Rudra

Because you seem focused on a game world I have never seen to exist as what the outcome is/will be. As previously stated, on the occasions I tried teaming with my Energy Blast characters over the years, I was immediately booted from the team because I did not have KB to KD IOs slotted. I know not to use Explosive Blast while on a team unless the mobs are already in a corner so they don't scatter. I know to be above the fight for all my attacks, not just Energy Torrent. And the team leader and I could have discussed how to incorporate my character into his/her/their team in a beneficial manner. There was never any discussion though. Just some form of goodbye if the team leader had any decency or suddenly finding myself not on the team with no notice. Others have had better experiences in that they at least got to argue for the chance to show they can use KB effectively to benefit the team. And they got that chance because they didn't have the IOs and the team leader was willing to let them try rather than fund their getting the IOs. Make a toggle to simply change to KD? And now there isn't even the excuse of lack of funds for the IOs to be convince the team leader to give you a chance to show how KB can benefit the team. It was never about KB players wanting to use KD when teamed and KB when solo. It was KB players being told to shove off for the sheer audacity of having KB. Yes, there are players that have no clue how to use KB and just blast things everywhere without planning or concern for how the team operates. And yes, I get the desire to rein that in. But dammit, I am so frustrated with the constant drive to remove KB from the game. And your suggestion for the toggle will drive KB players into corners of isolation to use their KB, forcing them even further basically into pure KB teams, as well as strip away the benefit of the Overwhelming Force and Sudden Acceleration sets as both an available means for mitigating KB and being an inf' sink.

City of Heroes Mu were on an island Hequat raised. A presumably very large island, but an island. (Edit: Back in a time when magic held all the power and the other origins may as well have not existed.)

No they are not. You always can leave such a team and the team leader can always boot you from the team. That's the point. It takes away the KB player's ability to prove that KB can benefit the team because now the team leader can simply say "Go to Pocket D and turn off your KB or get booted". Every time.

How do you rationalize that? Because that makes absolutely no sense to me. This.

I was on a flier every time. I could absolutely control where my AoEs sent mobs. Down.

My last experience, and my only experiences with an Energy Blast character when I tried teaming with one was team leader read my powers, asked me if I had KB to KD slotted, and told me good bye when I said no.

I've never known anyone to even be given that chance in the first place. @Psi-bolt's statement would take away even any chance to argue for that chance.

And no more opportunity to show people how that KB can actually benefit the team either as you get told got to START and turn it off or go away even before the first mission starts.

This bug pops up a lot when a NPC has to be removed and another placed for you to interact with. For instance, there is a fight against Captain Castillo where mid-fight he declares the fight isn't epic enough, tells you to hold on, and is supposed to run off and cause the Sky Raider platform you are fighting on to explode into flames for more drama. Then he is supposed to return and resume the fight. Except a lot of the time, since his removal is simply being rendered invisible (and phased?) for the change, he is still there, except now there are two of them. Like with Darrin Wade in that mission. The one you talk to is supposed to be rendered invisible (and phased?) so you only see the new one to fight. But it doesn't always work.

Sounds good to me. More options are a good thing.

Let's add more uncertainty to status effects? We already have to contend with the ToHit roll for most powers and a lot of powers don't have a 100% chance of applying their status effect either. And now you also want to add the possibility of landing a weaker status effect just for its own sake. From the player side, a Controller, Dominator, Defender, or a Corruptor for instance will rely heavily on their applied status effects. Make their applied status effects unreliable beyond current considerations, and now none of my Corruptors (or few Dominators I have) can run solo. Because if status effects, which again on several powers are not even guaranteed to go off, can now hit for less than they currently do, then I may as well not even be bothering with them because now I can miss, fail to have the status effect trigger even having hit, and also have to worry about it being reduced to worthless before target resists and protections are factored even if it does trigger after hitting the target. (Also, as to your comment about CoH characters' early life being divided between before and after getting status protection? That is melee types and Sentinels only. Blasters can use their T1 and T2 primary and their T1 secondary even while mezzed, but they have no mez protection. Everyone else? Has no mez protection.) Edit: Oh yeah. As far as mobs go? Two words: Council Freem!. You want to see something like that turning up everywhere?

