AmbiguousOmen

The Mistress of Fate in First Ward is using the Paragon City dialogue. As a Praetorian, she should be referring to the Combat Effectiveness Review Enforcement System (CERES).

Montague Castanella refers to players as "PlayerName". This screenshot is from calling him, but I think I might have seen at least one other instance in his dialogue.

I dream of Swashbuckling Assault: sword in one hand, pistol in the other.

"Wayward" or "Mercurial" fit better with the theme of someone who changes their alignment often. "Uncommitted" -> "Mercurial" -> "Multifaceted" has a nice progression to it. Otherwise, if you want to emphasize the fact that a hero or villain is following lots of tips, you could go for something like "Tipped Off" -> "Well Connected" -> "In the Know" but that doesn't fit the badge icon very well.

Why make it complicated? New Vigilance: Every teammate provides a 3% end discount. It does largely the same thing as current Vigilance, but in a way that is noticeable and that helps Defenders out in lower levels when they don't have the resources for end management.

Combat-wise, the main issue with the Warriors is that they're fairly boring. Their missions are the easiest ones you can pick when doing paper missions in places like Nerva. They're a bunch of melee units, with only single-target moves and a crossbow shot as a single ranged attack in most cases. They deal exclusively crushing/lethal and their only control abilities are the disorients from the Crushers, and some knockback/knockdown. Thematically, they also write themselves into a corner by being a Natural-origin group that refuses to even use basic tech like guns. Suggestions, in no particular order: Add a dedicated Archer subset of units, to at least mix in some ranged combatants. Or a Javelin user. Add some Super Strength moves (Foot Stomp, Hand Clap) to Lieutenants/Bosses to pepper in some AoE and control. These powers are "natural" enough to feature in the MM Thugs Bruiser. Add a support unit. For example, a Dog Trainer that's a Beasts/Pain MM (with only wolves to stand in as dogs and very few pain powers: World of Pain cast on player detection, Anguishing Cry when in melee). Keeping tough, scary dogs would be fairly on-brand for the Warriors.

I had the same bug in the same mission. An untargetable Praetorian Colonel Duray showed up after the Mission Complete, he could pelt me and and minions with attacks but I got the "Invalid Target" error when I tried to attack him.

Typo in The Hetman's dialogue during Nadia's arc in First Ward. Mission: Part II: Hoist the Rag - Defeat D.U.S.T. Rangers "You're best bet" should be "Your best bet".

🐮-> Cow -> Moo -> Mu Mystic VEAT confirmed A boy can dream.

For the sake of diversity, to not immediately make Fortitude into another Mind Link/Farsight clone, it could also be turned into an AoE toggle that targets an ally: a reverse Radiation Infection. That would keep the gameplay decision of who to target with Fortitude, while still increasing the default number of targets. You'd basically end up buffing only half the team, either the frontline or the backline, but that's still better than the current state.

edit: double post, sorry

And yet, he's unable to see you if you're running any stealth powers. Did the arc yesterday and had to turn off Steamy Mist.

I tend to agree with this. The Brute/Scrapper and Defender/Corruptor identities are already blurry enough that I'm not sure more archetypes would help. I have however wondered at times if the fact that Scirocco, nominally the signature Corruptor, so prominently wields a sword means that Corruptors were intended to be Melee/Support at some point in the design process. It's the one combo that I think might feel truly fresh.

What about setting elevators as valid exit points for kidnap/rescue NPCs? At least that would significantly shorten the time and distance spent dragging them along, but still allow for things like ambush waves.

Make the personal attacks from the Ninjas MM set throw shuriken instead of using a bow and arrow, please.

