UltraAlt

All my characters have "bio" before they zone into THE CITY. All 150+ of them. Mine generally have a couple of formats. x gained their powers this way. x started using their powers because. x does y. x's life was like this. Things changed to x when y Now X, does this. Are you reading this? I don't know if I should be telling you about my life or not. No don't go expose yourself to radiation/get experimented on by Long Bow/learn magic from the CoT, .... and don't go wandering round dark alleys and get bit by @Snarky in order to get superpowers! Okay, so maybe that is how I got my superpowers, but it's not a good idea to try it! You'll get yourself killed! Or something like that ... they don't all fit into any of those frameworks and, no, @Snarky isn't in any of my characters' origin stories ... even the vampire ones.

General chat was created to give people some place to chat rather than doing it in /lfg or the /help channel and, I would think, that a good number of us would think that is a good thing. That being said, since long-winded conversations go on in that channel, I don't tend to monitor it when I'm trying follow /lfg and the /help channel as I try to help other players and maybe posting in or looking for posts in the /lfg. I go to the tab I have with general on it when I don't need to pay attention to the other stuff.

Have you bothered to read the Code of Conduct? https://forums.homecomingservers.com/code-of-conduct/ You don't have total freedom of speech here. You don't have the freedom to create a character that has a copyright either. There are limitations. Read the Code of Conduct.

Put on your badge deputy. We need you to document and report. Menu>support>pick option once do that, you can come to the forums and update the ticket in the support section - add documentation, pictures, etc.

"1967 A is a fictional comic book hero created by Steve Ditko. Unlike most of Ditko's work, the character of Mr. A remained the property of Ditko, who wrote and illustrated the stories in which the character appeared entirely himself. The character first appeared in Wally Wood's witzend #3 (1967)." - wiki

Careful. Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

Meanwhile, others rant on about the "Holy Trinity" of gaming.

No. It isn't. You are arguing semantics to try to prove your point. If you take pets into account then your argument is moot. You can use "ally only powers" on pets. Okay. The point of the discussion is to get approval of what you want from other players and possibly the DEVs, but, apparently, you think that other people don't have a right to express their disapproval. You want to discuss something you have to accept that there are those that aren't going to disagree with you. Empathy was one of the first sets released for the game. I'm going to say it again that I'm on the side of leaving it alone other than "Absorb Pain". There is no other self sacrificing Primary or Secondary power that promotes a for player character becoming a martyr for the team. The shields and buffs are a huge power-leverage for a team. The team in turn should be looking out for that character. If you want to solo, fine. Deal with the restrictions you have as a solo player. I don't recall ever running into a thread like this on Homecoming before. I'm pretty sure their were little to none of them before the Sundown. Playing as a solo player is on you, and doesn't require changing the game for everyone else. There are plenty of archetypes, power sets, and power pools that don't affect allies only. "It's not fair that I don't get credit for the kills by enemies that I confuse." "You could try another power set." "No. I want to get credit for the kills made by enemies that I confuse. You are being prejudice against me because I want to get XP." That is pretty much what I see your point to come down to. Or we could leave it alone as it isn't something that has caused an issue since the game was created.

What done is done. I'll step away so you can do what you feel needs to be done.

Yes and Yes. One player is not a team. One player is not a "group". Two to eight players are a team. Leagues can have more than 8 players and have multiple teams. I solo sometimes, but the game is built around team-play dynamics. The different archetypes are supposed to synergize to create a greater result than a character can when soloing. The DEVs drew the line. I didn't. Also teams are generally 4 or more on a team. I do spend some game play as duos for up to 6 hours a week, but most of my teamplay is on teams that have 4 or more players.

It was just a suggestion to promote what you are working on. Just a suggestion. You need not feel required to respond or even read the spoilered section of this post. I'm unsure why you are showing them appreciate in a thread that is only replying to me. Perhaps is to point out that my participation is unwanted, so yet another reason to try to back out of this conversation.

