Burnt Umber

Funnily enough, I just discovered the Residents. There was a neat piece in the Economist about them just the other week: https://www.economist.com/books-and-arts/2022/01/08/after-50-years-the-residents-are-still-on-the-road#. But, I'm with Ban on that one: when I hear that line for a song, I think of the Killers' song (possibly because it was on the radio a lot at the time?).

So! I made my character have a whole go-go dancer look, which means I'll be representing the late 1960s/1970s. And, I'm sorry to hear you're having troubles, Midnyte. I hope things get better soon.

I'm definitely going to bring Commenticia (Illusion/FF controller), though I have to figure out her costume.

I think you got Assistant because both Posi 1 and Posi 2 were the WTF so you did two WTFs in the same week when you did them back-to-back?

There's also one for Psimon Omega who can be a helper in the fourth arc if you've done his story arc! As I said in chat, these arcs are littered with great Easter eggs, and it's a shame that the good writing and fun arcs came so late to redside before sunset.

@TrixieKixx For next week, put me down for Cherenkov's Ghost (Kin/Energy Stalker). Still working on the costume though, so I'd happily welcome any inspiration from you folks.

I'll bring my tank, Saxum (Stone/Fire), a brain-in-a-jar robot. That's fantastic! (And that's a hilarious reference.)

Merry Christmas, folks! It has been wonderful fun to be welcomed into this for the past several months. Best of luck you all in the coming year. FWIW, if anyone happens to be on or around tomorrow, I might hop on my widow to do miscellaneous villain stuff (doing low level Mayhem missions for defeat badges, doing zone events in Bloody Bay/Warburg, etc.), so drop a line if you're interested in joining.

Oh, I stumbled on this and thought I'd give it a shot. https://www.midsreborn.com/builds/download.php?uc=1475&c=690&a=1380&f=HEX&dc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m not sure if it'll be strictly an improvement, but I think I help out a couple powers that looked anemic to me.

Looks great! I, too, am using the feline face with demon ears, though I went with a Santa hat and brow spikes.

Whoops, just realized I didn't actually sign-up for tomorrow's theme. Count me in with my Illusion/FF Controller, Commenticia. I'm still fiddling with her troll-ish costume; for those who'd bring a female alt., what are you doing about faces? There's no feral option and the hostile faces leave much to be desired for getting the troll angry face.

Hmm, well I'd be fine with doing an Ice Mistral all the same. Doing the WST isn't super critical for me on many of my characters. Since it's December, I'm mostly just happy to do wintry themes for the month. So, if next week is also a mess, I'd still be happy to do the Cavern of Trans. on my character hunting for the badge(s).

Great pictures! For next week, I'll be bringing Gelida, my Ice Blast/Time Manip. Corruptor.

Ah, sorry. The character's name is Wintergreen Cane. Haha, that's eerily c;lose to how I'd name her, but I'm using just English for this time since it's a temporary rename.

I'll take the Spearmint (or Wintermint) Candy Cane slot with my Plant/Psi Dominator dressed in Mint Green/White.

The prestige power "Return to Battle" (and likely its twin revival power) seem to have broken recharges since the new Page went live. Normally and prior to the most recent patch, these powers had a recharge of 30 minutes, which matches its in-game power information. However, currently whenever I have used it since the most recent patch, the powers seem to have a recharge of 100 minutes (according to the power recharge counter on the power as well as eyeballing it from my on clock). I don't see any mention of such a charge in the patch notes, so I believe this is currently bugged.

I'd be down for it. Oh, and it's worth noting that the information/dialog gets truncated so it's important to click the mission info button (the yellow/red star next to the mission/objectives) to know what's going on.

Great pictures! I'll be on my controller Kataigis (Elec/Storm) for our Not-Silver Wizard run.

I think I'll bring my Peacebringer Euryphaessa* as Cornbread Stuffing, I think? It's a golden-yellow costume so it gets the color scheme right. *Pronounced like "Yuree-fay-sah" for those wishing to read the name aloud

I guess Nemesis got wise? So it goes. (Er, do you mean, perhaps, postponing it until next Sunday, the 21st?)

Thanks for the reply and the advice. I shall try that out. My initial exposure to Hard Mode was at Relentless, which did not leave a good impression (I shan't derail on why), hence my feedback on thew badges. I apologize if I am a bit of a downer on them. It is good to know that the badges are more than achievable.

