Abraxus

I would love to see a story line where the forces of evil are winning. Things in Paragon City, the Rogue Isles, and Praetoria, are looking grim for anyone not already on the wrong side of justice. The people suffer, and things stand on the brink of darkness everlasting. At the last possible moment, during a titanic final stand when all seems lost, the Well of the Furies decides to balance the scales once again, by bringing Statesman back. His resurrection indeed gives the forces of good just the morale, and power boost they need to pull victory from the jaws of defeat. But, rather than being the end of the story (which can never happen), instead leave it as a major battle won to prevent the forces of evil from dominating the future, knowing that the struggle goes on. The daily efforts of every hero will still be needed in every city, to carry on the never ending efforts to foil the plans of those who would bring darkness, and doom to everything they touch. At least that's what popped in my head the moment I read this thread.

That's very hard to nail down for anyone. It's really a matter of perhaps narrowing things down to an archetype that you identify with, as far as inherent characteristics, and try one of the power sets within. Don't worry about regretting your decision! You have 1,000 available character slots, so you can literally try as many different combinations as you like, until you find one that works. Characters that don't work can have their resources transferred to a global account, for use by a new character if you like. There are literally no wrong decisions, unless you, yourself decide that a character is just not working for you. There are no specific things that are inherently "better" in the game. Just the ones that are better for you! Folks around here (in the forums, in Discord, and in-game) are very helpful. There is a link at the top of the forum page for Paragon Wiki, which has a lot of information with which to do some research, and learn more about your choices either before, or after you make them. The idea is to have fun, and there are dozens, if not hundreds of ways to do that in this game. Feel free to do any of the above, and if you are looking for something in particular, feel free to hit me up here, or in-game. My global handle is @abraxus!

It is a little on the surreal side when you think about it. It was actually May 2004 when it went live, if memory serves, and I jumped in a couple of weeks later. A group of friends that had already spent years playing Everquest, and boring me to tears about their exploits in that game when we would have lunch together, or attend the same social functions, decided they were going to jump to this game. Some of them had participated in the Beta, and they thought this was the game they could finally get me interested in playing with them. I recall spending 3 hours in the character creator coming up with my first character before we were scheduled to start playing. In fact, that is the one you see in my forum avatar pic, though he was less grandiose because costumes were much less elaborate (especially in the beginning) for low level characters. The name took another hour itself! When we actually started to play, and I found myself on the steps of Atlas Park, it just felt right. Even though I had a tough time adjusting to the mechanics of game play in an MMO versus the first person shooters that I was most accustomed to at the time, I knew this is what I wanted to play, and everything else just fell away. I played until the last few months before the shut down, and I always regretted not being there the night of the actual sign-off. Now, 7 years later, we have been given a rare second chance to play the game we love again, in a stable, well balanced, and supportive environment. Is it perfect? Are all of those things 100% across the board? Of course not. Nothing real ever is. However, for the most part, we are a happy community doing things that a lot of folks can't seem to do in the real world. That is, to come together to enjoy something, work together to accomplish things, and don't let our differences define what we do, or don't do here, or how we treat one another. There is a lesson there somewhere, but I won't drift into that. Instead, I'll just say that, after 15 years, there is no game I'd rather play, and no community that I'd rather be a part of to share it with.

Sorry about that! I didn't know exactly how that worked. I should have. But, yeah. It works on Torchbearer.

In, and done. A pleasure to contribute to the continued success of Homecoming.

After I was shown /macro_image "v_archetypeicon_mastermind" "Warpzone" "enterbasefrompasscode "WARPZONE-4141"" I have gotten very little use out of my own SG base. This place services both sides, and it is so much more convenient than anything our SG had come up with. If you've not used it before, you copy that string into your chat space, and it creates a power button in one of your trays. You click this button, and almost instantly, you are there. From there, you can get pretty much anywhere, except for Cimmerora. Not sure anyone has figured that one out yet.

Welcome back hero! Nothing more satisfying that hearing that another fan of the game has found their way back. I know there are lots more out there who'd love to play again, but just aren't aware that the game has returned. Hopefully, someday soon, things will change to the extent that the call can go out on all available channels to bring them ALL home.

Thanks to the Devs for the response to the issues raised with the name. I personally had no issues with it, but I recognize/respect the perspective of those who did. There will never be 100% consensus on one name, but I believe there is universal agreement that the name change accomplished what it was intended to do, which was to remove the associated negative connotations. So, I'd say quit on a winner there, let's move on, and concentrate on making this new set of changes as good as they can be prior to roll-out. 😎

Well, to be fair, the Incarnate system was an add-on/bolt-on (as so many things were along the way) that they probably would have streamlined a bit had the game been around longer. But, it's still possible for improvements when the Devs finally get 'round to looking at the Incarnate thing again. I expect it will get better at some point, but if it's biggest perceived failing is the non-obvious placement of the menu to access it, that's not so bad in the grand scheme of things. 😎

Hey! I understood that reference! - Captain America, The Avengers 😉

Come on folks. Let's not read RL issues into the game, and come to verbal blows over them. This is a 15 year old game, and many of these sets were already named by the original Devs, and being completed by the current team. There is no offense intended here, and this is where we come to escape this kind of thing in the real world. Yes?

