Rudra

Like you said, there are several ways to use existing power sets with any origin. Running with your presentation but limiting interpretation to the listed primaries or animation? Wand: Magic: It's a wand. It's my arcane focus for using my spells (powers). Technology: So what if it looks like a wand? This is a complex device through which I can control <insert primary power>. Here, let me explain the tech to you. *brain fries poor listener* Mutation: I have the mutant ability to <insert power set>. This (arcane/science/tech/placebo) lets me better control my powers. Or would you rather die from my runaway power? Science: The basic principles of how this works is simple. I control the (insert science-y sounding answer of choice). Natural: This doohickey is convenient. I've trained long and hard to master its function. Behold the fruits of my labor! Dual Pistols/Assault Rifle: Magic: You ever wonder why I never have to reload? Mundane toad. Technology: It's a gun. I like guns. And this gun is bleeding edge tech better than anything you will find in your average gun shop! Mutation: I have a mutation that enhances my ability to percieve distant targets more accurately (or lets me control projectiles). This is my preferred method. Science: I've modified this weapon. It (interfaces directly with my mind, or uses a non-conventional propulsion system, or pick your adaptation of choice). Natural: I'm good. With guns. I have a natural talent for them (or trained to insane levels with them). Hey! Check THIS shot out! Necromancy: Magic: I specialize in death magic and manipulating the dead to serve my will. Technology: I use (nanites or other technology) to make these things move and fight for me. The fact they used to be my <enemies/friends/other interest> just makes this so much sweeter. Mutation: You may think this is a gross power, but it's what my power is. Get over it. And if you die? Maybe I'll add you to my collection for the insult. Science: Undead?! Ha! What an ignoramus! No, my friend. They aren't "undead". They are quite alive, I assure you. Just not quite... themselves any more... Here, let me show you how this works.... *turns inquisitive victim into new zombie* Natural: My race has a link to the world beyond. I just call some... help... from the other side. <or> I found this doodad. It's grisly, but it works. <or> (insert reason of choice). And these are just some of the possible reasons or justifications a player can use for those 3. I'm sure there's myriad other interpretations to suit a player's whims as well.

- Open Menu, select Options, scroll down on 1st tab to bottom of window, disable xp. Can be done even at the contact you are about to outlevel. Option already available.

- Edit: Spacing added. (I should also point out that back on Live, you could start at min level for a contact, only do missions for that contact, and outlevel that contact without ever seeing the contact's story arc. At least that was changed, thankfully.) I haven't seen this. Flag it under the Bugs forum. Depends on the arc. The core problem in the mutation origin arc was not Dr. Vahzilok. He was the Big Bad at the end either because he was responsible for creating the plague and wanted to make sure it remained untreatable, or because he was aware of the plague and wanted to be the one to treat it. The arc's content and dialogue implies the first, but your meeting with him at the end implies the latter. And given how little information your contact has about the inner workings of the Vahzilok and their preconceptions that Bad Guy is Bad, how little need there is for Dr. Vahzilok to lie about his involvement given his nature and confidence in his victory against you, I'm inclined to go with the latter. The original implication was that yes, the Vahzilok will slowly fade away, just like the implication is for the Banished Pantheon is they will slowly fade away because of your actions. However, that does not mean the groups will actually fade away. It just means they stop being an immediate concern for the character and the character moves on to the next challenge. (Edit: And then behold! Incarnate Dark Astoria and the BP not only did not fade away, they bided their time and were much stronger than anticipated.) [I have to go back and fix that because I meant "shouldn't" instead of "should" (context related)] That kind of thing makes the hero feel triumphant at that point. Even in comics, the hero rarely permanently defeats a group or even has the perception of having done so. Spiderman and King Pin have fought many, many, many times. And even when Spiderman first defeated King Pin, there was no ultimate triumph. Not even the implication of one. Just the relief that a threat has at least temporarily been reduced. Or the X-Men and their perpetual fight against the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Even the portrayal of an ultimate victory is avoided in comics unless the writers are ready to remove the threat and replace it with something new. Which reduces their available pool of material to write about. Every victory that didn't result in the death of the antagonist(s) was a victory to be sure, but never Ultimate Victory Over Evil. The only Ultimate Victories were the ones that resulted in the character's (antagonist's) death, resulting in the protagonist's surprise when the dead Big Bad makes his/her/its triumphant return.

