Greycat

Before I start - Yes. This equals a lot of work which I'm not sure we have the tools to do, or do easily. That said: We already go back to ancient Rome. Let us go back farther to ancient Egypt. There's already plenty of reason to do so (aside from just a new environment, which would also lead to more base building pieces to play with.) 1. Kheldian-wise, Shadowstar has been here since Ancient Egypt. A little exploration back there might be fun. 2. Magic-character wise, Nectembo - remember him? Name's on a bunch of standard enhancements? - was in Ancient Egypt. Ancient Egypt and magic tend to go hand in hand. Lots of story potential back there. As well as modern times with stolen artefacts, lost tombs and the like. 3. Yes, I'm going to go on about the Blood of the Black Stream. There are several bits of lore pointing to them already. Mr. Bocor (as I recall) mentioning Gadzul Oil. Oh, and go redside and look for the sinking tanker in Port Oakes. Float up. See that oil slick? Look carefully. Eye of Horus... because of Gadzul and the BotBS, a sort of tech/magic group. I *know* we aren't getting what they originally were - a shapeshifting EAT. That's even *more* work (much as I would like to see it.) But c'mon... new enemy groups to fight against (and with,) plenty of possibility for arcs from 1-50 and task forces and the like! 4. Just making the world as a *whole* feel larger. And, yes, there's reason (if done *well*) to have both Arachnos and heroic representatives there without wondering why the Isles haven't been slapped down due to *invading the US.* Granted, this more overt presence would probably be more of a "Modern Egypt," but still. 5. We have mummies, but we don't have Egypt? C'mon... 6. And this is just the esoteric-game-history side of me... a player on live won a contest (not me) and had *their* character, ancient-egypt-based Ahnek Rah-zul, turned into a CCG card - and, yes, had their story changed slightly to fit the BotBS. Don't know if that player's here or even alive - it's been 17 years - but it'd be nice to give them that little bit of payoff, hmm?

Lorewise - - Twilight son's arc mentions the Batallion using Kheldians as living batteries to power starships (part of why I'm frankly glad the devs didn't do more with Kheld lore, since that's just one MORE ridiculous bit of nonsense that makes me not like the whole Batallion thing and dance with joy at it never getting done,) - Winslowe's Cosmotron (Kheldian arc, Striga isle) is what talks about the Nictus siphoning off Kheldian life across the galaxy if it were completed. - And yes, Nictus formerly ruled the Kheldians, and fed off of them to extend their life - believe it's the lore bible that goes into them making some offer to older Kheldians and cannibalizing them instead, one of the things that kicked off the Kheldian war. And no, there's really no in between "I stopped partway" to becoming a Nictus. Elsewhere in the lore and in game they're described as shadows, not just "dark energy," which they had to do to survive Peacebringer assaults. They're changed to *radically* different beings. There are also, frankly, rules about the melding with beings. One at a time, quite simply. The Peacebringers stopped a forced takeover of people by explaining what was going on and binding with them. When the Nictus arrived, they couldn't do anything except be slapped down by the combined Peacebringer. I'd see this as being an issue with the whole "shards" idea, interesting as that is. If things went that route, I'd frankly want to see a different set of story arcs going 1-50 for them, since it'd be a *completely* different POV, it wouldn't make sense to learn of N-fragments partway through (since you... would already have some in you,) for instance. It wouldn't just be a "copy-paste, open up the other one's set of powers" without doing a disservice to the whole idea of a lore-based (Epic) archetype. (Yes, I *do* give a very big damn about that. It's why I compiled and kept updating the Kheldian backstory guide. Which I keep thinking I have to do a fresh version of for here. And also why the "we need Recluse's towers, but make them Nictus!" annoys the hell out of me in hard-mode ITFs. Part of why I kind of don't want the devs touching Kheld lore, and haven't since I saw Twilight Son's backstory on live.) Mind you, I say all this as someone who *very much* plays some "nictus have experimented on..." characters that *do* show some sign of hybridization, usually taking advantage of existing powers or ability, or using chemicals or tech of varying sorts - but they're not true fusions. Dominators especially shine in this, as do some sorts of Sentinels. (Energy/Dark Armor, for instance.) So my objections have absolutely nothing to do with mechanics... they're solidly lore based, and that's *extremely* important to me. (Oh, as far as the comments on Kheld vs VEAT arcs? The Kheld arc hasn't "gone anywhere" because it's done. You start as a newly merged being, you end with helping stop a Nictus takeover and basically kicking them off the planet, with the PBs sending troops to follow them. The VEAT arcs... just suck, frankly, so I'm not surprised people don't realize that story's done, too, but it's personal versus big-backstory-you-participate-in.)

Don't like the idea at all. Though with the way the game's going, it'll probably happen, and come with an extra nuke you can use every 30 seconds.

