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What about making Ignore itself modular, akin to how SG permissions work? When ignoring another player you select how ignored you want them to be across chat, tells, e-mails, invites (or all of the above). Expands on existing ignore functionality without compromising it, directly addresses situations like this one where players want to keep chat available, and retains bind/macro usability.

Not only is it antagonistic toward the community they ought to be enticing, it's showcasing a pretty big lack of faith in the product they've spent so long working on. If they know their game is solid and will put various doubts folks are expressing to bed, they wouldn't need to moderate so hard much less go scorched Earth. Invite the doubters to play and have the game prove them wrong. Not that every remark I've seen is entirely fair (they've definitely had to wrangle some trolling) but there's been a lot of reasonable concerns from folks whom they've outright banned already. 'Hey, I was wrong about their game - it's good!' is much better rep than 'They banned me for voicing basic concerns/legit criticisms.'

It's certainly possible that those threads were all going to weave together for whatever the Battalion was going to be for the next phase of CoH incarnate endgame, especially with so many Live dev AMA comments about using prior contacts and content as 'secret Battalion agents.' Though as with anything writing-wise back then it was all nebulous until the issue actually went live, and certainly isn't any kind of requirement now. IMO I'm glad that avenue never got enshrined as canon. It'd be far too convenient if every space plot tied into the Battalion. The Shivans as undead jello attack dogs, sure, but leaving the Nictus as their own thing makes them so much more compelling. Reading the Lore AMAs about the loose plans for the Battalion and the Dimensionless and Ascension and the never-ending string of yet more powerful cosmic-religious bad guys just makes me think of Destiny 2, and not in a good way (insert 'but how would it ever be for Destiny 2?' joke here). The best of CoH's arcs and content is the stuff that isn't colossal in scope and trying to make every player character the singular super-ultra-mega hero of the omniverse.

He is, played by Jason Momoa. More of a cameo apparently rather than a major role in the film, so no telling if he'll remain in it until the movie's actually showing. Considering the tone of the Guardians films, Lobo does seem like the kind of character James Gunn would do his best to keep around, though. Apparently one of the original pitches for the Supergirl movie even had him in as a full-on secondary protagonist in a team up between Lobo and Supergirl framed as 'True Grit In Space.'

See, these two points are at odds, because Superman 'rising above us and being better' is exactly what Jor and Lara's message was about. The whole surprise Kryptonian ethos of 'become the undisputed leader of their lesser world through your innate superiority' is something movie immediately establishes that Supes himself hates. He doesn't want to be an otherwordly, godlike ruler, just a good person. Superman's core isn't his alien blood but his human spirit. Even with all the fantastic Kyrptonian powers and space technology he has access to, things that could or arguably should make him the ubermensch, Supes chooses instead to just help people. He doesn't control their lives, only does what he can to let everyone live them safely. Hence the rant to Lex, because the movie presents Lex as the actual the embodiment of the El's message. Someone who has elevated himself 'above' the rest of humanity, who sees himself as beyond the greatest humans who ever lived, who has fantastic resources that no one else does and rather than use them to help anyone, uses them at his sole, selfish discretion to enact his vision of the future. Lex is the 'better than us' super leader who will inspire Earth, the exact thing El's wanted Superman to be, deliberately because Lex eschews living his humanity in-favor of treating the elevation of human-kind as an objective. One that only he, in his greatness, can achieve. Hell, given the pocket dimension scene with his exes trapped there, Lex technically even has his own harem. I'm starting to think Jor and Lara just sent the tape to the wrong kid.

We could also just inform players that the UI is modular and can be moved at-will. That way, if someone finds themselves not paying attention to the health bar in its default spot, they can move it to a place on the screen where they're more likely to notice it. Dead center, directly under the character model is a place I've seen a fair amount of folks use, so I assume it's got pretty solid success rate. UI elements can also be resized and expanded for even greater visibility, too. Which I'd suggest most everyone utilize at this point, with monitors getting broader and broader. The standard scale of CoH's UI is spaced out and relatively tiny on 2025 screens. As for the screen-wide low health FX, it really wouldn't incentivize improved awareness. Or encourage players to better understand game-specific mechanics, for that matter. It'd just make the 'jumpscare' of getting hurt even more reactionary. If players are already being 'caught unaware' and not learning the signs the game gives, the screenwide pain FX becomes what they rely on instead of learning the actual indicators, and 'the screens red so my health is low' does not remotely cover the massive gamut of status effects and debuffs that characters experience in-game.

