Redletter

Ive been trying to make the Compensator work, it's one of the pistols quite lacking in the customization department and has it's role as "big hand gun" filled out much better by other pistols (the default semi-auto comes to mind). Since I'd been thining about Remaking the Merc/Emp Master Mind I have on excelsior into a solo character for everlasting, I decided to try her out and wouldnt you know it, she really rocks them. Im personally a total sucker for the Maelstrom pistols, but they look TINY on her and while I adore them overall, they really dont fit her "what if John Mclaine, Rambo, and Han Solo had a baby together and she was a girl" energy. One problem Im facing though is the same problem ive had with her in the past - I LOVE this look, and I have no ideas for alternate outfits. For reference, this is her bio; Anita Vanhorne is a very direct, simple woman. She likes money, she likes luxury, she likes power, and she likes good company - in that order. Anita has strived to push herself to meet her needs by whatever means necessary and has never had qualms about doing something morally wrong for a material gain. She long since discovered it is best to play both sides of a conflict if you want to get ahead, and the situation with the ongoing struggles between super powered heroes and villains has been no different. Both sides need skilled hands, both sides have the money to pay those hands. Though, Anita is keenly aware that only one of those sides has a tendency to "remove" people they find problematic. So while Arachnos typically pays better, she knows who'd she choose if it really came down to it... Any questions for further feedback feel free to ask. Im looking for whatever you can conjure - alt battle outfits, casual wear, ya got carte blanche because im dead out of ideas. AnitaAlone.costume

Some dreams are worth fighting for...

That's literally the position Im in. I find that the extra damage from incendiary doesnt help abate that feeling wither, so I've gone to chem almost singularly, which is what sorta brought on my trying to see if it was worth rebuilding the character as a defender, as the bigger debuff sounds more my speed? But like, I just couldnt figure out what set to drop into the primary - I figured Sound since the -res should, in theory, make up for the difference in damage between blaster and defender. I still have time (ha) to figure things out, but this has all been pretty helpful. With Time/DP gving me actual heals and yet more debuffs.

I use a variant of the design for my obligatory "Stars and Stripes Super", but im glad you liked it, thank you,

Oh I wasnt actually picking on you, I have friends who speedrun and other sorts of competitive gaming, Im keenly aware that absolute command over the information being supplied you is directly tied to how you can afford to play, since that meta feedback is crucial to these things. It's funny because Im a baby who looks at number streams and my brain turns to the same mashed potatos the game's code is made from.

I wanted to call her "Miss Liberty But She's Not A Disapointment To Her Parents" but that's too many characters Miss Liberty But Hot.costume

Also, arm casts for Assault rifle that remove the gun entirely. I'd rock that awful set if I spice it up to make a bootleg jango fett

Isnt Darkness chock full of tentacles? Im not opposed to adding more tentacles, Im just saying though. Unless you mean like... FISHman lovecraft, which i'd agree on. Coralax MM would be fun. Insmouthster Mind. if you will.

I dont need your fancy, pantsy positive reinforcement! Imma big girl! I can make 300 characters and play maybe 6 alllllll by my self!

I love the grenade powers, Hand Grenade is lowkey nice as a way to give you a quick, dirty AoE that's also got some KB on the side. It's actually really useful in lots of scenarios. I like to lob one at Nemesis firing squads, since theyre liable to carpet bomb me if I dont. Very useful.

Your UI scares me more than trying to solo Libby's Rogue Isles Roadtrip.

It's just so stylish, guys. Is it even worth it as a defender though? Im sitting here, looking at Sonic Resonance, and duelies and everytime I pick Sonic Blast, I go "wait. this isnt nearly as stylish as jumping around like a fool, shooting peas everywhere" and I navigate back to Duel Pistols. So, as a person who's only ever played Elec/Elec and Sonic/Sonic, is Duelies like, good? I used them on a /time blaster, and the set was fun but lacking something, ya know? Like, I was really squishy (at least going through Gold Side content solo) but the animations are so cool and the modeling on the pistols arent bad, and it's just like, such a dumb cool set. I digress though. I guess what Im getting at is what're duel pistols like on a defender, and what's a complimentary primary for them?

