Panache

Releasing the following names over the next few minutes; sorry for the random order, but it is what it is. No PMs, just grab 'em if you can. So long, Paragon. Russian Doll Crybaby Cannonbelle Simmer Doctor Demonic Wheelman Doctor Nightmare Moonhammer Grimstar Star Devil Negaboy Caveboy (also Cave Boy) Danger Dame Newshound Space Baron Papa Bayou Old Bill Big House Forest Fairy Sky Devil Prairie Dog Sadboy Velvet Glove Sister Power Hunch Killingfield Doctor Volcano Doc Sundown Rah-Rah Jungle Girl Grave Witch Gamesman Automatica Hateball Jungelle Spyman Televixen Rainforest Riverhead Sky Pirate Soul Sister Gentleman Thief Scamper Kid Kahuna Fair Maiden Forest Maiden Ohmgirl Moonoy Native Son Homegirl Backwoodsman Witch Maiden Sun Maiden Deathwind Big Mouth (also Bigmouth) Paydirt Sharkman Telewoman Baron Space Baron Tundra Doc Gremlin Underhill Deviltongue Madam Martian Deathbot Kid Wendigo Witchmother Moonwoman Criminelle Mad Fairy Brassy Starfather Madam Mirror Rockabye Stonesong Bopper Dreadwind Army Brat Gravewitch Gothess Baron Bayou Va Va Vroom (also Va-Va Vroom and VaVa Vroom) Harebrain Grim Fairy Copy Boy Gusto Florakill Moon Boy Motorman Retch Agonista Scrambelle Spy Girl Spygirl Spy Man Spywoman Spy Woman Spyboy Spy Boy Spydog Spy Dog Kid Angel Bloodbeard Brother Midnight Brass Maiden Twirlwind Strongwind Velvet Voice Bogman School Spirit Lovebird Buddy Cop Doctor Madman Killer Wave Stormgrave Bog Boy Brother Brain Pottymouth Coldgrave Numbskull Doc Summit Offbeat Jungle Maiden Riotess Baron Void Shun Professor Planet Vaporess Glacielle Winter Prince Bog Knight Hooch Deathwail Madwoman Baron Planet Swizzle Woodsie Wolfdog Highness Witchmaiden Henchboy Hardaxe Bollix Sermon Miss Mayday Ghostbeard Rumbleweed Sugarcoat Torturess Bonebeard Fishboy (also Fish Boy) Doc Robot Grimwarden Hallowman

I can think of a few reasons why Jeffrey Jones (or "Jeff" if you know him, I guess) won't show up. (he is an actual sex criminal)

Comics are just a format; superhero comics are a genre. Comics can be as silly or as dramatic as any other medium. It just might be the only entertainment medium that is thoroughly dominated by a) one genre, and b) consumers who consumed only that one genre but also stopped doing even that 30 years ago.

They did that, it was Secret Wars 2015.

I have no idea what point you’re countering here. My initial post was about the amusing low-key hypocrisy of people wanting both better stories but also adaptations of terribly written comics with childish premises. Yes, people want to be entertained by interesting stories, I think we very obviously agree. Not sure what else there is to say or why it’s being framed like some kind of rebuttal. Complexity isn’t binary. Stories can be both entertaining and not made for children.

I think The Boys (show, not book) probably comes closest to capturing what it would be like if superpowered people showed up. I don't really even consider Watchmen a superhero book; there's only one person in that world with metahuman abilities (despite what Zak Snyder seems to think). And The Boys rules. There's always going to be an inherent silliness about metahuman stories, but you can be silly and interesting at the same time. I personally have 0 interest in seeing the MCU turn into Bay's Transformers, but that is of course just one person's preference.

I guess was expecting adults in the 2020s would want stories that are more complex than those they enjoyed when they were in grade school.

It doesn’t need to be panel by panel to be goofy. The plots of those books are like when your DM does no session prep for a one-shot. “Ok, you’re all transported to a strange location by a mysterious all-powerful being, and you have to fight each other to get home”. It’s Saturday morning cartoons levels of storytelling.

Which was also (originally) a promo/tie-in comic (to the Olympics, scuttled when the US boycotted). it’s hard to take seriously complaints about MCU writing if these are held up as the kinds of “stories” people would like to see.

The 1984 Secret Wars was a yearlong advertisement for a (crappy) toy line. The Beyonder was a Jim Shooter self-insert, an in-book version of a child smashing action figures together in a bathtub. The setup is absurd and the writing is worse, and still gets laughed at to this day. The only good thing to come out of it was the black Spidey costume. Did I love it when it came out? You bet. I was also 8 years old.

Siege is in the 3rd mission of the A Hero’s Hero arc

Always stoked to see a new First Player costume, but this one might be my favorite yet (well maybe tied with Throwback lol)

This is…a really tough combo. Symphony wants to stay at range and rotate its cones, while Thorns wants to stay in melee and leverage PBAoEs. I’ve run characters with that play style before, and your initial impression is right on; it’s a lot of hopping around. I have a few Symphony Control 50s, but I think they're all Controllers. On that AT, the proc potential of the non-Confounding Chant cones combined with the Hot Feet level damage of Chant, adds up to a good chunk of damage. On a Dom, ideally everything would be defeated before Chant did its full damage (it's a relatively slow DoT), because you have a whole secondary devoted to damage. If you push the build to perma-Dom levels of recharge (which ya should), there's a world where you can lay down a round of your cones, and then pop into a relatively safe melee environment. You'll see some Symphony/Savage builds that use this approach, which isn't too dissimilar from Thorny, but with the added benefit of another cone (that can take -Res procs and doesn't root you), and a teleport attack that gets you into melee quicker.

If you look at the post immediately before yours, you will see how you can find out who has these names. You are far, far more likely to connect with those players via in-game tells than posts in this forum.

