Sniktch

As a clarifying example: Go into Options. Look for Beta Options; there's one there that displays power recharge time remaining as a timer as well as the growing icons. That took a couple of months to build and blew up the beta server at least once I'm aware of. Just to display a countdown on top of the power icons.

Monster Hunter: World - a bit grindy at places, and the story can be cringe-inducing if you can't manage to see it as intentionally ridiculous self-parody, but it's a great way to smash a firebreathing dinosaur's head in with a big damn hammer when I'm not doing similar to folks in the Isles or Paragon. Decently pretty, and the difficulty is just about right; hard enough to kick your teeth in if you get cocky and play stupid, easy enough that if you don't get cocky and play stupid, you don't need to be a cyber-wired ninja spider to play 'effectively'. I also dabble in 'pixel paleontology' - NES, SNES, Genesis, the occasional throwback to the Amiga or C64, when Electronic Arts actually didn't suck like a two-dollar hooker working a black hole.

My opinion is: Anything PvPers want that isn't designed to bait/crowbar people into PvP, they can have - as soon as Marshall and Born In Battle don't need villains to flag for PvP to get, whether by changing the requisite badges to not include PvP-zone Explore and History ones, or moving the plaques/badges out of PvP zones. And yes, Mac, I do know the history, etc - but the point, however annoying it is, bears repeating lest human nature rear its ugly head in the form of "it'll be different THIS time!". Nukes, Shivans, and the original BiB/Marshall requirements were the definition of crowbarring folks into the zones, and I'm sure you remember just how nasty that turned for everyone involved. As much as I honestly hate PvP, I don't begrudge you your 'fun' - I just want to be able to forget it exists regardless of where my characters live.

It's a lovely dream - but I'll point out that TFs used the 'locked team at start' setup from launch to this very day. As far as I'm aware, Ouro uses the exact same set of code, so poking it could very well be...bad. Things that were baked-in for Issue 0 have historically been radioactive kludgefucks at best, and quite often tickling them results in reams of "how the screaming hell did that happen?!" situations. Then again, the Mayhem/Safeguard re-do contacts do something similar if different - you get exemped/Mal'ed, but only when you actually enter the mission, so maybe Homecoming has figured out the magic bullet.

And even console games have bugs, flubs, catastrophic fuckups or worse. Good example: Final Fantasy series. In something like half the games (including the beloved 7) Darkness status, for one reason or another, does exactly nothing. In 6, Darkness worked - except that physical Evade percentages didn't work, defaulting to magic Evade instead, so Darkness did nothing. All kinds of glitch tricks on old cartridge games, too. Coding/programming have always been dodgy endeavors - look at Buggerfall....I mean Daggerfall, or most any other Bethesda game. If that's 'normal', and Cities is legendarily "my god, WHY DID THEY DO IT THAT WAY???"-inducing, it's just another thing to love 😄

A lot of AI interactions are less polished now than they were on Live, actually - a running boss will start their sprint usually before you get within visual range, for example. I think it may be an unintended consequence of some of the changes 'under the hood' that were made during the Dark Years, possibly related to making Ally-type NPCs able to follow through most stealth powers or maybe to some of the other tweaks they did.

He means not just for the arc, but as a universal effect - lock yourself to level 19 and do all the arcs at that range, without locking yourself into one arc at a time for example.

To point out a simple reversal: Those who say the difficulty is too low are told to do various intentional self-gimping things, usually facetiously and snarkily. TOs only, for example. To that, I say: if that's a valid suggestion, so is suggesting that everyone who wants 'easy' should just kick it down to -1. +4/x8 is supposed to be a challenge. -1/x anything is supposed to be easy mode. Unfortunately, currently +4/x8 is steamroll-easy - as a note, I have multiple characters who do indeed do Rularuu, Nemmy, Malta, Carnies, and DA at +2/x8 and CAN do it at +4, but I don't because it's not 'challenging', it's just slower. IO bonuses, active Incarnate abilities, and Hasten (which, BTW, is the single biggest +Recharge effect in the game - even Speed Boost and Siphon Speed are weaker, and they either are not-affect-self or require regular reapplication with a hit-check on a hostile) all make survivability via the soft-cap too easy to reach, and relegate early powers to the set-mule trash-heap. And as a comparison point, I remember Repeat Offenders and all the sub-groups they had - to me, THAT kind of power isn't 'bad' because everyone actually contributes, no player is an island, and the whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts. As so many others have said, it falls foul when one person is basically doing the mission and everyone else is just there for pity slots. In a way, we've full-circled back to launch tanker-herding, just without the tanker and with an aggro cap.

