Burnt Umber

Respectfully, I think this is bit annoying with respect to a badge; it requires a character to have access to Paragon City to enter the Paragon Dance Party, which excludes anyone who stays villain/Redside. It feels a bit exclusionary to make an exploration badge for Blueside that doesn't feel linked to actually being Blueside. It's also a little annoying for such a badge when Bluesiders are already getting the Bicentennial badge this update. I appreciate that the badge/its title might be wanted by some, so just removing the the Paragon Dance Party requirement would satisfy me.

Hmm, this was a little bit tough for me since my favorite AT and characters are all Redsiders - many brutes and corruptors. But, I think I can say (by the numbers, at least) that my favorite Blueside AT is probably controllers, so I'll try to bring Atomi - Grav/Rad Controller.

You absolutely can run a Crab without really needing to dip into all of the pets. You feel like a Huntsman+ or a Sentinel in a way. I think the key powers to pick end up being Wide Area Web, Vernon, and Frag Grenade, with Heavy Burst and Suppression as clean up after that initial salvo. Even with the proposed changes on the Beta, Omega is probably still a trap choice. And, I don't think Channelgun or Longfang are quite enough on their own, so I grab Mu Lightning to fill out my single target chain; although any of the Patron single targets might work, I feel Mace Blast is a little janky with the drawing of the mace and Gloom feels slow despite its great damage. Here's my build per Mids (I think?) for reference: 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

Currently on Beta, Shatter and Crowd Control have limited color customization. Although you can select "color tintable" for the customization option, the color tinting applies only to the attack effects fx rather than the attack animation fx and attack effects fx. For those two powers, they play the "original" attack animation and their baked-in colors, and then apply the color tinting to the attacks' effects (the toxic DoT cloud). Bash and pummel (and Shatter Armor from Mace Mastery) apply the color customization to the attack animation fx and attack effects fx. In fact, both Shatter and Shatter Armor use the same underlying animation, but they have differing degrees of color customization.

I'll try to bring Saxum - Stone/Fire Tank. It was really fun as we totally breezed through. It really felt like we brought an entire league along for a simple team exercise. We even didn't have any face plants. between the Force Fields and Cold Dom. we were solidly defended and we had some wonderful buffs from Kinetics.

Mine are mirrored too. It should be neat seeing the armies of decoys out.

I'll try to be there next week with Commenticia - Illusion/FF Controller.

Thanks! I really like her too. Here's a fun story about her: Back on live, I only played the character ocasionally (sonic blast and cold domination are slow to develop sets) so she languished in my lineup for a long time. In fact, I had considered deleting her but she got made at CoV launch and had a 10/31 creation date so I was loathe to give that up. Eventually, sometime between levels 38 and 40, I took her on an ITF during a WTF to get her over the hump into the 40s. Through the TF, with only a few others (4 others I think? maybe 3?), I felt kinda useless since I wasn't really clearing mobs and we had a bane spider on the team spec'ed out for toxic damage who threw out sleet (from Mako's PPP), which just made me feel redundant. Finally we got to Romi at the end and I had an interruption so would have needed to log for a bit but everyone was nice enough to let me stay logged for a bit to catch the reward. Like 30 minutes later, I came back, and the team was still trying to kill Romi. I was shocked and jumped back in, throwing out all my debuffs; the team burned through Romi (and his rezzes) lightning quick. I have loved her ever since.

I'm bringing a nixie/näcken: Horrere - Sonic/Cold Corruptor.

I feel like a Brute is a pretty good choice for an entry level character. War Mace might be an interesting option since it's really crunchy and has a fair number of AoE attacks. I've had good luck pairing it with Shield Defense, but Willpower or Electric Armor might be better entry level secondaries. A slightly more advanced but still good entry level option would be a Corruptor. It deals damage, but relies on a support (i.e., Buff/Debuff) secondary, so it will be more fragile than the melee archetypes. Fire Blast is a solid primary and doesn't have any gimmicks to learn. Radiation Emission or Time might be good secondaries to dip into the support side of the game.

