Rudra

Dang it! I was wondering why I felt a breeze through my armor....

Only 1 of my Super Strength characters has Rage. And even that character doesn't it unless it feels like I can't do any real damage to a given foe. My dominators only use Domination when fighting a difficult EB (I have AVs turned off for them. Always. I can't beat AVs with my doms, and some EBs I can't beat either.) (I also still don't get how permadom even works. I have a dom with better than 123% recharge, with no Hasten. [I never take Hasten on any characters.] And once I trigger Domination and it wears off? I have to start building it up all over again.)

This thread is funny to me given a recent thread saying to bring back the Snakes because they are nowhere. (They aren't nowhere, just harder to find.) As far as missions go? Mongoose is the only low-level contact that focuses on the Snakes. Burke has 1 mission where he sends you after the Snakes. Kalinda has 1 or 2. The Arachnos agent past the Arbiter where you first spawn has 0. As does all his follow-up contacts.

I don't know what that command does, but if it is different than using lowest settings, then maybe it can be made an options setting so it can be turned on and off as needed?

Don't think I've seen anyone get dumped on just for making a thread. Though I've seen people get dumped on for the ideas they have in their thread. Also, this thread has been dead for 2 and a half years. It is a zombie thread. Pointing that out is not policing the forums.

It's another zombie thread! RUN!

Steal the base NPC emotes for sit and talk left/right/straight as well as sit and listen left/right/straight? Works for me! Then your characters could look like they were having the conversation the players are having!

You can already do a Hulk growth style appearance change. Make a "normal" size costume for the character. Make a "Hulk" size costume for the character using a tailor surgeon to change body type. Create a costume change macro using a cce slash command. Use the Howl, Evil Laugh, Lightning, Drink Formula, Super Serum, Energy Morph, Rapid Boil, Feather Burst, Fur Burst, Ice Block, Stone Block, Fireworks, Energy Morph, Nuke, or Inner Will costume change emotes. (Or pick a different one if none of those suit you.) Trigger the macro when you see your character changing or when battle starts. Hulk out and smash! Admittedly, this works best for mlae models going to huge models. However, with some finaggling, you can go from a female model to a huge model if you make the huge model sufficiently androgynous. (I have an ice corruptor character that uses the female model for both appearances, but those that see her ice elemental form think I used the male model to make it.) All that said? The OP has been requested a few times by different individuals. So as @TheZag said, there is some other reason precluding us getting it. Keep hoping though. Maybe we'll get it some time.

You don't need to see every character in the league whereever they may be standing in Ouroboros to organize. Are you trying to just see what characters are in the area to invite to the league? If the players you want to organize are already in the league, you have the league window available. If you want open space still for some reason, there is the space between the pool and the citadel where there are no trees. There is space on either side of the entrance all the way to the pool. There is the outer partial ring where there are no trees. You can even use the pool itself if everyone just wants to take a swim while waiting. My question is: why is open space necessary for league organization?

guuuuuhhhh.... brrrrrrrraaaaaaaiiiiiinnnnnnnnsssssss.... *sounds zombie thread alert*

Nay. Nay! NAY! Nay, I say! What am I naying? Oh. Okay, yeah. Being able to identify the comm officers more readily would be nice. Right now I can't tell a Communications Officer from a Guardian at a glance. (Though, I do appreciate that the two of them do at least look different than the other Rikti units. Even if only in coloration.)

Exemplaring isn't actually a clunky process from my point of view. It's actually rather simple. Character is reduced in combat level to set level but retains all powers up to +5 levels of the exemplar level while also retaining all enhancements and applicable set bonuses. While I have disagreements with the exemplar system, it is rather simple to understand. As far as enhancement bonuses (as opposed to set bonuses) goes while exemplared, the effectiveness is reduced to roughly the same point as enhancements of that level. No need to refer to a chart. If you're concerned about the specific bonuses provided, you can check SOs of that level. I think you may even be able to just check your slotted enhancements while exemplared to see their current bonus. Yes, having a restriction forces a player to find a creative approach to dealing with that restriction to accomplish things (s)he may want. However, taking away current options will never be viewed as encouragement for creativity. It will always be viewed as a punishment of some variety. In this case, it would be viewed as a constraint to force players to build according to the preferences of the OP's author or the imposition of a set build style for characters. (Edit: Especially since having more options rather than restrictions gives players more tools with which to be creative.)

