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I want to like the cel-shading, and mostly I do. But the way the war walls turned out bothered me immensely, and since they're so ubiquitous there was not much escaping it. I played about for a while but couldn't get satisfied. If anyone's managed to get it to a state that many of the the effects don't look... um... chunky (? I don't know how to describe it) I'd love to see screenshots. Actually a cel-shade screenshot thread would be pretty handy to see what people make of the settings. Does that already exist somewhere?

Oh absolutely, I don't think I could have emphasised enough how unrealistic it would be to expect whole new game mechanics and strategies. Undoubtedly, such things would transform the game away from what it ever was and perhaps was ever supposed to be. Just a pipe dream of mine. This is the distinction between types of difficulty. A strategic difficulty would fail because I as a player made a mistake, did something wrong or didn't coordinate as a team. You can learn and improve for next time. In this case, it's just that the mobs had numbers that beat the player's numbers. Once the battle of attrition is over and you've eaten through your break frees, there's not much more you can do. The level you're at might not allow for any more mez protection than you have already. When an enemy you were once ploughing through now takes a handful of seconds to bring down, it feels like artificial difficulty. Too much of this would absolutely be frustrating, especially when there's more effective content. I like the idea of an optional, incarnate-balanced extra-challenge mode, maybe even one that's incentivised with incarnate drops or a few extra merits. In any case, there's still so much pre-50 content I haven't touched that this game isn't going to run out of good times for me for a long while.

This is exactly how I feel. A lot of the time people focus on the challenge of the numbers game and balancing out powers, but the numbers game in PvE content was won by players a very long time ago. Balancing out powers at this point is just comparing efficiency of winning, rather than the difference between victory and defeat. Doing something to enemy values is, as you say, just an illusion of difficulty that only draws out battles for longer or might require some shifting of numbers on the player side. I'm also not keen on difficulty that makes the grind longer. That isn't real difficulty, it's just... longer. Pooling salvage in the AH is a very welcome change. It's a tall order, but I'd love to see more strategy brought into the game, like the LGTF Hamidon fight. Boss fights that require you to be in the right position to avoid AoEs or that requires some team coordination would be really enjoyable to me. While breaking the usual MMO tank/healer/dps pattern should be hugely celebrated in the game, I would like to see content that does need damage to be soaked directionally or that puts healing powers back in the picture. Some of the new content had fun stuff like this going on, but I get the feeling it was really hacked into place from the limitation of the tools. I self impose a lot of challenges, as others have suggested. On that account, I get very bothered when one rogue member of the team decides to go off and speed run the mission just because they can. That, more than anything, has really taken the fun away from the game for me over the last few weeks.

Endurance is certainly a bigger problem for PBs than for Shades. Stygian Circle has that covered under most circumstances. Until some energy blaster hasn't slotted their knockback for knockdown. Then we're stuffed.