As I stated, not remembering something happens. However, it did occur. From February 7th of this year? You have requested a visible record, so I am supplying one.

Anyone of them that has minions. I'm not talking about teammates or side kicks. Sometimes the line blurs for sure. Are you talking about in the comics? Or about trying to create him in the game? Dr Doom in City of Heroes would be a Supergroup leader from my point of view. Other players would play parts of higher level flunkies and DoomBots. Perhaps Some of those playing DoomBots would be masterminds. I mean in the old days - no telling what is going on now - he was the ruler of an entire country. Captain America was always ripping the "mask" off some body and the "bloody" Red Skull was revealed ... just saying ... SHIELD had a lot of cover-up work to do whenever the Red Skull was revealed. There is a big difference between who/what is a mastermind in comics, what a mastermind is in CoH, what characters can be made as masterminds in CoH, and what characters that are masterminds in comics can most easily be played as masterminds in CoH. Most Batman villains were historically masterminds with henchmen. Lex Luthor historically was portrayed as a minionless mastermind. The "mastermind" is not necessarily linked to the minions in comic books. More so, it is toward the cunning and scheming which often entails the use of followers, hangers on, or paid henchmen/thugs. Being a mastermind is relegated to villains. In general someone like Nick Fury (Agent of Shield) or Black Hawk wouldn't be considered Masterminds even though they obviously have minions. I guess Nick Fury really isn't such a good example as he usually ends up going it alone. One of the things that typically separates minions from sidekicks and teammates with matching uniforms. Note that teams like the Fantastic Four (Is Reed Richards scheming enough to be a mastermind? Did he secretly cause himself to get stretching powers and turn Ben Grim into the thing in order to win the love of Sue Storm? And did he intentionally change Victor von Doom's calculations and cause Doom's disfigurement for the same reason?) and the X-Men wear wear themed outfits - they don't match completely. Fu Manchu? oh, yeah, a mastermind for sure. The Hellfire Club has a bunch of minions but I can't say that I really took any of the superpowered leaders to be masterminds. But, of course, in CoH, all the minions don't dress the same.

I agree that Absorb Pain is worthless as it is now. It doesn't even do damage like https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Inherent_Powers#Self_Destruction Empathy is a buffing set and not a debuffing one. You need to think of something that would help your teammates instead of doing something against the enemy. One possible example would be some variation of leadership (https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Leadership#Maneuvers, https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Leadership#Assault, https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Leadership#Tactics) combined. Not as powerful as having the individual leadership skills and a click rather than a toggle. My main problem with Clear Mind is that it wasn't given the same treatment as Bubbles/Shields. Cast on one, all nearby teammate are "Clear Mind"ed as well.

If I'm the team leader, I warn them that they are on my team and, if they don't like it, they can leave. If they continue, they get the boot. If they are the team leader, I leave the team. If we are both team members, I might ask the team if they have an issue with my playstyle. I might think if they are just complaining or trying to give me advice. I might tell them what they can do to help me do my job better. Or I might just put them on ignore. (I know, big shocker there) You didn't let anyone die. They killed themselves because they didn't know when to fallback/retreat. There are times when I have fallen on a team, and it was the other players fault, but I can tell you, that pretty much everytime that happened was when a damage dealer or tank that I had buffed/shielded/was-healing for some whacked out reason decided all of a sudden - mid battle - that they were going to stop fighting, figure out where some temp power heal or buff was in there tray, and try to heal or buff me. I mean seriously, yes - it had happened to me more than once.. And, I will admit, that I did get a bit irate about it. I told them to stop bother trying to heal me and fight. If they kept doing it, I would have quit the team without saying anything, but I do think that is different. Seems logical to me, but I've played CoH for years with countless PUGs. Agreed. Unless they are playing you influence to be their pocket healer/buffer/shielder, you are playing your character for your enjoyment. You sound like you are trying to work with the team. It seems that some of the players on the team simply didn't want teammates but minions. (Is this where I have to admit that I have a petless demon mastermind and when a player complained about me not having any minions, I said "I don't know what you're talking about there are 7 of them on the team.") Just because of one jerk? Was anyone else on the team complaining? Doesn't this at least equal out for the jerk that didn't know how to take care of themselves complaining that you aren't babysitting them enough? It seems like your main problem to me is .... The end-game breeds elitists. Make a new character and come back to play the game. The end-game is what is tacked on because the game has been completed, and it gives people that don't want to explore the game in different ways something to do ... primarily to keep them paying for subscriptions and microtransactions - both of which aren't a thing any more.