I'm not saying the Oranbegans were benevolent, just, or anything else. The Mu culture had its issues. The Oranbegan culture had its issues. Hells, the Cimeroran culture we fight to save from Romulus has its issues. (It is basically Roman culture after all, and they weren't exactly benchmarks of equality or benevolence. Look at some of the repeatable missions we do for them. Even heroes are asked to wipe out groups. Not capture, wipe out.) Again though, the Oranbegans did not enter into their pacts with the demons until after the war started. They studied demons before the war started, yes. Just like they studied everything else they found out about as they looked beyond the world into other dimensions. (And they were looking into other dimensions and studying what they found there.) They did not make their pacts with demons until after the Mu attacked their cities and the Oranbegans found themselves outmatched though. And yes, again, Hequat did empower the Mu and their magic. She did make them frighteningly powerful. However, she only did so because the Oranbegans had left and turned their backs on the gods. She needed the Mu to be stronger to fight the Oranbegans who had the benefit of Ermeeth's teachings and a focus on making their magic powerful enough to rival even the gods. Not from demonic pacts, from their own understanding of magic. (Which was why they were studying the other dimensions.) Edit: Maybe this will help show the contrast. In both Oranbegan and Mu society, everyone had magic. In Mu society, all were effectively equal because all served the gods. Everyone had their assigned roles and given tasks they could accomplish. This made everyone equal. Equally slaves to the gods. So as long as you accomplished what the gods had set to you, you were accepted. In Oranbegan society, everyone was free and an individual's capacity for and mastery over magic determined their status. Instead of everyone being the same status serving the gods that were their society's defined superiors, the Oranbegans created their own hierarchy based on power where the superiors were those with superior magic and mastery and everyone else fell progressively lower in status. Those that lacked even enough magic and mastery of to meet what the Oranbegans considered basic levels were deemed inferior and undesirable. (Those with at least what the Oranbegans considered rudimentary/minimum magic were tolerated and treated better, but you needed to excel at magic to get any real respect.) They were still free, of the gods and their dictates, but they lacked power, influence, and resources in Oranbegan society.

Hequat didn't go after Ermeeth because he was at least as powerful as she was and the offenders in her eyes were the humans no longer submitting themselves to the gods. There is no reference in the game about the demons being envious of or even caring about the gods. There isn't any real reason for them to be anyway. The demons were providing just as much power to the Oranbegans as Hequat was providing to the Mu to punish the traitorous (in her eyes) Oranbegans. It should also be noted that the Oranbegans did not start making their pacts with the demons until well after the war started. Those contracts were acts of pure desperation, not pre-meditated actions in case the Mu should track the Oranbegans down or to gain additional power for its own sake. It was a "we're getting wiped out! Where can we find help to deal with this?" thing. It was the souls of the Oranbegans and Mu the demons were after. And the fact the Oranbegans entered into their pacts knowing what was at stake shows just how desperate they were at the time. It should also be pointed out that as portrayed in the game, the gods weren't really watching over humanity. Oh sure, some were. Like Tielekku and Ermeeth. However, a lot weren't. Hequat for instance. Hequat only really empowered the Mu to punish the Oranbegans for turning their backs on the gods. Had the Oranbegans not done so under Ermeeth's tutelage? The Mu (including the Oranbegans, because let's face it, they are Mu too), would not have gained the power they had. They didn't need it to fulfill the tasks the gods were giving them. And further empowering/enlightening humans would only lead to humans questioning the gods and turning away from them. Like the Oranbegans did.

It sure can. And we even have an armor set that is specifically designed to embody that. (It's called Energy Aura.) Edit: Energy Aura is a hands free energy-based armor set that won't interfere in the character's ability to wield anything one-handed or two-handed. And if you want an energy shield Shield Defense? That exists too. It's the tech shield options.

Tielekku was more in favor of Hequat's stance than Ermeeth's at the time of the schism as portrayed, yes. There were some distinct differences though. Hequat held that humans only existed to serve the gods. They could do nothing more. Humans were basically born to be slaves in Hequat's eyes. Ermeeth held that humans had great potential and should be taught magic so they could find that potential. This would require humans to throw off the shackles of the gods though. Something Ermeeth seemed to not only accept, but encourage. Tielekku was basically the middle ground between them. She held that humans should be deferential to the gods, but also that they should have the freedom to grow. When faced with the question, there was no way to negotiate between Ermeeth and Hequat, Tielekku chose to side with Hequat. The mercy from the Oranbegans to the Mu was not something brought about by Ermeeth, Tielekku, or Hequat. It was the Circle not having succumbed to the darkness yet despite their war. It was a result the demons not only expected, but were counting on.

Energy Aura has you covered.

