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Am I wrong in saying that only one of the new origin pool powers can be taken? I don't think a build can use both sorcery and force of will. Only heard it so; not tested.

New suggestion: Ramming damage.

I don't mind going slow and I like being able to chat between missions. Big numbers aren't everything.

This is a good thread.

Group fly is about to go from mostly useless to totally useless.

The difficulty didn't seem to dissuade us from playing, so I dunno if the game sucked. It was significantly harder to level 1-20 back then than any content in game is today. In a way, I find that kinda sad. I don't think difficulty necessarily equates to bad game design, though there were plenty of questionable decisions at launch. I think it took a lot of players trying things out to realise why some ideas and designs didn't mesh,. But I also think a lot of the newer conveniences are worse in terms of designing an RPG. I remember playing as a young'un and having dreams of what was beyond the Hollows. Seeing names on the map like Skyway City and Boomtown filled my imagination. I thought there must be some Emerald City where the godlike level 50s with their unbelievable powers like flight and stamina would congregate. An Atlas Park for the elites. I think the prospect of having so much to explore was what kept me going. I'd love to see Hazard Zones get hazardous again, in a way that rewards simply exploring them.

I honestly can't work out what PDH stands for.

What brought on this weird idea?

I was on a Cathedral of Pain run the other day (some if you Ronions might have been there) where we simply couldn't take down the Aspect of Rularuu, despite three full teams. We were fairly well coordinated and we had good leadership. Even post-mortem, we couldn't figure out why the run wasn't working. We do it often with barely a thought. The team looked good on paper. Either our dps was somehow low or we weren't packing enough -regen. It was the only time so far on HC where ignoring the team build possibly* led to not being able to finish the trial. *if anyone has any other theories why Rularuu might have out regen'd our dps, I'd like to know. It's still a mystery to me.

I also reliably get no countdown in universities. Could there be other factors at play, such as time since last in combat?

The Freedom Phalanx TFs are old content from launch. Back then, the endurance test (both of the players and of their connections) was the big challenge. Navigating the city was also a major part of the philosophy (Hence Numina). You'd have to plan a week ahead, block out your calendar and commit a solid few hours to get through the original Posi TF. The philosophy of the game changed a lot later, between CoV or the Faultline Overhaul, and many of the conveniences you mention started to get added. But that old content was slow to catch up, except for Posi and Penny Yin. I quite enjoy exploring the city between missions. It's time I spend chatting and being social and I've never gotten bored of flying around the cities - especially redside. I think it would be a shame if the game goes too far down the 'QoL' conveniences. Heck, it's too far down that route for my taste as it is (The TUNNEL system bothers me immensely). But some of the TFs really do take the piss, especially Citadel which has you ping ponging back and forth between Talos and IP. There's certainly a demand for it. In actuality, these TFs need a rewrite to bring them up to the quality and pace of the new Posi. Posi is a pretty solid 'gold standard' for what a TF going forward should look like. Though isn't Penny Yin all in IP these days? Not sure which TF you might be thinking of there...

Veluta fell in love with Marco, which GW didn't like. So GW ordered her to kill Marco. She did and I guess GW was like "damn son, I didn't think you'd actually do it" and bound Marco's spirit to her. I don't know if the apparent parallel is intentional or if that played into why GW bound Marco's spirit (she definitely has a soft side somewhere in there), but that's the long and short of it.

What's the mot-o with you?

If I remember right, it used to be the only place you could spend alignment merits. But I only ever stepped foot in those places once.

I echo Megajoule. I like to read the bios of other players, but I'd clock right out if they take more than half a minute to read.

*jazz hands* Excitement!

Sure - and actually, good thinking. But Kallisti isn't even a PvE zone currently. I think some sort of gimmick (this or anything else) would go down well.

There's a definite 'opt-in' to this idea, and since the GM is a prefab entity that would be independent of the player's build, balance would be relatively easy to achieve. But I hear you, if this were to become routinely designed content then the dynamic of the game starts to change.

Shh

I quite like exploring the city, but Citadel does take the banana a bit. Rather than ping-ponging back and forth between zones, it would work for me if one half the TF took place in one zone and then the second half in another. So Citadel would start in Talos, stay for half the TF and then move to IP (in a rewrite, maybe Striga or Boomtown?) for the second half. Posi 2 does this with Steel to Faultline. Synapse nearly does this with Steel to Skyway, but sends you on an annoying excursion to Boomtown too. I could see Manti just doing Bricks to Crey’s Folly too. CF is a cool zone that needs more loving.

Burn it down and start again.

I guess it depends on how often you use healing flames versus your endurance issues. In health (or any passive with a healing component) the proc fires off as often as it can, which effectively makes it permanent. If you use healing flames often enough, then the proc fires regularly anyway. It lasts 120 seconds, so if you use it within that timeframe I think it’s permanent for you too. If you don’t use healing flames often and are having recovery issues (or regen issues, but I suppose if that were a problem I’d say use healing flames more), maybe consider moving it. 6 slotted numina’s is a good bonus for ranged defence, so that’s worth factoring too. You won’t want to be 6-slotting health. edit: edited with I think more accurate information, having read on Paragon wiki that Numina’s proc fires 100% of the time.

Same boat. Can’t go too slow for me. I enjoy teaming, particularly on builds that have a clear place in a team, but I can’t beat kicking my feet up and quietly meandering along through the stories.

They don’t prevent it in CO. When I saw it happening, folks were organising what they would do ahead of time for what benefit. I love the idea. Maybe it’s a reward in itself. Say a TF or Zone event. At the end of it, everyone is rewarded the same badge, but one player (who collected the most mutagen/was hit most by the serum/at random) becomes the GM. Then it turns into a no-stakes PvP thing. That way there’s no incentive to cheese. Just beat up your friends.

Curse these fat fingers!