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Returning to this thread, I still think the most user-friendly implementation of this policy - given Homecoming's deliberately massive allowance of character slots across multiple servers and allowance of multiple accounts - is for a check-in option at the Character Select screen. It'd remove any semblance of 'time imposition' for active players while still immediately allowing for abandoned accounts to have their camped names released, and perhaps more importantly unambiguously lay the responsibility at players' feet to maintain the names they want to keep. If the name release timer is made minimally impactful to manage, any name lost at that point is solely the responsibility of the player - there's no 'The devs made it too obnoxious to deal with!' when it's made to function as easily as possible with Homecoming's 1,000 character slots per server. This would mean that some active accounts would end up keeping a higher number of names on low-level alts, but they're also still active accounts. If another player really wants one of those names, they can send a global tell and make a request. I wouldn't object to audits of problematic accounts, either. This easier option could, theoretically, allow for accounts to simply fill up every possible server slot with Level 1 characters and, so long as they logged in regularly and went through the check-in, still camp all those names. Abusive name camping being made explicitly against HC's account policy - effectively treating this as a deliberate misuse of the account system - could be considered a bannable offense. Or at the very least, grounds for having those characters immediately generic'd.

The bonus salvage on the left can't be touched because it's already gone to the Americans. Earnestly though, yeah, this is an issue that crops up sometimes when interacting with Salvage. Had it happen a few times when I was messing with Base storage/post-respec.

A change is necessary because AE is has become a singular monolith solely through overwhelming convenience. If players are willing to quit the game entirely, not because their ability to gain everything they want is removed but because they are asked to go through one extra loading screen and maybe 15 seconds of moving through another zone map, that is a problem. AE farming does not promote an attitude conducive to actually playing CoH - as is, all it promotes is staying in AE. The sheer, overwhelming response being 'If you change this, I'll quit' instead of 'Okay, I'll go get the exact same things and more in this other zone I can immediately access' proves that. That AE has become so convenient and so much of a default choice that making other 'equal' farms better in one single instance - an instance that AE still allows players reach faster than using those 'equal' farms in the first place - proves that. AFK Farming is really the epitome of this mindset. Through excessive convenience and grossly manipulated content, players can now log in and gain everything worthwhile the game has to offer... by not actually playing. AE, taken to the extreme that some players push it to (and they absolutely will, because it allows them to) quite literally takes the 'game' out of CoH. 'Log in, go in mission, do nothing, win everything you need to make a maxed-out character, move on to next character to continue doing nothing while gaining everything.'

I didn't bring them up as an example, and the fact remains that even after Incarnates were introduced players couldn't farm any end game materials with portal missions on Live. They can now on Homecoming. Which leads into the common comment of 'There's no difference between farming in PI and farming in AE ' - if there is no difference, where is the discontent coming from? That is an explicit admission that there's other farms just as good as AE that only take slightly longer to access. If the difference between PI farms and AE farms is so trivial as to be next to nonexistent, what's stopping everyone currently saying this makes AE 'not worth the effort' from going to other farms that still are? With this change, that makes PI farms better than AE farms, at least in that single respect of 'post-50 progression.' So, what's the issue with switching from AE at 50 to other missions that keep Veteran XP progression - or just leveling in PI to begin with? If all it takes is 'move to another zone' for these players to continue getting exactly what they say they want, yet instead they say they'll just stop playing entirely and that the game is doomed rather than go through the hassle of a single extra loading screen... What's the hang up? If the venue is that easily traded, why aren't people just trading it back?