... who said to do that? I simply pointed out that you can make a Peacebringer and have it ready to go for base building immediately instead of leveling. Never said "And delete those others."

... if you're just using them for base building, who cares? You're not going to have quantum base pieces showing up to whiff at you.

Use a Peacebringer as your base builder and you don't even have to get to 4... inherent flight at 1.

I have the same reaction with some regular size characters. The fix is simple - "So don't look at them."

When ED was implemented they were planning the system they scrapped that IOs replaced. I don't think we ever had information enough on that system to say they were new enhancements. Edit: See the below. Pretty sure this was the sum total of what we were told.

They likely didn't want to avoid perma because IOs weren't a big thing (or ... well, anything) when they were introduced. You got perma by (a) being on a team (b) with kinetics of someone else who could boost your recharge, so it'd encourage team play. (There were other little interactions between classes, too - I want to say extra damage if a Stalker AS'd a held target, for instance, but it's been a while.) Don't forget, inventions didn't exist until issue 9. The devs had been working on some *other* system which evolved into that. So they didn't design doms (or anything else) with the expectation players would be hitting perma-anything on their own. So, no, I don't think "you can permadom on your own" was what they were waiting for people to discover.

At worst it looks (from a quick scan) that you'd break even on each by selling the superior (catalyzed) ones, at best, might make twice what you need for the regular versions. So, yeah, I'd agree - sell them and buy the non catalyzed versions you can use right away, then.

Honestly, with the direction things seem to be going, my opinion right now is a depressed, cynical "hell with it, why not."

Next up - all powers available from level 1, because it's still not fast enough. Including incarnates.

No, you don't need to get Tough or Weave without any prerequisites.

Section of a screenshot...

Why do people hate powers that let you reposition enemies, especially ones that would otherwise be immob'd?

Why? Why not. By a NoFX option, I mean it. No graphics at all for anything. You animate, enemies react. You have armor on... watch your buffs to see what you have on. Doesn't really affect weapons sets too much - you're still pulling out a weapon. Don't like (say) the Earth hold graphics? They don't show up on the enemy. They just stand there struggling. Yes, not original. it's been added piecemeal as people complain about not seeing their costumes. This is mostly just saying "expand it to absolutely everything." Why? Well, aside from the flexibility people seem to want with powers that are annoying to them for whatever reason, it leads to the other half of this - "DataFX." What is this? It's sort of a techy, targeting-system view. No power effects, just a line to your target (and if it can show a range readout, add that.) AOE? Circle around the target, whether targeted or placed. PBAOE buff or debuff? Circle of the appropriate area around you, potentially with a symbol showing what it is. Armor? Symbol next to or above you (probably the power icon.) Held enemy? Just has the held/immob/whatever above them. Why? *shrug* Why not. If it were available and someone didn't like it, they wouldn't have to use it.

No they aren't. Nowhere near. You don't need to perma-anything or wait for incarnates for effective dominators. That's purely a playstyle choice (or crutch, depending.) Hell, I wish permadom weren't possible without teammate buffs, frankly. Same with most perma-whatevers.

Group: - Mob is standing there. - Hit AOE immob. - Mob doesn't spread out from wandering, gets smashed with AOEs. Has nothing to do with DOTs, and all anyone needs to do is... pay attention to the way the mobs are set up. (Then again, you can push immob'd mobs together if you use hurricane or force bubble... OH WAIT THAT GOT GUTTED WITH THE NEW FFs.)

My general thoughts / attitude - If you want to level quickly, don't play Praetoria. (Unless you just want the title.) I almost exclusively solo any Praetorian because, to me, the point of the zone exists in the storylines and choices, and teams just make you rush past it (and make choices you might not go with.) I generally *don't* play Praetoria in part because it was created in the era of "KNOW WHAT'S FUN? AMBUSHES! MORE AMBUSHES = MORE FUN!" and ... blah. Praetoria makes more sense as a storyline than a "side," frankly.

Incorrect. I have zero doms with permadom and they're perfectly fine. Yes, from level 1 onwards. Domination already builds as you use your powers, and builds faster on teams.

Amazes me that anyone would think an immob is useless...

The problem with that is that the clubs/event people want these characters visible, as their bios (and often their names) have things like base passcodes and event information, so they're kept in a public space (typically, but not always, Pocket D.)

Fairly sure they just fire off a macro (or a few) with the announcement. And if you have them on a task force (or AE, I *think,*) they'll stay connected versus going AFK. As I recall, at least.

No, no, they want a professor, not a hooker. ;)

Oh, I don't know, on my blaster I'll often start Meteor, hop in, fire off Rock Shards and the combination leaves nice, big ex-spawns. But, yeah, I lead that with meteor and take advantage of the time it takes.