The 'random set mission' can be cleared off by selecting another dialog option; I had no issues getting the big list to pop back up with 1-2 clicks. Aside that, your suggestions/complaints are wholly valid; as a fun fact, in the Mortimer Kal SF, Infernal counts, Numina doesn't if you soul-trap her, and none of the Midnighters do. Most alignment missions also feature Villain-flagged targets instead of Hero-flagged targets. Yes, it's possible to get, it's just a lot less 'falls in your lap' than blueside. Par for the course, considering both +max END Accolades for redside are still predicate on giving PvP permission, whereas none of the blueside ones are.

It is.

The Widows and Soldiers took an astounding amount of hackwork and kudgefuckery to get working, both as regards their powersets and regards their costumes. The Crab Backpack is part of that kludgefuckery. Poking at any part of that Jenga tower is asking for a collapse. The least-risky option would be different-looking packs for folks not actually RPing a Crab; if that's what you're interested in, then I'm sure the Homecoming team would be more than happy to include your model/mesh/texture/rigging once you actually make it. Also, lorewise? The backpack is a SPINAL GRAFT. Remove backpack = remove most of your spinal column. Congrats, you are now Professor Xavier minus the telepathy! Except it's also wired directly into your central nervous system, so there's a lobotomy involved too.

That's effectively what Cross Punch, Boxing, and Kick do now - there's four versions of Boxing and Kick, and two versions of Cross Punch(only two because you MUST take Boxing or Kick to get to Cross Punch, without exception). Which one the game calls is determined by which powers you have - Boxing calls Boxing A, Boxing + Kick calls Boxing B, Boxing + Cross Punch calls Boxing C, Boxing +kick +Cross Punch calls Boxing D. This is also why Cross Punch's damage doesn't show properly on the ingame numbers - same as with Titan, because the ingame numbers display wasn't set up to handle the variable calls used. So to do this, you'd need to make 3 more versions of each pet power, rebuild the mastermind pet entries by removing the upgraded minions from the base power and slapping them into new tables that will (hopefully) answer the relevant calls, recode the upgrade powers to autos with no slots since they couldn't be slotted for anything, repurpose the Fighting Pool synergy code, build the code hooks to call the appropriate table when a summon is used, cram it all into the codebase and hit Pineapple or whatever it's named at that point, reciting the mantra the Live devs did every new push: "Please God don't let it break everything again". You'd also probably need to rebalance Masterminds whole-cloth, as the time and END spent resummoning and rebuffing is meant to be a limiter on their max output in hard-target (AV/GM/EB) situations.

A further note on the EA chatter: Realize all my numbers upthread are Scrapper vs. Scrapper, because that's one of the two ATs that has SR, Nin, and EA. Brutes and tanks don't get Nin, tanks don't get EA. And I picked Scrapper...because that's where the performance between the three sets is closest. Stalker, EA blows Nin and SR away easily.

The problem with Boxing and Kick is the same problem Jab in Super Strength has - they're actually pretty close to on-formula balance regarding damage/recharge/endurance cost, but because their base recharge is so low, they do very poor damage per use. Jab or Boxing fired three times is the same damage and END cost as Heavy Mallet in Stone Melee, it just takes longer to animate and 'feels' weaker. Standard 8 DPE, really bad DPA/DPS. Up their recharge to 6 or 8 seconds with the equivalent increase in damage, and even with the pool attack end-cost penalty, they'd be mostly acceptable attacks. As a comparison point, Air Superiority is considered one of if not the best pool attacks, and its numbers are pretty much identical to Super Strength Punch or Stone Stone Fists - ~1 END per use more, always does Knockup, always does -Fly versus chance to Knockdown and can slot ATOs. The -Fly can be considered a bit of a 'freebie', but in all other respects they're all almost perfectly on the Damage/Recharge/End formula, and none is 'bad' unless your benchmark is Titan. So yeah - up Boxing and Kick's recharge/END/damage, and people will stop complaining about them as logic prevails who am I kidding, they'll still bitch anyway.

