Greycat

Little thing I realized: For all the blueside I've played, my elec/elec blaster I made in i3 is the only one who's ever had Virginia Hoffman as a contact. Only real *arc* she gives is the Tsoo Shenanigans one, which a few others give, so I'm not missing *content,* but with literal hundreds of characters from then to now... I'm fairly sure she's the only one who's ever gotten Hoffman. (And they get raced past even without double XPs, DFBs - which I don't think i've been on in months - and the like.) Just something that, for whatever reason, has stuck out for me..

OK, so what's the "fun" of the character to you? Is it just powers? Are yours not *characters* you play with others - or solo - to get their own story, reactions, etc? Is this lower-level "finished-ness" a problem to you? Or are you just musing? Just for a different perspective - Those of mine that get to 50 are the ones that "happen" to, basically. I enjoy them as *characters,* not powersets or numbers of slots or whatnot. Some stall out because they sort of belong in an area, or aren't just brought out as much. (More "guest stars" to the main storylines I have going. Or remakes of older characters that I already "know" and am redoing mostly for nostalgia, but since not everyone they were tied to are here, they level much more slowly.) Basically, for mine, 50's just a number they'll eventually reach. It's rare I have any sort of drive to get there (one was getting concentrated on *specifically* to do the incarnate mission arc in Cim, because who and what's fought there just fit her.)

Honestly, let's just go for "Big selection screen revamp." There are so many ideas with so many things people want to see (and customize) - more filters, sorting, having actual "pages" (which the current screen, to my understanding, doesn't really understand,) various sorts of data on the character and more. (And maybe the *option* to share character data or export it.)

... complex? It's as complex as a simple recipe. There's no guesswork. Get this recipe, get these pieces, pay this much, and it's all spelled out in the recipe itself. There's no element of chance in what'll come out, if you have X pieces, you'll get Y result. As far as explaining crafting to a newbie? That's what the tutorial in the university is for. Walks them through it, even gives them the salvage, and they end up with a common IO at the end, too. Frankly, I'd hate to see the various salvage go away for generic "Common, uncommon, rare." How utterly bland. The salvage often has some flavor to it, as well as progression of what it is. It'd be like going from story arcs to mission collections, where instead of investigating this, then that leads to a rescue, you just get nondescript "Defeat everyone. Rescue generic hostage," with no flavor at all.

Well, hold on now. Do you know what the original setting was? It's quite possible he had room to lower it from the setting it was at - down to -1, after all. (Also, you should be able to tell, IIRC, by looking at the mission menu what the difficulty's set at so there's no surprises, even on a TF.)

They've been tweaked, as I recall - but mostly to deal with the long pauses between ambushes. Other than that? The game's much different with IOs (and just *familiarity*) versus doing this with, say, DOs and a few SOs being all that was available. As well as issues upon issues of tweaks. (Inherent fitness = 3 more power picks by 20 for many if not most people, for instance.)

Me. Because I don't care for how it looks. Either from players or NPCs.

I'll run the Kheldian arcs on pretty much every one I roll. I just wish there were a bit more separation later on between Peacebringer and Warshade, to get different views of what's happening. (Also, honestly I like the fact the world reacts to "Hey, a Kheldian" when playing them, spawning specific enemies for them. I wish VEATs had something similar going on.) Croatoa, I'll run on every magic character. And anyone else it fits. I love the little challenges in it (like the "Prevent 30 fir Bolg from escaping" - I try to keep on my 0 escapes run) - though I think the last mission could use some tweaking. On several characters it's "trap one NPC, go for a light lunch, come back 15 minutes later." Similarly, the Keith Nance/Jenny Adair pair I find fun. Redside... they keep saying "has better writing." But way too often, it's a selection of being railroaded along a line of things you wouldn't actually do, being a lackey, being pants-on-head stupid, or suddenly finding yourself slammed far over into the psychopath zone without really knowing ahead of time (unless you've done them before) which you're going to get. Granted, villains are typically *pro*active, not *re*active, and so much harder to write, but it makes me enjoy redside far less unless I'm with a group and we're writing our own AEs and plots and such. And I'm not in that sort of group here. And I've run the VEAT storyline once. And, frankly, hated it after the first few arcs. (Maybe level 15-20?) Might have changed, but I vaguely remember in the 30s or so getting one which was *very* short and basically going "Ha-ha, you're being suckered into thinking you're getting away with something but we've been watching the whole time, idiot. What a loser. XOXO, Recluse." Forced myself to finish the rest of them, haven't had the slightest interest in playing them again... *since they were introduced.* They felt rushed, they were annoying... and as mentioned, haven't touched them (past the level 10 costume mission) since.

Well, if you're using AE already, you can use that to get rares at a "regular price" as it is. Eh. I think if this were put in, it'd have to be at a somewhat higher price than the recipes, to make up for the lack of crafting involved. Either that or recipes would have to stop dropping all together in favor of crafted, and I don't see that happening.

Except the powers I mentioned - and the IOs - can achieve continual knockdowns for a time period. So you're getting free shots on several enemies - which could otherwise take some time, thanks to resists, etc. to kill. Besides... running up? There are numerous point-blank (well, melee range) holds. (Gravity well comes to mind, given how much I Warshade.) Points for an interesting idea, but I just don't think it's one I'd get behind.

