Greycat

*nod* And as a plus, this could lead to a "Design a starter / basic base" contest, say, where several are submitted and the winners get to be put in as - well, starter bases you can select for your own (templates, basically,) for those that don't really want to / can't / don't have time for a lot of base building but want something nice.

All right, so I'm not the biggest fan of VEATs, I know. I dislike the storyline and the forced respec at 24. The first I handle by just not doing it, the second... well, grit teeth and deal, sometimes multiple times since you have to do it with each build on multiple builds. But they occasionally fit concepts I have in mind for characters. One of the frustrating things I'd love to see updated/changed/tweaked, though, deals with the tailor. There are a few issues. 1. The first costume slot *has* to be Arachnos themed. Of all the VEATs I have, only... maybe two at most could say they have any connection to Arachnos. However, the first costume slot MUST be Arachnos themed. Whether you want it to be or not. I'd love to be able to override this and not have that slot wasted, even if it has to be done after creation. (What can I say. RPer. I earn that Clothes Horse badge.) 2. The "black figure" blank on all the other slots is ... really kind of annoying. The first issue leads into the second. Even if you pick a face on helmet-less VEATs, it ignores it and gives a generic, all black figure for *every other* costume slot. (At least once you put something in the first slot, the earned costumes after that copy it.) Having it at *least* copy body, face and skin color would be nice. And/or having an option to "copy to other slots." (Yes, I know, costume changes under 10 are free, save/load into others. Still annoying.) 3. Arachnos parts can only be used in the first slot. Probably tied to the first-slot weirdness anyway, but it would be nice if, since you're a VEAT anyway, you could use the parts on *other* costumes, too. Yes, some pieces are kinda-sorta close (such as under "special helms" and the ... thorns? belt,) but if you want to go full-on Arachnos - or the parts just look useful for other ideas - you can't use them anywhere but as part of the full on first VEAT slot. Game breaking? No. It's costuming. But these most *definitely* affect my enjoyment of VEATs when I *do* play them, so... yeah. I'd love to see some of this tweaked.

I tend to do these frequently. The big difference I see has nothing to do with the extinguisher, but how fast you can take down the Hellions (since, if you're soloing it, they're a distraction at best, and at worst undo what you've managed to do in fighting some of the fires.) Granted, the larger extinguisher helps. (So would just having them be autohit, since the fire's not exactly dodging....) but you *can* solo-finish the event with the extinguisher. You do have to start *really* close to when the event starts, though. And yes, the difference if you've got a water or cold powerset is incredible. And yes, the exploding building *is* designed to be able to kill anyone near it regardless of AT or slotting. It's something like three hits of 30k damage. However, it's not uniform - I've occasionally been in "just" the right spot to have it explode around me and not touch me. Very much a "...*whew!*" moment :)

Mmm. Well, The Aes Sedai are the "powers" to begin with ... and the books go from that to showing all the squabbles and politicking inside. They're starting to touch on that. The focus will change and give our ta'varen their time soon enough, I'm aure.

I use them... solo, pretty much. Though my favourite place to use them has to be Mender Ramiel's arc. If you *don't* click the pile of debris before the final two rooms (past the Crey guards and into the Rikti,) nothing spawns in the portal room. Tossing trip mines throughtout he spawn points for at least the front two portals - don't put them where Cpt Holz or Honoree spawn - clears them out by the time you run back from the glowie. (Assuming, of course, you have the recharge to put more than a few down before falling asleep.)

Nope. And hard to get? You mention "kill x people in a PVP zone." You do not need a second account. You need to ... *ask someone to help.* Arrange a time. Go punch each other. Done. Tedious? Sure. Hard? No. Require second account? No. Any reason to make it purchaseable because of supposed difficulty? Absofreakinglutely not. They don't even award anything but another badge. So it's not hampering anything but a badge count.

No. Absolutely not. After all, if you do that, why stop there? Healing badges are hard to get on some ATs, those should be purchaseable too. Oh, and getting mezzed? What about those ATs with mez protection? Damage badges, too. Some ATs or powersets are not exactly high damage, those take *forever.* Oh, and how about killing all those Rikti monkeys for zookeeper? No. Make some friends. Arrange things with coalitons (or just other badgers.) Arrange times to do things with them. Otherwise, frankly, there's no point to the badges.