...*chuckle* and that's why I say 90% eidetic, not 100% - knew Conserve got juggled, Drain was an issue, things got changed at APP prolif, and brain twisted three ropes into one knot. Appreciate the correction.

Yup - spend one hour online in Pocket D gets you a badge that grants it, or you can just buy it for a million at a P2W.

Currently, it's a timed autopower you get from a P2W vendor in one-hour blocks, max 8 hours at any time. The P2W vendors in Grandville, Mercy, FBZ, and Atlas come under the standard 'Task Force Lockout' - but the vendor in Pocket D DOES NOT. That one goes straight to the store screen, and thus never triggers the "don't you have something more important to be doing?" dialog. That's the lockout - any store that does not have a 'chat' screen before you gain access is still accessible. This is why Nurses in hospitals can still sell you inspirations and buy stuff from you, but any contacts will nope you.

Mids says Nin has MUCH worse DDR than EA - 35% unenhanceable for Nin, 52% unenhanceable for EA. SR is the only one that seems to have enhanceable DDR; at base, it's only 62% but caps out at over 90%. Thing is, that really is all SR has going for it; the scaling +resist is quite often a fig-leaf because of the way Cities combat flows. Usually you take two big hits which flat-overwhelms the resist, or a medium and big hit, in rapid succession, which skips right over it - doesn't drop you low enough to gain any appreciable resist, then drops you right to the floor. Further, EA and Nin both get always-on resist albeit at lower maximums, which makes SR's sorta-there, sorta-not, only great when you're nearly dead resist a lot less stellar. And Quickness's +Recharge is half what an EA scrapper can get at Entropic Aura saturation. Even Stalker SR vs. Stalker EA, the +recharge is the same, leaving SR only 'advantaged' in the +movespeed and DDR departments. Another factor I forgot to toss in: EA gets -End, -Recovery, -Rech, and -Move resistances. SR gets -Rech/-move from Quickness, and Nin gets Confuse/Fear protection, but neither gets bluebar guards. Nin and SR do get +Perception - but again, that's a fig leaf; if you're not tangling with Banes, Night Widows, or Knives of Artemis, -Perception and Stealth are pretty much nonexistent. There may be First Ward or Night Ward mobs that use Smoke Grenade etc., but I'm not aware of them, and it's still hugely niche even if there are. The reason Energy Drain is the problem is when EA launched, Energy Drain was Conserve Power and PPPs didn't have Conserve Power. When APPs were proliferated to redside and all Epic pools were expanded, the presence of Conserve Power in the Body and Energy pools necessitated that EA or those APPs change - EA got Energy Drain instead of Conserve Power, Scorpion picked up Conserve Power, Body changed from Conserve Power to Superior Conditioning, Energy Mastery kept Conserve Power. Problem is, Energy Drain was a renamed clone of Energy Absorption from Ice - which is why it's got the defense buff per target that puts it past the marker. It's not a big outlier, but it IS an outlier. Not one I'd burn dev time on right now, to be honest - making Stone work in a way that isn't completely clusterfucked and reining in Bio should be first "hard work" passes as they're the furthest edges of the graph right now, and their eventual solutions one way or the other could change the overall midpoint. Kind of like starting melee offensive balance with Titan and EA; hit the worst cases on both ends and see how that adjusts things.

Efficient Adaptation has no debuffs associated with it and costs 0 END. Thus, your question is moot - unless a player is skipping Adaptation entirely in which case they're knowingly choosing to play sub-optimal and thus outside balance parameters, Bio must be balanced around having one of the Adaptations running at all times from first availability. The problem is, Defensive doesn't give enough worth for its -25% Damage debuff and reduction of the aura's -Resist effect; you can't use Offensive's self -resist as a comparison point because it's not present in Efficient either, and Defensive's +3% Defense and single-digit-per-attack heal are really NOT worth all you give up.

Sorry, @Steampunkette - it doesn't work that way, because the backpack is a costume attachment and saved in the costume, not the build. If you have Crab in either build, the pack is locked-on. This is last-I-knew, of course.

Also could be a phonetic play on bass head - one who knows the secrets of Lemmy.