Fair enough. I already have to make exceptions to certain badges for similar reasons on my badging characters, so I can accept that. However, I would wish that future badges were as casually obtainable as a vast majority of them are. My main issue is that I feel as though the new badges required for a Master run of the Aeon Strike Force feel as if "Really Hard Way" were a necessary element of getting a Master Run of the Magisterium incarnate trial. To me, at least, the "Master of" badges for most of the incarnate trials (i.e., except those for Keyes) were great ways to incentivize and reward players for better playing of a trial through teamwork or cooperation. I liked that a lot more than the legacy "Master of" badges that were essentially rewards for how optimized the team and its players are. In contradistinction to, say, the PvP badges that do not need optimization, the Hard Mode badges do feel like they regress back to measurements of character optimization. I'm not going to comment on the glibness of your post. My issue is not the need to strategize or engage in teamwork; my issue is, as you say, "requiring specific optional difficulties." I think such requirements are a bad thing. To be frank, when I tried "Relentless," it was a miserable slog, and although I have not yet tried the lower levels of Hard Mode, I am skeptical they would be relatively less awful. As such, I don't want a part of the game I enjoy - namely badge hunting - to be locked behind doing miserable activities. And, unlike PvP badges, the badges in question require me to earnestly engage with a portion of the game I do not believe I will ever come to enjoy: I don't need a specialized PvP build and to haunt Recluse's Victory or the Arena to get all of the PvP badges; I only need to play the game normally and coordinate with a few other players to get them.

Overall I really welcome most of the new badges as well as the corrections/changes to old ones. That said I have a few criticisms: 1. I think the placement of "Visions of Ambition" might be better if it were in the center of the rampart tower. It took me many rounds of hovering through that area before I stumbled upon the badge by chance. Although that's sort of the spirit of exploration badges, putting in the center of the rampart tower would make it a little easier to spot for those seeking it out. 2. I would prefer if "Ripple Raider" did not require "no deaths." As it stands, the badge already requires a team to face optional AVs, so it would be nice for the badge to recognize the extra effort without needing to make sure no one is defeated. 3. "Unfriendly Fire" is a bit too complex for a badge. It requires proper timing and execution as well as necessitating having a controller, or more likely, a dominator with one of a particular powerset to pull off. Although there are badges similar to a certain degree in the former requirement, such as "Avatar Assassin," I can't think of a single badge that requires specific team makeups, which in turn takes away from some of the casual play possible. If a confuse mechanic were in that mission part or the Brick Juggernauts' self-destruct targeted players and critters alike, I would feel differently. 4. I am not keen to have most of the badges for the Aeon Task Force locked behind the new "Hard Mode." To me, it makes "Hard Mode" far less optional then it was advertised: to the extent that people would like to avoid what should be a completely optional part of the game, the badge requirements for "Unfriendly Fire," "Power Overwhelming," and "Can't Touch This" all muddy that distinction. 5. I am also not keen to have the legacy "Master of _" badges being given harsher restrictions. I don't see "Master" runs of such taskforces regularly, so I would prefer for there not to be new barriers to acquisition beyond what already is there. But, again, I'm overall very happy for the new shiny badges.

Having played around with a Stone Armor tank, I have the following observations: 1. Stone Skin is a really good passive now. Moving some of the defense from Granite and expanding its resist types makes the power less of a set mule power pick as well as a sensible/thematic power. 2. Moving Crystal Armor to earlier in the set is much appreciated. Given that energy and negative energy start appearing early on (particularly Clockwork), it's nice to have once storylines start to throw it at you regularly. 3. Giving Crystal Armor a +recovery buff is less appreciated. I realize that getting a sizable +recovery buff is very useful at level 12 (tanks) or 20 (everyone else), but I feel as though a to-hit debuff resist would be better thematically and more useful is a character's long term life. For example, CoT ghosts or Tsoo Sorcerers would be much less of a hassle when you start encountering them with such a buff. 4. Minerals and Brimstone Armors might want their respective level selection switched. With the exception of Praetorian Seers and certain Arachnos mobs, psychic damage doesn't appear regularly until maybe the 30s so getting Minerals by a character's 20s seems a bit of gun-jumping. Furthermore, putting Brimstone so late in the set makes it less useful besides for the damage proc. of the power. 5. Brimstone Armor should probably be changed from a resistance armor to a defensive one. I realize that would break the cottage rule, but it's always bugged me that a defensive set arbitrarily had a fire/cold hole by having those types being resisted rather than avoided. Overall, I really like the changes and how they make my own non-granite tank more normal and less of a crazy oddity.

Count me in. I'll be bringing my Fortunata Nox Atrissima.