Rudra

Instead of that wall except without the break and it reaching to the ceiling, how about your proposal plus a wall like that except with no breaks or doors we can place above it to maintain theme while still leaving us the option to use other fillers for different designs? (Edit: As in, yes, walls with doors that aren't broken, but don't change the height. Just also give a wall option of the same type(s) that has no doors or holes so we can build how we want.)

And why would anyone join a TF/SF just to log off, either to another character to do anything else or from the game? The whole point of the difficulty settings, particularly the x8 setting, was to enable players to face spawns as if they were on a team of that size. So while I can't guarantee the spawns are equal in size between running solo at x8 and having a full team of 8, the way the difficulty settings are set up, players should very much be encountering spawns equal to the team size setting they have selected. No need for anyone to join and log off. That was why the difficulty settings were added in the first place.

I have no clue what you are trying to say here. The rewards for running a 4-person team on a TF/SF set for 8 is that you get the drops, xp, and inf' from those extra spawns. That is more than ample reward for a smaller team tackling a TF or SF as if a whole team.

What you are saying here is contradictory to If you kick 4 of your 8 players off the team? It's the same as if they had quit except that you now have 4 upset players over being invited and then booted. (Edit: Just so we are clear, what the wiki is saying is that TFs/SFs cannot have a smaller spawn size than the number of player characters on the team, regardless of whether logged on or not. However, TFs/SFs can have a larger spawn size than the number of player characters on the team, as set by the team leader's difficulty settings. The whole point of the x2-x8 settings is so that players would stop inviting other players to their team and then booting them if those other players did anything other than just enter the mission.)

Here is the same group on that Positron TF at x1 setting: The ramping up of spawn size is the same in a TF/SF as it is for any other content when you choose to increase your difficulty. And while I can't say it is the same as for a full team of players, it is supposed to be. Regardless, the point is that like has been pointed out earlier in the thread, a player can opt to form a smaller team and still run at full team difficulty even on TFs and SFs. And players already solo many TFs and SFs. Even at higher difficulty settings.

Yes and no. While I can't attest to spawns not decreasing in size if team members aren't online, the TF/SF is not limited to team size. You can very much set your difficulty to a higher team size than you are running and get the full spawn. Below is a screen shot I just took of a test TF run by myself at x8 setting. As you can see, that is not a single player spawn size, but a full team spawn size.

As an alternate option? Sure. However, as an alternate option, it should also be available to all the other sets as well. (Edit: Though I disagree with a sand thrown in the eyes animation. Throwing sand in an enemy's face, while good for blinding them, is not exactly known for calming foes down.)

Barrier is not a requirement to complete 4-star Advanced Mode content. It is just the best means players have currently discovered. Players are free to explore other avenues to completing them, and I encourage them to do so. The problem I have with this is like I said, Barrier is not a requirement and imposing such requirements limits players' ability to explore options to dealing with a task. I support player freedom to explore and play how they want, not having to use specific builds because the game requires it of us. (Edit: That's why I am so vocal in my opposition to make more of the game fall in line with the current meta.) Agreed. So run your teams using alternative approaches to the content being played. The choice is wholly yours, or your team leader's if you aren't the team leader.

I have no clue. I know I've duo'ed a 1-star Dr. Aeon Strike Force. (I think we may have even done a 2-star.) And I've duo'ed a 2-star Imperious Task Force. (Not worth the extra time to duo compared to a 1-star in my opinion.) I sincerely doubt 4-stars are being solo'ed. (Or duo'ed for that matter.) I wouldn't be surprised if players were already clearing the 4-stars with smaller teams though. And players are currently already able to try if they so desire. Here's the thing. If you want the TFs/SFs to have a Hard Mode option tailored for smaller teams? You will either increase the likelihood those TFs/SFs can and will be solo'ed, or you will further reduce the ATs allowed on teams to tackle them. And this is on top of increasing the amount of work the devs have to invest in updating the TFs and SFs beyond their already stated goal of updating the other TFs and SFs that lack Advanced Mode (Hard Mode) to having an Advanced Mode for players to try. Barrier cycling. Smaller teams = less barriers. Incorrect. Setting up the TFs and SFs to have a limited team size setting as advanced difficulty will add more barriers as players decide they have less spaces available to burn on "charity picks". Edit: There's no reward other than personal satisfaction for making smaller teams. Designing content for small team sizes would allow the devs to proportionally reward players (D-syncs, aethers) for the increased difficulty. Edited 15 minutes ago by ... You will only get D-Syncs from doing Dr. Aeon Strike Force runs (or buying them from other players on the AH). And you are already guaranteed Prismatic Aethers for doing Advanced Mode content. Adding an alternative Advanced Mode won't change that. And players can already get those prismatics guaranteed on smaller teams by simply not trying to do the 4-star versions. Like I said, I've duo'ed 2-star ITFs. (Not worth the effort though. Just do the 1-star and run it more frequently. Though a 4-player team would probably make the 2-star version worth running for the prismatics.)