Checked some numbers. Rechecked some numbers, threechecked some numbers. EA on a Scrapper has better overall defense than Scrapper Ninjitsu - higher typed with a Psi hole versus lower positionals; Nin hits ~27% all positional, EA hits 24 Neg, 27 Smash/Lethal, and 30+ for Fire/Cold/Energy. Thing to remember is there are a fair number of Psi attacks that lack a positional tag - they're purely typed, so to SR and Nin, they're exactly the same as to EA. This is also not adding in Energy Drain, which can add 7% more on a full saturation; yes, you're likely to get less than 10 hits, but less better is still better. EA has no Fire/Cold/Psi resist native, but has better total resists than Nin. Energize is a better self-heal than Kuji-In-Sha, as it gives heal, +regen and End Discount as opposed to just heal and +Tox resist; the longer recharge is generally a nonfactor as both kits focus on not taking damage in the first place. Energy Drain is arguably a better END recovery tool than Kyoyo, as it does more than just +End; also, it only needs 4 targets unenhanced to fill your blue bar, whereas Kyoyo caps out at 58%. They're both on minute timers, so that's a wash. Tier 9s are tier 9s. And then we come to the kicker...EA's status protection is also its taunt aura is also up to 40% recharge bonus and a non-negligible -recharge on every tagged foe. Versus Kuji-In-Rin, which does give decent Psi resist while consuming your auto pick. Note, this is all on SOs and no pool powers at all - mix in sets, and things start skewing harder and harder to EA, partly because Psi/Fire/Cold resist are much more accessible as set bonuses, partly because those same sets also tend to offer good typed defense bonuses and not-so-good positionals, and partly because EA has more variety of powers and thus can work more valuable sets. But as I've said several times, sets cannot be a balance point because of their sheer variety. Now, that big ol' block of text does not say EA is blowing doors off the universe. It does say it's overperforming - mainly because of the +def in Energy Drain. Not a huge amount, and I'd honestly be willing to count it as 'eh, close enough' in general. But rolling specifics for other sets necessitates I do the same to EA as well.

The fix to Dark would be an either-or situation: Either fill the KB hole so Acro isn't an 'intended' use power, OR shave END costs on all the toggles so running Acro isn't crippling. No need to mess with any of the power effects, at all; I've got a Dark tank, and she is what Stone WISHES it was survivability-wise. Regen: Debuff resistance and some refreshing layer of Absorb a la what some Blasters get as their sustain toggle. Shakes off negatives quick and can survive an alpha within reason. Stone: Nuke from orbit and rebuild from the ground up. Sorry, with the mess it's in because of how Granite operates, there really is no other way to bring it in-line right now. Energy Aura: It's over the line - but not by much. The self-heal isn't the problem, Energy Absorbtion is. Strike its +def component, run a beta on it. If it's still tipping the needle, lower base values by ~2% on the rest of the toggles. Bio: The elephant in the room with Bio is Offensive Adaptation. Compared to Efficient and Defensive, it might as well be called "Run THIS ONE!" instead of Offensive; the self-debuff is noticable but small enough to be worked around in a variety of ways, and the benefits. Oh, the benefits. Sentinels get 20% damage buff, plus a global movespeed buff, plus a ToHit buff, plus plus plus. Scrappers get 32.5%, and their taunt aura's -res debuff gets stronger, and they get an extra tick of tox damage on every attack, and a ToHit buff, and and and. For 0 END and -7.5% Resist. The -resist only really matters on Energy/Neg, the two resists Bio is lacking in...except it gets decent if not softcapping Energy/Neg DEFENSE in-set, which makes it kind of moot. The benefits of Offensive need to come down, and Efficient and Defensive need to get a little shinier to balance out, making the toggle juggle design of the set a reality instead of a fig-leaf. And I say this having an MA/Bio Scrapper, Dark/Bio Sentinel, Dark/Rad Tank, and Claws/EA Stalker amongst my characters.

Standard Code Rant applies, and a clarifying example. You know that "show power recharge as a timer" beta option, the one that just slaps a numeric countodwn over a power icon after it's used? That got added by Homecoming. It took several months and blew up the beta server at least once I'm aware of. Yes, Homecoming has done a LOT to make the code less nightmarish. It's still playing hopscotch in a minefield while blindfolded.

Working as intended - when the big IO pass was done on Live, that particular proc was given the +regen benefit because otherwise it was effectively useless, but the devs didn't want it to be an auto 5-slot so the regen benefit was intentionally made Unique.