biostem

Shame on those of us that don't want non-consensual PvP foisted upon us! Yeah - remind me again how wanting to force something on others makes you the "tolerant" one...

Do enemies outside of missions give less XP or something? Other than them not typically scaling to the same levels as those in missions, (which others have pointed out you can still find in select places), what am I missing? Is it the convenient tight grouping and ability to adjust their level and spawn size within missions that the OP feels is lacking outside?

Your points are valid, but there's one thing I think you're missing - it's whether putting in the effort to try and both drain the endurance from enemies and debuff or halt their recovery is worthwhile for normal enemies and encounters; Sure, it's great against AVs, but bosses and under are basically defeated in short order. Even against AVs, allowing just a sliver of end to be recovered pretty much means they can use all their attack, since NPC powers cost much less end for them...

I think the OP said they weren't a fan of "anchor" powers, though. Rad is a great set, but in this instance, I don't think it meets their criteria.

I can understand that. If you want something a little different, poison/dark is a very different animal. Nature/ice also has its own flair...

I tend to play with more casually put together teams, so I can't speak on how frequently people are reaching the damage cap on their own, but fulcrum shift is not the only power in the set, and many folks I've teamed with are thankful to have SB and ID kept on them. Either way, you can always leverage the -res in sonic blast, and don't underestimate the utility of siren's call, (especially with the team accidentally aggros another group)...

I would rather see the spawn rate increased, or implement some system of summoning the giant monsters, (perhaps with some diminishing returns implemented on a per-player basis, so people don't just farm the same one over and over back to back).

Frankly, this should be an option for almost every power that has persistent FX...

I mean, there are Freedom Corps soldiers operating right in the open in the Rogue Isles already. I believe they are technically a sovereign nation, so it doesn't surprise me that the US wouldn't operate there quite so conspicuously, (though I'm sure they have vessels patrol just outside their coastal waters). I would think that groups like the Family run contraband and personnel into the US for Arachnos and to and from the Rogue Isles for the US gov't quite frequently. The "retaliation" you speak of is already going on - just not right out in the open. I mean, US army soldiers would get annihilated against Arachnos troops, which is probably why you instead see Longbow, Wyvern, and so on...

As counterintuitive as it may sound, I have come to appreciate that some sets have "skippable" powers. They each serve a purpose, albeit a niche one.

I really like playing my kinetics/sonic blast defender; Plenty of buffs, debuffs, healing, end, a cone sleep, a single target stun, and that's not counting your epic or patron power pool choice.

Power pools allow you to go outside of your ATs normal limitations or scope; You "pay" for that by them being weaker than similar in-powerset powers. There isn't much opportunity cost in taking the power - anyone can do that. It's whether doing so is a better choice than any of the powers in your primary or secondary. Do you feel the same way about your secondary set being weaker than when another AT has it as their primary? It's kind of a fundamental aspect of the game...

The actual timeline of the game is a bit murky. If you went through the Galaxy City tutorial, there's an alien invasion currently going on, and that's on top of things still being reconstructed after the previous Rikti one. On top of all that, as @Snarky mentioned, there have been numerous factions infiltrating the various levels of government for many many years. Frankly, I'm surprised that Paragon City even got as built up as it is. I'm surprised the PPD aren't fully in Crey's pocket, or that there aren't more obvious Arachnos agents within Paragon's government...

My only concern with what you proposed is that it'd be too similar to illusion control - you don't want too much redundancy. Consider how darkness control differs from darkness affinity...

I'm happy to see that Omega finally gets some new duds. As cool as their custom clone trooper armor is, I don't understand why they haven't altered or ditched it by this point; You'd think a squad of guys walking around in clone trooper armor would stick out like a sore thumb.

I would have to go with a gravity/nature controller, with mystic flight. If we had finer control over our powers, besides the explicit individual powers from the game, I could do anything from construction, to rescue, to cleaning up the environment...

As an option, sure. My only concern is if they were too much bigger, they'd obstruct too much in more confined spaces. I suppose they could also add some sort of "make other players' wings translucent" as an option...

Are you referring to coloration or the actual models themselves? Can you elaborate upon this? We already have bird wings, bat-like wings, etc...

I can't help it if you don't comprehend a fairly simple concept. Can anyone just walk up and participate, or is there some sort of application process involved? If it's the former, then it is "open", if it's the latter, then it's "closed". And I'm talking about my definition, not some you or the other poster imagine. Are you saying that anyone can't just walk up and participate in a TF? Is there some 3rd party, besides the NPC contact, involved in starting said TF? If there was some group organizing TFs outside of the game or via other resources, that didn't accept walk-ups, then those instances would be "Closed PvE", by my definition.

Right here.

What are you talking about? I was discussing the difference between "Open PvP" and "Closed PvP".

Right, so to treat NPCs like they need an advocate or referee to ensure fair play is kind of laughable. Did you miss where I said way upthread that I don't care what you do in a PvP zone, since consent is explicit in you going there? It's non-consensual PvP that's at hand here, since the OP was discussing a PvP event that would be sprung on players in a PvE zone.

You don't seem to be understanding the distinction I'm making between "open PvP" and "closed PvP". "Open" means anyone can walk up and participate - you don't have to join anything. "Closed" means there's some application process, or at least some level of scrutiny with regards to who can join. Can you at least acknowledge that difference?

It's "closed" in the sense that any rando can't just walk up to a match and take part. Even if I grant that part, the other aspects of my statement still apply.

I guess you don't understand the difference between PEOPLE and NPCs, then. There's a reason there are things like weight classes other other such divisions in sports. I guess you're having a problem understanding the distinction between PLAYERs and NPCs...