Greycat

So I'm running through Maria Jenkins' missions, fighting stuff in Warrior Earth and thinking... why is it like this? That Earth, not the mission. While we have (obviously) a "deep dive" into Praetoria, we get 1-2 missions in many other dimensions that probably could have some interesting lore - or do, but nobody wanders onto the wiki to read it. So why not give Portal corps more of a purpose? Instead of just sticking a toe into Axis Earth for a mission or two, get a chance to fight them - or as an alternative mission, since not every character's theme is "front line fighter," run aid and suppliess to resistance groups? Get at least a full arc in Warrior Earth. Get a good look at a Nictus-ized Earth - there's got to be more *somewhere* than War Wolves. Portal could be a wellspring of missions full of "what ifs." And it could open up some creativity, too. Stuff that wouldn't necessarily fit with lore *now,* but might be fun to poke around in. What horrors await on Catgirl Earth? (Empress Mynx?) What if ancient Egypt never fell, but really did conquer the world through tech and magic (yes, I do still want Blood of the Black Stream arcs, which have a *touch* of the same thing, but this is a "writ large" of that - at one point I'd created an AE which included an "Egyptron" group, so... it's been brewing a while for me.) What if there's an Earth where Hamidon really is the hero? Use Portal to give more of a look at some of the side lore, some of the 'other worlds,' and arcs for stuff that wouldn't necessarily fit in existing lore but might still be fun to explore without an impact on the main timeline.

Honestly, I wouldn't want it cluttering up the screen like that, but if there were (say) an arrow or an "info" button or something that could give extended information on a character, including INF? Yeah.

Aside from the "it will be abused," it'd likely need to have someone dedicated on the dev team to go *through* those arcs and make whatever changes would need to be made for it to have that "extra reward" - then lock it down so it's not suddenly changed afterward. Besides, who decides what's exceptional enough content that should get rewarded like this? Even dev/player choice is, at its heart, a popularity contest. Who's gotten word out, who's been noticed, who hits a particularly vocal (and willing to rate) group - there's also content that can be quite good but requires outside context (such as ongoing RP in a SG.) A *lot* of work can go into those - and they'd never get any sort of recognition. (And yeah, I did these for a SG - large enough that some weeks I'd sometimes have three to run simultaneously to handle different aspects of a threat. Frequently. It turned into a second job. And while the SG generally liked them, they'd have made no real sense to anyone outside with all the references.)

There are a few missions that phase areas in and out. If they (for instance) did Matthew Habashy's intro mission and you DFB'd it up instead, they'd be phased in that area because they have a different' experience' there. It's ... honestly really annoying.

What if I want numbered columns and lettered rows, huh? Ever think about *that?* 😉 Honestly, it'd be helpful, and I'm not sure if it's something someone would be able to mod in in the meantime. That said, it's not what i was thinking of when I read the title, so I'm going to threadjack a little. Before I say it, yes, we *can* save power customization and costume options to files. But they're a bit restricted - body type, AT/powers, etc. But being able to save a *palette* - a saved set of colors for things - would be nice, especially if it was shareable. Instead of saying "Hey, let's get a uniform together, with that third red, that one blue, the logo in this and that," being able to pass along "SG Pallete" where you *see* the red, green, fuscia, whatever would be kind of nice. Plus you could just have that saved so when you make Version 3 of that character, you can refer back to it, or you make a companion character you have the palette right *there.* (As a side note, used to take part in and offer forum... let's call them "design contests," they're not really CCs, that just picked a color palette and told people to run with it to see what they came up with. It was kind of fun, and what I had in mind when I read the title. Used to use a few sites for this... I think Kuler was one, but it looks like they got Adobe'd. But yeah, I'd hand out something like this: and see what people would do with it. Had to use "closest match" frequently with COH though. )

While it's not a *task force,* I'm just going to mention there's at least one ... fairly sure Council, not Column, arc that starts doing a bit of the "AI uprising" thing. That said, while in theory I like the idea of "the team has to split up," in *practice* I see it possibly being problematic - not every team is "8 individuals who can solo entire continents," after all. (I say this as someone who, back in the day, had an RP sg large enough I could write 2-3 *simultaneously occuring* AEs and have near full teams on them, and often wished they could affect each other - so, again, I like the *idea.* I'm just doubtful about its ability to execute well in game.) Yes, the Summer blockbuster does it, but on smaller, brief tasks and without too much opposition for a character to handle, if any (typically whoever's in the server room, and patrols can be dodged.) About the only other thing I'd have some sort of issue with is the last, "took one for the team" bit. Mostly because ... well, while it's cinematic, it falls into the "railroading your character" trap. For instance, if I were playing this with the rest of my RP-ing folks, I'd have my Warshade do this. Why? Because if we're going down over the ocean, there's a point where it's not going to be able to divert enough to do anything *but* crash into the ocean and they can inherently teleport away. I'm one of those folks who *really* doesn't like being told what my character did without my input. (Another reason I don't do much redside, since it quite often tells you you've done something that either you wouldn't or that you *really* wouldn't.) So... idea for it? Like the theme. It hasn't been touched on much. This *specific* execution? Issues with some details. (and ... minor nitpick, while having something crash into a nuclear reactor would be *bad,* it wouldn't explode... not in that way, at least. But, again, I know, cinematic-logic 🙂 )