Avoid Outleveling of contacts while still allowing challenging gameplay The game was designed to be played at +0/x0 (+0/x1). Even on Live, playing at this level would see you outlevel contacts if you dealt with multiple contacts. (Which is why being able to turn off xp being added back on Live was such a welcome change.) HC ramped up the xp gains, and playing at higher difficulty levels also ramps up the gains, making it even easier to outlevel contacts. And even when you get the contact's story arc, you can still outlevel the contact. Since you have the story arc available though, you can still finish it, though the foes will become progressively more grey in threat as you outlevel the arc. (I once forgot I had a level 9 arc going until I was level 45. Whoops.) Nothing prevents players from outleveling contacts currently other than turning off xp. (I currently have a level 29 character with almost full xp to level 30 with xp turned off so I can do all the level 25-29 contacts' arcs.) I am against the idea of the game forcing the player to not gain xp any more if they hit the contact's max level for a story arc though. That should be an option, not a requirement, and we already have that option in being able to turn off xp ourselves. If you want to know the contact's max level, you can check the contact at https://archive.paragonwiki.com/wiki/Main_Page or https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Main_Page. If you want something on the contact, maybe in the dialogue box, that also gives the level range information? I'd be fine with that. An alternative to street hunting I agree that the street sweep missions are tedious. Especially the ones in the 23-29 range that seem to have multiple versions of the same mission that almost all your contacts give you, often at the same time until that specific mission is accepted and cleared if a "speak with the security officer" street sweep mission. However, I have never had a street sweep mission given to me that did not have the requisite targets in the area. They may be an uncommon spawn, only located at specific locations in that area, or even be limited by time of day in game to spawn, but every street sweep mission has mobs of the required type at some time in some location in that area. (Even the Crey street sweep mission in Brickstown that is limited to a single building's area has the Crey mobs there. Just not in numbers, and sometimes you have to clear out CoT to make space for Crey to spawn.) Other than the felt need to state that? I don't know how I feel about your radio/paper replacement for street sweep missions. Provide an AV/EB battle for the end of all the level 15-19 Origin Arcs Not every arc in the 15-19 range had an EB/AV opponent at the end. So the ones that lack them aren't broken. They were not designed to have them. If you want to add them? Which AVs/EBs should be added for which arcs? And what would be the justification for adding them? More information please. Fix the broken arcs Which arcs are broken? Can you be more specific? Broken arcs should be reported under bugs at this link: https://forums.homecomingservers.com/forum/32-bug-reports/ . I do all the content on my characters as I level them and have not found any such broken arcs. However, if there are broken arcs, please report them as described on the Bugs forum. Arc Structure Not every arc is intended to have a Final Boss Fight. Most are simply supposed to be finished by dealing with the core problem of the arc. From the (extremely frustrating because of the guaranteed sea of DE the crystals spawn for no reward) Unnatural Order/Will of the Earth arc to the Ring of Peebles arc and more. Many arcs are basically investigations into the goings on of the different factions, learning what the factions are about and how they influence Paragon City, the Rogue Isles, or Praetoria; and the resolution of the immediate concerns/threats from a given activity of that faction. (Edit: Some of the arcs culminate in a fight against a lieutenant instead of a boss. Because the lieutenant makes more sense than any of the bosses. Like the BP arc against Archie or whatever his name is.) The EBs/AVs are the rare foe for when you tackle something critical to the faction, like chasing down Countess Crey herself, stopping Maestro in Striga Isle, dealing with Dr. Vazhilok's disease that he may or may not be spreading or fighting, and so forth. (It is the TFs and SFs that are the arcs where you are supposed to have a Final Boss Fight. And you can choose to solo them.) Edit: For clarification? You don't end the Vahzilok threat. There is a story arc that illustrates how the Vahzilok continue after Dr. Vazhilok himself is removed from the picture. And according to the blue side and red side story arcs that delve into that? You basically made things worse by taking away Dr. Vahzilok's leadership. I'm just waiting to see the Freaklok explode onto the scene.

Having a /rankcustomnext "rank" would be helpful. No argument there. The string requires a single word target command, followed by $$ followed by the next target command. Add $$ and the next target command for however long you want the string to be. The bind doesn't work on multiple words per command, but you can string commands together.

