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This. Stone Armor does not need Granite. Hell, I have a long-time friend who never used Granite back on Live for their Stone Armor Tank, and utilizes the same build now on HC now that the character got remade. One of the top tier tanks in our group who deliberately never used the Tier 9 (and would out-tank players that did, when called on it). Between IO builds, Incarnate abilities, and various power buffs, Tier 9s for armor sets became mostly useless a long time ago. Which is a shame, because they ought to actually be viable options given their place as 'The Capstone Power' for their set.

Yeah - it's the same reasoning as to why the game never offered Female pets for MMs. The Live devs didn't want to allow for that can of worms at all (or have it possibly push the rating of the game from T to M). Which is understandable for a commercial enterprise... but also players can still make nekkid characters using any non-skintone color as is. <.< Nekkid is apparently a-okay so long as the character is obviously not human. ... I didn't realize CoH's costume creator followed the same rules as Disney.

Yeeeeeeah. I understand it from a 'theme' perspective, but given that the whole point of power customization was that the player could more accurately reflect their own theme for the set... Granted, that was a long-standing issue for the character creator back on Live anyway - the Devs having certain distinctions and theme decisions made for costumes/power sets that they saddled the players with (like gender-specific costume sets). Really glad that HC doesn't subscribe to that nonsense.

I have no issue with groups staking an RP claim to a public space, provided it's aimed solely at their group. An SG wants to RP that some random skyscraper in Atlas is owned by one of their characters, or that their character is the manager of a specific Up-N-Away Burger? Great, more power to them. The moment they try to force other players to conform to their private story and not to use that public space? Nope. Get out of here with that nonsense and build a supergroup base if that's the level of exclusivity you want.

Homecoming requires new accounts, since the game's original account data disappeared when NCSoft pulled the plug on Paragon Studios & CoH back in 2012. Even if that data were still around, HC wouldn't have access to it anyway - or likely want to, since it'd contain a bunch of private information and billing details. The only interaction with old information will spring from any local files (IE, if you still have your old CoH folders with saved costumes, AE files, etc. on your computer, Homecoming can access/build off of that). Fortunately, a lot of the more grind-y aspects of the game have been toned down or outright removed, allowing for a much more ready 'pick up and play' approach. Combined with a number of powerset tweaks and revamps, it makes it pretty easy to get an old favorite character from 'remade at level 1' to '50 and filly kitted out again.' Glad to have you back!

As far as Hero Corps goes, that's only if they're written that way. It's a comic book setting built on narrative and idealism, with time travel, parallel dimensions, literal magic, and people who run around in spandex shooting lasers out of their eyes. 'Corporations are always Neutral Evil' being the one bit of forced realism - as much as I completely understand the IRL basis for it - is a boring restraint, story-wise. Plus, we don't know the framework of the upper echelons of Hero Corps yet. They could be a deliberate counter to Crey, with Rebecca Foss actually unaware of the Void Sanction. Or, the version I'd prefer, perhaps she's got a Discworld-esque Lord Vetinari angle of 'well, if amoral vigilantes are going to exist we might as well keep track of them and give them practical direction.' In the context of CoH CEOs, if Countess Crey is the setting's Lex Luthor and Dr. Aeon is its Evil Hank Pym, Rebecca Foss could be its David Xanatos. That'd at least be different. No arguments there. This definitely should address the changes in public sentiment and the issues Hero Corps has faced in getting fully established in Paragon City. Though, it has also been over 20 years since then so public opinion has likely changed - plus with the advent of the Praetorian War I'd say they've got some solid arguments to make. If Paragon City can accept Marauder and some of the other Praetorians as 'helping out' now, Hero Corps does not seem like nearly as much of a stretch.

As easy as the 'corrupt corporation' angle is to run with (especially if Crey is still involved) I do hope there's at least some Hero Corps-involved content that isn't like that. Have some of the agents actually be heroic folks who earnestly want to protect people and just happen to do it as a full-time job (like actual emergency personnel/security services, just with superpowers). Keep the vigilante/The Boys-type stuff with the Void Sanction, since that slice of Hero Corps is already established specifically for that kind of stuff. Frankly, blueside groups having 'morally questionable/anti-hero' interior factions is getting a bit stale, but at least as far as Hero Corps goes that vigilante aspect has been in-game for a long time.

It is interesting that of all the various damage mitigation tools from range damage sets, Energy Blast has the only one that gets negated or outright maligned when a player has allies. -Def, -Res, -Acc, Slows, etc? All still work just fine. Knockback? Rendered next to useless if you've got a controller or a dominator, or occasionally becomes an outright frustration to every melee/debuffing character on the team if not 'used right.' It's the only ranged set whose mitigation tool comes with an effective skill ceiling, and even then if a player does know how to effectively use knockback, at high levels/end game it doesn't provide nearly the same benefit that the other effects do. ... and the other side of that issue is that Energy Blast has been here since the beginning. 'The ranged knockback blast set' is its core identity, to such a point that people definitely would complain if it got changed. The best compromise I can think of would be making Energy Blast into knockdown, and allowing a global IO (or Hell, an inherent toggle) for folks who want the set to still do full knockback. Having to slot KB to KD IOs in each individual desired power, much as I understand how it's supposed to provide direct modular control, is still a dumb set up. Enhancements are supposed to enhance the powers to do more, not constrain them to do less because their base design was considered just that frustrating. ADDENDUM - Realized that still wouldn't get rid of the issue when there's multiple Knockdown effects going; they'd still get converted into Knockback. I think part of the solution ought to be removing the 'Knockdown becomes Knockback at any mag higher than X' and making them separate status effects. Thematically I get why it was set up like that, but mechanically that 'escalation of a single status effect' is what caused these shenanigan-worthy IO-slotting solutions in the first place. If KD and KB were outright separate from the get-go, it'd be so much easier to manage them. You want to change your KD into KB or your KB into KD? That's an actual choice the player gets to directly manage now, rather than the game forcing them to scale back their own powers or having their efforts stymied by teaming up with someone else who didn't slot the same thing (or who did slot the same thing, and the game just goes 'Oops, you're still over X mag. Too bad!').

That'd actually be an interesting shakeup. The Mu split off into their own Rogue aligned faction with Scirocco at the head, Red Widow steps up into his place as patron by either taking over the remaining Mu still loyal to Arachnos or helping Arachnos develop their own magical faction if the Mu exodus is too large. Hell, or have Red Widow take over the Fortunatas/Night Widows while Ghost Widow is the one pushed into heading a new magic-themed Arachnos faction. It'd tie back into all those Redside ghost arcs, could segue into Recluse looking for a way to resurrect Statesman himself (so he can fight and kill him and finally prove himself better/get revenge), actually give Ghost Widow an outside circumstance to deal with (even if the dead can't change, everything else around them can), provide an opportunity to showcase Red Widow as a character and not just a plot token for Recluse... Plus, more patron drama. No matter what direction it went, Ghost Widow would have valid concerns over her former boss returning (and actually brought back as a living person, rather than just a ghost), while Mako and Black Scorpion would probably despise the idea that Recluse is 'playing favorites' in promoting his old flame - even if Recluse himself doesn't care. Honestly, I'd expect Recluse would just make Red Widow a patron because 'damn if I'm going to let anyone else have her.' After all, he left her dead for decades, so he couldn't actually have wanted her around again that much.

Ya know, that's fair enough - an option to disable/dismiss the effect would be pretty reasonable to implement for folks who prefer not to use the 'fast' effect (maybe a toggle from the Options window?). One of those rare 'this'll improve things for some folks but not negatively impact anyone' additions because if someone likes fast snipes, they can just keep going as is.

Stepping aside from the massive projection of personal insecurities onto fictional video game characters... Which Harry? Truman? Belafonte? Potter? Oh, what about Dresden! You might actually get him, since the author played City of Heroes back in the day.

Counterpoint - the Scrapper/Stalker Patron snipes already utilize the 'fast snipe' option, as does every player-earned snipe attack in the game, because that was a deliberate design decision to give snipes an actual means of usability in-light of just how fast-paced combat in CoH had gotten over the years. Slow snipes stopped being a thing during Live for a reason, so bringing that back goes against combat design overall, balance or no balance. I say give 'em the fast snipe and if it does need to be adjusted, crank up the recharge a bit. Ancillary/Patron pools are meant to provide things the base AT doesn't get, and a high-damage attack actually worth slotting is something MMs definitely don't have. Frankly a lot of the Ancillary pools always seemed like they needed heavy adjustments/power swaps anyway (inconsistent power options mean that some are much more useful than others), but that's something for another thread.

Expanding the various color palettes is a pretty regular request - one of the things that's pretty much universally wanted (no matter what subset of player someone is or what type of content they prefer, they can always make use of more costume options!). Expanding the existing palettes or making one all-encompassing palette and applying it in-place of all the existing different ones would open up so many creative opportunities.

So I did a bit of amusing math on this. 4-Star Hard Mode rewards 20 PAP, which (using the suggested rate of 50 merits for 1 PAP) converts to 1,000 Merits. 1,000 Merits gets 10 Winter IOs, which each sell for roughly 20 million (or 200 million influence total). With PAPs settling at roughly 10 million, that's enough to buy... 20 Prismatic Aether. Even with the minor quibble of 'This technically allows a method for buying/selling reward merits in the auction house' it just seems like a giant circle, reward level-wise. And if someone has enough influence to just buy PAPs to make reward merits out of them... Sounds like they found a way to win CoH's in-game economy a long time ago anyway. <.< I like the idea. It'd give PAPs an extra use for folks who would run Hard Mode but aren't interested in the costumes and doesn't seem like it'd break anything with them still being on the AH.

If they do it, they should go all the way. Get Tarantino to direct it. Or David Fincher. Not like Disney doesn't have the money. I wouldn't mind a completely new story either. Lots of angles to go with - Miami Vice-style Buddy Cop Rebels who infiltrate the criminal-side of a scenic, Empire-controlled planet. Band of Brothers-esque retelling of the Clone Wars, showcasing battles from the clones' perspectives. Star Wars Sopranos/Goodfellas, following a family of smugglers making deals and running drugs, going up against other syndicates/the Hutts. Captured Sith inquisitor being interrogated by a Jedi intending to hunt down other Sith, a la Silence of the Lambs. Star Wars got its start by adopting the stylings of other types of cinema, so why not keep going?

An alternate stance (like Blitz, Parkour, etc.) that plays the animation after jumping could possibly work. Though, it could also be done through emotes. Make a bind or a macro, hit it when you land from a jump. Granted, this would require that we have a suitable 'superhero landing' emote to use (the Rest stance could definitely work in a pinch). Of the two, I figure emotes are more likely. Puts the activation directly in the player's control of when it happens and how long they stay in the position, rather than superhero landing every single time they jumped. Given how quickly it'd have to happen then bounce them back to 'default standing/ready for combat' with an alternate stance, that seems like it might get a bit silly (not that CoH doesn't readily allow for silly). Either way, it'd be fun to mess around with! I'm here for it.

You're not wrong that they're positioned differently - some Broad Sword models are definitely set higher/lower than others. From a quick comparison, in-general it seems like most of the models with shorter hilts are moved up higher. The interesting part is that the drawing animation actually lines up more naturally with the higher positioned swords. If you test it in the Power Customization tab, there's a subtle-yet-noticeable difference in where the character grabs the hilt. With sword models positioned higher, the character's grip while wielding them is in the same spot they're drawn from - while with the sword models positioned lower, the hand grasps the hilt noticeably farther from the blade/more towards the pommel. Then, in the split-second when the sword model actually appears in character's hand it's in the proper position again. The positioning differences might be a compromise between the way the animation already worked (which was grabbing really high, given that it was never designed with the intention of drawing an actual costume-linked weapon - just faking it) and the aesthetics of where some blades would look best when situated on the character model. The larger blades with longer hilts probably needed to be positioned lower, otherwise they'd look even more jarring than the lighter blades with shorter hilts (as they'd stick out even farther).

That's interesting. Just hopped back on the same character and confirmed the broken macro is still giving me the error message. I also tried the same thing - making a new version of the same macro specifically with that Power-Missing icon - but it worked as-normal and was fully maneuverable around the tray with no errors. I guess it could just be a fluke with my client, or perhaps with that character specifically. Which is fine, as that means the solution is just 'spend a few seconds to remake the macro.' >.>

That's an incredibly easy stance to take when you ignore the literal mechanics of the game. If only I'd included any of those in my post. Shame all I wrote were those first five sentences. To shift focus back on-topic to the point of this thread, the logic of 'CoH is a game with content that can be soloed, therefore it was primarily intended to be soloed' doesn't even apply to Prismatic Aether. Let's try anyway, though. Teaming up is optional, so that means any rewards earned by teaming are done so via 'the optional path.' Even when the game forces you to team for certain content/drops, that's still the optional path - because after all, you don't have to team to get them. This means the new End Game currency's intended method of being gained, the one that earns them from solo play, is... buying them from the auction house. Can't even pin that on the HC devs either, as the Summer Blockbuster IOs follow the exact same set up. They only drop via content that requires teaming, but since players don't have to team to get them obviously that's still the optional route and the intended way is to spend in-game money. Does this mean soloing is technically pay to win? Stepping aside from that (and back to the central point of this thread), I can understand why folks have an issue with the introduction of a new currency - starting from nothing and having to build up a new amount of something, especially from such intense content, can easily be frustrating. However, the point was to put everyone on the same starting line. This way nobody could instantly get a massive stockpile of the new shiny, spend them on all the bells and whistles, play with them for a week before getting bored, and then gripe about how the game has no new incentives to offer them for playing. Players who have been playing a long time and have fully kitted-out characters with expensive builds absolutely have an advantage when it comes to gaining Prismatic Aether, but that's a deliberately designed advantage given the placement of the currency. It's an extra to give folks more of a reason to play characters who, as far as prior content/badges/builds go, were otherwise finished. Of course, players who have hoarded mountains of influence also have an advantage to earning Prismatic Aether, but that's a deliberate design decision too. If a player has the influence to shell out for a ton of the new salvage, they are free to spend it that way at the cost of not buying something else with said influence. Which is not insubstantial, given that paying for a significant amount of Prismatic Aether can cost as much if not more a full End Game build at their current market price (20 mil.). At the core of it though, Prismatic Aether was designed to reward prior player investment - in either time, money, or both - and give an extra reason to continue playing at 50+. Whether or not that reason is sufficient, no matter how a player wishes to attain them, is up to individual determination. Also, in-regards to the 'locked costumes' thing, all of these NPC costumes were completely locked beforehand. None of them were available to be earned at all, let alone as permanent options, and the vast majority of them didn't even exist as options. For some of the hologram costumes, they can still be gained as temp. powers from the Halloween Vendors if you're willing to buy Halloween salvage every two weeks (which, for some folks, might absolutely be worth it). That said, I think the 'slippery slope, this bodes poorly' point of view is overstating things. These are 'NPC model replacement' toggles gained solely from gameplay as an end game expansion of another, pre-existing 'also earned via gameplay only' system. It's not like the devs resurrected the Paragon Market and are selling actual Costume Creator options for real money (or even fake in-game money). Besides, none of these were ever going to be default options for players anyway (as the only way for many of them to even be used is as a whole model replacement, since they don't exist as individual pieces), and the vast majority of them are relatively easy to earn once someone has a fifty or two under their belt. Which, given how their specific currency up as an end game loot drop, I'd say is fully intended too. I do think the Deluxe Tier could stand to be lowered cost-wise (as could the Accolade, or at least have every Aether spent on a costume count toward reducing its overall cost for that specific character) but time and data will tell how many players attained those options. Who knows, maybe the Baby New Year missions will offer an earnable discount coupon for the Mini-Mode. That'd actually be an interesting addition to the system. Doing content relevant to the hologram costumes' specific enemy group offering discount drops toward earning their costumes. It'd allow some minor benefit outside of the WST/Hard Mode while still incentivizing folks to run them for actual progression (since the discount is useless without the Prismatic Aether).

