Rudra

Maybe it can be treated like base building. I get that LFG would disable it other UIs for fear of causing loading issues, but the enhancement window and costume windows could probably work like the base building interface. You hit "C" and can bring up the chat window while you work. Maybe? Hopefully?

That there is some serious out of the box thinking! Create a new "aura" for back weapons? An out of combat aura instead of an in combat aura? Would be effectively the same thing. The combat flag would enable the combat aura which is a null, and the flag not being present for being out of combat disables the "aura" rendering the weapon on the back again. Or just have a present/not present flag that toggles in/out of combat.

Yep, in the last part or the part just before it, you are free to use some higher level powers. When you start? You are 1st level with 1st level powers. Then next stage? You can fight at level 2 or 3 with those powers! Yay! By the time you can use level 6 powers, the team has already progressed to the point where the added powers don't really change the content by an overwhelming amount, you are basically done with the trial. Like how the flashback system is currently set up.

Except that is a level 6 power and is locked out by DfB.

DfB is a level 1-3 mission. You also seem focused on damage output. When you're 50, you have a lot more powers than just damage dealing ones. You have access to debuffs, buffs, resists, and defenses as well, all of which are beyond the scale of the progressively lower level content. A level 50 /dark corruptor with Dark Servant, Petrifying Gaze, Fearsome Stare, and Shadow Fall (Edit: plus likely Tough, Weave, Maneuvers, etc.) doing low-level content would basically be immune to threat. Then you still have the P2W powers plus your T8 and T9 attacks plus your epics. And all of those (except for the P2W) are fully slotted per your build design with enhancements and you still have all those inspirations to further boost them. As opposed to content level +5 worth of powers plus P2W powers plus enhancements and inspirations. It's not the same thing is what we are trying to tell you. It is a question of layers of powers: offensive, defensive, and support.

Having two of the same weapon (one as costume on back and one as actual weapon being used) requires no more imagination to view the worn item as temporarily not there than it does to imagine it is there prior to you magically pulling the weapon out of thin air like we currently do.

Inspirations are a hard sell for this argument. They can be used regardless. You have all your powers? You can still use those same inspirations to improve them. So they don't really work as an argument for them making P2W powers work better than gained powers. Regardless of level. Inspirations are also consumed when used. So you have to lay in a stock of them (tray or e-mail trick) or replace them as you go. Powers are not consumables. They are always there. And unless P2W powers, they always get the full benefit of their slotted enhancements. Maybe not their set bonuses depending on level, but their slotted bonuses. P2W powers may help speed things along in lower level content, yes. I almost always fail to hit the target when using them, but that is likely just me and my luck. Comparing the availability of P2W powers to level 35+ powers is almost laughable. I feel like a broken record. Gained powers can be improved. (Including with inspirations.) P2W powers cannot (except with inspirations). High level gained powers available for low to mid game content renders the provided opposition moot since they would not be scaled for that. (They aren't scaled for P2W powers either, but you have a cap of 3 of those and they cannot be improved.) For your stated goal of getting the team to work together and have fun rather than race madly to the objectives, your suggestion is counterproductive. With their full set of powers available to them, players Ouro'ing low and mid game content have even less reason to try and work together. Instead they have more reason to split up and just race to the various objectives because they are way over-powered for the content.

You seem to have a fixation on P2W powers and how they affect a team's ability to speed. Firstly, you cannot slot P2W powers. Those were Veteran powers you earned after years of play on Live that are immediately (Edit: available) as if the game never shut down. You can never slot enhancements to improve them. They can only be improved indirectly by set bonuses. Pretty much all of which disappear when doing low level content as a flashback. Sets with a level 10 requirement would always benefit you, but the 20+, 30+, 35+ sets would not. They would affect P2W powers during mid-game content, but it depends on the level of the content. Having access to all powers at all levels is a vastly better advantage. They still get the full effect of their enhancement bonuses regardless of level, they would only possibly lose set bonuses. So gained powers on a level 50 will always outperform P2W powers. Mobs are geared for a set level range and the expected availability of powers in that range. So if you can use all your powers through level 50 at all levels, the mob scaling goes right out the window. Being able to AFK a mission that someone else clears is farming power leveling Those people are not even participating in the mission. Given what your OP is about, I would not expect you to be using them as a reference. They are not racing to the objectives. They are not working with or against the team. They are simply there absorbing xp and inf' at the team's tolerance. Having access to all your powers through level 50 at all levels may be fun for you, but as you can see from everyone else's reactions, it would make the low and mid game content insanely boring for others. The best thing about the DfB (which I believe is the level 1-3 one, it's been a while since I did it), is that it looks at a character and says "You are level 1. Period. Deal with the content as intended." You get access to your level 1 powers only. Then when you reach the next stage, you get access to all your level 2 stuff. You are forced to play the content as designed. As easy as DfB is with THOSE restrictions, now try it in all your level 50 glory. Team recruitment is already showing a lot of... I don't want to call it elitism... maybe levelism? Where task forces/strike forces and trials are having extra restrictions on player access to join. This is a lot more common for end game and high level content, and it is done for the sake of (hopefully) ensuring they can get the badges in it, but you can expect similar on low and mid game content if powers are unrestricted by level of content any more. As has been said previously in the thread, this will lock out a lot of the appropriate level for content players or lead them to think the content is higher level than it is, convincing them to stay away. I don't know what more explanation you want. Pretty much everything I just said has been said at multiple points in this thread.