Welcome back! Another wayward hero who found his way home!

True! They likely wouldn't be wasting their time if they knew it was not for the long-term.

That is exactly what I try to do with the majority of my posts. There are exceptions, but I think they are rare. 🙂

No, and very likely we won't hear anything until they are concluded. In fact, since we don't know what the terms of the likely NDA that governs communications on this, we don't even know if they could tell us if they fail. So, we will have to just keep on playing, until we hear different. There's really not much else we can do. I'd love to know too, but since we have no control over any of this, and the frequency of asking about it does not change their ability to answer, we just gotta do what we do, keep fingers crossed that it is successful, and that it concludes sooner than later. 😎

He has more posts than me! He has more reputation points than me! NOOOOOOOOO! Life is WAY too short for such petty stuff. I'd rather be playing CoH, than waste time being concerned with this minutia. 🙄

To have to re-roll to accommodate great new stuff. What a wonderful predicament! 🙂😎 This stuff sounds quite interesting, and fun.

Following this, because I'm legitimately curious too.

Absolutely this! 👆 Most folks that complain that there is nothing left to do, really mean they have done the things they are familiar with over, and over again, and become bored. But, I would wager most of them typically don't actually explore all that the game actually has to offer. Especially considering that there are three different places (Paragon City, Pretoria, and the Rogue Isles), each with huge amounts of content. The Red side is hardly touched by most, and Pretoria even less so. If one wished, they could explore a combination of those three worlds, and find things they have likely never seen. Now, obviously that doesn't apply across the board. There are those that have literally done it all. But, that is a rarity compared to the numbers that complain about the lack of content.

I have always felt like the Incarnate System does exactly what it was originally intended to do. After fighting, and struggling through your journey as a hero, or villain (or whatever between), you are allowed (not forced) to take the next step, and achieve incredible levels of powers to deal with threats that required it. Now, if there is anything missing, it is just more content to challenge a team that are all endowed with these powers. I'm sure there were plans to do just that, but the announcement for the end of the game came before it could come to fruition. Now, we are left with 6 of the 10 powers, and a limited amount of content where it is perhaps not required, but certainly can make the crucial difference in victory, or defeat. I use the system to augment builds, and to feel like a true super powered being, which I consider the natural evolution of someone in a world like that. I feel it definitely has a place in the game, and for those that don't like it, as with everything else, it's totally optional. I don't feel the need to change the system, but rather to develop more end-game content to push things towards the Incarnate content originally envisioned. Complete the last 4 sets, and content to go with it, and I'll be quite happy.

Wait! What? Did I miss something? 😮

Seeing as how this thread has gone so far off the rails, that there is no going back...ok. I'll bite. Personally, I have no problem with ya man! If there is any issue on my part, it is not necessarily the bluntness, or the topics involved. Not even necessarily the ideas, or convictions. I'm just as passionate about the game. But, we express our enthusiasm in different manners. For me, it's the generalization. The homogeneous application of blame, and accusation on the community as a whole, for the few that cross your perceived lines of offense. You seem to perceive the whole thing as a self-righteous, self-aggrandizing, self-congratulatory, self-indulgent group of fakes, who like to think they are much better than they really are. I obviously don't agree. I feel that it might not be as righteous as it believes itself to be, but it's nowhere near as bad as you make it out to be either. But, that's life in general...isn't it? I'm sure this thread will soon be noticed by the Devs, and closed because it now represents nothing resembling the topic presented by the OP. But, perhaps it will serve some purpose before that happens, because we all seem to love the drama of these kinds of conversations.

Well, this one has now officially been from one end of the spectrum, to the other, and back again. We've managed to regurgitate all of the old disagreements, and as has been the case in the past, no minds have really been changed, no opinions or perspectives shifted, and nothing really settled. But, we're 8 pages in, and quickly headed for 9. So, why do we bother? I imagine because we are all passionate about this game to varying degrees, and express that passion in different ways. Well, that and we apparently just love to go through this exercise on a good old forum. It's what we do.

Another wayward hero, found his way home! Welcome back! I love to see these kinds of posts, where players who loved this game become aware that it's alive again, and find their way to one of the servers. It's kind of a trickle, because it's pretty much "word of mouth" that they find out. Imagine if the day should come when they (the Devs), can advertise their presence in the open, without legal issues to be concerned about! There will likely be a lot more folks out there, who are still lamenting the loss of the game, unaware that we are here, and waiting for them. They are going to be SO happy when they find out! I am very much looking forward to the possible day when the flood gates open, and the numbers of these kinds of posts grows exponentially!

I have a fire tank that I've been itching to play. Sounds like a good time to do it, with the fix to the taunt now in place!