Huh. Okay, thanks. (Edit: Actually, you can more or less get the badges concurrently. 500 Prisoners regardless of rank and the 200 Prisoners bosses I forgot about. Just like working on the Family and Family bosses badges.)

This is going to sound like a silly question, but why do you need to target Prisoner bosses? I get Warrior bosses (bind for Elite) and Family bosses (string bind for Underboss and Consigliere blue side, and either same red side or Capo in Port Oakes), but I don't get Prisoners. Not opposing the OP, just trying to understand.

My recommendation would be to make it more generic. For instance, instead of Demon, maybe go with Fiery, Flame-Touched, or something else not implying a specific race. You could even introduce an absorb mechanic, not to be confused with the current absorb mechanic, where instead of increasing damage resist to a specific type, taking damage from that damage type healed back some of your lost health. However it is approached, having it be exclusive to others of the set or pool as already proposed would be necessary. So if the devs are willing to do the work for this? I say go for it.

In answer to your edit: There are limits to what powers can do in a video game. Do you really want to play a character that runs so fast with super speed that with your non-super reflexes throws you to the far reaches of Nerva Archipelago because by the time you realized you were at your mission, you were already half the map away again? And all power sets have to be balanced against each other. Never mind how often super strength only holds its own against other melee combat type powers unless you were an enraged Hulk or Gladiator. It's fine that you think more weapons are not the right way to go. However, players have been clamoring for fire swords that do fire damage since the game came out. And Fire Melee only lets you use 3 powers with fire swords. Alternate sword animations for the other attack powers in the set allows the player to maintain a cohesive set of attacks visually. Likewise, ahving alternate animations that aren't swords for those 3 sword powers does the same for players that don't envision their fire-wielding character using swords. More options are better. And it doesn't mean the game is now Super WoW or whatever.

They're talking about options for animations. Not about implementing a copper/silver/gold currency system to buy weapons, armor, and other gear with fixed stat bonuses and abilities. Just options for use with the already existing powers and mechanincs. Something far easier to implement in the game than say wall crawling or even grapple hooks/grapple lines for getting around. Unless of course you want to go the CO route and just have your grapple hooks and swinglines attach to nothing.

Poisoned daggers? Check. Used by assassin characters to debilitate/kill regenerative and high resistance characters in comics already. Plate armor? Check. Can be seen on such characters as Silver Samurai and other "traditional" comic characters. Bows of Frost +3? Okay, they aren't +3, but there are comic characters that generate bows (and other weapons) with their elemental powers for combat. So, check. Gauntlets of Ogre Power? They aren't ogrish power items, but magic gauntlets that grant the character super strength can be found in comics by some magic characters. Hate to break it to you, but fantasy and comics have a very sizable overlap. Edit: Also? We already have the Envenomed Dagger temp power and the plate armor costume pieces in the game. So your comment falls rather flat just from what the game already provides. Gauntlets of Ogre Power? Pick a gauntlet or bracer costume piece for your super strength magic origin character. Instant gauntlets of ogre power. The opposition to having an option for players to use is baffling. You don't have to use the options.

Granted, even using existing code to accomplish something new may not work as intended/desired. I've run into that problem on several occasions. My point was that the reference code does already exist, and having it simplifies the process a little.

My mistake. Apologies. ... so then how is END management difficult? I have problems because I usually have no enhancements slotted. Edit: Of course it goes over to a new page leaving my response to @Grouchybeast hanging without clear reference for the comment.... My apologies and thanks to @Grouchybeast for the correction.

A few things I've been thinking about reading through this thread: Low level enhancements suffer from giving lower benefits than higher level enhancements. That goes for TOs, DOs, SOs, and set enhancements. As the character levels, those slotted endurance reductions become progressively more useful, provided you slot the higher level enhancements as you go. So END is going to be more difficult to manage at lower levels if you pack on more auras/toggles to go with your attacks instead of waiting until higher levels. As someone else said though, it is the attacks that eat up more END than the toggles, unless you overload your character with toggles at lower levels. So yeah, higher level characters have an easier time managing their END than lower level characters, but they also have more powers to have to manage. The suggestion to fix this by increasing END only slows the problem, it doesn't fix it. And all characters already benefit from inherent Stamina unlike earlier in the game's life. So everyone is already getting a boosted means of dealing with END costs on their characters. Reducing the END cost of toggles would directly address the mentioned problem, but then END stops being a concern at higher levels. I'm still undecided about how I feel about the OP, but the comments made in this thread are definitely leading me to oppose the OP.