You had me at

I dont even mind it, like I really enjoyed the plot on blue side. I had done the twinshot stuff, so I had already kinda met manticore, and without knowing too much about if there' more missions with him and stuff, it kinda felt like Manticore and I had some history as a sorta "jerky, unofficial mentor" and "ludicrously powerful demigod student". I liked the idea of him being ousted from his pals and going at arachnos alone and us tagging along with him being powerless to stop us from trying to help him. It was like, I didnt feel like a Sue (could be because I was a tanker, and my damage PALED in comparison to his). And the question of manticore's allegiance was kinda fun for me, since like, he DOES seem like an asshole who'd join the badguys JUST to spite Statesmen for throwing him out of the good guy gang. It's just that there IS no payoff to that. Silos is literally hyping it up and telling you "oh i know you dont believe it, but its tooootally true! It's reeeeeally haaaaapppening ohhh boy" and it was after this mission I decided Mender Silos NEVER outgrew being an enormous fucking troll. I was pissed, in both routes. Because here's something fun! So. The OPPOSITE faction supers (Lord Recluse's inner circle for Blues, Freedom Phalanx/Vindicators for Reds) has the OMNISCIENT A.I. They know EXACTLY where you are, at all times, and they WILL follow you from ANYWHERE in the map - the ONLY time they stop is when something attacks them enough to pull their hyper aggro from you, to them. While YOUR allies are totally blind. More than that though, YOUR allies are made of tissue paper. The random NON named characters in the mission can absolutely end ANY of the Blue Side heroes with you. That's not including the named characters who can, and will, eviscerate them (Sirocco took out Libby in three hits, baseline level 50 with NO difficulty modifiers and Statesmen died OFF SCREEN in my run, I have NO idea what got him). It's why, for anybody who wants to do this, DONT play blue side. Play Redside, for two reasons. 1: Fighting alongside the Jade Spider is kinda cool, so far in my time with the game you dont really get giant monster allies, and it's model is really cool. Doubly so if youre like, ACTUALLY into the decor of Redside and are repping arachnos aesthetics. 2: Ghost Widow is, without any exageration, the single most powerful named character in this entire mission, regardless of side. As a mostly fully incarnate elec/elect tanker with mostly completed slots I couldnt KILL her on my blue run (she couldnt kill me either, we were literally deadlocked) and on me red run she was UNKILLABLE. She, quite literally, 3v1'd Statesmen, Manticore, Sister Psyche. Before that, she basically solo'd the entire host of heroes who showed up, even including Synapse's bullshit ressurection. There was a point where I realized that, even if I were dead, they would aggro to her, and she'd fight them all. I sat and watched her just fucking murder everyone. I dont know who's waifu Ghost Widow was, but holy shit she's unstoppable. Im halfway convinced the "she'll survive as long as arachnos exists" line is just a token lore explanation as to why they made her an unkillable turbo deity...

See, I thought this was gonna be a post discussing Illusion as a powerset in general, and I'd agree to it needing a tiny bit of a touch up, if only because I think TWO stealth powers is a bit much and Id much prefer the ability to do something like enter phase? The set is very closely tied to the carnies, and they can enter phase so I think I'd happily trade either the AoE stealth or the personal stealth for this rare but potent utility, or a targeted power that can target enemies or allies that will either put them into phase, or pull them out of it? I think that's worth a thought. There's very few sets that even get to "shift" and the only readily available source of SINGLE target shifting is a P2W power. It feels like it's an ability this set would naturally have but doesn't, which is odd because Gravity DOES get it, and they get it in the form of a MASSIVE AoE that has stuns and roots and all kinds of stuff. People have mixed feelings about that power BECAUSE how massive it is, but I think, for the Illusion 'troller, a simple single target toggle would work very well. You could target an ally in danger and make them TOTALLY invincible to save them, you could target a stalker that accidentally pulled aggro from a tank and let them get back into Hidden, or you could target an enemy (obviously carnies come to mind first) and either pull them back into our reality or send them out of it. Also, I'll be honest, as AMAZING as confuse as a mez is (and Deceive is a NOTABLY powerful version of this mez) I don't think it feels right with the rest of the set. It's likely just me, but I think I'd honestly appreciate an AoE debuff or even Placate (and then make Controller's passive proc the extra damage on Placated foes)? I might be crazy, but like, the whole set is VERY single target focused for a 'troller set, since the idea is your pets will pick up the slack, but it just doesn't feel right, since you're relying on them for SO much in large part to your lack of other tools to help. Like, besides your pets all you get is a single target confuse, two single target damaging attacks, an admittedly stupendous aoe hold, and not one but TWO stealth powers. What I don't think is worth a thought though is a buff to PA just because there's literally less than 10 enemies in the game that can damage them, all of whom you'd meet doing content intended for larger teams.