It shouldn't be. This is an MMORPG and not a 1-player game. The game is designed for teaming. The DEVs over the years have done somethings to make the game more solo-player friendly, but that doesn't need to be taken to extremes. You have plenty of options and don't need to play a set that has powers that only affects others.

and my FIFTEEN complete purple sets! I assume you both mean per character

Who do I feel like playing at the time. Do I have an itch for a certain kind of playstyle, archetype, or power set(s) ... hey, what server am I going to play on... Do I see a character that I haven't actually played for a long time. Am I just logging characters because of how long they haven't zoned into the game ... okay ... really because I market on pretty much all of them and I need to flip stock. I'm I trying to find a character for certain content that someone is recruiting for (because, you know, I'm in the middle of marketing but I do want to team up)? What might they be missing on the team (more relevant once the new page launches). I find Card Hunter to be a good change of pace. F2P with some purchases if you want, but not really necessary to enjoy the basic party to enemy or party to enemy player content. You pick three characters, gear them up (your gear picks put related cards in your card deck for each character), and go into dungeons or or duel other players. https://store.steampowered.com/app/293260/Card_Hunter/ This is not a paid endorsement of this product nor do I gain influence in City of Heroes by promoting the product ( ...or any actual real world money ...)

As long as she is invisible or out of combat range, she can easily heal, shield or buff a character without getting involved in the combat. I would say that this is a very heroic thing to do, but you will get the rando that gets a fly in their tights about getting a helping hand from a guardian angel. If it does damage, it will affect the other person's xp again. I can't remember what the changes are at this point, but, at one point, - if not on a team - whoever does the last hit point of damage on the enemy gets the full credit and rewards. I think you can get away with debuffs but the debuffs may pull agro. If the hero is low on XP, yeah. I would jump the mob. If the hero has plenty of xp, they may be trying to lure some away from the pack. in this case, you could most probably get away doing something to the ones that are farthest away from the hero in question. They will still have the limited number to fight and you can always just weaken the ones that you are fighting so that they can take them out as able. Sounds like she is trying to be heroic to me. I wouldn't knock that ... even though I had to convince a friend that - if they really wanted to run missions - they needed to stop trying to stop every purse snatching in Atlas Park. It didn't look like we were ever going to get to the mission door. You can buff, shield, and heal another player all day and it won't influence their XP gain negatively. With those things, they will be able to gain XP easier and be able to get away with more Leroy Jenkins behavior. There are times when I'll just fly around looking for players to heal/shield in the open world. There aren't as many of them as there used to be. Be a hero. Help those in trouble and fight villany. Don't fight someone else's foes. (but feel free to debuff them .... unless ...) If someone complains because you help them, then leave them alone. Team up! You teammate are always going to want your heals/buffs/shields. Have limited time, but want to help! Join or lead that DFB. Join a DFB, DiB, Posi 1, Posi 2, Yin, or Summer Blockbuster (SBB) - all of these can generally be done in less than a hour. The heals/buffs/shields would be appreciated in these and other team content.

I always took the Corruptors as being less Defendery than Defenders and less Blastery then Blasters .... more of a hybrid Blaster/Defender than an inverse of a Defender.