Go0gleplex

Isn't Perez already a zoo being essentially closed off with all the animals (mobs) running amuk? lol

Well...Mr. G is a former assassin turned information broker back in Praetoria. While he doesn't have the same level of contacts in Primal that he had back there it would only be a matter of time...and facilitating your exploits would go a long way as an introduction to those sort of contacts. So he's using you just as much, if not more, than you're using him. The only good thing about him is that he does have a sense of loyalty or you'd be royally hosed. Splice...a former member of the resistance if I recall. Prime hacker...but if not for Mr. G watching over her she could be all sorts of trouble. Bobcat may be de-powered but she's still a CQC specialist and while lazy as sin, is a decent (and expendable) base security member. Transmuter is the detective and Mr. G's errand boy. While he has no powers anymore, he's intelligent and knows his way around the streets otherwise Power Division would've cut him loose or 'retired' him with prejudice long ago. He's also a combat veteran of the Praetoria Hami Wars so there is some combat capability there as well as a small unit tactics & strategy resource that Mr. G isn't really suited for. General Alito, like Transmuter, is a combat vet with extensive tactics and strategy value. He probably also likely has an in with various 'hardware' sources and has the rep to be credible with 'temporary' assets and their management. Piloting is likely only one skill. I'd imagine he'd have others involving AV operation and demolition as well. Subjugator 5...yes. An unknown element that, while very useful, is very risky to have around given that you know nothing of their goals, plans, or motivations. Having an independent sniper, preferably with an AMR, keeping S-5 in their sites 24-7 whenever and wherever possible would be minimal insurance. A remotely detonated bomb belt with triple redundant detonators would be better in the event that they do decide to betray you. In either event, they are known factors from your home reality and intrinsically more reliable than the Primal scum you're typically dealing with...and they are more than aware of your reputation from back home thereby likely less inclined to try to pull a fast one. You busting them out is just a bonus in keeping them owing you.

You think it irk's you? lol I've been in civil engineering on both sides of the permit desk and the unreal nature and just overall wrongness of Paragon's so-called-street grid and (lack of) actual zoning has my brain constantly picking things apart. Even the speed signs posted are wrong as is the channelization in many places. The suspension bridges in IP are another not really thought out sort of thing as well. I think the airport was a potential future zone and skipped due to how much memory and work would go into dealing with the various plane models and national guard type facilities. The skyscrapers mixed in with some of the other buildings make little sense especially from a zoning code standpoint. It's like having the PPD HQ in the most run down lawless neighborhood in the city rather than either near Zig or in Atlas in easy reach of the politicians and then go to a small precinct house to get the radio and all that when the main building is a couple blocks away. The majority of the bombed out burned out leaning towers of Damocles defy both actual physics and material strengths since more than a 10-15 degree lean off vertical would tear most of them apart under their own weight. Some of the villains in a few of the zones are kinda square pegs in round holes as well...like the DE around Terra Volta. But...as long as it's still fun to play I just tell my brain to shut it and deal no matter how much it grumbles. lol

not sure there is a best elevator. I mean...they all have their ups and downs ya know?! :p

It's yet another Nemesis plot!!

Contact missions are more story arc oriented or faction type thwarting and are both longer and give better XP than the radio missions with many being a sequence of events before dealing with the end goal. Radio missions are shorter missions being a one-and-done objective that give less XP (about a third of what a contact mission gives on average in my observations). They serve as a good filler to nudge over that last bit needed to level or a way to find new contacts when you run out of introductions unless of course you've outleveled all them in the zone already. After a certain number of radio missions you also get a chance to stop a bank robbery if blue side or conduct a robbery (and other mayhem) if red side which can give a decent amount of XP. Contact missions are always better to do for leveling. If not a solo hobo like myself, getting in on Task Force runs and such are a really good way to level a toon quickly.

I don't mind the contacts so much...some of that is part and parcel with being a small fish in a pool of sharks. But the bank missions are great in terms of giving a feel for causing mass mayhem, terror, and destruction. More of the missions should be like that IMO. What annoys me the most with red side is that once you leave Mercy...you're not given any follow up contacts and have to do newspaper missions for the most part...and then it's limited to just a few before you out level the zone until you hit Nerva levels. Having more missions where you attack places like the Paragon PD HQ or Spanky's Boardwalk full of tourists or the docks of IP causing mass mayhem with the various heroes showing up to thwart you along with others would be a nice addition. So many missed opportunities with red side in staying with the blue side contact-mission format that detracts from the overall setting is sad. I know there are program mechanics and structures that limit what the dev's have to work with but I'd think that there is more that can be done within the existing than what has been done. Don't get me wrong. I do enjoy the game as is...but that's the very reason I say anything such as I've made note of. If I didn't care...I'd not bother. Doc...another reason for the war walls would be that the original dev's were being a bit lazy. The walls mean they didn't need to do a lot of work with the 'distant horizon views' such as you see in Gold side between zones and all that and the city map shows the gaps between the zones that the walls allowed them to make excuse for. The Islands of red side did the same thing...and preserved the actual aesthetic of 'the world' without needing much similar artifice as the walls. I don't really buy the dial up reasoning being the total reason for them...due to WoW being around at the same time and not needing to rely on such between zones.