Nope. There are powers that don't fall into any enhancement set category and so can only be slotted with the generic IOs or SOs. And I vastly prefer the IOs. Mob scaling would need to be adjusted to compensate. Even the "must be level 50 to slot" purples? I'm not a fan of that. Other than those? Yeah, I'd be fine with it. This would kill the benefits of the purple sets. I don't much care if LotG global recharge becomes unique, though you will likely hear a lot of angry comments from others. The part of this I'm not a fan of is that you would no longer be able to boost your defenses and resists as well. No more stacking Mako's Bite bonuses for instance. And for players that prefer to solo on squishy characters, that would be a pretty hefty handicap in late game. I see the simplicity part of this thread. It feels more like you are stripping out the diversity part to me though. In general, I think you have some interesting ideas in this thread. Many of which I actually like. A few of which I most definitely do not.

I'm not going to run off people's avatars. If you say you are male or female, I will endeavor to remember. (No promises on how well I will remember though.) "They" as a pronoun is also currently associated with those who do not identify with a specific gender. So for me to use that pronoun is to imply you are one of those individuals. Simpler for me to use (s)he. If this displeases you, I apologize. As for the rest? As a villain character, from the moment your character is created unless you skip the tutorial, you are a pawn of Arachnos. They break you out of the Zig to use as a pawn to ensure Recluse's ultimate victory. You are free to not be a pawn as you see fit. For instance, you do not have to do the new arcs where the Arachnos agent uses you to drive out Longbow. Skip the tutorial, and you aren't een introduced to him unless you walk up to him and say hi. The Arachnos-Longbow bit is very much the same thing as the Horde-Alliance bit. Except you the player are not bound to play through the content that uses you as a pawn in their conflict if you don't want. Or play through the content and head canon that you are doing something that benefits you in doing so or are acting to do something else and the mission is just your cover. Or play through and be that pawn for either side. Or play through and don't care. Whatever you want to do. If you want the current Mercy Island story to be changed so you start from Fort Darwin? Propose a new story that moves forward from that point. Or just ask for the devs to come up with one and progress the story to after Longbow's defeat. If you just want to run around original Mercy Island (and are fine with no contacts or missions), then ask for an echo of the original zone to be brought back. If you don't want to ask in broadcast for someone to drop you a portal to Ouroboros to reach the Mercy Island echo zone (if it is put in), then ask for a means of accessing the echo zones without having to go to Ourobors first. What you won't get though is two versions of a single zone with all its contacts, missions, or arcs at the same time. At least, I don't expect that will ever happen.

