Zhym

Short of a "Tourist Mode" (which I mention upthread), I think a few design principles can help: Keep the plot simple Use cutscenes for the essential plot Put other plot points in captions Flavor text goes in NPC dialog BAF, of all things, is a good example of this. We all know the plot of the BAF iTrial—not just because most of us have run it a hundred times, but because we get the (pretty straightforward) plot explained to us at the start of the iTrial. Then we get instructions in captions as the iTrial progresses. There's a lot more going on in ASF than BAF, of course. And it does have some cutscenes that help explain what's going on. I think it could use a few more, though. For example, we get the resolution of the chip switcheroo at the very end, but that's the first most players will have learned about it. Professor Echo's dialog warning about Aeon's double-cross could be replaced with a cutscene, for example. The side-quest at Portal Corp. is another one where there's a (very cool) cutscene for the resolution, but no one but the leader gets the setup. By contrast, I think Becky is mostly done right: her chatter is flavor, so it can go in NPC dialog bubbles (although the first time I ran ASF, I thought she had a timing error in her dialog—well, monologue; only later did I realize that it was the team lead speeding through her chat). I know that "more cutscenes!" isn't something you often hear people ask for, but in a SF as long and involved as this one is, I think a few more would actually help.

Cryogenecists do spawn in the Manti TF. But if you're doing a speed run (and why wouldn't you?), you'll probably end up running past most of them or getting ATT'd to the end of the maps where possible. I just finished a Manti run and only got 5 Cryogenecists out of the whole run. Not a terribly efficient way to find them, IMO, unless you're with a group that's hunting them. So far, the most reliable spot for them is in...ASF (I'm sensing a theme here). There are nine of them in the Crey mission. They're all named "Dr. <Something>", not "Cryogenecist," but they still count.

That would work, if there were people patient enough to run them. Still, my "run" today involved doing the first two or three missions, making lunch, doing another mission, going for a walk, doing another couple of missions, then making dinner...you get the idea. No one in the game is going to put up with that kind of schedule. The technology solution I'd like (which I realize may not be possible given the state of the code) is a "tourist mode" for TFs and SFs, where the player's notoriety settings are in effect. Dial all the AVs down to EBs, and I think I could make it through okay. Turn the rewards down accordingly (half merits and no D-Origin option?) and I'd be more than happy with it. I am curious why the devs decided to implement this as a SF instead of a story arc, since the length and detail would seem to work well with a story arc.

May I ask what the settings were and what toon you were using? Villainous, -1/x1, with a DP/MC Blaster. Musculature Core Alpha, Void Core Judgment, Diamagnetic Radial Interface, Arachnos Core Lore, Barrier Core Destiny, Assault Core Hybrid. Defense when not in combat (i.e., Stealth at full boost) is about 49%/28.5%/28% Ranged/Melee/AoE (which I swear looks lower than from before the patch, but I hadn't played this toon recently before the patch, so maybe that's what it always was), Smashing resistance at 43%. Like I said—not a min/maxed toon by any means, but he usually does damage fast enough that his defenses are good enough for most content. And he's tons of fun to play. I suppose I could have tried with a stalker or tank, but there seemed to be a few places that ignored team size (I'm thinking the first mission in particular) so I wanted some decent AoE. BTW, I finally gave up on soloing the arc when I got to Ripplesurge. It was healing all the damage I could do to it once my Lore pets timed out. Maybe smarter play (or loading up on boosts, empowerments, and Super Insps before I started) would have helped, but by that time I wasn't really having as much fun with the arc anyway (and figured there was no way I'd be able to handle Rodney or Midas when their turns came around). I did get far enough to have a chat with Professor Echo to find out what that was all about, though. Anyway, I realize that this is mostly a "me" thing—my toons aren't powerful enough to solo most TFs, so there's no reason he should be able to do this one, either. But it would be nice to have a way for a squishy to see all the content in a TF at a leisurely pace somehow; I wouldn't even care if it didn't count for rewards, etc.

