Rudra

Not arguing that either. All I am saying is that not all powers are divorced from their appearances. Some still require specific alterations to the character, be it a wielded weapon or a shield. Those requirements have a variety of options for what models they use, and so what appearances they have, but they still have that requirement. Edit: And as far as VEATs and their costume pieces go? Uhm, yes they are. They are still limited to the single Crab Spider backpack if they have any builds on that character that have Crab Spider abilities. (Edit again: We have the option of color changing the backpack, but we are still required to have the backpack.) Edit yet again: And as far as the Kheldians go? I would like to point out the obvious. The character's human form is the current character. The Nova and Dwarf are previous hosts from a specific planet where there wasn't the sheer variety of races like on Earth. One of the races, the Nova I think, is from a gas giant. So you shouldn't get to change the Nova or Dwarf based on the lore because those were past hosts. Not defined by the character, but defined by what the Kheldians did before getting to Earth.

Except as you yourself said in this post, they are not just cosmetic options. You literally have to enable another suite of powers that you stack on top of the suite of powers your human form is using. The human form has its own version of everything the Nova form and Dwarf form have. So you can very much play a human form only and get access to all the same powers. I don't have a stake in this argument because I won't play a Kheldian. So I'm not arguing in favor of or against the OP. I'm letting others with a stake do that. All I am doing is pointing out that you are not asking for a minimal FX option, you are asking for how the power works to be changed. You can't use a particles effect slash command to make the Nova or Dwarf go away, so they won't go away with a minimal FX option. They can only go away if the power itself is changed, not the associated animation(s). I'm not going to argue the merits of having a separate Nova or Dwarf form appearance. On that argument, all I am saying is it is not a derailment of the thread to argue whether or not having those appearances is required or not.

Sort of. Weapon attacks still call for weapons and shields still call for shields. And Kheldians get as much variety in their main (human) form as any other character. So they can still be any race currently, but their previous hosts were not so diverse in appearance. (Edit: And SoA Crab Spiders are still required to get that one Crab Spider backpack no matter what. They just get a color change option for it.)

The point was that the forms are their appearances. Like you said, the human form has the same powers. So the forms are basically just the appearances with some modifications to the character's stats. (Higher damage for Nova and higher resist for Dwarf, I think.) Edit: So the argument wasn't a derailment. It was an argument against taking away the forms' appearances.

While not the same as what you are saying, the OP is functionally the same. For instance, if you craft a Judgement power and a Side Branch 1 power, you can either slot that Judgement or you can slot that Side Branch 1 power, but you can't slot both. So it would still for all intents and purposes be an instead of power.

The author has stated (s)he/they already play on the most populated server.

It's not meant to penalize you for going to the hospital. As best I can remember, it works this way so there aren't players earning badges or mission rewards for content that they weren't present for. For that matter, even entering the mission isn't enough. In my experience, you have to be in the mission for an unspecified amount of time while it is being done to earn credit. I've been on teams that just fast completed missions for TFs while I was still enroute to the mission. So I would finally reach the mission door as they finished and exited. That's xp and inf' I didn't get. A few times, that was a badge I didn't get. Sometimes, I would finally reach the mission, get inside, and start racing down the halls to get caught up, and the mission is over. No xp. No inf'. And if the mission had a badge, no badge. To be fair though, I did miss most or all of the mission. (Though there were team members other than me that also had Recall Friend. So them recalling me and any others not at the mission yet would have been greatly appreciated.) And there were other members that on a few missions were asking for Awakens or a rez, were told to just hosp', and the team finished the mission while they were at the hospital or on their way back from the hospital, denying them any reward. I tend to view that more as sucky teams being unwilling to wait for anyone than bad game design though. However, I do understand your frustration.

Yes, visiting a tailor and changing your character to either of the other character model types is a model change. The difference is that changing into a Nova Form Kheldian or a Dwarf Form Kheldian is a power instituted model swap. And those powers change what model is used and what animations are used. That isn't a VFX. (Though I believe someone told me that the Dwarf Form's attacks do use the same animations as the human, so there is that.) Someone way more knowledgeable on Kheldians would really need to be the one to answer, but you aren't talking about changing VFX for the Nova. You are talking about changing how the Bright Nova/Dark Nova powers work.

It could always be done, just under specific circumstances as best I can remember. For instance, there were players that would use this to knock other players off the tops of buildings or window ledges while waiting for Magisterium trials to start. I'm not sure what the trigger is, because normally players block other players, but it has been a thing even as far back as Live.

To the best of my knowledge, there can't be a minimal FX version of Nova or Dwarf forms to maintain a human appearance, because those aren't just VFX. Those are complete model replacements. So basically, if you want to use Nova attacks and Dwarf attacks, and the human form already has those attacks, you are going to be limited to using human form if you want to maintain a human appearance.

What? Why?!

Isn't that what they call a toupee? Hair Apparent? I don't know if that is a groaner or a laugher, because somehow I did both in response. ... I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. 😁

If you're talking about attacks, wouldn't that fit in more with judgements?

😁😃

No right way to inanely defend the wrong thing. There are no grounds upon which a person can tell a volunteer that chose to do something that the said volunteer had an interest in, that doing so is a waste of time. Especially after said person has already done so. If you don't like a change, give a valid argument as to why that change should be undone. Because "You did this, and I want it rolled back. Your efforts in making this change were a waste of time." goes well beyond inane or asinine or whatever other word for foolish you choose to use.

