Greycat

I'd give this a solid "Can we get this on test to see what happens?" I mean, it's mostly a pain as a low to mid level MM (especially the 18-24 range) as I'm recalling, especially with those shifts.

Just for clarity, are you talking a +Dmg set bonus or damage as part of the enhancement (like acc/mez going to acc/dmg/mez?) I'm *assuming* the first from what you're describing.

If it fits your character, and/or you're having fun with it, and/or there's nothing else in the flight or sorcery pool you want (though, you can pick up the pool anyway - heck, pick up both,) nothing wrong with keeping.

No reason to figure out the craze. *shrug* Lots of vets, some people just think the game begins at T4'd everything. Others of us find that kind of boring. Me, I'm mostly around to BS and RP with people. My stuff gets to 50 eventually.

So, when invasions first were brought up on live (not the end of beta, but - think the zombies were first? Anyway...) they let bodies pile up, which caused problems. In response, the despawn time for those bodies was cut down drastically, which for the most part was good... Unless you're a warshade. Several of the powers a WS uses feed off of defeated enemies - including Extracted Essence. This one's already sometimes a problem when it comes to regular fights - you can target a body, have it do the levitate-and-swirl, but become "invalid" partway through, meaning you now have a power on recharge but no pet. Invasions are worse, as they vanish too quickly to even animate. Stygian also has to be hit quickly if you want any benefit. Could we get that timer extended JUST a bit to not punish one AT for the mechanics it works off of?

As mentioned, badging is its own thing. Just like, for some, base building is. Or any other activity. You already have some unlockable powers, both through the accolades and day jobs. Honestly, with day jobs there's *more* than enough there. And absolutely *no* to tying it to costume pieces. Also, what makes you think - as you appear to - that the only options are "powerleveler" and "badger," or that there needs to be any further incentive to do so? Working through content gives merits - now, it could be argued that those joining teams for mission arcs should be given merits as well as the mission owner, and I'd say yes, something should be done there (merits weren't a thing for much of the game, after all,) so even if you don't go for the badge missions, *that* could well be considered "incentive" enough. Frankly, as a fairly heavy altaholic, I enjoy the content for its own sake. That, deciding how my characters react, who they take for contacts and why (and, yes, RP,) is all the incentive needed.

Even for "rankings," prestige was, and is, kind of ridiculous. Does it tell you how good a SG is? No. How active? No. Could be one guy AFK farming repeatedly. What type, if it's a good fit, if it's involved with the server's activities or not? No. It's an utterly pointless, useless number, and it's a good thing it's gone. They need to eliminate the listing all together, frankly.

Well, three of my systems prompted that I can update. Also seeing notes that Win11 causes a performance hit on Ryzen systems of 10-15%, though AMD's working on a patch. The one system that's not Ryzen is my older laptop... that's running a 7-series Intel CPU, and is deemed "too old" to run 11 (... yeah, right.)

I don't recall right offhand if this was supposed to work with all invasions or just the rikti ones, but doesn't being under "cover" work? (overhangs, under bridges, etc?) Inside buildings should be fine, too. As far as the midair thing... yeah. They've done that. It's ... yeah.

Yeah, there were a few things that could be considered "fire tank nerfs," I mostly remember Burn causing everything to run away (JUST before I was high enough to pick it up, of course...) early on. But, yeah, it's hard to tell from just that if they mean "fire tank nerfs" or one of the many adjustments to tanks, taunting, etc. Most of the time I hear people (still) complaining about no longer being able to herd whole maps into a dumpster. (Personally... having been on teams with that going on, I'm glad. Being able to DO stuff was much more fun than being told "Wait here while I herd the map." )

I *believe* you need to set up an account there, but it's been a bit.

Heh. As casually-somewat-regular in the zones, there were a lot of fun memories there. Multiple teams worth showing up on both sides. My fire/kin corr and - think it was another corr and a dom holding Siren's for a good long while before we just got overwhelmed by numbers (mostly going "HOW are we still alive?") Fights similar to yours - most amusingly my ma/regen Stalker vs a ma/regen Scrapper. 15 minutes worth, then just calling it a draw. Same stalker slowly whittling a stone tank away (with his friends just saying "the stalker's winning, just give up...") Bringing a PB in in BB, coming up on someone's Brute (who apparently wasn't up on Kheldians,) fighting, shifting into Dwarf and getting a "mommy...." response back... good times.

.... only notes I see mention the halloween stuff, nothing about PVP? And yes, there already are. Sure you didn't click on a different set of patch notes?

There are several personal story arcs like that.

