biostem

Unfortunately, "fun" cannot be the end-all, be-all of game balance. I know it sounds counterintuitive, but having to plan your build and pick your limited selection of powers wisely *is* fun to some people. Why not just give everyone every power at level 1? Have you played Champions Online and their freeform system? I bought a lifetime sub for that game back in '09, and it was a bad decision looking back on it. I can make the more OP tankmage there, and it is no fun - it's just boring. I want every power pick to matter, and I want to know that investing in going down the path of a power pool is a worthwhile endeavor. Simply freeing up a power pick and getting what you want "now" doesn't actually make it more fun - it'll only make you want the next power with some prerequisite to be selectable without it...

It lessens the investment one must take to get weave. That, by definition, reduces the opportunity cost to take weave. On top of all that, since the meta is to take defense-granting powers in which to slot LotGs, that'd be even easier to achieve. I have another idea - allow taking weave at 4, but doing so eliminates one of your power picks.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: There are precious few aspects left in the game where making a good or bad decision has lasting consequences, and build choice is one of them. Allowing powers like weave to be taken with no opportunity cost only serves to further diminish build choice...

I have no doubt that the entire UI can be clunky/counterintuitive. I wonder if a simpler ability to allow a league or team leader to "ping" the chat, with a fairly obvious audio and visual indicator which leads the viewer's eyes to said chat area, would be more helpful, then...

With IOs, defense is thrown around way too liberally...

I wonder if you'll have to worry about being in your base, in plain clothes, get attacked, then have to rush to don your spacesuit before said base depressurizes...

I'd be awesome if the devs could "hijack" whatever magic permits pets to follow their master, with upgrades intact, while zoning...

That's not a bad idea, but still wouldn't get the person to check the *specific* chat that the league leader needed them to be looking at...

I wonder how difficult it would be to create some system where a league leader can put a request for people to acknowledge something in chat, and if they don't, then that person gets kicked. It would have to be visible to all to avoid selective and hidden bullying from any league leader, but could go a long way to make sure people are attentive and responsive.

Give the fighting pool a generic rock throw ranged attack that deals minor smashing damage, so those of us not wanting to enter melee range have that choice. Otherwise, I am fine with the prerequisite...

Oh no doubt. My guess, though, would be that the most likely implementation would be one where the clouds are a generic grey/white and only the lightning takes the color you select - they can "bake in" other colors to get around the limitation...

I'm concerned that it will do ship combat, base building, and the FPS/TPS aspects all OK, instead of any one area exceptionally. I also feel like the base building will be a lot more restrictive, what with having to worry about keeping things pressurized/environmentally sealed and whatnot...

I kind of feel like we need fewer inspirations, not more. Combine heals, blues & awakens into a generic "restorative" inspiration that heals & restores end you when alive, and rezzes you with a bit of health & end when you're defeated. Combine lucks, oranges, and break frees into a generic "protective" inspiration, and Accs & enrages into generic "offensive" ones. Yes, I realize we have the dual & team insps, but I often feel like, unless I specifically turn off unwanted insps, they just clog up my inventory...

But I don't recall him ever actually transforming into a full panther. Something like the hoverboard would be more fitting, given his penchant for technology...

I don't think auras work off of the same system as powers, even if some of the effects look similar - AFAIK, all auras only accept 1 color. Compare the leaves aura to how you can color the nature powers...

They're great, but I wish the 2nd color didn't affect the outline.

The thing is, even the vague description the game gives us about each origin isn't set in stone. Why pigeon-hole anyone at all? An imaginative person can rationalize any powers for any origin, and given the presence of multiple worlds/dimensions in-game, what constitutes one origin on Primal Earth may not hold true for other worlds/dimensions. A simple resource that says "here's how you can customize your stances/animations/auras/powers/etc" is all you need...

The problem, IMO, is not general survivability inasmuch as it is that scrappers lack the general aggro management tools that tankers or brutes have. I suppose you you slot confront, but even with provoke, you just don't have the aggro management tools to keep enemies on you...

I don't see why we need multiple costume request threads - who cares *why* you're making the request - do so, and those who are interested in making the attempt will do so. No need to spread out the requests, as others may get inspiration or otherwise adapt the designs presented for their own purposes...

You're missing the point - there are areas of the game with flat screen monitors and even holographic/wall displays. If they didn't specifically want PC desktop/towers and CRTs, it would have been a simple matter to not include them.

The game went live in 2004. Even then, flat screen monitors were becoming more common. There are other places in-game that do have them, and it's not like rendering a flat screen monitor is any more difficult than a CRT. I'm not sure how you would get the notion that such depictions were anything other than intentional. I mean, look at the cars and how many villains still use revolvers. The entire game is basically a love letter to 80s superheroes, with some 90s "hard-edge" stuff mixed in...

Is there a particular character you're trying to emulate? IIRC, while Panthro did wield nunchunkus, he was able to fire ice and fire from the 2 different ends...

I really like energy aura on stalkers. Energize and energy drain are 2 very useful powers in the set, and both can benefit from the recharge reduction from savage melee.

How do you feel about being in melee range? Atomic manipulation has some pretty potent melee attacks, and rad blast has at least one PBAoE. For pure damage, though, fire blast probably edges out rad by a good margin.

The reason for these missions, (besides the aforementioned "needing to drop something off" that @Rudra mentioned), is that the contact wants to actually meet your character in person and evaluate you/get to know you. They'll give you their cell # once they trust you a bit more. As for the other points you brought up, I agree with @twozerofoxtrot's take; CoH clearly has flat screen technology - but not as a cost-effective option for generic office environments. I'd wager that there is a larger gulf between cutting edge/military technology and it making it to the general consumer market, in CoH than in the real world...