You're right. @GM Crumpet did respond and that basically kills any hope for the idea. Even if part of that post ignored the reality of the game. (Having multiple characters.) The only reason I responded to this thread again is because of that part of his post and the followup comments made by others. (Edit: Hearing it from a dev would have been nicer, but oh well. As someone with some coding experience, I can see how this ask would actually not be that difficult given that a sub-routine to do the same thing with regular xp already exists, but oh well.)

Yeah, you definitely didn't read my post. To answer your question? My level 44 Blaster had more bars of patrol xp than would show on the available bars I had. So probably the full 10 bars of patrol xp. And even the 1 person that tried to get rid of that much patrol xp with a stop watch took almost 18 minutes Ouro'ing down and then getting ripped apart by Monster Island (zone) Rikti monkeys. So no, it cannot be gotten rid of in just a few minutes. Don't believe me or that other person? Then take a full 10 bars of patrol xp and get rid of it. And if you can trim it down to a few minutes? I'm all ears. And I did acknowledge and I do appreciate the amount of work it would take for the devs to do this. Since we already ahve the ability to turn off xp though? Likely not as much work as you are implying. Edit: Also, if the extent of someone's argument against a suggestion is that it will require coding, testing, balancing, and making sure it doesn't break anything? Then there is no argument against. Everything that is suggested/requested by players and everything a dev may initiate from own desire will require all that work. So oh no, I requested work in modifying the game. (Also, there is no balance consideration for the option to turn off patrol xp or quickly get rid of it.) And just because a person doesn't open with something that apologizes for the audacity of asking for the work to have something implemented, changed, or fixed; or doesn't spout off about the potential work involved, does not mean that the requestor is not aware of or appreciative of the work involved. Everything we ask requires work on the devs part.

You obviously didn't read what I posted.

I really don't see this part happening. There will be an outcry from players that their powers are intentionally getting worse as they level on top of the enemies getting more powerful requiring enhancements in the first place. Thus requiring them to change how they slot their powers even though it will simply be a restoration of original slotting. As for the rest? *shrug* I don't have an opinion either way right now.

Brutes gain fury from being attacked, not hit, and from attacking. Edit: Sorry @Tyrannical. Kneejerk need to respond kicked in before I read your response. I'm apparently just a parrot.

Gold side isn't grey. Not any more than red or blue side. Vigilantes are more evil/vicious than villains and rogues are downright honorable. So you see the same dynamics in the Rogue Isles and Paragon City that you see in Praetoria. Praetoria just includes the transitions in single player only missions at the end of the arcs. And Praetoria doesn't have end game content because it is the end game content. They are the big bads of the incarnate trials that the Primals are trying to keep from destroying Primal Earth. (Mostly just the Primal supers, but noone wants Tyrant ruling Primal Earth.) As the story goes currently, the only end game content I can see for Praetoria is to take part in the invasion and help conquer Primal Earth. And Praetoria is already the one that is destroyed in that feud. (Because of Tyrant and Hamidon, not the Primals undercutting the invasion by attacking the BAF, Lambda Sector, or discovering that Tyrant is actually working with Hamidon in a way. In fact, it his Tyrant's invasion of Primal Earth, his breaking his vow to Hamidon to show Hamidon that humanity is better than the despoiling marauders Hamidon takes humanity for, that causes Hamidon to go active again and crush Praetoria.) Going Primal lets the Praetorian character either try to resolve the problem between Praetorian and Primal Earths or grow their personal power and ambition without the shackles of Tyrant and his Praetors imposed on them. However, your post is not the only request to be found on the forums asking for gold side content that goes all the way to 50. So here is a question. What kind of content would you like to see post Night Ward to get to 50? Do you have any specific ideas? Posing specific ideas is easier for others to understand and gives an indication of where you would like to see things go. So what kind of post-Night Ward content would you like?

That has actually been used before. Not in CoX, but in comics. A psionic dampening gas (how that works is beyond me) or device that creates a psionic suppression field. So yeah, that kind of thing is definitely possible.