I support Ninja Tools as a ranged damage set. Also, while we're at it. Grenadier set maybe? The Soldier of Arachnos is like, the only class in the game that gets more than one grenade power (Mercs MM technically gets their pets with 'nades, but that hardly counts) Like, I do enjoy Trick Arrow, but sometimes I just want to lob nades. I'd be happy to just, like, take that entire AT, lower the range, and buff the recharge (or give each power "charges" like Burst of Speed, that can be used before putting the power on cooldown) and call it a day. Also, sniper AT! Assault Rifle doesnt count, gimme a reason to slot the sniper IOs. The closest thing we actually get to this is Psy Blasts (which are BRAIN SNIPERS) but I want a GUN. Likewise, Missile Launchers. Missile Launcher AT. I dont CARE if it's a dumb idea that'd be a total pain and totally meaningless to implment. LRM Rocket Launcher is the ONLY missile launcher in the WHOLE game that we get, and guess what? It's animation is busted due to WACKY WEAPON CODE! Also also, M I N I G U N S! Council's got miniguns. 5th Column's got miniguns. LONGBOW HAS MINIGUNS! I want a minigun. Assault Rifle is trying too hard to cater to EVERY weapon niche when I just need a steady gun to take care of my simple needs. Also, for the melee bois, Sonic Melee? Blaster is the only one that gets anything CLOSE to sonic melee attacks, but I think if ranged bois can get rocks, it's high time melee bois got noise fists! And, while this isnt an idea for a primary set of any sort... Battle Maiden has this sick as fuck halbird? And Staffs get a realllllllly dinky little one. I want the big stick! Gimme gimme!

Wow, I cant believe this nerd traveled through time to steal my idea.

Yeah but Im entitled, so give me more.

Im not sure what a flashback arc is, but like, the Oro mission from the floating lizard guy was really nice? Like, the one with the chunky speedster. Never in the course of the game (up till then) had I been felt for a character, but like, I really wanted to save the tubby speedster who, like an absolute HERO, decided he'd throw hands with some Circle of Thorns head-honcho even though there was NO way he'd win that fight. Compared to like, the missions Silos sends you on for the Jade Spider thing? Like, god, I thought those were gonna go somewhere but I felt really gipped when the Redside version has Manticore go "Ok I know I totally helped you build the jade spider, using sister psyche, but YOURE a total dumbass, I was faking the WHOLE time, and Sister Psyche is totally alive now fight me, her, and Statesmen". I wouldnt have rolled my eyes if Silos hadnt been hyping up Redside Manticore the WHOLE time like "Oh? Are you SHOCKED? SURPRISED? BEFUDDLED and ASTONSHED?! Yes, you see, Manticore is truly a man who hides much DARKNESS in his heart you see, yes yes, he, in many timelines, is the right hand of Lord Recluse! Oh? You still dont believe he could, would, and IS a villain? Oh ho! Well! Continue! Continue and see! Watch as this mighty hero proves to you, that he is, in fact... A VILLAIN! For the GREATER GOOOOOOD" Then Manticore himself is like "Nah idiot, youre a big stupid. I was fakin' the whole time." and fuckin Silos has NOTHING to say. He's just like "Ah well done, youve changed the timeline, good job..."

Pfft. Imagine. Needing a SORT function when you could instead just cure your altitous! Now excuse me, while I got make a new character...

I mean, it's all Statesmen's fault, really, if you like, really think about it. Even if it's not, we can all safely blame him, and move on. But it totally is though...

Dont be silly, left hands dont exist.

Debris Vomit is my favorite AT. And that lefty thing is because weebs read right to left, so naturally, they have to hold their swords wrong as well.

It'd be nice! If only because im sick of having to go home and change everytime im at a party with Manticore.