That's the "Malaise" pattern on tights smooth, with the colors being dark blue and chartreuse.

If it helps, I found that the refined versions had a more vibrant color selection. Neodymium ends up purple/lavender once refined, for example. I think on of them ended up a light blue color if that'd help?

I'll bring Neodymium - Fire/Earth Dom.

The various "robotic arm(s)" are a neat option in costume creation: they allow you to have a different arm look from whatever you choose for a "chest" option. To that end, I have two additions I'd love to see. "Robotic Arm 3" replaces the entire right arm. I think it'd be nice to have an "Organic Armor" and "Organic Armor Thorny" option here. Those "organic armor" skins would be fun additions here for a sort of mutated or deformed arm look that is otherwise missing, They aren't "robotic" but neither are the various "fire and ice" arms under this category. "Robotic Arm 2" replaces the upper arms on both sides but leaves the lower arm/gloves options. I think it'd be nice to have this idea be expanded into a "Robotic Arms 4," where both arms are replaced as if the "Robotic Arm 3" option were being applied to both arms rather than just the right. I'd love to be able to have the "Cyber-tech Arm" skins on both arms. This might be more technically difficult to do so I understand it's a bit of a pipe-dream.

I think I'm sure? This time, I'll at least have a secondary to lean-on and pets that can be ranged so I hope I'll be okay? Ah, sorry, I think I was unclear: I meant swap themes, rather than the TF/SF.

I'll bring Alichino - Demons/Pain MM. Hmm, is it possible to swap this and the Penny Yin one later in the month? I'd love to bring my Bluesider to this, but otherwise, I can roll a new alt. for it.

I'll try bringing Philodendra - Plant/Psi Dom.

RE: Sentinels, at the risk of going a bit against the grain, I kinda like when my secondary doesn't require much management and I can keep on blasting. I also recomend secondaries that have multiple areas of protectiuon, i.e., more than just defense or resistance or healing. Of my two sentinels - a Dual Pistols/Super REflexes and a Beam Rifle/Invulnerability - the Beam Rifle/Invulnerability is surprisingly powerful and fun after the Sentinel revamp; in fact, I think Beam Rifle gets a sort of better version in Sentinels because it loses its snipe for a chain AoE and benefits from not needing to pause blasting (thereby giving more instances of disintegrating). I have been toying with the idea of a Radiation/Regen. one day but that's been mostly on a back-burner. I think I'll be around so I can definitely help with leading it like back when we did the Halloween event in Oct.

I plan on bringing Pepsis Regina - Mind/Savage Dom. But, if we need more support, I'll bring C. Abyssus - Water/Sonic Corr.

Unfortunately (?), this Saturday I'll be having brunch with the family to celebrate a birthday so I'm not sure I'll be around.

A while back there was a number of posts concerning Dominator powers and, relevantly, here was a break down of how Domination works:

I'll try to bring Khalkeon - Rad/Energy Tanker.

There's also Irish Whiskey, Japanese Whisky (Japanese Scotch), American Rye Whiskey, and Tennessee Whiskey (i.e., Jack Daniels). The general rule for the spelling is that Canadian, Scotch, and Japanese drop the "e"; American and Irish keep the "e." And, as Fraulein and Jax mentioned, bourbon doesn't have to be from Kentucky, but it must be produced in the U.S., made from a grain mixture that is at least 51% corn, and aged in new, charred oak containers. For those who want to learn a little more:

Thanks for the suggestions! Is this the backstory for one of your characters?

So whiskey talk: normally, I'm a Scotch drinker when I can splurge on it - either Macallan or, as a serious treat, Aberlour. Here and there, I've tried to get into drinking bourbon but have yet to find one that I like. I thought Bullet and Buffalo Trace were a bit too antiseptic for my taste. Any suggestions for ones to try?