srmalloy

I think that Praetoria was the first baby steps toward that, where you still had zones, but they overlaid each other at the edges without the War Walls to force distinct separations.

It would be an annoying bit to code, but removing the shoulder pets from the costume editor and changing the way that the noncombat pets worked to give them a defined 'place' relative to the character, so you could, say, get a parrot as a pet that would sit on your shoulder if you were standing, but flew after you if you were running, flying, etc., or a kitten that sat on your shoulder that would get knocked off if you went down (kb/defeat/etc.), and would run back to jump up to your shoulder again when you got up, would make for a much wider variability in pets. There's a bunch of places where something like that would have to tie into the code, and I don't know how much work it would take to find them all.

The problem is that the vast majority of the architecture is heavily Brutalist, which was a popular architectural style in the 1950s through the late '60s, and was largely over by the late 1970s and early '80s, so it wouldn't have been featured so heavily in a post-Rikti reconstruction. However, Brutalism has had influences on high-tech construction, which Paragon Studios adapted neatly with the revamped buildings in Atlas Park and similar buildings in Kallisti Wharf.

There is always taking the slower route of building a Tier 1 Cardiac Alpha and slotting it while you build up Agility alphas to the tier you want, and replacing the Cardiac with the Agility when it does more for you than the Cardiac does. True, you're 'wasting' 12 shards or 60 threads, but you can get the threads back just by joining a Hami raid for the once-per-day reward of four Empyrean merits.

For Moonbeam and Gloom, they were originally slotted with Thunderstrike as well before I accumulated the influence to buy the Blaster ATO sets, and then catalyze them at 50, so that gives you a less-expensive development build (and with unslotters, you can pass the Thunderstrikes to other characters to help them out on the cheap).

Updating the Mid's plan for the character; it was badly out of date... The character is not yet fully tweaked out, but it still plays quite well. With two ST holds, a targeted AoE hold, a ST immob, and a cone immob, it's got enough control to lock down mobs while you shred them, enough direct damage to do the shredding, and a self heal that contributes to your damage. Hero Plan by Mids' Reborn : Hero Designer 2.7.2.10 https://github.com/Crytilis/mids-reborn-hero-designer Toksichniy Podlesok: Level 50 Science Blaster Primary Power Set: Dark Blast Secondary Power Set: Plant Manipulation Power Pool: Sorcery Power Pool: Speed Power Pool: Fighting Power Pool: Teleportation Hero Profile: Level 1: Dark Blast -- Thn-Acc/Dmg(A), Thn-Dmg/EndRdx(5), Thn-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(50), Thn-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(50), Thn-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(50) Level 1: Entangle -- HO:Endo(A), HO:Endo(5), Dmg-I(50) Level 2: Gloom -- SprDfnBrr-Acc/Dmg(A), SprDfnBrr-Dmg/Rchg(7), SprDfnBrr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(15), SprDfnBrr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(50), SprDfnBrr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(50) Level 4: Strangler -- Dvs-Acc/Dmg(A), Dvs-Dmg/EndRdx(7), Lck-Acc/Hold(9), Lck-Rchg/Hold(9), Lck-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(11), Lck-%Hold(50) Level 6: Mystic Flight -- Flight-I(A) Level 8: Moonbeam -- SprBlsWrt-Acc/Dmg(A), SprBlsWrt-Dmg/Rchg(11), SprBlsWrt-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(13), SprBlsWrt-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(50), SprBlsWrt-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(50) Level 10: Toxins -- RechRdx-I(A) Level 12: Umbral Torrent -- PstBls-Acc/Dmg(A), PstBls-Dmg/EndRdx(13), PstBls-Dmg/Rchg(15), PstBls-Dmg/Rng(50), PstBls-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(50) Level 14: Tenebrous Tentacles -- HO:Endo(A), HO:Endo(50), Dmg-I(50) Level 16: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(50), RechRdx-I(50) Level 18: Abyssal Gaze -- Dvs-Acc/Dmg(A), Dvs-Dmg/EndRdx(19), Lck-Acc/Hold(19), Lck-Rchg/Hold(40), Lck-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(50), Lck-%Hold(50) Level 20: Wild Fortress -- Heal-I(A), Heal-I(21), EndMod-I(21), EndMod-I(23), Heal-I(23) Level 22: Thorn Burst -- Acc-I(A), Dmg-I(25), Dmg-I(25) Level 24: Boxing -- Acc-I(A) Level 26: Tough -- StdPrt-ResKB(A), TtnCtn-ResDam/EndRdx(27), TtnCtn-EndRdx/Rchg(27), TtnCtn-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(29), TtnCtn-ResDam(29), TtnCtn-EndRdx(39) Level 28: Weave -- LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(A), LucoftheG-Def/Rchg(31), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(31), LucoftheG-Def(31), LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(33) Level 30: Life Drain -- Thn-Acc/Dmg(A), Thn-Dmg/EndRdx(33), Thn-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(33), TchoftheN-Heal(34), TchoftheN-Acc/Heal(34), TchoftheN-Acc/EndRdx/Heal/HP/Regen(34) Level 32: Blackstar -- Obl-Dmg(A), Obl-Acc/Rchg(36), Obl-Dmg/Rchg(36), Obl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(36), Obl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37) Level 35: Vines -- Lck-Acc/Hold(A), Lck-Acc/Rchg(37), Lck-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(37), Lck-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(39), Empty(39) Level 38: Aim -- RechRdx-I(A) Level 41: Spore Cloud -- HO:Cyto(A), HO:Cyto(42), HO:Cyto(42) Level 44: Arcane Bolt -- Acc-I(A) Level 47: Rune of Protection -- TtnCtn-ResDam/EndRdx(A), TtnCtn-ResDam/Rchg(48), TtnCtn-EndRdx/Rchg(48), TtnCtn-ResDam(48) Level 49: Recall Friend -- RechRdx-I(A) Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A) Level 1: Defiance Level 1: Quick Form Level 1: Prestige Power Dash -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Slide -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Quick -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Rush -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Surge -- Empty(A) Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A) Level 2: Rest -- EndMod-I(A) Level 4: Ninja Run Level 2: Swift -- Run-I(A) Level 2: Health -- Heal-I(A) Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A) Level 2: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), EndMod-I(3), EndMod-I(3) Level 50: Intuition Radial Paragon Level 50: Ion Core Judgement Level 50: Diamagnetic Core Interface Level 50: Banished Pantheon Partial Core Improved Ally Level 50: Barrier Partial Core Invocation Level 50: Support Total Radial Graft ------------ Click this DataLink to open the build!