I say (s)he because it is shorthand for she or he. I don't presume to know anyone's gender. I'm not going to justify what the Live devs did. I'm just giving the reasons I see it working. Notwithstanding individuals' displeasure with the situation, it does make sense. It may cause the US to go "Okay. You invaded. We're retaliating.", but given how Arachnos operates, it does not preclude them doing what they did in Faultline. For all intents and purposes, Faultline was abandoned. That's why there was such a large Clockwork presence there running unchecked. That is why there was such a large Vahzilok presence there running unchecked. Because like with the Praetorian invasion which saw no military assets assigned to deal with an entire dimension looking to invade and wipe out any resistance in Primal Earth, it was assumed for whatever reason that 'the heroes will handle it'. Or Longbow will handle it. Or Vanguard will handle it. Realistically speaking, all the current version of Faultline did was move Arachnos operations out into the open. There are Arachnos safehouses and bases and lairs scattered all over Paragon City. Just with Faultline, it was not contested by Longbow, or the PPD, or even the heroes to any real extent, so Arachnos would be able to fortify their position. And because they did so as part of the search for the psychochronometron or whatever it is called, they started operating openly and now they have to be driven out. I see you complain about Arachnos being in force in Faultline, but what about the Sky Raiders? An independent mercenary force known to have betrayed their US military origins to engage in global terrorism and piracy has established a base of no small size in Faultline as well. You only comment about Arachnos though. Why isn't the military hunting down the Sky Raiders? Or why is their presence in less need of your commentary in Faultline than Arachnos? We can go back and forth about Longbow in Mercy and Arachnos in Faultline. And to be clear, I would vastly prefer not to. That would just be an argument, and I would rather avoid it. Longbow is dealt with in Mercy Island as part of the Mercy Island arcs made available when the new version of the map was released. Arachnos has their position at the very least compromised by hero activity as part of the Faultline arcs. Given what is known about Longbow and their actually illegal in US and UN eyes activities, or Arachnos with their flagrant illegal activities despite their current politically acknowledged existence, the Warburg situation, and the availability of Arachnos drones, fliers, Arachnoids, Praetorian technology Warworks, the loyal supers in Arachnos, and the ability to be leveraged Destined Ones; what happened still makes sense. And the US would not launch an open attack on Arachnos for their activities without requisite Longbow and hero support. Or at least NATO or the UN backing them. (Edit: That is how the game world is set up. The heroes are the main actors, not the government.) And the military can not actually directly call on the heroes (or Longbow) themselves. Which is why the Malta group exists. Mercy Island has been invaded by Longbow. Longbow controls Fort Darwin. Longbow has a foothold in Mercy City. And your aspiring villain is recruited into driving Longbow out of Mercy Island. First by eliminating their presence in Mercy City. Then by destroying their still being received and positioned supplies, then by striking at their allies to isolate them, then by finally driving longbow out of Fort Darwin. A progression that makes perfect sense. And sets up the possibility of an updated Mercy Island with whole new content added that lets villains start at a fort with no actual defenses. Faultline has been invaded. And that is revealed by the new presence of Longbow and PPD as part of the rebuilding process. Arachnos' position is made exploitable by the actions of a hero exploring the lost history of the zone, and their primary facility is destroyed. A less profound progression than Mercy Island, but one that still leaves open the way to further rebuild the destroyed zone which is in development, and also gives an opening to remove the Arachnos presence. There are a multitude of events in the game that no nation in the real world would ignore. Armies, navies, and air forces the world over would be mobilized to prepare for and deal with the Praetorian invasion. They would be mobilized to contain the Devouring Earth threat, particularly the Hamidon. They would be mobilized to deal with the Sky Raiders as a force. They would be mobilized to deal with Mot and the Banished Pantheon. The Vahzilok would never be able to become as large an organization operating in the public's view the way they are. The Hellions and Skulls would be rounded up, their numbers cut drastically. The entire game handwaves away national responses to national and international problems because it is a game about supers and it is the players that are supposed to be effecting the major changes. (Edit: And even when there is a military force present and involved? They are summarily rolled up by whatever faction in the game they are opposing. See the Sutter TF as the main example I can remember. Also the Rula-Wade bit. Where is the US Air Force when the Sky Raiders are strafing the characters on US soil with stolen prototype US fighters?)

