ZorkNemesis

The power has a pretty high base end cost to begin with (0.98/second) and also drains 1.5 end each time it tries to throw something away. The -1.5 end can't be adjusted since it's part of the power effect. It's a very end heavy power even with slotting so you have to find ways to make it work. It's pretty nice having a knockdown aura when you can manage it though.

I have an Archery/Plant, I love her though she's a bit rough around the edges, to the point where I think my Archery/Energy outperforms her. Even so she's a lot of fun. Now, I can't speak for Tactical Arrow and Eagle Eye, but based on my other Blaster experiences... Absorb beats Regen. I find that when I have the absorb barrier I tend to survive longer. Maybe it's because of how it ticks up, I don't know, but on the many Blasters I've rolled the ones with Absorbs tend to live longer. Wild Fortress has other benefits though, because it's a damage resistance power (to Toxic) in addition to the Absorb/Recovery, it takes the Resist uniques for added survival without having to go into Fighting if you don't want. Spore Cloud is rather meh. It's not bad, great for making a tough enemy like an EB, AV, or GM a little less threatening. The issues with it is that it's much less potent than the variant in Nature Affinity, it gives you away preventing long snipe if you want to use that (while also drawing aggro if you're opening with it), but most importantly things tend to die too quickly for it to be useful. What good is an anchor debuff when you usually drop the crowd in one attack? Still worth having if you want to fight AVs and GMs for sure though, or if you want to go all +4 it helps since bosses there usually do survive. One thing I will touch upon in regards to Arch/Plant: Toxins. The power is good, you get extra Toxic damage on all your attacks in place of a traditional Build Up, but this has a couple of caveats. Because it's a damage proc, you can't increase the Toxic damage with additional damage bonuses. Stacking it with Aim will not improve the bonus Toxic damage, but will still increase To Hit and the Lethal damage of your arrows. More importantly Toxins is borderline worthless when paired with Rain of Arrows. Due to the way pseudopets and procs interract Toxins will add virtually no damage to RoA which can be a big letdown. You'll still see the damage on your other attacks though and it can help to get around the Lethal resistances that are so common so still very worth it. Also worth checking out is Vines. Vines is a very strong control power to have access to giving you a giant crowd hold/immobilize, perfect for preventing foes from fleeing the incoming RoA. Put a lockdown +2 mag hold in it to prevent anything most from fleeing, though the hold values seem rather inconsistent at times.

As mentioned above, the Alpha isn't a buff (other than the level shift) but an enhancement that applies to any power that would accept it. You'll see the benefits of your equipped Alpha on the enhancement screen instead on a per-power basis. And more, Alpha enhancement bonuses ignore the dimishing returns of slotting multiple of the same enhancement so you'll see bonuses well over 100% for some setups with the T4. Because it's a global enhancement, it won't affect any non-enhanceable power such as temporary powers, but will apply to Lore and Judgement when possible (i.e. Musculature should enhance damage of Lore pets, and I definetly know that Intuition boosts the damage and range of Cryo Judgement).

In my own case, I just prefer to skip that part and get into the game. Backstories are mostly fluff and the time it takes to write one is just more time I could be playing. That said, most of my characters do have concepts in my head and I'm just often too lazy to put them into words. Interestingly enough among the few characters I have taken the time to write backstories for, most are Praetorians. Given how much more established the lore of Praetoria is it's much easier to come up with something relevant compared to the more freeform nature of Primal Earth.

Actually hasn't been a problem for my build. With Staff/Bio, running with Form of Soul and Efficient Adaptation on endurance is moot, and Efficient adds a recovery boost to Ablative Carapace too. Even without Bio, Form of Soul should help offset the end cost of Whirlwind; it won't affect the end drain on the KBs but with an overall end discount you shouldn't be hurting too bad.

By popular demand, here's some video footage. I had Whirlwind going and I primarily attacked with Precise Strike, Serpent's Reach and Guarded Spin. It's not 100% guarenteed to get the Eye of the Storm animation, but it seems to happen more often if Whirlwind's animation is allowed to spin up (pun intended). The EotS animation also isn't interrupted by using other attacks before it ends. https://imgur.com/a/UNyNXxr

The periodic heals don't make much of a difference. They're nice but they won't save your life, much like how Panacea or Power Transfer won't either. Still worth using for the set bonuses; three slots of it in two powers is a great way to add 20% recharge at level 50 or fully slot it for a 5% melee/range defense.