Agreed. Being able to Ouro' things at +5 levels of powers and still have all slotted enhancements available regardless of when the enhancement slot was applied to the character makes for a very easy mission/arc. Especially when on a team of players with those advantages. Being able to summon epic pool pets or use epic pool powers for a level 1-9 mission/arc? You think people are racing to objectives now? Wait until they can use all their powers through level 50 at level 9. And heaven forbid Incarnate powers at that level.

Live and learn. (Die and forget.) I sit corrected. Either way, with how additional damage types will be asked for incorporation, let's not wake this monster please.

Holy hells.... *copies and pastes elsewhere for future reference*

I was going to sit this one out, but with the growing comments, let's take a closer look. Water/ice attacks attack one of the three parts of a fire by cooling down the fuel and putting the fire out. Sand and dirt attacks one of the three parts of a fire by attempting to deprive the burning fuel of air; putting out the fire. (Problem, earth attacks are coded smashing, not earth.) A smashing attack like a foot stomp attacks one of the three parts of a fire by attempting to deprive the burning fuel of air or smashing the fuel. (Problem, it can only really affect the area under the foot. So you gotta be fast to stomp out any fire larger than your foot. And larger fires are beyond stomping out, they are quite capable of burning the one that tries instead.) A wind attack attacks the fire by attempting to scatter the fuel. (Problem. Scattering burning fuel tends to expand the fire unless the dispersal area itself is not subject to burning. Counter argument, Superman consistently blows out fires and Hulk has put out fires with a hand clap. Comic/anime logic.) Electric attacks do not affect wood/paper fires once the fire is started, but can cause one with a sufficient (super power) level effect and can cause electrical fires to flare up even larger. Oil and gas fires? Engine combustion comes to mind.... Dark attacks can be argued to attack the heat needed for the fire, but can also be argued as having no effect. Energy attacks (unless concussive/kinetic) would start wood/paper fires, by applying the required heat. Lethal attacks have no effect on a fire. Poison attacks have no effect on a fire unless defined as a liquid of sufficient volume to act as water. (Problem, poison can also be flammable.) Radiation attacks would have no effect on a fire. Psionic attacks would have no effect on a fire except by manipulating the fuel directly or the surrounding available extinguishers. Uhm... let's not open this mess, please. All the inter-play that would be asked for (Wind was already brought up in this thread) would make this a nightmare for our poor devs.

Blue side possibilities: Carnie fashionistas are causing Serge problems like @MTeague said. Serge finds the Facemaker's methods deplorable and sends the player to stop the Vazhilok from harvesting human parts as cosmetics. Angry Freakshow pushing for more people to use cybernetics as @Greycat said. Angry Circle causing problems because their wardrobe has been proliferated (after original look removed in don't remember what issue). Malta trying to use Icon/the Facemaker as a means to subvert heroes/villains or weaken them. (Chemicals being impregnated into the hero/villain costumes anyone?) Red side possibilities: Carnies as per blue side. Longbow trying to shut down the Facemaker for harvesting human parts as cosmetics. Freakshow quarrel with the Vazhilok causing supply issues. Can't forget those Circle mages. Malta redux. Just to throw out a few ideas. (Edit: Also, shouldn't it be cyberware rather than cyberwear? It is implanted cybernetic hardware. You're not wearing cybernetics. Anything worn would more accurately be technowear since it probably lacks any cybernetic interfaces.)

In the mission intro from Hardcase to go after Pandora, he says "You know about the Carnival of Shadows? They're some crazy super-powered chicks who think they're high class party girls. They'll do anything if they it'll amuse them, no matter who dies because of it. The word on the street is a Carnie named Pandora who made a deal with some Wailers. She sneaks in a box full of them into the Giza and lets them out, then all hell breaks loose in there! The Carnival gets to cause all manner of chaos while the demons run wild!" There are a few problems with this. Firstly, the "If they it'll amuse them" should probably be "if they think it'll amuse them". Secondly, The "The word on the street is a Carnie named Pandora who made a deal with some Wailers" should probably be "The word on the street is there is a Carnie named Pandora who made a deal with some Wailers." or "The word on the street is about a Carnie named Pandora who made a deal with some Wailers." Thirdly, you have 1 too many ins in the "She sneaks in" statement. It reads she is sneaking in into the Giza, where it should just say "She sneaks a box full of them into the Giza and lets them out,". Fourthly, the the mission reads like this has already happened at least once. If the implication is meant to be that Pandora has a known MO of doing this, then this is fine. If the player is meant to understand that this is the expected plan rather than what has already occurred, then it should read as such. Something like "She is planning to sneak a box full of them into the Giza and let them out, then all hell breaks loose in there!"