Summer Blockbuster and Dr. Kane's House of Horror. These trials are balanced around a team of 4 players already. Asking for more of these? Okay, sure. However, seeing as most TFs/SFs can be soloed by players these days, adding an option to limit team size isn't going to do anything. And as you said and @Ghost pointed out, players can already limit their team sizes for anything they choose to run.

Unlike in Safeguards and Mayhems where the map is filled with objects to be destroyed by the player or the mobs, I think those destructible objects you see in King's Row are spawned as part of the Skulls or Lost spawn that is attacking it. (Edit: Yep. Just saw it in King's Row. Found a damaged car that someone cleared the Skulls from. Logged off to another character for a quick badge, then logged back on the checking character again. The damaged car was not present. Then a little bit after, a car spawned with three Skulls attacking it. Those destructible objects in King's Row are part of the spawns attacking it. Not always present on the map.) Edit again: Also, to the best of my knowledge, there are only 3 zones that have those objects. King's Row as part of the spawns that appear already attacking the vehicle that spawned with the mobs, Brickstown as part of the Prison Break event, and Nova Praetoria as part of the Protest event. (Edit yet again: Well, 4. The Longbow Chasers in the St. Martial event aren't enemies, just targets, so they count as destructible objects on the map too.)

No. (I was playing a Crab Spider. The Crab Spider auras are team buffs and are flagged to not notify enemies.) And even if I did, there is no way the distance between us given how far away their text bubble was through the wall was close enough for any character's aura to trigger them. After they detected me, it took them nearly 10 seconds to just get into the ship compartment I was in, let alone reach me.

There are some rather major flaws/problems with the OP. First, what does the character do when not controlling someone else's character or morphed into an enemy? Second, if the symbiote character can morph into any organic enemy, how does that interact with ambush spawns and how do the enemy mobs act when your character attacks them? Third, what do you do when your character is bonded to someone else's character granting them extra powers? If the answer is nothing, then why would anyone want to bond their character to anyone else's character? Fourth, while shapeshifted into an enemy, do you retain that enemy's HP, damage rating, and tier? (Thus making you extremely vulnerable when running around as a Small or Minion tier enemy.) Fifth, if you can shapeshift into any organic enemy, what is to stop you from simply shapeshifting in the Hydra, Jack in Irons, or the Seed of Hamidon? If GMs are not possible, then what is to stop you from turning into Maestro, Statesman, Tyrant, or any other AV? If both AVs and GMs are not possible, then what is to stop you from turning into Noble Savage or any other EB? (And I have no clue what you are talking about with the black parasite or pink one from a favorite anime series. So your lead in statement makes a huge assumption that fails. We don't all watch the same things.) Edit: Sixth, if you are controlling the defeated character of another player, is that character still at 0 health and so able to be rezzed but not further harmed? If not, how much health does the defeated character get, how long does it take to apply, and is there an untouchable period to get toggles back up (and can that character still be rezzed while you are controlling the defeated character despite the game no longer seeing that character as defeated)? Edit again: Seventh, how would you use enhancements? The mobs you morph into have different powers available to them, so slotting enhancements based on enemy available powers while morphed doesn't work. Players are even more varied and you aren't even running the bonded character while that character isn't defeated. So how would enhancements be determined/applied for the AT?

