Psi-bolt

Well, I don't actually know if anyone will like this idea. I can see why we wouldn't necessarily want to do this, but it would allow squishy ATs to trade some slots (and a power pick) for a small amount of status effect protection. So we already have enhancers that grant KB protection of -4. What I suggest is that the Karma and Steadfast Protection sets be expanded to provide: Karma Hold Protection -4 Karma Confuse Protection -4 Karma Fear Protection -4 Steadfast Protection Disorient Protection -4 Steadfast Protection Immobilize Protection -4 Steadfast Protection Sleep Protection -4 Each set would get additional set bonuses consistent with them being low level Inventions. All of these would be rare recipes and cost 50 merits. You could even make them cost 100 merits. They would be added to the 10-30 level drop tables.

That would be very nifty indeed. I’m not a fan of most account wide badges. Outside of Steampunkette’s idea, I would prefer that the content to earn the badge be engaging and accessible instead. So shorten Synapse, have a more accessible way to get all the mayhem missions, etc.

I never said anything about reducing all TFs to 4 missions. Both Manticore and Numina have more than 4 missions, but I'm on record as saying that both are fine as they are. Citing myself: But heck, 2 missions would be fine if the story can be told in that length. I don't care about the number of missions. It can be 6 or in certain cases more, if there's a story based reason for that. But most of these long TFs don't even have enough of a story to worry about. Now primarily, my concern is with two specific Task Forces in the game: Synapse and Citadel. There is absolutely no story based reason for either of those TFs to take 10 and 9 missions respectively. I have noticed that you don't even argue that those can't be shortened. You just keep saying that you would lose story. I'll note that you didn't make this argument in the thread I started about reducing Synapse's filler even though you did post there. I'm sorta guessing that this is just forum PvP for you, which is great because I prefer that this stay on the radar.

The story of the Apex task force is to repel the Praetorians attack on Kings Row and Steel Canyon. It's a really cool TF that has you start in a section of Kings Row that is under attack by the Praetorians. Next you move into the sewers to destroy some pylons. Finally, in the first mission you end up by the Paragon Penny and repel the force attacking Kings Row. In the next mission you're flown to Steel Canyon but your helicopter is felled by Battle Maiden's magical swords. After defeating a few of them, you defeat Battle Maiden in the square where Valkyrie stands in Steel Canyon. The point is to repel the Praetorians. Apex's twin, the Tin Mage TF has you more or less doing the same thing but you start in the Rogue Isles. They are simple goals, but both Task Forces have more story elements than the Synapse TF. The story follows good creative writing in that it "shows it doesn't [just] tell" you what's going on. When you log into Apex's TF a war is going on. You're there to stop it. You feel the emergency in a way that you don't on older TFs that send you to random maps. If you haven't done it, it's worth doing. There's a line in Shakespeare's Hamlet that goes, "Brevity is the soul of wit." You really see that in the later Task Forces, where the developers moved away from boring kill-all maps just to have an NPC tell you, "Here's a clue, go to the next map and beat up everyone there." You're right that a TF is a story, but that story doesn't need 10 missions with 5 kill-all maps to tell that story. Let's be honest here, the content that we're discussing might as well be this. Some TF/SF (especially the red side ones) really are a story. But many of the longest Task Forces are tied together with barely anything happening in most missions purely to pad out the runtime. The length of the TF is not particularly correlated to whether the story is well developed. Penny Yin's Task Force or the Imperious Task Force actually tell a more complex story than the Synapse TF in less than half the number of missions. Like most of the later TFs these TFs use completely unique maps, with a the pathing being part of the story itself. Penny Yin is a more engaging follow up to Sister Psyche because of the unique elements and lack of filler. For example, in Sister Psyche you fight Clamor in a random sewer map, where with Penny it's in Terra Volta in a scripted fight.

As I stated, Synapse has two goals. You could condense that without losing story. That proposition is readily apparent to anyone who has read the story for Synapse so you decided to argue against another proposition (reducing everything down to 1 mission) that wasn't stated by me or anyone else. But just for laughs, let's play out your strawman. Let's say you're right and we could condense Synapse down to one mission. The story is so thin, that may not be the worst thing. But you know, we already have an example of a very short snappy TF that people love and is run quite regularly. The Apex TF. Despite technically being two missions, the second mission is really just a boss fight. The first mission is the meat of the TF in saving King's Row. What if Synapse were reduced to one big mission that has you moving through various parts of Steel Canyon like Apex. Perhaps in the first area you stop a group of Clockwork who are attacking the University looking for something. Next you enter a service door to the powerstation and stop them from diverting power to the King. Finally, exiting the powerstation, you do a boss rush of Bertha, Long Tom, the Clockwork Lord, and the Clockwork King in a tunnel on the way to Skyway. After exiting the TF Babbage attacks you. There you go Rudra. One mission. Honestly, good idea. I like the way you think! 😁