I opened the OP acknowledging that the player base that may be affected by this may only be me. I understand that would not be justification to do this and accept that this is not likely to happen. As @Akisan pointed out though, there are other players that would like to be able to turn off patrol xp as well, just for different reasons. The frustration is the dug in stances of individuals trying to find a reason to disagree with this. That it may not be the best use of dev time is an argument I was prepared for and willing to accept. That the Live devs didn't conceive that anyone would have any problems with having yet more xp shoved down their throat and so further spaghettified the code making this change less than practical or feasible was another death knell I was prepared to hear. The hypocrisy of some of the arguments against the OP however? Let's start with a "fun" response. "Just put a piece of tape over it until it goes away." The player's character is always in the center of the screen. So if players are unhappy with a power's visual FX on their character, why not just put a piece of tape over it? Voila! No more power FX to bother that player. Or maybe that player shouldn't use that power. Or that power set. All three responses are equally nonsense. Players are free to play what they want. And you can't just put a piece of tape or other obstruction because now you are blocking the screen and reducing their ability to even play. (And how is the player, in this case me, supposed to know when it has gone away if that part of the screen is obstructed from view anyway?) Some of the comments boil down to "just deal with it". Again with powers and their visual FX, why not tell them to "just deal with it" as well? After all, unlike with patrol xp, if that player disables the visual FX of a power, it only applies to that player's character. Other characters using the same power will have that visual FX going. Because the player does not like it on his/her character? Well, that's a weird reason, so no. (Hint: It's not a weird reason. It is a personal one.) And yet, the forums are mostly fine with requests to minimize or do away with power visual FX as an option. And it is something every player in the character's vicinity can see and thus be "affected" by. As opposed to something that only the player in question can see such as patrol xp. Or how about comments posing incredulity at the thought of the request asking if I am fine with other day job powers? Here is the thing. I and a few friends I know all avoid day job locations after we get the badges for them. We don't want the day job powers/effects. So we avoid them. Except there is no way to avoid patrol xp from the Patroller day job. Because the Patroller day job is literally everywhere in the game. There are only two ways to avoid it. The first way is to always be logged in on that character. Which cannot be done if you have two or more characters. So that isn't an option. The second is to remove the character. From the game. To be added back in to be played later with no loss of levels or starting over. That's even less possible than the first way. So there is absolutely no way to avoid patrol xp. The character that prompted the OP was a level 44 Blaster who had all defensive toggles turned off and jumped into a group of all purple mobs. Your suggestion here has an 11 level gap. Can't get into the Hive and Eden isn't a threat. And with all level 48 CoT mobs including a boss attacking my level 44 Blaster with no active defenses or bonus HP from enhancements or enhancement set bonuses, and with that spawn being almost at the base portal allowing me to immediately jump back into the group over and over, it took 52 minutes to get rid of patrol xp. The ability to turn off xp doesn't bother the people responding on this thread. It boggles their mind to ask to be able to turn off patrol xp though. Why? What is the difference? They are both xp. Why is one okay to turn off but not the other? I would be perfectly fine if patrol xp was tied into the option to turn xp off and on. It makes logging my characters on and off a 2-step process instead of 1. That's fine. Great even. I'd be fine with a contact or object that I can turn over all my patrol xp to for absolutely no gain. I would be fine with a bought single use power from P2W or others that obliterated all currently gained patrol xp on a character. I'll make sure I have the funds to buy it each time for all my characters. I'm fine with pretty much every provided solution that isn't "deal with it", "suck it up", or just plain "no". I can accept those responses, they are inevitable. It is the hypocrisy of those posters that frustrates me. The root oppositon to the OP seems to be because the OP does not benefit some people, so it shouldn't provide benefit to others either.

One thing I find... interesting... since I made this thread, is the hypocrisy. "This power's visual FX bothers me. Can I have the option to turn it off?" "Yes! Great! More options is better!" "Patrol XP bothers me. Can I have the option to turn it off?" "That's a weird reason. No. Get over it." It's like turning off general xp is okay, but how dare someone ask to be able to turn off patrol xp.

No, it doesn't, because the bars are still there. If you had actually read the thread instead of skimming, you would have seen that was part of the problem and your solution had already been presented and told it did not help. Otherwise, I would already just be doing that.

The page you linked does recommend the other version, and you would think that the "local" version would be the one to only append to the local/character name rather than the global. At least it made sense to me for it work better that way.