I specifically said "patrol", not ambush. The part you are quoting says "patrol" as the 4th word. The mission was to avoid the patrols while looting the ship. Patrols do not automatically track you. Just ambushes do. And yes, when the ambushes started after the patrol saw me through a wall, the ambushes all moved directly to me like they should. The patrol I was trying to avoid had no line of sight to me, detected me from one compartment while I was in another compartment, did so nowhere near the door, and through the wall.

I don't think this is a geometry error issue, but it may be. If it is, then I apologize for posting here. Anyway.... I'm doing the John Houston arc again, this time choosing rogue options. So I wind up on the Burgle the Family Money-Ship mission. I can't stealth, so I'm avoiding mobs as best I can. When suddenly the patrol I'm trying to avoid sees me through the ship's interior wall. They were in another compartment and still saw me in the compartment I was in. I backpedaled away, so the location I am providing will only be approximate. My apologies. Server: Everlasting Zone/Mission: CargoShip_Layout_05 Position: [246.6 332.1 1016.5]

To follow up on @Frozen Burn's post, you can do the same thing for a shrinking character the same way. So you can make a character that grows for combat or shrinks for combat by making use of the available costume slots and a few macros. (Edit: Or go nuts with the creativity and make a normal sized character, a max size character [possibly using the Huge model], a min size character, and then have your character be changing sizes between all 3 depending on the powers you activate with the macro. Though there is a time out between costume changes as a limitation on doing that.)

I'm running through the John Houston arc and I've been getting a lot of tips in the mission. At least 8 so far. They can't be explore tips for Striga Isle because all the tips are being gained inside the instanced missions. So I'm guessing they are alignment missions. Bearing in mind I can't actually check my tips right now because I am doing this as a flashback, but I thought the constant tip dropping was removed.

This isn't a constant thing, but running through John Houston's arc in the infiltrate the warehouse mission and the Port Noble Patrollers are firing their weapons while in the idle position with their weapons pointed at the ground fairly routinely. Like every 3rd or 4th attack routinely. At another point, a Brigadier Defender wielded his firing rifle like a club, swinging it at me. I think he was trying to use his Assault Rifle Butt attack, but he was shooting at the time. Made for a really nice effect, like a sword blade made of gunfire, but I don't think his shooting me was supposed to be rendered that way.

Not if the flying character uses his/her/their/its body weight and flight ability to offset the weapon's momentum. Sort of like how someone standing on the ground can do a "giant swing" with someone else. Fliers do things like that in comics fairly frequently.

I support this. Even Lightning Rod no longer requires the character to not be flying but merely near the ground. (A much needed and appreciated change.) Arc of Destruction should get the same treatment.

They do give the same missions. Always have. That way you could be sent to any of them and not have to worry about missing anything. They were supposed to be randomly assigned from the pool of contacts with the same content so that players would have variety when leveling rather than always being sent to the exact same contacts for their origin over and over again.

Oh, I already knew that. It's why I routinely carry garlic and a balsa stake around with me. Just in case.

I've heard that for a sufficient number of blood packs, @Snarky will run around with a player and at least pretend to care about the instructions being given. Does that count? 😜

Yes.

I wasn't suggesting damaging powers so... Unless you consider pool-quality confuse to be a significant DPS boost I guess. You asked about the meta. So I answered about the meta. I'm not saying you are asking for a DPS boost. I never said your proposal was born of revenge. What I said/am saying is that using Challenge's removal as justification feels like it. I don't care. If the devs like that idea, they will implement it. And I may or may not use it depending on my character. That's niche, but being niche itself isn't bad. So while I wouldn't use it, I'm perfectly fine if others choose to and the devs decide to make it. I thank you for looking into something that suits everyone's purposes. As far as confusion versus taunted, my guess would be that the mob would be confused since the mob would view us as friendlies. If anyone has the appropriate powers to check, they can confuse an enemy and then be in range for their taunt aura to possibly affect the confused enemy and see what happens. My best guess would be the taunt wouldn't affect the confused mob. (Edit: Which would probably make those auras OP....)