The thing about Longbow being allowed to make headway in the Isles is the same thing about Arachnos being able to make headway in Paragon. Arachnos has had myriad plans in work to conquer Paragon City. Longbow has had myriad plans to clean up the Isles. Even when the Praetorians were a major threat, both Longbow and Arachnos kept up their plans to deal with the other. The only time Longbow and Arachnos work together, is when they work with Vanguard, the Goldbrickers, the Luddites, and every other faction in the game to survive Mot. And even then, they aren't working together, just keeping to their own to fight Mot's forces. (Edit: Praetoria is such a major threat that no one works with anyone else to deal with them except for Vanguard.) As for the player character being special? The player character is one of apparently hundreds of characters that might be the Destined One. Kalinda has no clue who the Destined One really is, just who might have the ability to fulfill her vision. That was even true before the VEATs were introduced and the player Arachnos forces the list to actually change and include him/her as a possible Destined One. It isn't until late game where the player character has proven himself/herself/itself as truly special from among the literal army of villains designated as Destined that the player character is finally marked as "special". As for Fort Darwin, even before the Longbow invasion of Mercy was made in the game, I was always left marveling at how vulnerable the fort was. It had no perimeter defenses. It's main entrance was a massive walkway right into the heart of the fort. It lacked any sizable force to defend it and was too small to even accomodate a sizable force. Even when your character infiltrates it to take it back from Longbow and you make your way through the interior, as accessed by an unguarded door at the back of the fort, the fort is tiny. It is barely an outpost. As opposed to Mercy City with its massive encircling walls, multiple Arachnos fliers stationed there, and its larger troop presence. So of course Fort Darwin falls. (Also, I don't recall Fort Darwin ever being flagged as an important location for Arachnos. Mercy Island was basically the island Arachnos barely gave a crap about. Losing Cap au Diable, or Nerva Archipelago, or especially Grandville would have marked Recluse as too weak to lead Arachnos. That is why Longbow has such a large presence contesting Nerva and launches the same offensve they used on Mercy against Cap au Diable.) As for the US military steamrolling Arachnos? It is mentioned at multiple points in the game just how much more powerful than any nation's military Arachnos is. Arachnos is held in check by specialized forces built up specifically to deal with super villainous threats (Longbow, who routinely fails to do so) and by the heroes. As for Arachnos having a beachhead position in Faultline? Faultline had no Longbow presence, being an abandoned zone held by Clockwork, Vahzilok, and I don't remember what other factions. It was a sealed off hazard zone. The city finally started rebuilding and has both a Longbow and hero presence again, but in the time it took them to get their foothold in Faultline, who is to say Arachnos didn't beat them into the unwatched zone? So now Arachnos has to be driven out of the zone. Which is part of what the character embarks on as part of the new Faultline zone's arcs. So here is the problem I have with the OP. The OP wants to take established story and just throw it out. Forget everything happened. It doesn't matter how many players are enjoying the new content and the fact the game story is progressing. Instead, regress the story because (s)he doesn't like it. As opposed to further progressing the story. At the end of the current Mercy Island arcs, Longbow is booted out of Mercy City and Fort Darwin. New content can be developed from that point. Players can again be dropped off by Arachnos at Fort Darwin because Arachnos doesn't give a flying wombat's rear about the character in question and the character has to again progress forward in proving himself/herself/itself to be what Arachnos is looking for. Just like Faultline as a zone can also be further progressed to after Arachnos' position has been dealt with in the zone. Will any of this be quick? No. Absolutely not. Will this entail a great deal of work by the devs? Yes. Absolutely. What it won't do however, is step on the current story for the sake of nostalgia. The story can move forward. It should not move backward.

Except it is available in the Broadsword set as a one-handed weapon. Though it would have to be scaled down for ninja sword and scaled down a LOT for Dual Blades.

No argument that original Mercy Island felt different than new Mercy Island. However, the author's complaints boil down to the following: 1) The direction of progression has changed. Direction of progression through a zone is more or less linear just as it was on the original map. If you follow the new arcs for the new version of the zone, you move from running around in Mercy City doing missions/arcs to moving progressively towards Fort Darwin. As opposed to moving from Fort Darwin to Mercy City almost bee line and then running around in circles in Mercy City doing the other missions/arcs. The net difference? The order is reversed. 2) The original story line was better than the new story line. The original story line is still there, completely unchanged, with the contacts in plain view ready and able to give it to you. 3) Longbow doesn't fit. Longbow has always been there. Not at the docks or the gates of Mercy City, but everywhere else around the city. Very visible. Not to mention the Longbow scattered around the ruined cityscape saying things like "Shh. Here comes another." when a character got close before attacking the character. And at the starter levels, the Longbow most typically present were the Longbow Guardians and ... I think Longbow Sergeants. Even back on the original map. Once you started encountering level 5+ Longbow is when the different types of minions became more evident, I believe. 4) The Snakes are missing. The Snakes are everywhere they were previously unless there is a set Longbow presence there. 5) The author finds the new Mercy Island boring. Nothing I can say to that. There are players that rather enjoy the new Mercy Island. There are players that would rather have the previous version back. Just like prior to the change, there were players that rather enjoyed Mercy Island and players that found it boring and wanted it changed to be more interesting. If the author just wants to patrol the zone for xp? (S)he can do so. Right now. As the map currently is. If the author wants to run the original missions? (S)he can do so. Right now. No need for Ouroboros to access previous content no longer available. If the author wants to run the new arcs? (S)he can do so. Right now. All of the author's arguments in this debate have been proven invalid. The only thing left to address is the author's dissatisfaction with the current version of the zone. And while the contacts and their missions/arcs would not be available in an echo zone, the author would still be free to run patrols as (s)he sees fit on a map (s)he prefers, All without needing to take away a map and content other players are enjoying.