I've not been able to play for a week or so, so mine is still sat at late 30s. Here's my Whips/Storm/Soul MM I rarely use Mids unless I have to. I like the defence ratings that I've gotten to (21 melee, 44.2 ranged, 31.4 AOE) with some S/L resistance behind that (less than yours). Compared with yours, recovery is about on par but regen is waaaaaaaaaaay lower. I'm a few percent below you on recharge. I'm gonna have to test out damage, but so far it feels alright. Levelling at +1x2, occasionally dropping for certain villain groups. I'm not planning on heavily investing in the build, so there aren't any purples or winter IOs in it. I've got other characters who need those more. Plenty of weaknesses, to be sure. Mez is particularly irritating. Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.962 http://www.cohplanner.com/ Click this DataLink to open the build! Kadabra: Level 50 Magic Mastermind Primary Power Set: Demon Summoning Secondary Power Set: Storm Summoning Power Pool: Speed Power Pool: Leadership Power Pool: Sorcery Power Pool: Leaping Ancillary Pool: Soul Mastery Villain Profile: Level 1: Corruption (A) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage (3) Thunderstrike - Damage/Endurance (3) Thunderstrike - Damage/Recharge (5) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (5) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance (7) Thunderstrike - Damage/Endurance/Recharge Level 1: Gale (A) Force Feedback - Chance for +Recharge (7) Knockback Distance IO Level 2: Lash (A) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Damage (9) Mako's Bite - Damage/Endurance (9) Mako's Bite - Damage/Recharge (11) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge (11) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge (13) Mako's Bite - Chance of Damage(Lethal) Level 4: Hasten (A) Recharge Reduction IO (27) Recharge Reduction IO Level 6: Enchant Demon (A) Endurance Reduction IO Level 8: Crack Whip (A) Annihilation - Accuracy/Damage (17) Annihilation - Damage/RechargeTime (19) Annihilation - Accuracy/Damage/RechargeTime (19) Annihilation - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance (21) Annihilation - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime (21) Annihilation - Chance for Res Debuff Level 10: Snow Storm (A) Pacing of the Turtle - Accuracy/Slow (23) Pacing of the Turtle - Damage/Slow (23) Pacing of the Turtle - Accuracy/Endurance (25) Pacing of the Turtle - Range/Slow (25) Pacing of the Turtle - Endurance/Recharge/Slow (27) Pacing of the Turtle - Chance of -Recharge Level 12: Maneuvers (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed (33) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance Level 14: Steamy Mist (A) Red Fortune - Defense/Endurance (29) Red Fortune - Defense/Recharge (29) Red Fortune - Endurance/Recharge (31) Red Fortune - Defense/Endurance/Recharge (31) Red Fortune - Defense (31) Red Fortune - Endurance Level 16: Freezing Rain (A) Achilles' Heel - Chance for Res Debuff Level 18: Tactics (A) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff (34) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff/Recharge (34) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff/Recharge/Endurance (34) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - Recharge/Endurance (36) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff/Endurance (36) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - Chance for Build Up Level 20: Hurricane (A) Dark Watcher's Despair - Recharge/Endurance (33) Dark Watcher's Despair - To Hit Debuff/Recharge (33) Dark Watcher's Despair - To Hit Debuff/Recharge/Endurance Level 22: Mystic Flight (A) Blessing of the Zephyr - Knockback Reduction (4 points) Level 24: Vengeance (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed Level 26: Summon Demon Prince (A) Blood Mandate - Accuracy/Damage (36) Blood Mandate - Damage/Endurance (37) Blood Mandate - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance (37) Blood Mandate - Accuracy/Endurance (37) Blood Mandate - Accuracy (39) Blood Mandate - Damage Level 28: Combat Jumping (A) Reactive Defenses - Endurance/RechargeTime (39) Reactive Defenses - Defense/Endurance (39) Reactive Defenses - Defense/Endurance/RechargeTime (40) Reactive Defenses - Defense/RechargeTime (40) Reactive Defenses - Scaling Resist Damage Level 30: Arcane Bolt (A) Ruin - Accuracy/Damage (40) Ruin - Damage/Endurance (42) Ruin - Damage/Recharge (42) Ruin - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge (42) Ruin - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge Level 32: Abyssal Empowerment (A) Endurance Reduction IO Level 35: Tornado (A) Overwhelming Force - Damage/Endurance/Recharge (43) Overwhelming Force - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge (43) Overwhelming Force - Endurance/Recharge (43) Overwhelming Force - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance (45) Overwhelming Force - Damage/Chance for Knockdown/Knockback to Knockdown (48) Overwhelming Force - Accuracy/Damage Level 38: Lightning Storm (A) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage (45) Thunderstrike - Damage/Endurance (45) Thunderstrike - Damage/Recharge (46) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (46) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance (46) Thunderstrike - Damage/Endurance/Recharge Level 41: Dark Embrace (A) Gladiator's Armor - TP Protection +3% Def (All) (48) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance/Endurance (48) Unbreakable Guard - +Max HP Level 44: Rune of Protection (A) Steadfast Protection - Resistance/+Def 3% Level 47: Soul Tentacles (A) Gravitational Anchor - Chance for Hold Level 49: Soul Storm (A) Basilisk's Gaze - Accuracy/Hold (50) Basilisk's Gaze - Accuracy/Recharge (50) Basilisk's Gaze - Recharge/Hold (50) Basilisk's Gaze - Endurance/Recharge/Hold Level 1: Brawl (A) Empty Level 1: Prestige Power Dash (A) Empty Level 1: Prestige Power Slide (A) Empty Level 1: Prestige Power Quick (A) Empty Level 1: Prestige Power Rush (A) Empty Level 1: Prestige Power Surge (A) Empty Level 1: Sprint (A) Empty Level 1: Supremacy Level 2: Rest

There's one door in particular on office maps which appears in corridors on the corners, and there's like a small conference room on the other side. The game often likes to spawn mobs in there. That's the door I always think of when this conversation comes up. It isn't always pets (though they love it there). It only takes one person to stand in that doorway to block everyone. I've been frustrated as a tank and being unable to get into the group to be effective. But, eh, it happens. I usually just wait it out, the best case is the mobs die a bit slower since we can't get all our damage in there. Worse case, the person blocking the door gets killed and I can get into the room and on with my job.

After reading this thread, I spent the weekend levelling up a DS/Storm MM with only Demon Prince. I took one of Plainguy's builds and tweaked it for affordability and a bit of taste (can't find it now) and am now at lvl 37. I solo'd between levels 1-26 because I knew until I had at least one pet I'd have to explain myself. The slog was way too difficult, so I tunnel farmed most of the teens away. At level 27, when I had Demon Prince with a few slots and the use of most of the IOs I'd need, the build suddenly made sense and I was starting to accelerate and have fun with it. I joined a Yin and found I had plenty to offer with both damage and debuffs and have been confident teaming ever since. Endurance has been and still is the biggest issue. I think I might need to tweak things accordingly. This is before I read Plainguy comment that you can't level a petless to 50 in another thread. Woops. I want to look into whether I can replace a few abilities that feel obsolete. Thunderclap is at the top of that list, but the 3.13% ranged defence from stupefy warrants it right now. I'm wondering if I can swap that out for combat jumping and see if I can reinvest the slots for recovery. It will never be a particularly great endgame character, but it's been a great challenge so far and my favourite MM to play. Maybe that's just because it's nice not to be stressing over whether the arsonist is going to aggro the whole map if I look away from the screen for too long.

I play a lot of solo, and playing the game with double XP tends to pace alright. The biggest exception are the Praetorian plots for a Going Rogue character between levels 1-20. Since the plots here are quite different in nature to the rest of the game, with contacts more cohesively held together in a certain order, outleveling a whole contact has weird plot effects or can easily shut off parts of the plot entirely (Excepting Ouroboros). I was wondering if the level caps for contacts in Praetoria City could be lifted up ten levels or so each so that they're harder to outlevel.

Echo this. Jimmy was asking EU players to switch over to Reunion when it launched as Halcyon, but the biggest deterrence for the Defiant group was how lousing it was with DfB groups and no other content being played. These changes are very, very welcome. Already seeing more variety in higher level stuff being played.

I'm a big fan of the naming policy. It'll be nice to know some good names aren't gathering cobwebs on some forgotten account.