@Khrystina, I have to say the ones speaking against this idea make more sense to me. I get what you want to do, that you want your friends to know you are available so they should feel free to contact you. My question is though, what will a friends list "Open to approach" flag accomplish that you telling them that won't? And as you said, you already told them that. I'm sorry, but it sounds like your friends are terminally shy and no flag in the world is going to change that. I'm willing to bet that even if the flag existed, they would still be wondering if you simply forgot to change it and still not contact you. This comment is not to say I am against implementation. Implementing this idea would hurt no one or cause anyone any problems, except for possibly the dev that would have to make the flag and implement it. I'm just saying that if you already told your friends to contact you whenever they want and they don't for fear of bothering you, then not even a flag is likely to fix that.

It feels like when any mods are made, red side ATs are nerfed and blue side ATs are buffed. Tankers got their max resists faster than brutes, but brutes out damaged them. Tankers cried foul, so now Tankers still have better start resists, but their damage output is better. I was talking to a tanker player about how tankers had the better taunt ability, they auto-taunt up to 10, compared to brutes, and the response was "Good. I want the brutes off my porch. They shouldn't even exist."

You can also look at it through logic. To take evasive maneuvers is to focus on evasion, not attacking. So from this stand point, I agree that Evasive maneuvers should not retain any defense bonuses if you attack or interact with an object. (The ability also pretty well explains this itself, so there is that too.)

Point. ... Okay, so how about reduce the timer to 5 minutes, no changes to ambush spawn mechanism, but add the after ritual fight? Maybe even bring Broadkin back as the after ritual opponent, but as a tougher enemy or with actual support?

No, you don't read the posts? No, you won't read the posts? If you are /jranger'ing my request you actually read what people are posting, what exactly are you /jranger'ing? ... You know what? I don't have the /Willpower to deal with you. So not going to bother with you.

Uhm... no... a badge for every 50 levels that you go undefeated? Even without farming, I'd be against it. Those who don't farm and are on squishies have a very low chance of getting these badges. Scrappers, stalkers, tankers, and brutes wouldn't really have much trouble, but there is always a random chance something takes you down no matter how careful the player may be. And also yes, because farming. (So I definitely agree with the nevermind bit. Sorry, you declared it a dead horse, but I still felt a need to respond.)

I've never had a problem with being interrupted while placing Trip Mine. Devices' Trip Mine is a T7 power. Traps is a T8. They do the same damage, have the same END cost, have the same accuracy, have the same radius, and have the same duration. I would hope the T8 was better than the T7 in some way. In this case, 10s faster recharge. Though the T8 does have almost double the cast time and has an interrupt time that the T7 lacks... which is weird....

Cool idea! Would be weird with Dual Pistols curving cone attack, but still... COOL!

How is this? Using Greycat's Option #1 reducing the timer to 5 minutes, except there is a new spawn of Red Caps every 15-30 seconds even if the previous spawn(s) are still alive (Edit: like they do in the Hollows mission with the constant waves of Igneous. Or was that a Who Will Die mission?), and at the end of the 5 minutes an Elite Boss Red Cap spawns not too far away with a minimum entourage of 1 lieutenant and 5 minions. Have the final showdown spawn scale up in size from that point based on team size (or difficulty settings) with the EB able to grow into an AV or GM for large enough teams (or high enough difficulty). Kind of like Snaptooth does, except he starts at his EB, AV, or GM state and stays there.

You have some interesting ideas. Yeah, the Red Cap final ritual mission is boring. Dumb question though: if you're fine with the stop 30 Fir Bolg mission where you just stand at the small henge and smash the individual groups when they approach, why are you not fine with the Red Cap version? Seriously asking here. Is it just because it is the final mission in the Croatoa line? I agree it is fairly anti-climatic, but it is thematic given what has been going on in the preceding arcs. That said, I'd honestly have to play through your suggestions to decide how I feel about them. Sorry for the lack of useful response. (And honestly, I would have liked a major battle against a unique Red Cap like Snaptooth either after the 15-minute counter ritual was done or in a follow-up mission. Just probably not against him specifically since he is intended for the Valentine and Christmas events.)

Obi-Wan didn't make them not see the droids. He made them think they were not the droids they were looking for and that they did not need to check the droids. Like you said, he confused and distracted them.