Waljoricar

Is the build you've attached in this post the correct one? It doesn't appear to have Spinning Kick or Phase Shift? Would love to get sight of that build; everything you've posted in this thread has been top notch and super helpful. Thanks!

In order to access Penelope Yin as a contact, you must be introduced to them by Jim Temlbor. Before Temblor will do so, however, you must accept an introdution he makes to an old-school Contact. "Find Contact" will not introduce you Penelope Yin under any circumstances, I've found. I like to fully complete the Contacts that I pick up, but a lot of these old-school Contacts are just awful; they run out of missions/content to assign you even when you're within their level band, give you three or four "Defeat twenty X" missions or send you to places that you can't hope to survive (Terra Volta at level 20, for instance). My suggestion is - let us decline suggested/offered Contact introductions permanently so that Contacts may go on to suggest someone else. Or just add Penelope Yin to the Find Contacts functionality.

I second this! It's my favourite stance for screenshots and would be perfect for a number of RP scenarios.

Hi all! I have a terrible cold at the moment, but reading all of your comments has been super nice. Thanks for continuing to keep things interesting. I'm gonna do just that! I was never really at any huge risk of compromising my character concepts, but I was curious about how relevant the language being used to describe their powersets was and, frankly, it isn't very. There are just too many variables, from my own short and long-term goals, gameplay style, difficulty settings and budget, to the context of original conversation I've been attempting to glean tips from. Trying to extrapolate universal truths about a powerset's eficacy is futile, especially if I'm not actually joining the conversation. I might give Regen (except on Sentinels) and Posion (on Masterminds) a miss though.

👍 In all seirousness though, this is a very nice discussions thread and I'm enjoying the discourse. Please be chill. This is a really interesting factor I hadn't considered. Being someone that has never actually altered difficulty or team size, it never occurred to me that the thresholds had been increased in HC. Realising that many of the perspectives on powerset efficacy are completely outside of the scope of what the OG came could offer is enlightening. Which is kind of funny, because I just finsihed perusing the Corrupter sub-forum for opinions (I'm going to stop doing this, this is the last time I swear!) on Sonic Blast and a nice Sonic Blast/Cold Domination build. I came across a pretty consistent theme of "sonic is bad anywhere", that its "rather lackluster" and that taking it on a Corrupter (as opposed to a Defender) is just kind of shooting yourself in the foot. The latter concept was particularly prevalent. Reconsidering those opnions with the knowledge that +4/x8 didn't even exist way back when, I get the impression that +0/x0 content is just not a part of those conversations anymore. With good slotting and a solid gameplay technique, terms like lacklustre, weak or underperforming seem wholly redundant for any powerset, even Regen*. Unless I'm way off base? Sure, I could eke out a little more oomph from a Sonic Blast Defender, but am I really going to notice the difference in a +0/x0 setting? I'd certainly notice the compromise I made to my oriignal concept. Even if I do decide to switch it up post-50 and start playing +4/x8, do other players really do that much vetting before allowing a player to join them in running that kind of content? "Oh, you chose Sonic Blast on a Corrupter? Pass". *Poison on masterminds does sound absolutely awful though.

This is an odd tone to take with a total stranger. Concept remains the single most important part of making any character for me. Seeing my idea realised on screen is what has kept me playing this game for so long and what motivates me to log in every day. The CC is where I spend most of my tine; everything else is just icing. Starting a discussion about an aspect of the game that gives me pause, or wanting to hear others' opinions about the language we use to talk about powersets isn't evidence of mendacity or a fallacious assertion. It's very normal for people to have discussions because the enrichment is in the exchange. Not every conversation has to be an opportunity for you to assert dominance or whatever. What? Do you think we're playing Top Trumps?

There's a really good discussion about how this term, amongst others, may be interpreted in more than one way depending on the context of its use and the dissoance created when those terms are taken literally by lay players not familiar with said context.