Given the recent changes to the targeting window (the adding of 'distance from target'), adjusting the buff/debuff indicators to show up there rather than float around character models could be an option? When it comes to most player-side buffs/debuffs (be it on their character, their pets, or their teammates), players can already track all of that from the Status, Team, and Pet windows as is anyway. The only time the 'float around the model' visual indicators really make a difference is for enemy mobs, as it's the only visual indication we've got to run off of for some power buffs/debuffs after their initial animation is done (or in this specific instance, MM pets subjected to a constant auto-buff) - but having them show up in the target window, or perhaps aligned with the targeting reticle, seems like a much easier way to track 'X has been applied to the target.' Definitely a lot more direct than trying to find small floaty FX that phase in and out amid what can easily become a massive screen-wide mishmash of particle FX and enemy mobs. Especially considering that a hefty amount of said screen-wide mishmash of power FX comes from the actual power FX that applies those minor buff/debuff icons anyway. Plus, as @AxerJ posted, there's the fact that the MM knows what buffs their pets have because they activated the powers/slotted the IOs. With the markers in the status window, if they still aren't sure they can just click on a lion or a robot and immediately know 'These are the specific buffs this pet has' rather than trying to figure out which floaty icons are being applied from which source (or be permanently stuck with said floaty icons obscuring their pet models because they used a certain part of the IO system).

Yeah, it got added with the latest update - it's something the Nitcus-ified Surgeons do in the new Incarnate-level Cimeroran arc and the Hard Mode ITF. Normal Cimerora surgeons in the classic arcs/ITF are still just regular buff dudes in red capes and leather underwear.

Nope - no icon or cursor mods. The only mod I've ever had installed is VidiotMaps. All my regular power icons move around just fine, as do the few other macros I've got on other characters (like the same 'location_target' macro for Shield Charge on my /Shield brute - though hers is set up to display the actual Shield Charge icon in the tray).

Yeah, the HC devs opted to patch the psi hole with the latest update - long overdue, IMO, considering that Invulnerability was the only Resistance set with a deliberate lack of any damage resistance against its 'thematic weakness.'

So, I attempted to move an old macro around in my power tray ('powexec_location target Lightning Rod') by clicking and dragging it and got kicked out of my windowed client and given these prompts. I couldn't return to the game until clicking through both of them. The macro was still effectively being dragged although it didn't show up with the cursor - it did show up when I moused over an empty slot and was put back in the tray. It also still worked as normal when clicked on. Testing it outside of the mission I was doing gave me a third, different-yet-similar error prompt. I made a new Lightning Rod macro, and it works just fine - no broken icons and is fully draggable throughout the power tray. Opting to drag another power icon overtop of the broken macro icon has them shift places normally, with no error prompts. Seems like the prompt is something specific to the power missing icon when it's directly interacted with.

I'm down for any new content for the game, much as I think the 'In Praetoria' side of CoH's overarching story has basically run its course by this point. Still, there's enough wiggle-room plot-wise to have some 'beyond the sonic fences' exploration as 40+ Goldside content. It won't change the progression of the iTrials or past follow-up arcs, but it could introduce other things. Finding some vault of magical relics that Emperor Cole hid away somewhere. Investigating a sort of proto-Portal Corporation run by a Devouring Earth-ified Dr. Brian Webb (and showcase Praetorian Hamidon slowly investigating interdimensional travel...). Discover a hidden bunker used by Chimera to dispose of political dissidents... Maybe a 'Fallout' style mini-zone themed around killing high level DE and recovering gear from dead superheroes/supervillains as a stockpile for the war with Primal Earth - one that never got used and gets recovered by some of the surviving Praetorians who make the jump to Primal Earth (so it can be introduced later Blue/Redside). There are enough dangling threads on Goldside to make something with to finish off 1 to 50 with.