biostem

I don't want to sound mean, here, but many of the features you described could only really be portrayed via the character bio. You can either have a belt with the skull or the pistol holsters, but unfortunately not both. You could use the Goldbricker belt, which has a distinct belt buckle, but only a single pistol holster. As for the boots, you could select the tucked in option, and go with something like the sinister boots, which do have toe caps. Regardless, here's my attempt: pistol concept1.costume

This is about as close as I could get: concept1.costume

Fantastic design! One question, though - I looked at various pictures of jellyfish, but I can't seem to figure out where the bright blue face, chest detail, and belt buckle figure into the design - is there a particular variety of jellyfish that has bright blue spots or something? Cheers!

I think it's a matter of wanting to be able to get closer than the game currently allows...

Wouldn't this then instead change the meta to focus on debuffs on the enemies instead of buffs on the players? Can't raise def beyond a certain point - debuff enemy tohit instead...

I could get behind an alternate walk that has this, but I then become concerned that some griefer may "inhabit" your personal space in such a situation. I suppose this later scenario could be addressed under the general "griefing" rules, though...

First and foremost, Homecoming is a revival of an old game, so broad-sweeping changes like this are a non-starter. Second, as you pointed out, the tools are already available, in the forms of combat teleport and speed of sound, so just take said power(s) and skip the taunt...

No, you don't need voice chat or anything fancy like that. Before you begin a mission, before you even head off on your missions, you should type into team chat and get to know your teammate a little - establish some ground rules: "Hey! Can you just give a heads up when you're gonna use FS or something?". I don't understand why you are so against communicating with your team, but at the same time express frustration when your teammates don't coordinate with you...

So your example is basically invalid, since you didn't put in the work to communicate with your teammates, but still felt a need to voice your frustration at having "wasted" the use of one of your powers because the other teammate, who you again never communicated with, used their power without telling you...

Great job! I wonder how useful the dollar tree "Final Faction" figures would be for this purpose...

Oh I certainly agree - provided you discussed things with your teammates so expectations would be established ahead of time...

To the first question, I was pleasantly surprised how my bio armor/savage melee tanker turned out. I was also a little taken aback at how much fun I had playing my fire/regen sentinel. Regarding the second question - I've tried every AT, but I just cannot get into dominators - perhaps it is my aversion to delve too deeply into the IO meta-game to achieve perma-dom status. I also haven't created too many corruptors, as I just don't see a compelling reason to play them over defenders.

Did you expect the kinetics user to be psychic or something? Did you communicate to them previously to see if they could let you know when they were gonna use FS?

The problem with 1 & 2 is that the player may not be familiar with the concept of "roles" insofar as CoH goes. To that end, it may be better to ask what they want their character to do - "Do you want to use a sword? Do you want to shoot lightning? What comic book character would you like to be like?" As you play, you can slowly introduce different game mechanics and how the different ATs fit in...

Been awhile, but I just really like how this one turned out - "Duskjolt":

In looking at the Rikti entry for the Wiki, it seems that the priests mainly have mental/kin abilities, so that'd be covered in the "inner will" track I mentioned, though I could get behind one for the magus, which appears to use fire, ice, & lightning abilities...

I would rather see something like this: Primary: Rikti Tech (these are your blaster and blade powers). Secondary: This is where things get interesting - you get a few basic abilities, like some armor toggles, but then you need to select a "track" - a support one, where you can open portals to call in drones & conscripts, plus some radiation and forcefield powers, (culminating in the ability to don a heavy assault suit), or an "inner will" track, where you gain access to mentalist and perhaps kinetics abilities.

I absolutely agree that those that want to learn will power through those hurdles. The question is to what degree do we want to "soften" things just to get bodies in the door, so to speak. I've tried teaching a few console-only players CoH, and it seemed the concept of having basically the entire keyboard at your disposal was rather daunting. Similarly, things like not being able to hit ESC to bring up a general in-game menu was rather frustrating for some...

This game is from a time when you had to learn as you go or ask other players in-game. You aren't spoon-fed things like in more modern games. In some ways that's good, but for new players, it can be quite the hurdle to get over...

I wonder how janky it'd look if they just offered some of the Rikti head models as alternate costume pieces, similar to the various beast/cat/animal ones we already have. It may not look perfect, given the fairly distinct Rikti physique, but CoH players are a creative bunch. Also, while we have a Rikti blaster model for robotics MM laser rifles, they aren't available to beam rifle or AR users, so maybe that can also be rectified.

This is so true! I can hop on one of my 50s, start broadcasting that I'm forming a team, and get it filled up in short order. If I hop onto a lower-level character, with hopes of joining someone else's team, it can be hours before I find a team. I wonder if offering a little "bump", either in the form of extra XP or INF, could encourage people to lead teams...

I'm confident I've faced off against them in that pretty rare "Pawn Shop run by Ex-Freakshow" police scanner mission that rarely shows up...

Or... you say "click this power and you don't really have to worry about mezzes". Play whatever you want, but if we're talking about what would be easiest for someone with no prior knowledge to pick up and play, a Sentinel has a lot going for it.

And they are gambling on you not realizing that; Look! It has RGB lights! Don't look behind the curtain!

Are we talking about a "new" player that is already familiar with mez effects and that you can't really actively dodge attacks by seeking cover, or one who is used to more modern games that use something akin to hit-scan mechanics, where whether the enemy's attack will hit or not isn't calculated immediately? I doubt such a person would be happy to find out that bullets and other such attacks will follow them to the ends of the earth because their chance to hit has already been decided...