Things got a little heated in my absence! I've really enjoyed reading everyone's thoughts and contributions to this thread. There have been some very measured and thoughtful responses so far regarding how we talk about powerset efficacy within certain parts of our community and how relevant those perspectives are outside of those very focused discussions. I'm not making value judgements about how people choose to enjoy the game and I'd encourage otherwise to do the same. This is a really succinct way of describing the feeling I'm often left with after looking for general build advice for one of my character concepts and the catalyst for my original question - is the language used to talk about those often derided powersets relevant or helpful outside of conversation specifically about min/maxing? The obvious answer is, of course, it depends on what your intention is with the character you make; there's nuance to consider. I almost exclusively solo or, at least, I intend to for 1-50 content, which is a not insignificant investment to make time-wise. Once I've achieved my personal goal of hitting Level 50 solo, I may very well want to change things up. Start teaming, doing tougher content in general, etc. I'd be gutted to learn that I had chosen a character that, from the very beginning, had a immutable handicap that relegated them to a "carry spot" on a team or, worse, makes me not "economically viable" for a team to want me in the first place. Or, if we were to stick to the playing solo example (as that is the reality of my playstyle and the premise upon which my original question was built), learning that I'm about to choose the absolute worst version of a power (Poison on Masterminds in this example) across all ATs is definitely alarming. Now I'm wondering which is more important - enjoying being a Mastermind or enjoying the Poison powerset, because they seem at odds with one another, considering there's a really awesome Poison powerset one street over (Corrupters). This is a really well articulated response and highlights how important that nuance I mentioned is. Though, to be clear, I've never been in pursuit of the best power, I've just been wary of choosing powers that are oft looked at as kind of a dud. I fully appreciate that even that "dud" designation is subjective and influenced by so many variables that it loses all meaning without a frame of reference which is, really, a player's goals/intentions with a character. Yeah, exactly. This is kind of the feeling I get when I'm considering certain powersets these days. The "waving hands around" just makes me think of the KM nova and it cracks me up. It's so extra for no reason at all 😂 Sidenote: if anyone wants to quote me (love being included in this discussion!), please feel free to address me directly and not in the third person. I promise, the OP is very much in the room with us now 😉

Wow, so many thoughtful responses so quickly! Thank you all for your observations so far. This was a really fun read 😊 I think your second point is probably what served as the catalyst for my making this post. My first HC character back in 2019 was a War Mace/Dark Armour Scrapper. Loved that guy, lots of fun to play, but the endurance drain was just a total downer. Off to the forums I go for some guidance, only to learn I had apparently chosen the two most endurance hungry powersets in a Scrapper's repertoire... This became something of a trend. I created a Dark Blast/Sonic Manipulation Blaster, an Illusion Control/Sonic Resonance Controller (and Dominator), a Time Manipulation/Storm Blast Defender, and each time I'd do a little build background check, I'd discover that I'd somehow, yet again, managed to put together two powers with playstyles at odds with one another. I'm glad to hear that Kinetic Melee is at least fun. I'll probably go ahead a roll my Brute so your experienced opinion on the powerset is greatly appreciated. You're definitely echoing what I've read about Poison on Masterminds elsewhere. It's interesting to me that, whilst players often caveat their feelings on certain powersets as only opinion, general consensus on Poison for Masterminds really is "it's just bad, avoid". Such a shame too, as I'm committed to this particular character having Poison has a power. Water Blast/Poison Corrupter it is then! I think this is the right mindset and one I need to shift back into; there's no real need for me to be looking for build guidance at all, other than to demoralise and dissuade myself from playing a character I was super excited for five minutes prior. I'm not looking for endgame builds and I don't care about FotM builds, so I should just take a breath and play! I think this comment really cuts to the heart of my original question, which was regarding the language we use to describe those "weaker" powersets across ATs and whether those terms had any relevance outside of the playerbase who are focused on making the biggest, baddest builds out there, or crunching numbers to see what reigns supreme. I do think it's easy to interpret a lot of powerset criticism as "by choosing this powerset you are not only making the game unnecessarily more difficult for yourself, but also making it less fun as a result". I know that's the impression I was left with every time I considered picking Regen in any capacity. Really pleased to hear from someone who plays the way I do (for the most part)! Your comment reminds me that I'm definitely putting the cart before the horse a lot of the time when looking at build advice on the forums; people generally are talking about fully slotted, endgame builds - I rarely see builds designed for levelling base game content from 1-50. The stakes are so much higher when running endgame content, I can appreciate why the long ass animation on Kinetic Melee's nova might be a genuine point of contention for many players. I think I should try and better contextualise what it is I'm reading, when it comes to build discussions. Or just not read them altogether. I've been playing since i3. I think I know what I'm doing by now (I don't).