There is an ongoing conflict between the Mu and Circle of Thorns. Their war never really ended. The demons the Oranbegans made their pacts with demanded the annihilation of the Mu. All of them. The Mu still serve Hequat. (At least a significant number of them.) Their war isn't raging across the world in sky ships and enigmatic towers of impossibility any more. They aren't raining down armageddon upon each other openly any more. However, they are still very much at war. And will continue to be so until the pacts with the demons is rendered no longer binding and the Mu give up their blind obedience to Hequat.

I am not aware of anyone in a historical or comic reference ever wielding a two-handed melee weapon with two hands and also wielding a shield. (Edit: And please note I said wielding a shield, as in getting a benefit from the shield, not simply wearing a shield.) You asked for thoughts on the matter. And my thoughts go back to historical and modern usage of said. Not to include self-decapitation or knocking one's self out. They at least are positioned in a manner that they don't interfere with the character's actions. I don't care if bucklers, targes or other small devices are added as shields. I do care if the Shield Defense set has its identity taken away by not having a shield.

Sharkhead Isle, which is the leviathan, is a goddess your character kills in game. (Which is how the leviathan is formed.) Hequat is hostile to humanity in game. She is adamant that humanity's role is to serve the gods and obey them in all things. Tielekku does not share that philosophy. Mu Island, like Oranbega itself, is never found in its entirety by the players. They are both in ruins. Oranbega sunk beneath the earth by the Circle and the island of the Mu sunk beneath the waves from being destroyed. The Oranbegans fled from the island of the Mu. That is where they originated. So it wasn't a matter of discovering it during the war, it was a matter of surviving the Mu onslaught and then retaliating.

Yeah, you responded before my edit got posted apparently. Sorry. It looked like it was attached at the shoulder in the original picture. Edit: Again though, that isn't wielding a weapon that needs to be swung around to impact the target. Even mounting a shield on the shoulder, if you are swinging a greataxe, a greatsword, or some other large weapon like that, the shield is either going to restrict your movement (and so ability to fight) or going to knock you silly when you swing your weapon around. Even bucklers and targes were only used with one-handed weapon techniques. So hand-and-a-half weapons like longswords were fine with shields, bucklers were often paired with rapiers, and a good axman probably had a targe at hand, but a greatsword? Wasn't paired with shields for obvious reasons.

If you want Shield Defense, you have a shield. I'm not looking at pairings. I'm looking at removing a set's identity in the pretense of it being minimal FX. Though if you want to discuss two-handed weapons and shield use, it doesn't make sense to wield a two-handed weapon and a shield. It's rather difficult to swing a greatsword for instance when you also have to manage the shield. You're either not going to be able to maneuver that greatsword or you're going to give yourself a concussion with the shield trying to. Even targes and bucklers weren't paired with two-handed weapons because you needed that other hand (or arm) to be free to position the shield. To reference @FupDup's picture, the soldier in question isn't wielding a two-handed weapon and a shield for instance. He is firing from a ready position with a shield providing some basic protection. (Edit: And even then, the shield looks to be attached to his armor at the shoulder.) You can't do that with a weapon you need both hands to swing around to hit the target(s).

My thoughts on the matter are a given: Nope. There is a huge difference between minimal effects and removing a set's identity.

Not to mention we already stomp Hequat for Scirocco. At the seat of her power. And her abilities are already well known. (Edit: We fight multiple gods in City of. Stomping them all. We even get to play as gods in City of. And we got to play as gods before the Incarnate system was even added.) (Edit again: Hells, as best I can remember, the Rikti ended the gods of their world as part of erasing magic as a force in their world. So why would they have difficulty in stomping Hequat?) (Edit yet again: Hells, the only reason why Mot is so powerful is because he, like the rest of the Banished Pantheon, were eating their fellow gods to gain their power. And he added Incarnates, basically new gods, to his feast from all across the world, further growing his power. [As well as several million (billion?) others that you see imprisoned within him further feeding his power.])

And then when the mobs de-toggle our debuffs with their KB? Everything we can do, the mobs can do. (Edit: When I'm solo on my MMs or Corruptors and all it takes for my debuffs to get de-toggled is for any of the multiple KB-equipped mobs in the faction to hit me with a KB and now my applied debuffs are gone? And as often as I see KB from groups like the Council? I'll never be able to debuff my way to victory again.)

It's "rogue", not "rouge". Unless the game has a flag for mobs about makeup or a shade of red.