The original story line is still there. Walk up to Burke, he is at the same spot he was previously. Talk to him. He will send you after Arachnos and Snakes. Walk up to Kalinda. She is standing right there where you first appear. Just slightly up the stairs. Talk to her. She still sends you on the same missions she always did. The original story line has not been removed or changed. You want your character to ahve broken out of the Zig? Then do the Breakout tutorial when the game asks you if you want to go to the tutorial when you finish character creation. Mongoose is still right where he always was. So is Dr. Geist or whatever that mad scientist's name is. Most of what you posted is your opinion. Yes, on the previous map, you moved progressively from top to bottom. Now you move progressively from near the bottom to the top. With the flier at Fort Darwin taking you back to Mercy City. It may take you back as long as you can reach it, but it definitely takes you back as part of the final mission of the final arc of the new story. And even on the previous map, there was a lot of doubling back. You would run out of Fort Darwin, do something, then run back to Fort Darwin over and over until the contact sent you to Mercy City. This is not a reason to bring back the previous map and throw out the current one. Also, Longbow has always been on Mercy Island. They were around the city itself and not far from the fort. You could find them on the shore out of the way or everywhere ringing the city except for the front area. They were scouting the island and looking for vulnerabilities to exploit for their pending invasion. The difference between the maps? Is Longbow was scouting (and even attacking to a minor extent) on the previous map, and have completed their invasion on the current map. I don't remember if Mercy Island exists as an echo zone. And if it doesn't, it should so players can go back and run through the previous version of the zone. You are not giving a good reason for reverting the map though.

The Snakes are in the city. They still pop out of the holes just like they did in the previous iteration of Mercy. They can still be found in the alleys and behind the buildings just like they could in the previous iteration of Mercy. They still sun themselves on the roof tops just like they did in the previous iteration of Mercy. They are a bit harder to find because of Longbow's presence in the city, so that area no longer has them, but the rest of the city where the Snakes gathered before still has them. You can still patrol for xp in Mercy too. I do on my starting red side characters all the time. Smack down a few red RIP to get to level 3, then pop outside the city to hunt higher level mobs. I agree that if Mercy Island does not have an accessible echo, then it needs to be made available. However, you can still patrol for xp in the current iteration of Mercy and find all the same mobs and missions/arcs from prior to Longbow invading. (Edit: And even do a short arc that drives Longbow out of the city. Keep following those arcs and you drive Longbow out of Fort Darwin. Then when you run around Mercy Island, Longbow no longer has any presence in the city or fort.)

They do take it back. That is the arcs you run through in Mercy now unless you go to the original contacts. The Snakes are still there. You can find them by any hole in Mercy and on the roof tops. They can also be found in the missions. Primarily from Mongoose and Kalista.

This thread is dead. The OP has been shown to be false. I'm just waiting for it to be locked.

I have an SoA. Two of them actually. I play them from time to time when I don't feel like running one of my MMs, Corruptors, or Brutes. I haven't seen a /Kinetic in a long while even when I occasionally team, and I haven't played one in even longer. So I went with what came to mind. Still had to look up the bonuses they would give.

A single /Kinetic can also sustain FS's buffs. Fulcrum Shift has a base recharge of 60 seconds and a duration of 45 seconds. It doesn't take much in the way of recharge enhancement, even if just global, to get that recharge to under 45 seconds. I didn't use /Kinetics for my comparison because I did not think of them. Edit: Besides, @Galaxy Brain blew a planet-sized hole in my position. I'm not just taking on water, I've been wiped out.

Okay, went back and threw a Brute version of the Elec/Elec Tanker with the exact same enhancements together again and compared them to each other. I don't know what I did. I'm not duplicating the problem I saw that started this thread. I apologize. I'm going to sit down and eat my crow in peace. Can I get a mod to lock this thread? Not going to hide it behind the Hide option. Edit: For reference: