Doc_Scorpion

I think you're confusing base portals (entrance to bases) with teleport beacons (exits from bases via a teleport pad = entrances to zones).

Quoted. For. Truth.

I thought of Dark too... But the more I thought about it, the more I wanted Fire to go with the color scheme I'd come up with. (Black shields looked like crap.) But right after I rolled her, I decided I liked what Dark offered too and rolled a Shield/Dark Brute. Forgot to mention her name: Shirodo Momoji. Shirodo means "shielded/armored", and Momoji refers to the red maple leaves of fall. (As well as being a girl's name.)

Right. In the real world, there'd be TONS of characters as buff/OP as her because they'd have gone looking for the information - and there'd be plenty of people providing it. Anyhow, I loved Bofuri so much I built a tank (very) loosely based on Maple:

- They're much more difficult to play than any other archetype. - They're often not welcome on teams because pets block doorways. (This has been fixed on Beta, but not yet patched to Live.) - They often have problems in higher level content, and require a fairly skilled and dedicated player to overcome this. So, yes, there's reasons for MM's to be less popular. And going back and looking closely at the overall numbers in the recent statistics: They're routinely at the bottom of the top (or the top of the bottom)... (That is, when they aren't comfortably within the top band.) They're not actually the poor, lonely, neglected, archetype you're trying to portray. They're actually better off than you might think despite their disadvantages. Neither Discord nor these forums can be considered in any way representative of the playerbase at large. They're a self-selected minority.

That's a... pretty big and not entirely warranted conceptual leap. Masterminds are generally credited as being the most difficult AT to play and that's always held their numbers down. (Along many people's allergy to having them on teams.) You'll have to do far better than that to show that there's any significant issues with the class.

No offense intended... Though I've only been playing since September, that's the first time (the latter part of the quote) this has been made clear. The serious testers (Sturgeon's law always applies) can adapt to anything that we know is expected of us. And when it came to the Dark Melee changes, AFAIK nobody knew (or clearly understood) that it was any different from the Tank/Brute changes. It was on the Beta server after all. Though I hate to even suggest adding workload, I'm with @VileTerror... Maybe experimental/alpha content needs to be somehow more clearly delineated as being separate/different from beta content. Rather than an event, maybe in the title of the Focused Feedback thread?

The basic problem with your plan is that it's based on a flawed premise - we don't run the show. And I'm kinda glad we don't - wouldn't be long before we're unlocking Incarnate slots in DFB. I'm only exaggerating a little bit - but that's the eventual endpoint of the "ever more powah, never no nerf" philosophy you're espousing. You can't up the ante forever, something will eventually break. As BaB said back in the day - "the best thing a dev can do is listen to the players, the worst thing a dev can do is listen to the players". That won't change one iota under your proposed system. Not every change is going to be of interest to everyone.... And the loudest voices often miss that because they choose to only listen to that which bolsters their foregone conclusion. The only way to avoid nerfs in any rationally run game is to not play the game in the first place.

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I use Google Docs myself.

In just seven days...

The system you propose, as I understand it, is character based and thus not available until you create a character. (If you meant it's only available at character creation, that's not true. There's a menu option (ID? Character Info?) that takes you to a screen where you can edit the bio.)

Faultline, pre-Revamp, was a massive PITA and widely loathed. That's why, as part of the revamp, players were no longer steered there... Which was something of a mistake because the revamp took away everything that was loathed.

Nope, has nothing to do with that. Turned out that balancing Dark Consumption was a larger task than they planned on, so it was shelved.

My previous testing of the new DM had been on a Brute, so I took a scrapper out just for completeness sake... Discovered three things. First, (compared to a Fury enhanced brute) the new DM/Shadow Maul is a bit rough but workable. Second, how much I miss taunt auras (since I've been playing a lot of brutes and tanks lately). Third, the DM/Shield brute I just started on Live is just gonna twiddle his thumbs in the SG base until this change goes Live. I agree with the folks saying that balancing a lvl 18 power against Incarnates is... not a good idea. Incarnate powers are supposed to be stupidly OP in normal content as Incarnate characters are virtually gods, while more "normal" superheroes are merely "god-like". I suspect that balancing Dark Equilibrium against Incarnate abilities is going to result in characters that are seriously OP (compared to their teammates) whenever Incarnates are not around.