Cat: Cat isn't rich. She'd still likely be torn by it for a bit while she tries to figure out what to do with it. After all, *someone* lost this ticket, probably, and it's possibly one of the people who are affected by the fire. Or one of the fire fighters. She's also realistic enough to know walking around going "Hey, did you lose a winning lottery ticket?" isn't going to get her the real owner. So after talking to friends, her parents and her priest, Cat would put aside a chunk for taxes, see if there's any fund for the people who may have been displaced by the fire and donate to that, catch up on bills and give the business (and her apartment) a three to four month buffer of cash, start a little fund to help Pri out, replace the toaster that somehow burns one side of her toast while seeming to refreeze the other, put some in the plate at church, find a few charities to donate to, especially shelters with weather getting colder, and with what's left get herself a nice sandwich and coffee downstairs. Pri: "What's this?" Fortunately she does have friends to explain the lottery. And money. And help figure out what to do with it. She'd send some discreetly back the Ballroom's way, and hold on to the rest for later use. She's used to stashing things. And would likely have several actual stashes of physical cash hidden around the city. Not the whole amount, but still. Rez: "Sweetie? I know we just moved in here a few months ago, but how do you feel about a house? Or is there anywhere you want to go for a vacation?" Ishku: Would turn it over to her mom. Well, one of her moms, Lily, the one she lives with, who's good with money and finance. There are a couple of places that would get donations, but otherwise it's school - though, of course, some "fun funds" are available. And they'd have a nice Christmas.

Eh? They're dangerous *at* level, sure. But they don't scale with you - they're insanely easy if you happen to pop by on a higher level character. (And the firefighting badge adds "insanely easy depending on powerset." A character that uses some sort of Cold or Ice, or a Water blast character doesn't even need to see the Fire Chief by the mid levels to solo the SC fires.) And no, I don't think they *should* scale - no reason the Hellions or Trolls should be a threat to someone even in their 30s.

I don't think the target cap would have to be gutted that dramatically. It *still* causes aggro (which MC doesn't,) after all...

My Headcanon says there are headcannons. *shrug* (Also I thought I'd posted in this earlier, but apparently not. Possibly in some other thread. Headcanon - CLoning's the reason some groups have as many members as they do - and which we beat down regularly. Cheap, expendable cannon fodder. Especially if they can be masked.)

I think most of mine would just open it. The exceptions I could think of... Cat - Would be cautious about it. Jot down date received, etc. somewhere findable, just in case. The PI side of her business means she gets both junk mail *and* threats from peoples now-ex spouses and the like. Though, for some reason, I can't picture this as anything other than a letter from her aunt, who *insists* on using that sheet of free address labels she got... what, 15, 20, 30 years ago. Cat's told her the adhesive is dead on those things, and probably toxic, but her aunt uses them anyway and they *inevitably* fall off... Being near Christmas, she's tempted to send her a new set. Pri - Doesn't get mail. She and the group she's with are hunted, after all. Plus she doesn't have an address. Granted, she's staying at a hotel right now, but it's in someone else's name, so getting any sort of mail, much less something without a return address, would be a surprise and she'd likely find her friends to move her elsewhere while *they* take a look at the envelope. With luck it'd be a letter from Grace (also no return address, after all) - probably with some cash in it or something. Anything the least bit threatening or offering to talk about her car's warranty or get her a payday loan at stupid rates for the holidays ... well, she knows someone who can reduce that to a nice little pile of ash, so...

Hmmm. Sure, scirocco's redemption sounds good. The other thing I've really been wanting to see is one of the old EATs, Blood of the Black Stream. Sure, it's not going to show up as an EAT (sadly) but it could be a great vehicle for branching outside of Paragon, as their roots are back in ancient Egypt and could be developed with both red and blue side content. There are so many very obvious, longstanding hooks in game, I'd love to see those paid off.

Got through about half of them and had to (a) do things and (b) crash, so I didn't manage to get back, but it was great fun. Thanks, Trix. :)

It's ... kind of hard to answer that. I mean, they're higher than they should be, sure. The 1600 series is several years old. The 3060 series should, in theory, be taking its place (with the 16** being a decent budget card,) and the 3060 founders edition (straight from nvidia) has an MSRP/launch price of $399. If you can actually *get* one - and keeping in mind partners (MSI, Asus, etc.) would be selling a bit higher with custom bits - it's at least twice that, in most cases. (*Best* I've seen is about 150-175%.) So *ideally* systems running a 16** series card should be cheaper now. Waiting *is* an option, sure, but last year I was expecting to have to wait 'til around now to be able to buy, and word seems to be "late next year" is a more realistic target, cryptominers aside, for being able to buy a card at a reasonable price. There are a couple of things in the works, though, at least on nVidia's side - they're relaunching the 2060 (one generation back) with 12Gb RAM. It's older and uses a less in demand process for its GPU, so in theory they should actually be able to *supply* these (again, assuming cryptominers and bots don't just snatch them all up,) so prices there should potentially be reasonable, and it sounds like they're getting ready in a bit to launch (if at least on paper) the 4xxx series at some point - though whether that'll really make a difference... *shrug* That said, OEMs like Ibuypower and the like are getting components straight from nvidia, asus, MSI, etc, not clicking refresh repeatedly on a store website. Are they getting bit by - or charging more because of - the supply? Eh, sure. Are the prices outrageous for these? Eh, not horribly. Personally... since you're buying prebuilt, not building and getting severely gouged, I'd say take the advice on one of my mom's coffee mugs. "Life is short. Buy the shoes."