No joke, arriving in Sharkhead Isle at level 20 and being told to do 5 paper missions and a mayhem mission just to be introduced to a contact is pretty miserable! Plus, it's very likely to make you outlevel the contacts themselves, since both possible chains start with 2 contacts with 20-24 ranges. In short, I'd also prefer the Broker system to be reviewed. It'd also provide an opportunity to take a page out of the Praetoria mission arcs and inform the player a bit better about what their villain is getting into. But a lot of other people have said that already. I wanted to focus instead on the other issue that has been brought up: the lack of an Atlas Plaza equivalent for hanging out casually and people-watching. Personally, I don't think there's a good way to convert Mercy Island into this kind of space. The main square where you spawn out of the tutorial lacks the symbolic power of the combination of the Atlas statue and the City Hall, and Mercy itself is an example of the worst aspects of Rogue Island map design: half the island is a slum, and the other half is a giant Arachnos fort. It's really dreary and oppressive, and there's no in-story reason for high-level villains to be hanging around there. Instead, I'd like to suggest that St. Martial is a much better candidate for creating a villain hang-out: It's a pleasure district. Being a hero is about responsibility, but being a villain is about having fun. Arachnos presence is minimal. You can focus on your own story. Narratively, a casino district can accommodate crimes spanning a large range of levels: Low-level villains can be scamming or stealing from clueless tourists, high-level villains can be cutting corrupt deals with world leaders inside the Golden Giza. The Golden Giza is both iconic and symbolic. It's an architectural landmark to rival Atlas's Statue. A giant casino also doubles as a temple to greed, making it a dark mirror to the temple to public service that is City Hall. So that would be my recommendation. Make St. Martial into a proper hub space, specifically the south-western island and southern islands (Double Down and Babylon). Add all sorts of transportation options around the ferry (SG base, Pocket D access, a submarine to go blueside, etc). Maybe a marina full of yachts or something, for better flavor. Build a bridge east to the Babylon area/Golden Giza, for easier access to the Arbiter. Optional: Add more of a tourist/party atmosphere. Change the skybox to something sunnier. Add the following option to both tutorial versions: "Hijack the helicopter and head for St. Martial. You'll make your own fortune." Characters who forgo the tutorial also get dropped here instead of St. Martial. Kalinda and co. suggest you head to St. Martial after your first set of missions, if you do choose the options that start you in Mercy. Once players arrive, they can pick up a newspaper from a broker NPC and run some level-appropriate missions with all the doors inside Double Down. Ideally, players will instead run Death From Below, but an early bank job would be a fantastic experience for a new player instead of caves full of snakes. Move Dr. Graves and his first set of missions here instead of Mercy.

I begrudgingly concede this point. I'm probably under Stockholm syndrome of trying to squeeze as much value out Fortitude as possible after all these years. On the plus side, Link Minds has a really cool animation, and it'd be great to recycle it for a version that adds +damage to replace Fortitude (name suggestion: Link Psyches).

I posted my own version of an Empathy rework a few days ago on Shin Magmus's thread. It is fairly close to what the OP is suggesting, but I think OP goes a little too far. From what I understand, CM is unlikely to become an AoE Break Free, as the devs have said they don't want to add powers like that. That's why in my suggestion the mez protection would remain single target, and only the psi/neg energy res would be AoE. I wouldn't support making Fortitude into a Mind Link, either: picking the best targets for Fortitude and keeping it up on them is pretty much the core gameplay loop of Empathy. It's a big buff that you have to use responsibly, and the choices you make about using it are central to your performance as an Empath and to the identity of the set. Making both CM and Fortitude AoE would remove any gameplay decisions for Empathy: at that point you just have a bunch of buttons that do good things and so all you have to do is push them.

Hopefully 3 weeks is not too necro, but I didn't want to start a new thread when this one is pretty good. I broadly agree with Shin Magnus's assessment that a lot of Empathy's powers are strictly worse than equivalent powers in other Defender primaries, as if the design basis had been "like Empathy, but with extra effects" for many powers (the rez powers are the clearest example of this, in my opinion). However, while I see the argument that adding a debuff would help, I also share the view that it would not be on brand for Empathy. Here's my stab at it (Defender values): T1 and T2: No changes. T3 - Absorb Pain: Add a +31.25% Damage buff for 15s to the ally that receives the heal. It's the same +Damage to self that is given by Pain Domination's Share Pain, making it proper ally-oriented mirror to that power. Putting yourself at some risk for an ally (mostly mitigated by boosting your regen) is a very nice power fantasy, plus it makes your ally better able to fight off whatever it was that hurt them enough to need the big heal. T4 - Resurrect: Just make it AoE. It's fine for Empathy to have the blandest rez power (no attached buffs or debuffs), but make it the most efficient. T5 - Clear Mind: Keep the single-target mez protection and +perception, but add an AoE +25% resistance to Psionic and Negative Energy. Basically, give it the Increase Density treatment. Protecting your teammates minds from mental and spooky effects is part of what an Empath tends to do in fiction. T6 - Fortitude: No changes. T7/T8 - Recovery/Regeneration Aura: Merge these into Revitalizing Aura. I fully agree with Shin Magnus on this one. New T8 - Glimpse of Hope: This is the space for a new power. I suggest a PbAoE version of Power Build Up: a short duration (12.5s) boost to Damage and To Hit, but also to most of the defensive and control powers that other players may have. This is another source of +damage (together with Fortitude and the improved Absorb Pain), but it also makes Empaths uniquely able to make their allies better at whatever it is that they do. Ideally, I'd also attach a biggish heal to the PbAoE (similar to the T9 from Time Manipulation), so that this power can be used both preemptively as well as as a tide-turner together with Healing Aura, which shares the same targeting. Recharge should be longish (usable about every other fight without enhancements). I genuinely think this would fit well both in the way that Empathy plays, but also in the power fantasy. T9 - Adrenaline Boost: No change.