None of those farms ever progressed Incarnate abilities (ironically, which they now can on Homecoming), nor offered the sheer amount of drops that AE is capable of. Beyond that, those farms had their capabilities lowered precisely because the sheer velocity they were capable of advancing players was deemed too excessive. Those cited examples are the reasons why Tankers lost the ability to herd entire maps and had aggro caps put in-place to begin with. Sure, it's still possible to run those missions and farm them, but they're remotely not the broken gravy-train they used to be in the dumpster diving days nor are they remotely the even more easily accessible broken gravy-train that AE currently is. Another aspect that this comparison ignores is that AE is specifically player-made, and all those examples were Dev-made content. Players never actively manipulated the Freakshow missions so they only did one type of highly resisted damage or took away all but the least damaging ranged attack from Council mobs to hover-farm them with no threat. The effort from the player to find the mission that fit their character or playstyle best, while minimum (especially pre-ED), was still some active engagement with the game. They had to go out into what was the highest-level zone available and use only the content the game provided. Not purposefully manipulate it into the easiest form they could think of - or more likely, have it manipulated by someone else and then just thrown into their lap - right out of the starting zone. The issue isn't 'they're both farms' - it's that the player-made farms are made solely for farming, because players didn't want to run the dev content for its lesser rewards and lesser convenience. Yes, it's possible to farm in dev-made content, but that's not its purpose nor what it was meticulously modified to do (and only do) in the easiest way possible. Fair point! Blappers do count. My bad. xD

To make another curiosity post - I do not understand the reasoning behind 'This is the devs forcing a 'correct' way to play the game!' as a specific defense for farming The game already tells people how to play at every turn. Want to make a melee damage character? Have to make a Scrapper/Brute/Stalker. Want to buff your allies? Have to make a Defender/Corruptor/Controller/Mastermind. Want to fight the Kraken? You've got to go to Perez Park or run a Sewer Trial. Want to get the PvP zone exploration badges? You're going to have to go into the PvP zones. Every aspect of this game requires making a choice in the boxes it has predefined for the player. 'You want X, you have to do Y' is the default setting. Heck, AE farms wouldn't even exist if the game's predefined boxes didn't allow for it. The problem has arisen not from AE farms existing, but in the way the exist; compared to the rest of the game, they provide far too much reward far too easily for their level of investment. That anyone can multi-box multiple accounts of the exact same character, progress everything worthwhile about them faster than any other method in the game (including the specific methods expressly made for advancing those certain aspects, like Incarnate content), gather excessive amounts of supplies to fast-forward through yet more alts, all while not even having to actively play these characters or even having to leave a single zone - that's not a good thing. I'll readily admit, not everyone uses AE to that degree or to skip the rest of the game, but the fact remains that while that option is there (and remains as readily accessible as it is), players will increasingly be drawn to doing that at the detriment of everything else. Not liking the change because it makes progression take longer than it did before - that's fine! That's exactly what the change does. However, saying 'Don't tell me how to play!' while simultaneously posting about preferring to play the exact archetype and powerset combination the game prompts you into playing because that specific combo is the best fit for one particular, repetitive scenario seems counterintuitive. Fire Farms don't require /Fire Brutes, but if you want to do it the best, the way the game tells you to, they are the correct way to play that content.

Working as intended. Why do you think all the Mu mobs fly everywhere? 😛

With that 'Tickets for Shards/Threads' idea, the rewards aren't removed. AE would allow the same depth of progression as it does now, except it'd require that players choose which kind of reward they want to spend their time pursuing - like how every other piece of content in the game already works, rather than being the singular best, fastest option for everything. Even with that change AE would still more rewarding than it was on Live, back when vet levels didn't exist at all and AE didn't grant Incarnate anything. Requiring players to make a choice on what reward they want isn't taking away options, it's asking them to engage with the game itself.

I'm curious as to what other solutions people would accept. 'Leave AE alone' is likely a nonstarter, as the devs seem determined to deal with this problem of 'AE grants far too much reward for too little effort' somehow. Definitely agree that other content (task forces/story arcs/hazard zones/etc.) could use a modified reward scale to prompt more activity, but just buffing other content doesn't resolve the issue of AE still being the best/fastest. Adding any gates to accessing AE, such as a required tutorial/certain amount of time invested for new characters, would likely take more effort than it's worth - in-addition to probably being liked even less than this change. @Marbing's post about utilizing Tickets to earn Incarnate Materials seems the most interesting thus far. Even without Vet Level progression it'd still allow for AE content to fully progress Incarnate abilities (removing the complaint most folks have had in this thread) but do so at a much more controllable rate vs player investment/time spent playing (which theoretically absolves part of the on-going problem). It'd give AE Tickets more of a purpose too and serve to limit the overwhelming benefits that can be gained from AE. Players would need to choose if they want to farm Tickets or Standard Rewards, without the possibility of getting everything all at once while progressing also Incarnate powers - that'd be the benefit of running actual end game content (Dark Astoria, iTrials, the new Cimerora stuff, etc.).