I'll have to save out the build I have for Токсичный Подлесок (Toksichniy Podlesok, 'Toxic Undergrowth'), my Dark/Plant Blaster. The two powersets synergize nicely, with a solid blastroller playstyle (an ice/plant build is less so, being much heavier on controls and limited non-control attacks, feeling more like a straight-up controller without the advantage of the controller inherent).

Not just that, but to establish the feeling that Paragon City didn't have each zone built all at once -- there needs to be some alleviation of the endless Brutalist architecture. Compare Echo:Atlas Park to Atlas Park, and you'll see what was done to update it, butiif you look at Imperial City in Praetoria, it looks much more as if the buildings were constructed over time, rather than being all constructed at the same time, the way the zones in Paragon City look. The zones other than Atlas Park don't need updating so much as they need backdating -- showing that the city grew up over time.

I try to have a bio for my characters by around level 10, but I've let it slide on a couple; one I just added was for a level 41 character. Sometimes a coherent idea for a background just doesn't want to gel.

For #1, that's a limitation of the character models, and they'd have to be completely redone to allow flood-filling a costume part with a color or pattern. #2 I believe is impractical, because stance is baked into all of the animations, so creating alternate stances, even if only for the idle poses, would require new transitions to the other animations for each stance variation. #3 I believe is being played with, at least for NPCs, and may find its way to PCs. #4, #5, and #6, more costume options are always good, but the HC staff has limited resources for artwork and animations for the foreseeable future, so you're probably going to have to wait on these.

The same problem has been seen in MSRs, where someone invited to the league doesn't get SK'ed to the team leader; one of the things that the raid leader asks before starting is to have everyone check to make sure they're 49 if lower, and he'll kick and reinvite them to force a reset of their status.

It's the same pose that you see some of the Council vampyri assume, particularly when they're in a 'guard' state; you find them in the underground section of the Council base on Striga:

You're missing the point. I was using movement suppression as an example to show that there is already a function built into the server code that detects whether a character is in combat or not, suggesting that this code could be repurposed to make the same check to enable/disable the functionality of the 'enterbasefrompasscode' command.

And the new players with their level-1 characters and no enhancements get disgusted and go away when they can't hit anything reliablly. If you're going to be proposing a sweeping change like this, you can't just look at how it works for tricked-out level-capped characters; you need to look at how it works for everybody, regardless of their situation in the game. New players can easily find themselves fighting +2 lieutenants or bosses without the benefit of enhancements; what does your proposal do to their chance to hit, and what impression of the game does that give them? Jacking the entry bar thirty feet in the air for new players is not a viable option, no matter how much more regular and streamlined it makes play at level 50.

I would have to go back and look at the various charts for some of the mob groups that were built back on Live as assist tools, but I know that the composition of the Circle spawns you encounter change as you level -- for example, the Energy Mages, Life Mages, and Madness Mages only appear in low-level Circle spawns. It would be necessary to define new level ranges, and in some cases plot the mobs out with new powers, to make them competitive outside their current level ranges -- bumping the hit points, chance to hit, and damage for Clockwork still make them underpowered after level 20, for example.