They're coming to take you away HA HA! They're coming to take you away HEH HEH! To the Portal Corp where Gladyos has cake waiting... LOL 😉 Problem I have with the war walls is that they're completely and totally illogical as well as functionally useless. Tunnels between zones for vehicles...yet those tunnels are far longer than the walls are wide while the gates are comparatively shorter and better match the wall width implied from what you can see while atop them so there's a visible lack of consistency. The height would be a nightmare of structural and windload issues to deal with. The energy consumption....would need it's own nuke plant for each zone to avoid browning out the entire Eastern seaboard. And despite all that...the Rikti ships still make the occasional bombing run thru the zones...which is what the walls were supposedly there to prevent or at least deter. The cost of one half-mile of wall would be in the hundreds of millions dollar-wise...and all likely built by the lowest bidder (doesn't THAT just make you all warm and fuzzy with confidence!) not to mention maintenance costs involved. Then we have the health issues and environmental impacts on the citizens and city vegetation as the walls will block natural sunlight which is known to increase psychological problems as well as retarding vegetation growth...or limiting it to shade plants and moss given the latitude of the city, particularly during winter months. I can only speculate about the radiological issues on the residents from the raw energy of the war walls themselves. As I said...I have a hard time disengaging my brain from professional work mode at times and stuff like this just pops into my head automatically with a glance anymore. >< ugh! It all makes for a relatively decent story line and what...but it's definitely deep deep in the fictional category. 😉

As a solo guy myself I'd say a Tanker will be your best bet within your ATs of interest giving you a good mix of solo survival and team utility. I've several tankers that, while currently in the teen levels, are proving to be fairly good at surviving and crunching mobs. Ice/Spine, Rad/Martial, Dark Spine, and Elec/Dark. Though I'm a casual player as well so some of the folks that are more build obsessive than I am may have better ideas. :)

1. The claustrophobia that the Oranbega and some cave missions trigger. I don't even do CoT missions because of this. 2. Level disparities in the zones. KR for instance is labeled 5-10...so why are the mobs 8-16? I get placing challenges...but sheesh. Or was the assumption that it would be primarily teams coming into the zones? 3. The majority of villain missions not being very villainy but rather simply mercenary or blue missions with altered flavor text. White washing the nasty nature of villainy to keep people playing and not treading overly harshly on social mores is understandable...but seems more anti-hero than villain. I get that there are some lines that shouldn't get crossed...but that's sort of villainy's whole schtick. 4. The distinct under use of some villain groups. I mean, outside of radio missions and Matthew H's initial bit there really isn't much involving the Hellions in terms of story line it seems. With all the 5th column troops putting the beat down on the Council troops in their various clashes throughout Steel, Boom, and elsewhere that they occur, the hunt X# Council missions are a PitA...and where do all these better trained 5th Column maroons come from...not like there are any bases in zones like the Council or Arachnos have. 5. Paragon's zones and useless war walls themselves. But that's more due to my day job profession. I get building challenges for movement and the effort spent going into creating it all...but they had no concept of actual construction and planning/zoning or such initially it seems. It got better with the islands and even better in Praetoria...and later additions like Kallisti fortunately. Not a big thing for most folks but after 4 decades it gets hard to disengage that type of critical thinking.

*cues up the music for 'Can't get no Snarkifaction'*

I've been in the engineering profession since '85 and had my fingers in everything but nuclear, chemical, and biological...though habitat restoration may qualify a little for that last. (thinking) I've had to deal with actual architectual plans with the multiple elevators and limited floors. Heck, one governmental defense facility even had the main elevator skip several floors with the elevator accessing them behind a set of 'blast' doors like a vault with biometric locks on the far side of the floor and those were the only two floors it serviced. (The reason was to create a buffer from rooftop invasion not just street level.) The NASA offices in Seattle back in the late 70's had to have an escort with a security key to allow the elevator to stop on their floors...and the first thing you stepped off to were a couple well armed guards and a wall of bullet proof glass with firing ports and two more well armed guards behind it and the security door. I had opportunity to visit the place when I was in Jr HS as part of an aerospace class project I was involved in related to the Saturn V and got to interview a couple of the engineering type folks that were there. Nervous is why there's new extra dry....all I can say about that visit. lol The game elevators aren't anywhere near to realistic and just there as portals for game play. Expecting more than that is futile and putting too much thought into it will do not but drive your aardvarks up the anthill. 😉 I mean...Nova Praetoria has two of the worst examples of such with the elevator lobby only accessing the lounge area and Cleopatra's office rather than the entire floor and such. (shrug) For the most parts...mission locations are TARDIS types...always exceeding the dimensions of the outside or would it be more of a Room of Requirements given how even the expected environment changes from warehouse/office exterior to sewers/tunnels etc. :)

Someone whom is overly security conscious. It's a common design feature in high security buildings to create multiple check points and restricted access slowing any invaders down from reaching areas they are not wanted in. (this is an actual thing.)

The answer will always and forever be 42. :)

Why's Agent Tulip always so grumpy? 'Cause everyone is constantly tip toeing around him. :P

The Hellions have their Girl-friends-from-Hell with names seemingly based on their tempers or feisty personalities to boot. Talk about your relationship killers! ><

Around the sun yet again on the universe's premier asylum planet and no signs of alien overlords. Dang! >< :P

So who would be their mortal foe? Catnip Charlie or Dumpy Dog Delta? lol

Can't be all that legendary. I mean...I walked into a mission with nearly a dozen BOSS_NAME bodies laying all over the place.... lol

Hero- Sonic/EA Sentinel - Ima Thrummdinger

Personally I thought this was hilarious... Ran into a Tsoo Boss named Tainted Wind. I guess one of his leaders wasn't fond of him... Anyone else run into a poorly named mob that was amusing? That can't be the only one...

Mostly Torch...but I've been on Excelsior and Everlasting with a couple of the sightings. Babbage up in Boom on Everlasting a couple days ago.

Since I solo and have yet to get any of my toons above 43 (dang altitis) I tend to spot a monster as I'm about and send out a notice...hang around for a bit...and listen to crickets then move on. So kinda the opposite issue...

Just checked...the quickplay is amazingly still there Greycat.

I still have the TTRPG rules teaser for CoH myself. Pity that didn't go anywhere further.