and that's mostly from ambushes. The others, you can pretty much just run to the end and beat up the boss.)

As far as the scrapper/brute thing? I don't know about new player friendly, but they do definitely have a different feel. I've got some sets duplicated as scrapper and brute and seem to have far more fun with the brutes. I'm not sure if it's the fury vs crit mechanic, that I can taunt more than one enemy at a time or what, they're just more fun to me. Because for some, alts = characters, not just some mids build and/or spreadsheet. I've got several of each and they're vastly different "people," which reflects not just in the bio but in power choices. For folks like me, the question above is like going "you've *got* the dictionary, it has all the words in it, why do you need more books?" 🙂

I don't have a signature character, really. I have *characters.* Not because I'm trying to find "that one," but because there are stories to create and tell and they need characters.