So I've recently had a couple of character concepts - a Necromancy/Poison Mastermind and a Kinetic Melee/Energy Aura Brute. Now, for me, concept is king, always. However. When starting a new character, I like to have a quick browse of the forums for bit of a build guidance and general consensus on primary/secondary synergy, playstyle, etc. I solo exclusively and play everything at the "standard" difficulty, so I'm not concerned with min/maxing a character. it's disheartening when I learn that Kinetic Melee is objectively the worst melee set out there. Or that Poison on Masterminds is just a woefully underperforming set. Like I said, concept is king, but I also want to have a good time as I play and feel like my character packs a wallop, you know? Which got me wondering; what do people actually mean when they talk about those bottom-of-the-barrel powersets being weak, underperforming, poorly optimised or trash on a particular AT? Is it typically meant from an endgame "creatinging a build with the highest damage output" (or whatever metric fits the AT in question) mindset, or are some powersets just so broken, so in need of rework that they're not fit for purpose even when playing at standard difficulty? Whether or not a primary/secondary combo is enjoyable is another matter, but I do wonder just how much I'm shooting myself in the foot by startig a new 1-50 solo journey with a character that, according to popular opinion, kinf of sucks.

I just tried testing it in Beta and my results were, frustratingly, inconclusive. It seemed that, for the most part, using Placate on an ambush mob only offered a temporary reprieve; after the ten seconds, they just started to hunt me down again. I tested this several times and there were instances where they ambush mob seemed to lose interest in me completely. However, if I approached them, even when Hide was activated, they would see me instantly and the chase begin anew.

This is a good question. Since an ambush group will always know where you are on the map regardless of whether or not Hide is activated, i wonder if Placate would remove that "omniscience" or if they would just immediately resume the pursuit after the 10 second Placate period. The former outcome would be a bit of a game changer. For me, at least.

Thanks for the tip! Thing is, it didn't really feel like I was too slow munching Inspirations - just that I didn't have enough! I tend to switch up my AT each time I roll a new character on permadeath rules, but I particularly love Stalkers and was sad to see this one fall against what seemed like totally impossible odds. I think most ATs would struggle to survive an ambush like that, outside of Tankers/Brutes. Has anyone else had this trouble or found a way to overcome it?

I actually lost a character I was playing on Iron Man rules last night. I was just about to post my own topic, but will try here first, Does anyone have any tips for dealing with ambushes? I only solo content when running Iron Man rules and ambushes just seem more and more frequent post Level 20. Playing as a Level 23 DB/DA Stalker (slotted to the eyeballs with L26 SOS), running the "Defeat Hector" (Warriors) mission in Talos Island. The mission, like most content so far, is a cake walk as a Stalker. Until the final ambush at an end. I'm beset upon by 5 (possibly more) yellow Luitenants (I levelled in the mission previous mission) and a few minions. Almost ten enemies. They can see through my Hide no matter where I run. I eat my purples and that let's me take out a few but, after a five minute chase up and down the map, they splatter me. I can't think of any reasonable way a solo Stalker could have survived that and I'd really appreciate some tips!

Thank you SO much for the heads up! Should be fixed now 🙂

And now for the BIG bit...The Name Giveaway. The way we did this part was in a top 5 style, which was then shortened to a top 3, in a similar way that Pandamonium All Stars do their in-game costume contests. In third place, hailing from the Excelsior server, it's @Unlimitum with Goblineer. They received 25 million influence for the third place prize! In second place, hailing from the Reunion Server, it's @VirtualGreen with Captain Dread. They received 50 million influence for the second place prize! And in first place, taking home not JUST the name of "Sinister" for their character on Everlasting, but also 100 million influence, is... @VirtualGreen with Frightman! A huge well done to you all; winner, special mention or even top 3 of this wonderful contest. We'll aim to incorporate these named donation contests into our calendar moving forward, but there won't be too many and they will likely expand to other servers so anybody on Excelsior and such will not be left out! We've already kicked off our next Discord CC, so head on over to the #costume-discussion channel if you want to enter or just see some amazing costumes! Until then, keep creating!