The main hang up to making anything like this via a new system is that it makes a new system. It has to be designed, implemented, and then after that continually monitored and maintained. There's also no guarantee it'd even be used in the intended fashion. There's no requirement for veteran players to donate so there's no assurance of funds for new players to access in the first place, at least not without seeding the repository when first implemented like Wentworths was. There would also need to be monitoring for it, because if anyone could access the depository via any character, there's nothing stopping someone from continually raiding it on tons of alts and just hording the influence in their email. Or continually remaking the same level 1 alt to get another 'daily 1 million' every two/three minutes. There's also no guarantee the same amount of funds would be available on each server without direct dev maintenance, as some servers with lower populations might have far fewer donations. On the other end, the funds on larger servers might be depleted faster than they can be renewed. There's a lot easier and more direct ways to solve the 'new players often have very little' issue. Have every new account get five dev global emails of 1 million influence to use at their leisure. Have the SCORE vendor offer a 'Claim 1 million inf' button with certain character amount/account restrictions. Have the game actively encourage new players to reach out and ask questions. Hell, do all of those. As other posts have said, CoH already has a ton of vets who happily drop millions onto newbies. This offers routes for new players to figure the game out on their own and encourages more interaction with the existing community without sacrificing one option for the other or leaving the available resources up to chance.

The Fly poses thing seems pretty doable, given that Sprint, Walk, and the default Stance all got alternate options that work the same way. The Beam Rifle request... could possibly work, though probably not the way you're asking. I could see the FX being proliferated - I.E. Energy Blast gets an alternate option that's the Beam Rifle's beams and Beam Rifle gets an alternate option that's the rifle shooting Energy Blast pew pews - but as for a Beam Rifle alt. animation not using the Beam Rifle, that doesn't sound like something the devs would do. Effectively the same conclusion as the game would still offer 'Beam Rifle FX as hand/eye blasts' just maintaining 'Hey, you want to shoot it without a gun, use the set that doesn't have the gun' powerset fidelity requirements. Granted, that's if HC is determined to maintain the Live standards of fidelity versus alternating those. It's not impossible that every ranged set without Rifle animations could get them as an alt. option (allowing for fancy flamethrowers, cold guns, psychic cannons, etc.) and the Rifle sets get hand-based alt. animations (bullet gauntlets, heavy munitions robot arms, mecha suits, etc.), just that I don't expect it to shake out that way. Would be really cool if it did, though.

It helps that Corenswet plays both earnestly with neither of them being 'one pretending to be the other.' He's always Clark Kent and Superman, which is how it ought to be. Plus actually being allowed to emote. That helps too. <.<

I think the second bit is more of a sticking point to introducing any additional Incarnate powers. How 'OP' something is is just reflective of numbers and mechanics, and the devs can add and/or modify those as freely as they wish to engineer greater challenges. The real problem is the sheer amount of stockpiled threads, shards, and components that players have built up over the years entirely negates the 'run content to earn this!' aspect of the system. As is, any new Incarnate powers could be immediately unlocked and maxed out just by logging in. Not on every character or by every player account but by more than enough that it's an instant blitz on the staying power of any expanded options. It also means there's no point to developing additional trial or task force content to earn new powers from as is, because there's no incentive for many of the players with characters able to run it to actually do so. Which just leaves playing the same existing content with even more gonzo abilities, and without a baseline of expanded difficulty there there's no reason for further player powercreep just to give them something to spend horded resources on. None of which to say I'm opposed to new Incarnate stuff. I just think it'll only come after expanded difficulty options (makes existing content more fitting and provides more room for new stuff) and with some kind of requirement on how players can earn it. Possibly 'run X in order to unlock New Shiny' if a new trial or task force is made, though some kind of currency trade in could also be possible. The higher tier the power, the more steep the exchange rate. The only solution I have doubts for is another alternate currency. It'd put everyone on the same playing field starting over again, sure, but that's also the one option basically guaranteed to anger a lot more folks. The exchange rate would at least make all those stockpiled Incarnate components feel like they have some use again.

It was almost like a pet snake more than a critter that evolves into a violent murder machine. Also, immediately being able to establish that kind of connection has some extremely disturbing implications (in-particular as a synth and not something a xenomorph might view as a host/prey). Doubly so when combined with the 'I'm going to be a mother' scene and the constant through-line of familial bonds... though, it's not like motherhood is an unexplored concept in this series. Hell, that's practically the strongest constant theme from the initial run of films. There's also growing parallels between the xenomorphs as 'evolved new life adapted from the original host' and the 'new synths given better forms adapted from the dying' along with the whole creation process for both, which I certainly hope they explore further. This fourth episode really crystalized a lot of the dynamics and weaved the plot points together in ways that thoroughly vanquished my prior skepticism.

It's not 'people on the forums' suggesting it, it's the overall story of the game stating 'this is what happened.' That a player can choose to ignore that doesn't mean the game's progression won't keep running with it, or that the players who continue to ignore a choice the game requires be made consequently remain locked out of content they can't reach without making it. Someone can choose to never run Who Will Die but that won't change Statesman having canonically been dead since 2012. Though to touch on the idea of 'adding Praetorian level 50 content' - Homecoming actually has. Recently, in fact. It's in Kallisti Wharf, where every instance of Praetorian mobs are all post-iTrial and post-refugee status. Hell, they have the UPA in there. That group doesn't even exist properly without the timeline and progression being exactly what everyone else has been saying it is. For direct credence, here's Calvin Scott's bio. That Homecoming allows a minor avenue to grind to 50 Goldside doesn't mean it's actually the course the game and storyline are going with. It's not a sign that there's some secret, alternate story path or hint at dev approval for future content. The fact that doing so locks that character out of participating in many other aspects of the game should be enough to make 'this is not the intended path' clear. If someone found a way to hit level 50 without leaving Outbreak, the devs wouldn't entertain requests of 'make co-op zones accessible from the tutorial' either, though they'd probably want to know what exploit the player used.