So, who else ends up with a bunch of threads, shards and other components after Incarnate-ing up their character? I know I do. And yes, you can buy super inspirations, send them to alts... that gets boring and eventually they *will* stockpile. So, use them to add a bit of spice to your character! New IO type that, at its heart, is basically a proc you're adding to a power. More powerful in Incarnate content, but might add some flavor that really fits your character. Want your punches to confuse your enemies? ("This guy's supposed to be stronger than statesman, why's he just punching me?" *adds confuse proc*) This'll do it! Fire that freezes! Healing Arrow! Yep, with the Enhanced Incarnate Empowerment IO, you can do it! ... ok, in honesty I just want to hear people talking about their EIEIO builds as they farm. Because seeing who does and doesn't get the joke would improve my game. 🙂

It has a bubble because there's no body to be had, as I recall.

Or, generally search for SFMA in AE. (Story Focused Mission Arc.) Not all actual-story-MAs are tagged that way, of course. I'll also point out that several of the - I'll call them "story zones" (Faultline, Croatoa ... I *believe* the Hollows as well) will give you some bonus merits for doing all of the arcs in the zone, for a bit of a mix of story and payoff.

"For no reason." You mean something that's been injured hiding and pulling away from whatever's attacking it? Be glad it respawns - as it has since live - in a *very* close radius, compared to how big IP is. Absolutely no reason to change it.

Nowhere is it stated that your "mind is split among your henchmen." Why would five random thugs, ninjas or soldiers have part of my mind when they can just take orders? Not to mention demons, robots or wild animals? Even if you want to say "oh, it's mind control," that's not implanting "part of your mind" - if anything, I'd argue it would make you *more* vulnerable. *shrugs* (Mind you, I say this as the player of a character that has a schtick very like this - they were *designed* to be a mind-linked control unit for a squad of cloned infantry. And it led to interesting backstory and RP. But their mind *still* wasn't "split.") You work for someone, or have in the past, I would assume, or know someone who did. Did your supervisor implant part of their mind into you, or did they (or the company in one form or another) get you trained and give you tasks to do? If you have a pet, is part of your mind implanted in your pet? That aside, you already have options for status protection as a mastermind if you want them, depending on your secondary. (Even before getting into pool powers, Incarnate powers or slotting.) Honestly, if any ATs were given status resistance as being a part of a hive/combined mind, it'd be Kheldians. They are, after all, a fusion of two beings.

1. They're not particularly annoying to get. It's very simple, even on a low damage character. 2. They're not a player need. Not by a long shot. 3. Temp fly was never "too costly." It even got handed out at times as a free power through missions, even before Day Jobs. (And with the revamped posi, you got it during the 2nd arc.) 4. Bank missions were hard to find? When? The side missions show up on the map. As far as the START summons? One's a ... solidly ok PPD or Arachnos reinforcement for 500k. The signature summons at 10m each are much tougher. The Shivans self-destruct after some time and are *really* rather slow. (Believe the 500k reinforcement also times out after a few minutes. Don't recall for the signature summons. Only one I don't think I've had time out is the Vanguard heavy, and *maybe* the PVP heavy from RV.) The Shivans can be knocked back and around fairly easily. And if you really want to compare? Head to the test server. Use the "cheat menu" and buy the summons. (Can only use one signature summon at a time.)

As mentioned - what they were showing took up more processing power than expected, or so we were told, so that was disabled. Believe that was on live. Whether the ability to turn it back on is *possible* or not? I don't know, but I'd guess "no" (we don't have historic code going back through all the various patches from live, only what it was like at shutdown and what was worked on past.) Then the question becomes "is it technically desirable to turn it back on or would it cause problems?"

Have them show an image of the player looking at the kiosk with a "Lord Nemesis is watching you" caption.

For clarity - different characters, right, you didn't just swap sides with the same one?

It is *not* a 20-30 minute mission. Especially now with the "everyone gets a jetpack," which lets you hover above the meteor in a range that the shivans normally won't spawn at. Besides, why buy them when it's a *free* and easy grab? It's not like anyone PVPs in Bloody Bay...

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.