It's interesting, we have a real life example of this right now. Positron and Sister Psyche are there on Ouro right now. Certainly, the revamped Positron parts 1 and 2 and the Penny Yin TF are significantly more popular than the originals. But the originals still get done. There is a player named Blapparella on Excelsior who recruits for both quite regularly and has both TF down to a science. She fills in a few minutes each time. Nothing stops other players from doing them as well. I have done so. The thing about revamping all the old Freedom Phalanx sequence (although I don't think Manticore or Numina really need it) is that the originals would go into Ouroboros. Thus creating MORE content for both team focused and solo players. Sister Psyche for example allows you to fight Clamor as an EB and it's not a bad "prequel" to Penny Yin to do solo. So, while I would agree that if Citadel were revamped then the revamped TF would see much more use, it's just plainly incorrect to say that the choice would eventually be gone. It wouldn't. By any measure, options would increase.

You would lose NO story from Synapse. Synapse has two goals, stop the plot to divert power to the Clockwork King and then defeat the King. You absolutely could condense that to 4 missions.

Cole meets you in Primal Earth and doesn’t countermand the order made by Marchand.

I once would have agreed with you, but a person in this particular situation has a different issue that precludes them from staying in Praetoria. You're told by Marchand to go to Primal Earth. If you're willing to be a good soldier for the regime, then you do as you're told. You were told to go to Primal Earth and show the primals that all Praetorians aren't evil goatee versions of themselves. That's what your job was. Those higher in the food chain sent you there. You're an agent of the regime. You support the regime even if you would prefer to stay home. By the time you reach 50 and watch as the primal Incarnates tear down your home, I don't see how you have a choice at that point. There will be no regime to support soon. You can't support Cole's vision any longer. It's like the USSR. Even if you truly believed in Lenin's vision for the country and wanted to keep trying to make it work, the USSR collapsed (yes, I know it's not an exact analogy). Praetoria is in even worse shape because Hamidon is going to conquer the world. You have to adapt to the circumstance. This is very realistic. Sometimes, no matter how much you might wish it to be different, your home is taken away from you. For the hyper loyal Praetorians that's the story of their life. First they are sent far from home to a strange world to live with the "enemy." And then, despite all you believed to be true, the enemy won. Utopia was lost. Frankly, it's much more poignant that they probably intended. Hence the many, many requests over the years to allow Praetorians to stay and defend their home. I understand the idea, but Praetoria was neither worth defending nor possible to defend.

Because ultimately Cole's vision is corrupt totalitarianism. As a super-powered individual, it is presumed that you have finally accepted that truth since every single path makes this crystal clear. And then you have some options: Try to make Cole's vision of a utopia real even if Cole's motives/real goals are wrong. (this is somewhat the thought process of a Responsibility character) You really can't do that "in the system". There's no path by which you can reform the system because all power flows to Cole. Even his minions, the Praetors work their own schemes in the shadows. See that Cole is toppled and let Praetorians have a chance at real freedom. This works neatly into becoming a hero and going to Paragon. It's most closely associated with the Wardens. Game recognizes game and you decide that Cole's real goals are bad, but hey he does get all the statutes and people call him Emperor. Not a bad gig if you can get it. So you try and get it for yourself. Just like with the Responsibility characters there really no way for you to get that power for yourself while Cole exists, so toppling him is the only way. Obviously a Power path character would go to Paragon to seek out a means to get their own slice of the pie, either as a hero or a villain (Rogue more like). Finally, you always knew that Cole was full of it. You always knew that this corrupt society would fall. The revolution was not televised. So you bounce. Either to leave the sheep to their slaughter, or to come back and watch Cole fall. I really don't see how any selfless or self-interested person stays with Cole after the story arcs. The only motivation I could see that make sense is that you personally love Cole and don't seek power for yourself. That's possible, but hard to fit a narrative around.

But he didn't keep the city safe, he managed the propaganda that the City was safe. There's a big difference. Malignant narcissist authoritarians do that. If they can't have their way, they aren't willing to suffer that people have freedom that doesn't adhere to their vision. When Going Rogue came out, I honestly couldn't see how any reasonable person could believe that Cole's vision was correct. Certain real life events in the interim has shown me that people are willing to accept the loss of their freedoms for the illusion of economic gain and/or safety. For those reasons, I have really come to appreciate the Praetorian stories much more than I did when I first played through them.

I think this is the right solution. There no real gameplay to looking around for random glowies.

If I were on a normal PUG just doing a TF or whatever and someone just told me straight out that they are having fun using KB, I wouldn't be annoyed, I would think that was awesome. Personally, I find it more tiresome when folks try to convince me that they are being "effective" using KB. No, you're not. You are having a good time and that's what we play games for. I feel exactly the same way when I see a non-tank using Fold Space constantly. If you're having fun, that's the best and only excuse needed.