Those people aren't paying a subscription either. A subscription or lack thereof isn't relevant to the fact that AE is, objectively, the most over-rewarding option in the game and has, continually, taken over 'What CoH offers' when it comes to new players. By abusive, I mean that AE allows players to skip over every other bit of content and still reap all of the rewards as if they'd done it. That the current mindset being shown to new players is 'The only downside to AE is not to play it.' No other subsystem in CoH allows players access to everything else. If a player wants a certain badge, they have to run the required mission. Want to unlock the patron pools, requires running a patron arc. AE is a way to play CoH, but it shouldn't objectively be the best way - because then it quickly becomes the only way.

If the only content someone does is AE, and just AE, they've essentially alienated themselves from the entire rest of the game's content by their own volition. That is not something that should be spread to new players - both for their enjoyment of CoH and for the health of the population. AE is only one way of playing the game, and it doesn't become a singular monolith of 'It's the only way I play' without personal choice. Making that choice as a result of not having more time to game is unfortunate, but that then getting attached to 'so I'll exclusively use the fastest, most rewarding, most abused subsystem in the game, to the point of bypassing/ignoring every other piece of content' is the issue here. As is that this approach all too easily sucks in new players, leaving them ignorant of how the game works. Don't get me wrong - enjoying farms is fine. Using them to play while casually chatting is fine. AE eclipsing all other content in the game, to the point that it's seen as the default, singular 'thing to do' that makes new players ignorant of (or old players completely apathetic to) anything else the game offers? That's not fine.

That's unfortunate, but makes sense. 😕 Would a 'check in' option on the Character Select screen be doable instead? That'd still require folks to check in individually for each character, without the rigamarole of logging in and back out ad nauseum - possibly over multiple servers.

The end game powers are the incentive (along with the badges and story content). AE was never meant to be, and should not be, a replacement for playing everything else in the rest of the game. Even with this change it's still the best farming option in all of CoH, still the fastest way to get from 1 to 50, and still unlocks Incarnate slots. Requiring that players actually do end game content to earn end game rewards - or do literally anything else the game has to offer via earning vet levels - is as tame a nerf as could be given.

AE content as it was could effectively replace everything else in the game. Level 1 through 50? Fully Incarnate out your character? Grind for inf/IO drops/salvage to market? You could do it all in AE, never leaving from 1 to 50, getting more drops at faster rates than any other content in the game, on top of fully kitting out your character with end game stuff without ever actually playing the end game content. Something had to give. Having to actually play the end game content to enhance end game powers - or anything other than AE, since everything else still gives vet XP - is a pretty tame compromise.

I've been wanting to swap around the Walk stances ever since the power hit Live way back when. This is fantastic and my Female model characters who've always wanted to walk normally thank you (as do the various Male characters who would have enjoyed sashaying around).

I definitely like the idea - though I think as is, without some kind of 'flagged account' aspect to activate them, the proposed 'time offline' flags should be extended before full implementation. Off the top of my head, doubling to 60 days for levels 1-5 and 180 days for levels 6-20, while levels 21-49 stay as is at 365 seems more reasonable. Provides a larger grace period, yes, but Homecoming also purposefully allows a thousand slots per server as a distinct 'make as many characters as you like' selling point. Setting the tag rates too low turns that into a detriment to active players instead of keeping the focus as a consequence for abandoned accounts that camped a ton of names X years ago. As a certain point yes, even active players will invite a ton of 'maintenance time' on themselves if they make a truly excessive number of characters - but with servers set up as they are, they invite making a ton of alts by-default so the system shouldn't feel like utilizing what's provided becomes a punishment. Perhaps there could be some kind of 'check in' option to satisfy the tag from the Character Select screen? It'd still require active attention/curating from players (moreso than just going past the initial log-in screen) and would still free up names that have been completely neglected - just without forcing active players to cycle through pages upon pages of alts in a continual race against the countdown timer.

Looks like it's the Metallic 2 Face option. Re-made it to double check, but I use it on my main - would recognize that particular sheen anywhere. xD

The Mummified boots option are only available under Flat.