I like /Psi, /Rad, /Savage and /Sonic with Ice.

Should this go in a different forum?

I’d be down for the exact same power but given a (very much reduced) Vorpal Judgement animation. Being rooted and being a speedster are at odds in my head.

So I have this Illusion/Rad/Psi Dom I really like, and have spent enough time with it that I’ve noticed it doesn’t seem to do what it says on the tin. Rad Assault is in a strange place; released on the private server and given a pass in 2019, there are no Feedback threads or guides for it anywhere (that I have found). The set has one major issue, and I’d also like to suggest two tweaks (these are less important and I don’t know if they are dumb or would break any design rules or anything; just spitballing). Major Issue: Fusion states that it grants the “next few attacks” a 100% chance to inflict Contaminated. This doesn’t happen in practice. Radiation Siphon is a solid heal, with the trade off that it only works on Contaminated targets, so Fusion>any Rad Attack that has the chance to inflict Contaminated>Siphon ought to be a heal every time, and it isn’t, because the target doesn’t always get Contaminated. Obviously the damage splash is missing too, but that’s a lot less noticeable and impactful than missing out on your heal. This is a fairly massive flaw in a set designed around that mechanic. Suggestion One: Atom Smasher is your typical Dom Assault PBAoE, although it costs more End than any of the others, has a 3 second cast time (only Combustion and Thorn Burst are as slow), and has a 10’ radius rather than 15. I suppose the idea here is that there’s a trade off because you’re inflicting both the secondary effect (-Def) and (potentially) Contaminated. I don’t think that trade off is equitable (admittedly just a “feel”). SUGGESTION: increase the damage radius to 15’; leave Contaminated radius the same. As I write it, that seems tricky to code. Something about that combination of cast time, End cost and radius seems wonky though. Suggestion Two: Devastating Blow is one of those Feels Bad T9s that a lot of builds skip. With one of the highest sums of cast time and End cost (2.67/2.904 Arcana and 18.512, respectively), its closest comp is probably Total Focus (although that’s available much earlier, so not quite the same Tier). I think DB’s main issue is the frequency of its Stun effect (60%). Similar melee “Tier 3” assault powers (Midnight Grasp, Seismic Smash, Earsplitter, Total Focus if you want to toss it in there) have a 100% chance to inflict their mezzes. DB’s cast time is a big gamble on a 3 out of 5 chance to Stun something (and an unknown but lower than it should be chance to Contaminate something). SUGGESTION: if Contaminated is fixed, give DB a 100% chance to Stun Contaminated targets. If Contaminated doesn’t get fixed, increase DB’s chance to Stun to 80. ALTERNATIVELY: leave it alone but dramatically increase its chance to Contaminate (if that’s working) OTHER ALTERNATIVE: have DB extend the timer on any Contanimated target (this might be my favorite option) So…thoughts? Feel free to point out any obvious dumb ideas or incorrect assumptions; I would love to find out that I’ve just been playing the set wrong EDIT: I didn't notice that Devastating Blow's description states that it always has a 100% chance to Contaminate; this doesn't happen, even if you pop Fusion first. Now I'm thinking that there might be some kind of internal timer on Contaminated? Tested some chains against the target dummies and, in theory, it should go: Devastating Blow (inflicts Contaminated) > Radiation Siphon (removes Contaminated) > Fusion > Contaminated Strike / Devastating Blow (inflicts Contaminated), but that second infliction never occurs.

Strategy-wise, the switch from Controller to Def means you want to open with your debuffs. Most folks start with Fearsome, then drop a combo of Darkest Night/Dark Servant/Tar Patch. (Personally I like to use Darkest Night to anchor pull the next mob into the current mob’s Tar Patch). Shadow Fall is life, it’s a great resist shield, good defense, and when combined with a Celerity: Stealth IO in Sprint (relatively cheap and available at level 12), you’ve got invisibility. The other early proc I like for Dark is a Theft of Essence: Chance for Endurance in Twilight Grasp.

It happens with Rad Melee as well? Oof. Good to know about the lack of delay, thanks for checking (I forgot I could do that)!

From the OP list of sets you haven't dived into, I like Grav/Dark. My favorite thing to do with that toon is find some part of the map (the 'open pipes' in the sewers work best) and Wormhole a mob into it, alongside Singy and Fluffy, with Darkest Night and Enflame.

Fusion's text states, in part, that it "...causes your next few attacks to have a 100% change to inflict Contaminated on your enemies". This is not happening in practice; there have been many times when I've popped Fusion, connected with one of the Rad attacks, and the target doesn't get Contaminated. I noticed it a few times in random missions, so hopped into the RWZ to see how often it happened during Pylon runs. It's a lot. In one two minute run, I had 5 cycles of Fusion. Three of those times, the very next Rad Assault attack (that landed) failed to inflict Contaminated. Is this a known issue? Maybe there's a slight delay between Fusion granting its 100% Contamination mode? Kind of a bummer that the key feature of the set doesn't seem to be working properly for me. A *real* bummer when you're counting on Contamination to proc Radiation Siphon's heal.

I've got a lot of high level Illusionists (both Doms and Trollers), and I think every single one of them kept Deceive, and slotted it with Coercive. It's definitely more helpful on the toons who went Psi Mastery and can stack it with World of Confusion, but even without that, Deceive is giving 5% Range Def and 10% Recharge; tough to turn those down.

In game, you can use /getglobalname Snowbunny to find out who has it, and send them a global tell to see if they're down for a trade or a release. Bear in mind, there's always going to be names that were snapped up early on by players who haven't logged in for years. The name reservation policy remains as fraught as it was on Live.

I could buy that if the variable wasn’t the Placate proc. A mystery…