Already replied earlier in this thread, but to bring up more points. CoH 2 won't happen for three main reasons. NCSoft will never invest in it or divest themselves of the IP, MMOs as a genre have died down and aged out in-favor of live service FPS games, and the general perception of 'superhero fatigue.' CoH existed at a time when MMOs were booming and superhero franchises were ramping up massively, but rather than advertise the game - say in theaters playing Marvel and DC films - NCSoft pulled the plug in 2012. Immediately after, the MCU proceeded to explode even further in popularity leading up to Infinity War/Endgame along with hefty amount of very popular superhero games entering the scene (like the bulk of Batman Arkham series). The exact time-frame when popular culture was dominated by well-received superhero media and MMOs were still going strong was the prime opportunity to go 'And we have a game where you can Be Your Own Superhero!' except CoH spent that entire period dead. Years later Homecoming performs a resurrection, except now superhero media is on a downturn and having to rebuild, there's issues of perceived quality, a lot more vocal (and disingenuous) critics, and also broader types of superhero games. 2-D fighting games, retro arcade style games, Marvel Rivals, even more big budget single-player franchise games like the Spider-Man series. There's less room, less money, and less positive reception. Though honestly, that initial business decision is probably the biggest constraint to it. NCSoft 'cutting their costs' right before what could have very easily turned CoH from 'self-sustaining with enough profit to keep running and pay the devs' into 'this prints money' is a colossal missed opportunity. Any reinvestment at this much shakier point is basically pinning that failure to the chest of CoH 2 and kicking them out into a far less friendly market. Homecoming's license doesn't require any overhead or investment from NCSoft so it's basically a freebie bit of goodwill at no expense, which is why it's the closest thing we'll get at this point unless a number of things change pretty drastically.

I know @Steampunkette has mentioned this multiple times so far, but it is a very fair point - especially given the context of 'first time going full mask off' with the dialogue. A lot of the NPC writing in CoH can be threatening or provocative, but overall has never been a direct one-to-one for real harassment players might actually have had thrown at them (at least hopefully not, given what some other NPCs have to say...). Back in the day if you wanted that kind of dialogue, you had to go into PvP zones or the PWNZ forum. Not meant a knock on the writer - if anything that's a sign of how real it is - just emphasizes the point made. A content warning in those cases would be a fair QoL feature for players, I think. The writer gets to write what they intend and any prospective player has enough of an inkling to make an informed choice knowing 'X is Directly Addressed Here.' If someone prefers to avoid the arc for triggering reasons then they can and if someone wants to play the arc for cathartic reasons, they can do that too. Also avoid it if they think the writing might be bad, I suppose, but that's entirely subjective. For example, I still think the dialogue works given the nature of the 5th Column. Specifically in how they'd recruit the rank and file. The dude is exactly the kind of blowhard who'd join the literal nazis out of insecurity. Despite being mad science'd into becoming an 'idealized' overly muscled man-mountain with the skills of Bruce Lee combined with The Terminator, he's still an insecure loser. That didn't change because that's the core of who the guy is, what drove him to that in the first place. A supersoldier who looks like Broly in leather pants talking about 'biological essentialism' nonsense, much less as if he's actually any kind of example, and still getting beat down anyway is directly highlighting how lame the guys who'd do that stuff are. Even in a space where these jerks actually can embody their warped, hypocritical ideals, they're still pathetic.

Yes, the timeless CoH stories like the politics of World Wide Red - perfectly reflective of 2025 just as it was in 2004. Same with the timeless nature of 'secret American agency super spies you can totally trust' like Crimson and Indigo. There's also the timeless 'literal former Soviet agents' like Boris the Russian and Dimitri Krylov with dialogue stolen straight from the bad guys in Rocky and Bullwinkle. Or the amaranthine, eternally relevant l33tsp34k for the Freakshow. I really want to understand where this fascination with 'Yeah, we can depict militant fascists - but only if they all sound cool and persuasive!' comes from. Especially when the game already has a canon arc where the other major fascist organization talks about their super soldier serum being strawberry flavored. Also it's not like the game doesn't have plenty of 5th Column and Council villains that it already takes seriously. Requiem and the Center aren't forum-posting modern recruits who talk like alt-right film critic videos, but for an arc directly dealing with someone that, shouldn't we expect the character involved to be depicted that way? Heck, that's not even new to the game. The Warriors had that 'He-Man Women Hater's Club' stuff as part their gimmick since they showed up. The Freakshow too, with the whole 'disaffected, rage-filled young men' thing. It's only odd because this is the first time it's actually been depicted directly in-game, rather than just motioned at in bio sections and then ignored outside of the villain groups coincidentally being entirely male.