Is that true though? I don't know that anyone wants realism in this game in particular. I don't expect the OP to care, a year later, about my response, but I would tend to just be honest. Say something like, "I'm sorry [insert player name here], I play an Energy Blaster specifically because I enjoy KB and want to use it. I understand that it can be annoying sometimes, but it's really fun to cause enemies to go flying and I hope you can indulge me." I wish more folks could just be honest about this. There really isn't many use cases for KB in relation to KD or KU. KD/KU is just better to keep things in place. The reason to use KB is that it's fun. If you're going to make the team go slower, then lean in for goodness sakes. Send crap flying. Be an engine of chaos. Don't hover over the spawn to effectively just cause KD. If you're going to be a KB player go for it.

The only one that is really annoying is the Siege mission, which is mitigated on Excelsior, at least, by BAFs being run quite regularly. If the Siege mission gave a badge (and thus was in Ouro) it would be fine IMO.

That's fair, but that wasn't what I suggested. I specifically just want to make Tina a level 40-50 contact. Not just to deal with outleveling but because her missions "feel" (subjective I know) more appropriate to the end game. In that respect, you would still have to do her arc without the Ouro lockout.

I guess it's my turn to be a contrarian, but I do think it's nice that there are some things that you have to earn in the game, even if that's really easy.

You are correct, but it's an eleven part story arc (I have it down to a science, but not everyone does). The one part with Ouroboros is that you're locked out of everything else until you complete it. It's why when I'm leveling an alt I like to ensure that I get to Tina before 45. But you really didn't respond to the idea, do you have an issue with extending Tina's range or are you just being contrarian (not that there's anything wrong with being contrarian, it allows folks to refine their ideas)?

May I suggest a friendly amendment: I think regarding Siege it would be sufficient if Maria was coded to always give the Siege mission first instead of the Infernal stand alone mission. Infernal is already in the story arc. Regarding Anti-Matter, I really, really think it would be better if Tina McIntyre had a 10 level range from 40-50. She's a pretty unique contact in that level range in that her main story arc has to do with the threat of the Praetorians just like Maria. There's also a precedent because the RWZ story arcs can be done from 35 onwards. To be honest, I think that Portal Jockey is already a pretty easy accolade to get and don't think it's a big problem that you have to do two story arcs to get Dimensional Warder. I don't have a problem with the OP suggestion exactly, but I think the biggest problem is the outleveling of Tina's arc.

A toggle that allows me to change all of my KB powers to KD. Kheldians to get similar levels of mez protection as Bane Spiders do. Shorten the Synapse (or break into two like Positron) and Citadel Task Forces. Give Force Field and Sonic, sleep protection in their AoE protection toggle. [EDIT] Assign Tina McIntyre and Maria Jenkins a specific portal in Portal Corp so we aren't running all over the place [EDIT] Reduce cooldown of Team Transporter, Assemble the Team, and Mission Transporter to 10 minutes [EDIT] Allow pure heroes/villains to visit Rogue Isles/Paragon City respectively, even if it's very dangerous (like the drones will target you) [EDIT] Give VEATs, Sentinel Epic power pools

Sorta on-topic, but honestly the game is in such a good state right now IMO. This last major patch really put the game in a good place.

I was thinking about new Incarnate slots and what they could do and what if, new incarnate slots improved the current incarnate powers. Something like an Alpha slot but it only works on Interface, Judgment, Destiny and Lore. Genesis Trees Force (Improves Damage & Damage Resistance/Healing [for Destiny]) Alacrity (Improves Recharge of the activatable powers & Proc Rate [for Interface]) Precision (Improves base Accuracy & Area of Effect [for Destiny]) Substance (Improves all secondary effects) Obviously, this would have to be heavily workshopped, but you get the general idea.

You joke, but could you imagine how awesome it would be if you could instantly build a small cottage that had services like crafting stations, stores, trainers and the like? 😌

What if someone genuinely enjoys maximizing their DPS, efficiency, etc.? Why is your idea of fun more valid than theirs? Personally, I'm somewhat in the middle. I don't do pylon tests and all that nor do I obsessively min-max my characters, but at the end of the day, this is a game. It's not unreasonable to just want to do really well at the game. This response doesn't really relate to KB, but more to the general idea that there is a "right" way to have fun. Back to KB, this is why I would like a KB-KD toggle that you can buy at START. That way people can decide for themselves how they want to play. Yes, some team leaders and some teammates will ostracize those who won't use the toggle. That's OK, that's those players enjoying the game the way they like to play. Nothing stops the KB player from starting their own team, like you suggest here.

I guess it depends on what folks consider a significant build sacrifice. I usually don't spend a lot of time min-maxing for proc activation rates to be honest, so I might be leaving some offense on the table. I usually find the sacrifices needed to stack recharge very high to be more distasteful, recognizing that recharge helps both offensively and defensively.