I'd really like a way to do a solo "narrative run." I tried running it solo with my IO'd, all-T4 incarnate...and got as far as Apex. That was it for me; no amount of Lore pets, envenomed daggers, or anything else I had in my arsenal could put a dent in him. (I'm actually writing this while stuck in that part of the mission waiting for the timer to expire, just to see what happens. ETA: What happens is you bounce back to your own dimension to continue beating up Golden Roller. So at least not being able to beat Ajax doesn't mean losing the whole SF.) It's a shame, because there's so much in the SF that benefits from taking the time to read the dialogs, look around, and click things. But it's a long enough SF as it is, and groups aren't known for liking to wait around for people to read all the things (even where non-leaders can even do that). I'd love a "squishy mode" on this thing so I could enjoy all the great content without also having to prove I'm the Toughest Villain Evah.

I'm working my way through this solo (we'll see how the AV fights go...my character is fully IO'd but not min-maxed by any means), and while it's a great arc, one thing sticks out at me so far: In Part 4, why isn't there an option to hear Professor Echo out? I get that it's a Strike Force and most teams are going to burn through the dialogs anyway. But it's weird that the dialog forces the character into a "No talk, fight!" response, compared with other dialogs where the character does at least seem to have a choice of fighting or talking (e.g., the tournament doorkeeper), especially when the fight results in a bit of an infodump anyway. The whole thing could easily have had an option where you listen to what Echo has to say and he teleports out. It's the first point in the SF where the only choice was something my character really wouldn't do. And if all I'm going to do is attack Professor Echo, why would I stop to talk to him in the first place? Was there supposed to be another dialog tree there that didn't make it in?

In the Gold Bricker tournament mission of ASF, I managed to Ki Push the Tournament Organizer right through the door he was guarding. I couldn't attack him anymore because the door was in the way, and I couldn't open the door without defeating him. Fortunately, I was running the SF solo and the encounter was early in the mission, so it was easy enough to log out and reset the mission. Because I'm a glutton for punishment, I tried to reproduce the problem. The second time, the Tournament Organizer got stuck in the door, where he was still able to attack me but I could no longer attack him. So (a) reproducible, and (b) hilarious. Still, might be worth a look at the door geometry or something.

There is a progress bar for Epidemiologist and it is in the Defeats section. Like most Defeats badges, it won't tell who who you still need to defeat, only how many.

And yet...it is fun! Don't get me wrong: it's not perfect. It seems Hard for the Sake of Being Hard way too often, even on normal mode. And it really would have benefited from being split into a couple of SFs to make it less of a marathon. But at least in the two times I've played it so far (both on normal mode, once with a team that "sped" through and another that went on one of the side quests—perhaps you know the 1, Heroes?), I was thinking, "Wow, this is cool!" not, "Positron's electric balls! Will this never end?" the way that can happen with, say, Dr. Q. The writing is great—what I've been able to read of it, anyway. Because it's a SF, the only writing most players will ever see is what's in cut scenes, NPC dialog bubbles, and screen text (or whatever you call the rectangles of text that show up, usually under my in-game map). Those were enough to give me a general idea of what was going on, but one or two more cut scenes might have helped clarify things, IMO. (Maybe one of them could be added toward the middle of the SF, and made about two minutes long, so there'd be a built-in intermission for a bio. Did I mention that this SF is long?) For example, Dr. Echo and someone called Zeon are apparently in this TF, but I'd be hard pressed to tell you why or what their roles were. Oh, and I have thoughts about "no deaths" as a badge requirement in a SF, but that's a different topic. But those are quibbles. Overall, it's amazingly well done, with some fantastic new maps, good characterization of Dr. Aeon (my second-favorite villain, right after Vernon Von Grun), and an overall feel of being original and fun. And it features the return of Becky the Tarantula Mistress Secretary! What's not to love about that?

The other six also appear in the Graveyard Shift arc. So that and Posi 1/2 are a good way to get Epidemiologist. For the Gold Bricker Smelters, the answer is ASF. Our team all had our badges before we were even halfway done with the SF.

I've managed to find one Cimeroran Traitor who increments the counter: Romulus Augustus at the end of Sister Solaris's "What Was Built Upon the Past" arc. Doing that arc 100 times is...not appealing. :)

Is there any way to make this explicit in-game? Like maybe a message in the Flashback challenge window saying that badges won’t be granted for that mission? The updated requirement for challenge badges (which means that arcs that award incarnate components instead of merits no longer count for challenge badges, either) seems to be confusing enough people that some in-game warning might be useful.