Quoted for truth.

Thanks! Tested in KR, and it really makes low level attack chains flow more smoothly.

Nope. It's a very real thing that's been done to actual people for the stated purpose. As to "internet memes and wikipedia education", you're wrong there too. "Shock therapy" as a lay term from electroconvulsive therapy (formerly electroshock therapy) goes back almost a century - right back to the invention of the treatment. (Back in the 70's I was seeing it in books and movies from the 40's!) Not necessarily aimed at anyone in particular: If your only arguments against the name are veiled aspersions against people who wanted the name changed... Then you don't actually have a beef with the name. And this isn't the thread for you. Nor is this the forum for you - as HC doesn't provide a "dunk on people I disagree with" forum.

Effectively not possible for the foreseeable future as it would require considerable coding effort, and the current dev team is not large enough to support two-games-in-one.

You've thought about the pets. But you don't appear to have put much thought into the other powers in the primary (which are a mix of melee and ranged attacks depending on the set). Nor do you appear to have put any thought into the secondaries. Currently the secondaries (mostly) revolve around pet support - and leave the Mastermind vulnerable at melee ranges unless they're in Bodyguard mode. (Which is still kinda vulnerable and you lose the advantages of having pets in the first place.) Basically, as it stands, you've created a sort of Tankermind AT, only more vulnerable (since you're planning on not having the pets in Bodyguard mode)... Which is kinda pointless since you can already build a vulnerable Tankermind. If you want this AT to stand out you need to be looking at the secondaries, not the primaries. It's the secondaries that will bring the flavor and differentiate the Melee Mastermind from the current Mastermind or the Tankermind (which relies on pool powers and Bodyguard mode). Edited to add: And this is a real problem, because melee AT's get an offensive set *and* a defensive set. You'll need entirely new secondaries that combine both, plus the offensive powers in the primary, to build an effective melee toon, and that will cost you pet support. I suspect that can't fit all four attributes (pets, pet support, offensive, defensive/mitigation) into two power sets and still have an effective toon. (Not without overpowering individual powers, and that's a bad idea.) Pick three, or more likely two. At that point, we're back to the "why bother?" stage because you've either got a weak Mastermind or a weak melee toon. What would such an AT bring to the table?

I've tested it in the King's Row and Steel Canyon ranges and I agree with Myrmidon. It's useful in instances (even at default difficulty) and street sweeping, in both cases you encounter groups large enough to make effective use of the increased arc. (Not that there's anything wrong with treating an AoE power as a ST power! Regardless of AT/powerset, that's not exactly uncommon down in the lower levels.) I kinda agree with Grandfeatherx that current the cooldown is a bit of a problem, but not nearly enough for this degree of HWFO. I expect the coming reduction (from 14 seconds to 11) will effectively erase my concerns in that respect.

Quoted because I never could resist a challenge...

Yah. Once you set an official Merit->Inf exchange rate, it's going to ripple through the enconomy... I'm not going to make pessimistic predictions as I don't know what's likely to happen, only that it will happen. Given how many Merits can be earned in Task Forces (Strike Forces, Trials), especially when they're the Weekly Strike Target, there's going to be gameplay repercussions as well. It's something to be approached with great caution.

That three different people addressed your comment in almost exactly the same way suggests that just maybe you weren't as clear as you thought. Here is the first sentence in question... Not only does it very plainly state that there is a "proper" way, none of the following three sentences say anything to the contrary or correct the impression the first sentence creates. In fact, your final sentence implies that your desired solution is to make it easier for new players to find the "right" way in the first place. Granted, your method is to level and equalize all methods... But that still reinforces the notion embodied in the first sentence, that there's a "right way" (one standard all methods should be brought up to parity with).

If I can find room, all of my melee types take Air Superiority for just those reasons. It's a pretty sweet power. My non-melee types are all flyers, and they all take Air Superiority because being able to knock that one pesky mob out of the air is the heart of their "get the ef out of Dodge" survival mode.