Here's one that will likely die in a hurry! Transformation This tree provides powers that completely replace your character, including powers and enhancements, with another creature. For instance, there is a wolf tree. The tier 1 power turns your character into a wolf. Most likely a not upgraded Howler Wolf from Beast Mastery. The tier 4 would turn your character into a fully upgraded Dire Wolf or a Wotan. Or a nature tree. The T1 turns your character into an Infested Ranger. The T4 would turn your character into Greater Devoured or a Werewolf Lord depending on branch.

Seems too niche to be useful as-is and could be better served as a powerful (generic) confuse in a larger CC-focused category like the one that greycat suggested, I think. *shrug* I know it is niche. I don't see a way to have it not be niche without making it an absolute, guaranteed 'I Win' button though. And @Greycat already has a dedicated CC buff pitched, so no reason to duplicate that effort. (Even though there is a CC buff in the proposed Mercy as well....) It's just a thought or consideration in @Greycat's proposal anyway, so not like it matters if it dies as an idea. Or if it gets tweaked into something else.

Such gatekeeping nonsense. Why would you do that to yourself? So, because some players make use of the assets available to them, even though they aren't the most powerful assets at end game levels, it is both gatekeeping even though they aren't stopping anyone from playing however they want, and it is nonsense because they aren't playing the way you want or expect them to. Not what you mean? Then please clarify, because that is exactly how your statement reads. No one is saying players can't slot generic or set IOs when they are available. And they are available as early as level 10 depending on what you are looking at. (Edit: Level 7 actually. Because you can slot level 10 enhancements as early as level 7.) So there is no gatekeeping going on here. However, if SOs were to be taken away and only IOs left, then you would be gatekeeping because you are requiring other players to play the way you want them to or expect them to, rather than letting them play how they want to. And it isn't nonsense since again, the entire base game, of which Hard Mode/Advanced Mode is not part of, is balanced around DOs and SOs depending on your level.

There are players on these forums that have already stated many times that their characters, at level 50, are slotted with SOs. So this argument fails. And it doesn't change that the game, other than new content created specifically to deal with incarnate content and set IOs, is still balanced around SOs. Because the game's content has not been changed to match player capabilities with set IOs and/or incarnate powers.

How about "no" for the reasons already given.

The servers are not linked in that way. So you can't have a merged LFG. That would require merging the servers.

Here are some possible alternatives to Judgement. Mercy Depending on the specific power crafted and slotted, you have a very slow recharge power that converts enemies to allies. They don't become followers. They don't become pets. They simply become friendly to PCs for a set period of time. Like a confuse effect except that they don't remain targetable by PCs and their pets. (Edit: So they won't follow you around, but they will attack and be attacked by any remaining hostiles in the area.) Similar to how Zenflower pacifies the Devouring Earth. And just like with Zenflower, each crafted power would be limited to specific enemy types (such as undead, plant, et al.) or factions. (Yes, I know this will not be a particularly desired option.) Tier 1 maybe only affects minions and underlings. Tier 2 may also affect lieutenants. Tier 3 and 4? I don't know because I don't think it should affect bosses or higher. Though maybe it can make attempted mezzes against them more effective by adding magnitude to them. (Edit: Which for the sake of simplifying coding, would be a reduction in their Mag protection.) (Edit again: Make it a non-stacking effect, and you don't have to worry about a group of incarnates reducing Hamidon and his mitos to confused, paralyzed victims waiting to be put down.) Creation Depending on the power crafted, you can either make a passable or impassable barrier. The barrier would be maybe 3 character collision boxes wide and 1 character collision box tall, with potentially wider/larger walls from higher tier versions. Passable barriers do progressively more damage to things that try to move through it, with either a weak repel field or a larger area around the barrier that applies fear to enemies to discourage them from attempting to pass through. They can still be taunted through, if you can overcome the fear, or KB'ed through to cause them harm. This would encompass such powers as fire walls and blade barriers/walls. Impassable barriers would be like stone, metal, or plant walls; and can be destroyed. With higher tier versions improving their HP and/or adding damage effects for melee attacks used against them. Like a wall of briars maybe. (So if the enemy is too close, the wall does periodic damage to them. A damage aura. Because I think a current dev said a thorns ability like in some other games can't work in this one.) (Edit yet again: All the walls would only last for a set duration, maybe 10 or 15 seconds, unless destroyed before then. All the walls would have a threat of 0 but would still be flagged as PC pets, so enemies will still attack them if nothing else is present for them to attack. Impassable walls are simply destructible objects, so anyone can destroy them if desired, and must be placed on the ground. Passable walls would also have to be placed on the ground. [No using the walls to trap your fellow players in Atlas Park for instance.] Passable walls would still be destructible, but would have appropriately high defense and/or damage resist to the incorrect forms of attack for their type. So a fire wall would have no damage resist to ice or water attacks, but would effectively be impervious to smashing and lethal attacks from its ridiculously high defense and/or damage resist. All walls have a much larger than themselves area that precludes the placing of more walls to prevent abuse against their fellow players as much as possible. And passable walls do damage as per other AoE attacks, since they are considered player pets/effects. Just like how you never have to worry about how many of your teammates or civilians you are rescuing are going to be flambe dinner for any scavengers in the area when throw that fireball. So no using like a fire wall to murder level 1s and 2s in City Hall.)

I have no clue what to plug in there though. I'll post again later after I've had some time to consider.

More variety in choices is something I support. Let's not make incarnate powers any more accessible to less then end game content though please.

I was more or less okay with the suggestion until I got to this point. At which time I found my hackles raised and my fangs bared. I'm already frustrated that incarnate powers are retained all the way down to level 45, including Alpha's level shift, where they often get spammed to fast clear content that was never designed to handle that kind of power. So I am very much opposed to extending even just Alpha's effects to any extent any further.