The new badges (and possibly all Ouroboros badges now?) only award for arcs that give at least 5 reward merits. Since the incarnate arcs award incarnate components, not merits, they don’t seem to award the new badges.

Are the traitors in ITF incarnate? Or do only the ones in Sister Solaris’s part of the Mot arc count?

There's also a map with the badge locations here:

Anyone have thoughts on the best arcs to get the new Alpha Not Omega and Deincarnated badges? I tried my old standby, the "Burden of the Past" arc, and it didn't award the badge (perhaps because it doesn't award any merits?). ETA: Answering my own question, here are pretty good arcs on either side: Hero: I did "Future Threat"—it's three easy door missions, a quick hunt in PI, and a talk. The last mission is a defeat-all, but it doesn't take long as those go. It took me 24 minutes. Villain: "Escaped!" (mentioned in the OP) works really well. 5 merits, so it counts for the badge. Three missions, each requires only defeating the boss's group. It took me about 8 minutes, and it only took that long because I stopped to defeat some Crey Gamma Tanks along the way to make progress towards the Totally Radical badge. Note that "Eye of Judgment," also listed in the OP, won't work—it doesn't grant merits.

Added names in case that's useful.

I was able to get something close by combining tights for the upper legs with "Kung Fu" boots. The only problem is that you're stuck with the Kung Fu sandals as "shoes." (So, on the topic of the thread, I'd like to be able to choose bare lower legs with different sorts of shoes.) That's Mediocre Fred. He started out as a Smothers Brothers homage (his fighting form is a werewolf), but since "Fred" is also a term for a certain kind of biker, I made the above costume for his human form. The bike jersey is a Malaise pattern on tights, the bike helmet is a Freedom Corps helmet (unfortunately, I couldn't make safety yellow work with that piece), and the messenger bag is the Money Bag backpack.

This is great—and what should go in the “Details” tab of each power, IMO.

If the test was, “How many responses will I get to a post asking people to ignore it,” I’d say it has been answered.

Wow. That's...astounding. Well done, I guess? ;)

You just made me realize what's so awful about KM/Regen in particular: it's a pairing of a click-heavy secondary (regen) with a really slow primary (KM). So you have to fit those regen clicks in between really slow KM animations, and the whole experience is incredibly frustrating. OTOH, I guess those slow attack animations create plenty of time to decide which regen power to click next. If you ever wanted CoX to be a turn-based strategy game, KM/Regen is for you! As long as you don't mind that everyone else, including your enemies, are playing it as a real-time game.

I've played a few combos that didn't work well together: Assault Rifle/Invulnerability Sentinel (I didn't quite realize just how many problems that build has until I noticed it was easier to cap resists on a defender, fer crying out loud), Sonic/Kinetic Corruptor (only later did I realize that a Kin/Sonic Defender is better in nearly every way), and a Beam Rifle/Mental Blaster. But there's only one powerset combo I've tried that's so bad that I'd rather go clean the bathroom than play it again: Kin/Regen Brute. Kin is cheesy and slow, and regen is...well, regen. There's nothing about that combo to recommend it, IMO. And yes, I realize that many would consider "anything with Kinetic Melee in it" also to be a valid answer.

I made a BR/Mental blaster purely on character theme. And, like a lot of theme builds I've tried, this powerset combo is turning out not so great. BR wants to be ranged, Mental seems mostly about the melee, it's very clicky and busy, and there don't seem to be any natural synergies. Before I abandon the alt entirely, is there anything I should be trying with this combo to make it fun—or at least usable? Should I just take three or four of the BR powers, use secondaries and IOs to build up melee defense, and lean into the Mental blappage? I did find this post on the Mental secondary, which is a great help, but any advice on making it work with Beam (if that's even possible) would be welcome:

Ahhh! That makes sense. I didn't even think of Mr. Green Jeans having a bunch of little Green Jeanses, at least one of whom would have seen robotics as a way to move off the farm! (We're way off topic, but I like this topic better than the original, so.)