There were a few minor dialogue inclusions in the Shining Stars series of arcs that referenced they player having different Origins - providing unique interactions with NPCs/objectives, mostly. Sort of in-line with how the Origin of Powers arc gives you alternate dialogue depending on a character's Origin. I understand that sort of thing is difficult to pull off because 'Devs can't account for every player background in the game' but more references like that in content could be fun. Also, Origin choice used to matter slightly more back in the day, when it determined your starting contacts with the FBSA and influenced which contacts you were encouraged to choose from afterword. That was actually one of the major points of having multiple contacts that gave the same Story Arc in lower-level play - so you weren't necessarily locked out of a particular arc (or forced to take a contact who didn't give you DOs/SOs you couldn't use). Frankly, I kind of wish we could still do the older mission arcs as they used to be played, starting with the FBSA in City Hall and following along your Origins' 'path.' After the Live devs streamlined the early game, there's some lower-level content that is basically only accessible via Ouroboros now, which is a shame. I get why it was done - the initial FBSA stuff is kind of just busy work without any actual story and was made in the beginning of the game's lifetime when 'Usher players into the hazard zones to street sweep' was considered Actual Content - but it still just seems a waste to have them sitting in there doing nothing. Hell, if they were just an alternate source of Scanner or Tip missions with the selection curated depending on the player's Origin, that you could dip into whenever, that'd give them more usability. Redside would kind of get left out on this, due to the complete lack of starting Origin-specific contacts, unless the HC devs happened to make some more. Though, thinking about it, having some of the Rogue Isles Villains placed around as alternate, Origin-specific Paper/Tip contacts could be neat.

Depends on the particular character, mostly. The ones who are more gear/gadget-based - Assault Rifle, Dual Pistols, Archery, Devices/Traps - will definitely have more aspects of their costumes made to emphasize that. Extra pouches, big utility belts, the Tech Knight quiver backpiece, etc. Most of my characters with supersuits end up with a utility belt of some kind at least, though. Be it a traditional Batman-esque one with pouches, one of the Official belts, or a magical belt with an enchanted storage space. Really depends on the concept and what I can get away with from the costume creator. For example, I've got a sewer dwelling ex-Vahzilok named Vivisection and he makes fantastic use of the Post Apocalyptic belt because it's what fits him the best, and the constraint of RPing 'just what he's visually got on his outfit' leads to fun scenarios. I absolutely do attempt to collect fitting temp powers and curate a list of appropriate emotes as well. Hell, I even buy up small stocks of Legacy salvage to represent various supplies the character is supposed to have (they're really fun to break out when my character has to pass certain items to others).

Taking a step back from the full-on engine revamps, I think there could be some improvements found in expanding the use of more modern textures and assets. For example, I wouldn't mind seeing some of the older building/zone textures updated with the newer ones, if at all possible. Costumes advanced a lot over the years, but the vast majority of the zones have remained the same. No idea if it's even possible to replace some of the original building textures with the Kallisti Warf ones, but it might be worth looking into? Also, having mentioned costumes - revamp the civilians/older contact models using player pieces. Just about every civilian/contact NPC can be remade using much better player accessible pieces. A lot of the original NPC models, especially the ones that were in at launch, a looking really long in the tooth. <.< Edit: Made a quick comparison of an updated take on Azuria.

One of the outfits I'm most proud of, my modern-day Cimeroran sybil - Divinare, aka Phoebe Taylor of the New Protectors.

That's a reasonable response, but not everyone would react like that. Not putting out any ideas of when something will show up just means the patient, polite folks will keep being patient and polite, while the 'You missed the deadline!' folks have nothing to get up in arms about. Also means they aren't obligated to offer explanations/updates of how close something is to release or why it didn't get released. Keeps those teases as they are currently - just fun mentions to build excitement.

Yeah, that could work. Enough to hide from minion-rank foes on its own, but still require other stealth powers to be fully unnoticable.

I like the idea, though I'm curious as to how the Stealth IO would work for a Purple set - there's usually some kind of 'enhanced gimmick' to the uniques for them, after all. Is it just a higher radius of +Stealth? Does it last for longer when procc'ed? Provide an aura of +stealth to allies near the user?