Incarnates came along during the late, late live game. The only thing SCORE or Homecoming has done with it is allow the Hybrid slot and prune the tree above that (and, honestly, simplified things a little.) We *were* going to have another tier of powers above it (with Hybrid at the "root," just like Alpha is for the first sets,) with their own "Advanced IXP" or whatever they were calling it. You'd have Hybrid (finished/enabled here,) Genesis, Mind, Vitae and Omega - presumably all this would have been tied into the Coming Storm. If I'm remembering properly - probably from AMAs - there would have been a tree introduced on top of that, and potentially one on top of that.... all of which, honestly, would have gotten really annoying (and just added to the whole overpowered-ness.) Incarnates have absolutely nothing to do with inventions. You can be an Incarnate and still run on SOs. You may have issues during some incarnate content if you try it, but it's doable. As far as time investment? Spend a little time reading up on and/or asking about the powers. While you're doing that, play content. Play task forces, go on MSRs - you don't even have to go through the Mender Ramiel arc, if you don't want to (though I generally prefer playing it and rushing through it, since it can be done quickly and I hate "wasting" the Incarnate experience to unlock Alpha.) You'll occasionally notice (or, well, not if you're in an MSR... lots of "merit earned" messages there to tune out) judgement, lore, etc. unlocked messages. Don't even have to do Incarnate content (though that'll be quicker.) You'll also just get threads and shards dropping, and every third "level" after 50 (think it's every third) for a while you'll get Empyrians and such dropped on you (through VL99.) That last is a score/homecoming change. Makes it even easier to get your powers built up.

And there are times the horse will try to kick you for trying to take it over there. (See: moving warzone liaisons *out* of the warzone so people don't even have to go in there, click and leave.)

So... that makes the idea make even *less* sense. "Here. We'll give you the good costume pieces for free. This one, though, has horrible clipping/texture/whatever issues, so we'll make this some sort of exclusive/hard to get reward" (granted, "wait for points" isn't hard to get, but still...) just... no. It's like... Oh, a workplace giving everyone a raise. If you've been there a year, you get an extra floaitng PTO day, five years gets two weeks, "And here's jim, who's never missed a day for 25 years, walked to work that winter we had six feet of snow because his car wouldn't start even though he lives 10 miles away, has never taken a vacation... we're giving him... hmm. How about this leaky half gallon of milk. Might be spoiled, too. But only Jim gets that, give him a hand!" Making *worse* or *more problematic* things a reward or "exclusive/hard to get?" ... no. Makes zero sense and would, frankly, make the team and the server look bad. ... not even close.

Ehhh. I'm on the fence with it. On the one hand, it's a *big* heal, single target, and you "taking" the pain and not being able to heal fits thematically. (Plus, honestly, I rather like powers "with a cost." As long as the payoff is worth it.) On the other hand, I rarely take it - but that's part of the issue with "heals" (and why I cringe when someone advertises as a "healer" or worse, "dedicated healer.") They're just not as needed from mid-game onward. I'd half-argue even the RAs don't do much late game if you're on an IO'd team, even without incarnates coming into the picture. The gripping hand, it would be interesting, but I think the splitting between multiple players might be a bear to code. It would still fit the name, granted. It's something I'd probably try on test (give me several MSRs, let me see how it does in Hami, etc.) but .. yeah, not sold on it, not *not* sold on it.

A sticky. Ha. They could make a sticky, make it three times bigger than any other post, flashing red "UPDATE STATUS: NO ETA" or "COMING TO BETA IN 1 WEEK" or whatever and people would still ignore it, post "any news about an update?" and wonder why people just responded with facepalm gifs.

I really hate not knowing where I am, so... (or, more seriously below. )

Not going to worry about it 'til the first few patches are released and/or I have reason to upgrade.

No. Halloween is cancelled. As is Christmas. Hope you're happy. (Serious answer: I would guess the first maintenance in October. Maintenance is on Tuesday, which would make it Oct. 5. They don't just randomly pick a day.)

There are a few that show up that way until you've made some degree of progress. Yes, it's annoying. Almost as bad as trying to figure out which plaque of the ones in five different zones (one of which is an echo) you need.

That's ... fairly vague. Standard disclaimer: Small, volunteer group doing this on their own time and their own dime, as it were. What tools they have they make up as they go along, that sort of thing. Now, that said, did you have anything specific in mind?

My answer is "it depends." My RP now is really spread out - some of it in game, some of it over discord or (as far as *character* progression) writing. And I need that variety, because (a) I like having the characters have *lives,* which means BSing about school, significant others, etc. and (b) there are things I'm having them do and places I'm having them go that just can't - either conveniently, or at all - be done in game. That said, I also have a group that's repurposing the Warshade/Kheldian arcs for something going on with one of our characters. Another group (not an "SG," but a group from all over) RPs a bit on discord, arranges events and sometimes has an AE to designate significant points or play through certain events. Generally, I disconnect "My character is at level ##" from the RP/"Character development" side. One of my characters, for instance, should *not* have access to incarnate powers, is certainly not aware of a "well" or anything, never talks about such a thing - but I still play incarnate content with that one when not on SG nights. They've gone back in time, fought in Cimerora - but the *character* hasn't. As far as the situation with your group? First thing is bring it up with them. Is there some common theme to the group? Even if it's just "we're heroes" (or villains,) you can "patrol" (missions, newspapers/radios/tips) and still RP. Work up a plot, have people contribute to an AE arc about it, even if it's just ideas, or someone can't write but is great at figuring out a look for a character - they can contribute that. I'd say make sure you don't have just one person doing it continually - I did that, with few breaks, and it's a fast path to burnout. If you talk outside of SG meetings (I'd hope you do!) I'd probably broach the subject of "Hey, can we go out and *do stuff?* then, instead of having it break into social time - some people do need that time to be *that,* honestly. But communication is important.