Do the enemies get this sort of option as well? And "knocked down," especially, seems *seriously* overpowered, espeically with things like bonfire+KB-KD IO, Ice Patch and the like. Or multiple damage auras with "Chance for KD" in them. Or even "New meta = everyone take Air Superiority." Dunno. This sounds like a mix of gimmicky and overpowered.

... Can I just say I really wish this were an option...

Ran both asymphonic controller (mid-30s, ended up burning the secondary build on this, so no acc) and a dom (mid-20s.) Unless the attack missed, everything that I tried to confuse on either one confused reliably, bosses (of course) taking multiple applications to stack required mag.

It does not affect SG names at all. Edit: Also, tried with two different accounts, multiple characters, and couldn't reproduce this.

You can already get the recipes for reward merits, though. Not sure what makes it hard to craft one... looking at last-5 sales (granted, it's the AH interface...) there's no weirdness in the prices, and it's not like salvage has stopped dropping.

*tags them with my "useless" sleep, shutting down the FF.* Stuff like this is why I always thought people just *weren't paying attention* when complaining about sleep... "Oh, no, damage wakes them!" Yeah, and they don't have that armor/bubble/other power now, do they... you're welcome for making killing them so much easier. As for worst boss? Yeah, going with the Carnies Master Illusionist, primarily for one annoyance *regardless* of AT - summoning a Phantasm which can summon a decoy Phantasm. Everything else any boss summons is killable. If you're rescuing/kidnapping someone, though, that decoy just sits and wastes time.

Possibly so that people who are pulled away for whatever reason don't have to start the entire mission over? Life happens. I don't see a reason why this should be changed.

... well if you're paying attention to your buff bar in the PVP zones, they do also affect your side and the other side. Run the missions to work off the debuffs the other side might put on you (and push to damage and resist buffs.) 🙂

I'd have to double check, but I *think* it considers the environment PVE inside of those missions, since you're not actually in the zone. (And there are so few PVPers, and even fewer in the zones, that PVEers can typically wander in, grab badges, get a heavy, etc. without worrying about it.)

Right, but you had to be *in* the zone to pick those up. As I said, no PVE contact sent you there. If you're talking about *those* missions (which I also specifically mentioned,) you were in a PVP zone doing PVP missions, so ... complaining about people engaging in PVP while in a PVP zone is kind of like complaining about people speeding on a racetrack.

Errrr... I have to question your recollection. There's only been one time people were forced into PVP zones - after they were introduced, and EVERY CONTACT would give you a "Go talk to the warzone liason!" mission. Said liason was in the actual PVP zone, just inside the gate. Hop in, talk to him, leave. There's also *always* been a 30 second countdown when you come in. Which, sure, might not have been enough for people on *extremely* slow connections (dialup/satellite/very low broadband,) but generally was enough to see him and leave. There were never any other missions (regular, PVE missions) that took you into the PVP zones. The only missions that exist there are (a) any PVP zone events and (b) the ones that affect the zone itself (things like "bomb base" or "rescue longbow agent,") which you get inside the zone (and have to talk to a specific contact to get, who's *also* inside the zone.) The devs *also* beefed up defenses in the area - granted, there are holes (I know I've gone into BB and cleared out the tower overlooking the blueside helicopter, but that's fairly outside of snipe distance IIRC.) So it would be *exceedingly* rare to get ambushed or sniped. And they also moved that liason outside the zone, where they are now, since some people *really* didn't want to deal with PVP, to the point they didn't want to enter the zones for anything, at any reason, ever. (And even as someone who enjoyed those zones, I had to agree with those requesting that he get moved - get the explanation outside, and opt out by never having to enter them. Though, much better without them being a forced contact.)

"Terrible" is in the eye of the beholder. I've taken Fighting on characters specifically for the attacks, *especially* after the buff where they add to each other. (Specifically on masterminds - especially melee-focused MM primaries - and controllers.) That assumes that every character in every AT has the same desires and requirements. Hover and Fly, for instance, are certainly desirable... oh, wait, you have a powerset with powers that require you to be on the ground? So are those desirable or not? Should hover and fly be forced to be changed because players who want to play with THOSE sets (using ground-contacting or ground-adjacent powers) find them desirable? SO, no, "every power should be desirable" is not true, not in a game where there's *SO* much build variety just due to the powers available to us. Hell, I don't tend to find Tough, Weave or Hasten desirable. But then, ... and I'm not advocating for *them* to be replaced with something I find desirable instead, or have yet another power added.

... or how impossible it is to actually play without a fullly IO'd character, or.... As far as revamped sets? @Snarky is the expert when it comes to being vamped... >.>

From my understanding, the game doesn't see the "pages" like we do. (I'd suggested something similar some time ago.) So it may not be as minor a change as you think... That said, the selection page(s) could use a lot of love, and I wouldn't mind seeing this as part of it.

Love it. My seismic/earth blaster was a riot getting to 50, and routinely seems to ask "Spawn? What spawn?" as bodies fly... And generally, I treat the combos like I do on dual blades. I don't even pay attention to it.