The 5th Column were originally part of the launch game, but were removed for issue 3 since they were too close in concept to actual Nazis. If I recall correctly they were swapped out for a less Nazi-ish facist group in order to sell the game in Europe, Germany specifically. They were re-added later after what I believe was some relaxation of censorship or something. I don't know the full details myself but i'm positive their initial removal was simply to sell the game internationally.

The Zoombies found in Agent Watkin's story arc don't always self-destruct when self-destructing. The explosion still damages you and surrounding enemies (if it hits) but it seems like the explosion itself can outright miss the Zoombie who's blowing up. They will continue attacking with their zombie vomit but presumably the self-destruction attack has a long enough cooldown that they won't get a chance to try again. Incidentally Zoombies also lack a proper death animation. If they die without exploding (or after failing to explode properly) they simply cease to exist rather than collapsing to the floor like their Embalmed cousins would.

I wanted to try my hand at a "Spin to win" build by using Staff Fighting and Whirlwind from the Speed pool. Turns out the attack animations from Staff Fighting don't cooperate with Whirlwind that well, as many of my staff attacks are using the same animation as Eye of the Storm. It certainly fits the concept, but it sure is confusing. EDIT: Video https://imgur.com/a/UNyNXxr

Double check your combat logs. I checked on a Peacebringer and Warshade and was seeing the Chance to Heal proc fire in all forms, both normal and superior variants. It's a very minor heal and only has a 12% activation rate but it can fire on all your offensive powers in any form, not just the power it's slotted in.

Honestly I thought Flamebeaux was the only one no one would care about if you offed her, and you likely do in several tip missions anyway. Also the redside version of Who Will Die gives you a few chances to beat them up too. Twinshot, Dillo and Grym appear in chapter 3 and 4 (Proton is presumably still in mental rehab).

It may have something to do with the fact that RTB's inspirations aren't actually inspirations. You can see this if you level up while RTB is still in effect, the level up inspirations and RTB's inspirations don't stack in the UI. It should still be looked at for sure though.

Random Luddite in Cap: I'm glad you asked... Non-violent protest does not mean 'only knives.'

"You raised my hopes then dashed them quite expertly sir. Bravo."

No technology? how about my dark magician girl Time's Eclipse? Or maybe she's too dark, how about a flasy stage magician instead? Here's Phantasmal Virtuoso.

Very likely related to the current ongoing server outage.

In fact, there wasn't a badge for the drop ships on live servers at all. Destroying drop ships was pure bragging rights.

I think that's just the confusion status, though that can be circumvented by not using any powers so something else would have to forced the confused target to use powers. That might not be possible. On a side note, Medusa-like snake hair already exists as a hair option for female builds. Might not be that farfetched combine it with the serpentine legs you see used by the Talons of Vengance. In fact I think such an enemy already exists within the Talons. EDIT: While maybe not fully accurate to Medusa of mythos, Gorgons already do exist within the Talons as an Elite Boss. https://hcwiki.cityofheroes.dev/wiki/Talons_of_Vengeance#Gorgon

Hibernate is subject to the NoPhase debuff. Regardless of how much recharge you have, you can't use it for 120 seconds after turning it off or it turning itself off after 30 seconds on.

I don't recall the Marcone/Mooks conflict ever getting any sort of resolution, maybw that would be a good place to start.

I assume this would only be for Tankers and Brutes and wouldn't affect the Epic versions of Hibernate? Would be kind of silly to have both Icy Bastion and this reworked Hibernate on my Scrapper (Levi Mastery has it for Scrapper/Stalker). It seems like a good idea though.

Was it possibly removed when they started causing KB'd foes to ragdoll? I know they didn't used to ragdoll, and we know how screwy ragdolls are in CoX that power boosting with that might just make it worse.

I would advise keeping the power somewhere on the tray even with the macro. The macro won't shrink and show cooldown like the power does.

The oversized bow on that piece is enough, but the veil that comes with it just ruins it in my opinion. And yes, i'm a fan of comically oversized hair ribbons.