Winner Announcement! Discord CCs 2024 is back with the results to this week's theme. This week's theme was Sinister, which included the character name up for grabs if you were on Everlasting. We got so many incredible entries from various servers that we have 2 awards to give, alongside the winner and three special mentions. Our first award is the "Mainframe Award", going to an entry that captured the attention of one of our judges in particular (@Mainframe), and for that we have @Sile with Countdown to Doom. I'll post a few of their screenshots since the concept is brilliant, but we are happy you received this award. Well done! Our second award is the "Head Judge Award", which is a special award combining the viewpoints of Pandamonium All Stars leaders and contest head judges @Taffy and @Cyn. What they loved about this entry is the information the person gave us (included below), and is a testament to their dedication to great character design. Therefore, the award goes to @ColonelDave with Diabolitech. Now for the special mentions! We've 3 to award here, and these go to @Quantum Knight with Doctor Psychosis, @Dr with Spirit Justicar and @Canadian Prime with Volt-Ture! We love these entries so much! Well done. And our winner for this portion goes to... @Sile with Pickles the Clown. Man, this is such a perfectly sinister character that fits his name. He would've landed in our top 5 for the name grab if not for the fact he suits his name well and he is just so impressive to look at. By no means disrespect this, for this is a fantastic entry and you have the judge's respect since most of the people judging did vote for you. A massive congrats to you!

Thanks for taking the time to comment! The charactrer name is in no way being auctioned off; every player who submits an entry of a character from the Everlasting shard has an equal chance of winning that prize. It may not be bid for in any capacity. To the best of my knowledge, a contest with a prize like this has never been attempted before; it's a collaborative effort between passionate costume designers and an SG with years of experience running costume conests that drive engagement, reward creativity and motivate people to play the game. If the winner of the main prize wishs to release the character name into the ether afterward, that is their perogative. Perhaps that could be you. You're welcome to submit an entry 🙂

One Week Only! A HC Discord Costume Copetition Like No Other! The character name Sinister is up for grabs (Everlasting shard)! Thanks to a generous donation by none other than Huge Influence Prizes to winning entrants and special mentions! Any character may be entered from any shard Brought to you by Hosted on the #Costume-Discussion Discord channel (click the link!) The Rules: As many entries as you like Make sure the costumes adhere to the Code of Conduct Entries need to be in by 10pm UTC on 21st of June 2024, which is: 3pm Pacific Time 6pm Eastern Time 11pm UK time 12:00am Central European Time Please make sure to state the server that you are on. Due to the name up for grabs side of this contest, not tagging may make your ineligible for the name component of the contest Any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to post a message down on this post or use Discord. Discord names to directly contact are: Taffypanda, Cynwulf and Waljoricar. We'll aim to get back to you ASAP. If possible, please use the Homecoming Discord Server to enter results. This is on the #costume-discussion part, and you'll need to tag @taffypanda and @cynwulf for the entry to count. If you don't use Discord, post your entries below this post, making sure to make this obvious to the people collecting the entries. The results post for this theme will be available at some point after 7pm UTC on the 23rd June. This is because Pandamonium All Stars will be hosting an in-game unthemed costume contest on that date (Everlasting Shard). Said contest will take place at 6pm UTC on the 23rd June, in Echo Plaza. And, as always, have fun!

Are you Dutch?

When you say "remarkably accurate", do you mean accurate to a scale established within prior MMOs only, or are you including the real world too?

What is up with the size of cars, doors, NPCs, etc...? I'm playing a "tall" character for once and I'm still only just taller than most NPCs. Most cars, however, just look ridiculous by comparison. Running Twinshit's story arc for the umpteenth time have made me realise than Manticore is posssibly 5ft tall (which is hot). How do people feel about the physical dimensions of the world? Does it bother you that they're so janky?

I definitely see a lot of overtly Christian angel characters hovering around Atlas Park; with names and/or backstories that are draw heavily from theological sources, rather than angelic/demonic superheroes. I've no issue with it, but I do find their abundance a little surprising - I didn't expect it to be sch a popular type of character to want to play as, especially within the CoX setting. Sidenote: the Supergirl you're referring to went on to have a 20 issue DC Comis series called Fallen Angel which I loved back in the day. The character then moved to IDW and had a second, longer series, but I did not like that at all.

What's up with the large amount of characters based on angels/seraphim/fallen angels that I see? I don't remember there being such a significant presence when the game was live, but every third or fourth character I inspect seems to be some kind of angel character - fallen or otherwise. Is there a Biblical RP community Im unaware of? I am genuinely curious; it's not my intention to stoke a theological debate. I play exclusively on Everlasting, which is the primary hub/haven for RP, so my experience my be skewed. Still, I see more theological characters than classic comic book references. What is up with that?

This was really kind of you, thank you so much!!!