First claim each day is 60 reward merits, second and subsequent claims are 40. On Excelsior, there are normally three runs each evening, so that's a maximum of 140 merits, with two runs being enough to get the 100 for a purple recipe or winter IO.

The observation is that, while its general use is taking advantage of what was intended to be a developer-only command but not otherwise objectionable, its use as a "get out of death free" card in PvP and Master Of runs is. The common feature of the objectionable usage is being able to use it in combat to get away from being defeated. We already have an example of powers being restricted in combat -- movement suppression, which limits travel powers when your character is in combat. If you take the code behind the enterbasefrompasscode command and add the "in combat check" from movement suppression to disable its use if the character is in combat, then it's no longer usable to escape from defeat in the middle of combat, and reverts to being a non-combat travel aid.

Random NPC dialog while flying over the bridge in Independence Port: [NPC] Button Man Muscle: Council is bad enough wifout you Facist pigs. Should be "Fascist". The rest of the subliteracy (no leading 'the' for 'the Council' and 'wifout') I ascribe to characterization.

The additional enhancment trays were a repeatable choice from the Paragon Rewards program, so as your subscription time increased, you could unlock more trays, up to the seven-tray limit. I don't know why they choked it off there, and without deep-diving into the code, I'll probably never know.

Now imagine doing it with a single enhancement tray, so you can keep at most ten enhancements. And you didn't get a free respec every ten levels, so you had to run Terror Volta or a treespec to be able to save out one tray's worth. I imagine that there's some crazy internal limit that kept the devs back on Live from expanding the total possible tray count to ten or more, and the HC staff hasn't been able to go in and decipher the code to find out why.

With more experimentation, and moving to Kallisti Wharf to hit doors, the rubberbanding appears to be limited to lieutenants and bosses; even with the three-minion spawns, no minion ever got yanked back after coming through the door. With spawns including both a boss and lieutenant, the rubberband could be either, but the rubberbanding mob appears to always be the last mob through the door(s). Amusingly, the effectiveness of filling out Irradiated Ground and Beta Decay with procs got demonstrated very effectively, with some lieutenants coming out of the door the second time at half HP or less, and in one case falling out dead because I lucked out heavily on the procs. Update: With even more experimentation to get a bigger sample, the rubberbanding can occur on the last mob out the door regardless of their rank; the highest-ranking mob is generally the last one out, but not always, and when a minion is the last one to appear, they can be rubberbanded back inside the door as well.

Less concern about ensuring that changes integrate properly with the code and don't cause problems?

I think I've already got a recommendation along that line, being able to click multiple times on the booster pile to push multiple boosters to a single combine action. The code would have to detect limits -- you couldn't, for example, pick a +4 IO and drop five boosters into the combine slot -- or just ignore extras when combining.

I wasn't paying attention to the 'extraneous' conditions, so other than the known presence of a ToT league hitting the 'motel' just west of the AE building, I couldn't say how heavy the zone load was, and I didn't notice if the zone state -- normal, zombie invasion, or banner event -- made a difference in either the rubberbanding or 'unaffected' prevalence. I will need to pay more attention to see if there are any correlations.

I have noticed two quirks while ToTing in Peregrine Island. The first one seems to be rubberbanding of the trick spawns, where one member of the spawn -- virtually always a lieutenant or boss -- will come out of the door, fade away, and then come running out the door again. It's not a respawn, because the character I was experiencing this with had two PBAoE auras tricked out with procs (Irradiated Ground and Beta Decay). and when they came back out the door, they'd still have the damage they took the first time they came out -- it's definitely the mob getting yanked back inside the door and running out again. The other one is more problematic, and concerns the "just spawned protection" ToT spawns have, where if you hit them as soon as you can target them, or up to a very short time after they come out the door, they'll show "Unaffected" and take no damage (like the Fake Nemesis PFF). The problem is that this "Unaffected" state seems to only work vs. a regular attack, and sometimes persists past the mob making their own first attack. I saw this on my Rad/Rad Brute, with both Irradiated Ground and Beta Decay active; the ToT spawns would come out the door with the visual effects of both auras already applied, and in many cases already taking damage from one or the other -- yet the character's melee attacks would pop "Unaffected" over their heads. This was more common with Spirits and Vampires, but occurred several times with Sorceresses and Crones, and I had Spirits coming all the way down the staircase outside the door while retaining their invulnerability, and sometimes being able to hit my character while invulnerable. This seems to be more of a timing issue than anything else -- the server getting laggy about updating the status of a mob to make it hittable, but it's still curious that auras will do damage while the character's 'regular' attacks can't.