As one person who can be a *complete* ass, I can say the *way* you say it can make a huge difference. Someone's offended? Meh, tell them to ignore the post. Someone's offended at a post that flat out says they're stupid and comes off like a personal attack? That will be more likely to get hidden and the person warned. Wording and tone is important, *especially* here. And honestly, I think you know that, but you personally seem to really like arguing with the GMs and ... sounding offended. *shrug.* But that's just how it looks from here.

... er... 202*5.* :)

Oh, good. Those actually look like they have mesh instead of just glass or acrylic in the front s you get actual airflow... well, the "slate" and "trace" do at least. There's been this annoying trend (that some are getting away from finally, at least) of going "Oooh, look, tempered glass... TEMPERED GLASS! And all the lights! Pretty!" ... which, sure, 'til you realize you're sealing a PC in a glass box and starving it of airflow - and thus cooling. Regardless, while the 2060's newer, GPU wise, any of these should work. Ibuypower's at least using industry standard parts (unlike, say, Dell) so upgrading and such should be hassle free when you want to.

So... yay you, I guess? I'm not sure what your goal in posting any of this is. I'm an altoholic. I'm well over 100 characters on one server on one account. Being an altaholic and wanting to play all these different combinations isn't an excuse to not hit 50. Nor, frankly, does giving up in 30-40 mean you "know" a powerset or power combination... you don't. You're not fully slotted. You're not seeing how it performs, either solo or in teams, against the toughest enemies and content. Granted, we're getting harder things at lower levels, but they're still generally designed to deal with "incomplete' characters. And no, 50 - and the Incarnate system - isn't, and doesn't have to be, a "grind." Know how you get there? Playing a character. Yes, I've got characters I primarily use for raids - not because I "have to grind," but because I like them on (generally mothership) raids. Others? Hell, I'm on an RP server. I probably have gotten there *even slower* hours-wise, but they're T4'd and incarnated out... because I'm just playing them. Sometimes exemplared down, sometimes in custom AE content we write up for our SGs, or just running missions Suddenly I look and "Heym everything's unlocked, and I've got a ton of shards, threads and Empyrians, I should use those." What I find really funny in your post is that you contradict yourself. You say you don't want to experience content (40+ and incarnate,) because ... you want to play the content. Do yourself a favor. Get one character maxed out. That doesn't mean "ignore all the others." I don't - I character hop a good bit (too many stories to tell.) But pick one or two you like and try out some of the content you're skipping - the stuff you're labeling as a "grind" despite never having played it, at least by your own description. You'll find those sets you "know" have more in store with how they interact with APPs/Patron powers, maybe more Pool powers and fuller slotting against enemies you've never touched. There's a good bit more growth there you haven't experienced.

Well... Cat: "Difficult situation" is a bit of a defining trait for her. Daughter of a cop - one of the "old school" sort, who finally retired early out of disgust because of the slide into corruption of the precinct, police taking bribes, etc. SHe still joined the force, but kept finding herself blocked and redirected from within the department while investigating some fairly dark activities. She ended up working with the FBI, basically having her entire precinct, people she'd grown up with, taken down, as well as a judge and some other officials... but very much got the point she should leave town. ANd then there's Allie's whole situation... and the mess she's finding herself in now. Her plan to just run a nice, quiet PI office isn't quite panning out that way... Rez: She basically had her body turn against her, going from an athletic, outdoors girl to someone stuck in bed and in continual agony. She finally forced herself ot ignore it - and nearly got away with that until a nurse realized she was still very much in pain. Thanks to some experimental tech, not only is she not suffering from it... as much... now - it's still low level in the back of her mind - but she has the ability to help others, too. Ishku: Her world was dying as an affereffect of warring mages, the sun itself being hostile instead of comfortingly warm, crops failing, children no longer being born. She saw her parents killed in front of her, then had to go hide and live on the street. Finally caught, with a friend, for stealing, they were tossed into an arena and told to kill each other (the punishment for... quite a bit being "death in the arena.") She survived - something she's only recently come to terms with - and went on to fight for some time, until a chance cross-dimensional trip from a Primal group gave her the chance to leave and actually *live.* Pri - Clone, designed as part of a line to control teams of lesser clones. Knew she was due to be killed off while they "examined the prototype" and used her as the source af a new, modified, next stage of clones. She was freed from that, living with Grace and a few other freed clones and fighting back - she's literally *just* been given a chance at trying a normal life, which is rather disorienting for her.

I'm thinking (I was trying to find one way or the other) that the Furies are empowered by the Well of the Furies - prior generation of Incarnates, essentially - but they act on their own, not at the Well's direction.

Oh lord, now you've done it. Like telling someone you hope their shift will be quiet. Calling down doom, that is... 😉

WEll, they have to know about it first. Barring SG bases with it (that, again, either you have to be a member of or know about,) I don't think either *starter* zone does. A followon zone (Oakes/Kings Row) does... if you know where to look for it.

Subordinate Seagull.

Boosters heck. Refreshing the jetpacks would be nice, too.