cranebump

Okay, some notes as I go:

After watching @Valeyard's run on twitch, worked on some tweaks:

I think if it's something relegated to mainly BB's, it'd be okay. One thing's for sure-the ability to lay down a hold, or knock someone out the sky has some value added in these cases.

Bosses that do something besides stand there and take it. I was in an AE mission not long ago, where Dracula speed-boosted or something, and just flew around like all over the place, occasionally passing by to hammer my arse with an attack. He had Elude popped (I was told), so, man-oh-man-oh-man, was that a tussle. You had to close with him in an office complex, and he doesn't bump into walls like you do. It was a bear, but it was fun. Anything that makes players move is nice.

The fact that you can kick your own ass (or the other way around) in Pos1 make this one of my favorites.

I can relate.:-)

I'll look into sometime this week. First glance, though: *Why not just set all mishes to 20-54? Then you don't need the disclaimer Best for levels... It'll be baked in. *Is it supposed to be Justice Seekers? (so, caps needed?)

And civilians running around in terror.

I don’t know, but whatever it is, it’s the opposite of Synapse.

There's one particular soul, whose name I cannot recall, who was very much about old-school herding to a specific spot. I ended up on a team with them twice, after which I learned to spot them by their toon names (which were basically insults about farmers). Their style was effective, but absolutely joyless. They repeated the same instructions every time we went into a mish (even though we hadn't added anyone new). It was that way, or no way at all. Felt counterproductive, because it seemed like we were good enough to meet the enemies where they were, rather than take up position, note the herd point, then wait for the Tank's run down, run back. It wasn't like we were doing a master run or anything. These were just story arcs.

I agree. That's probably a wise approach for avoiding the pitfalls we're discussing here.

I'd say it's teamwork if there's some synergy or interplay between skills. For example, my role on the basketball team might be to grab defensive rebounds and start the break. If there's no one to toss the outlet to, then my skill is just wasted. Tanker running ahead because they feel they've done enough, then leaving me, or someone else, behind to play free safety isn't "teamwork." It's 2 people performing the same task in different locations (with the one left behind having to deal with the burden of sometimes burying tough foes all by themselves). Also wanted to chime in on targeting. The primary focus in an enemy group ain't always the bosses. Sappers, for example, are priority targets in Malta Groups. Sky Raider Engineers can make things really suck if they're left to activate forcefields. It's not all one way or all the other. Of course, in this age of melt everything in 2 seconds, none of this may matter anymore. I thought there were already some mechanisms in play to buff certain ATs when they solo'ed, versus being on a team (EX: Defenders doing more damage when solo than when on teams)? If not, that would be a way to address it. Beyond that, I don't think everyone sees this as inherently a team game. I think more people than we know team up not because they enjoy being around others, or even need their abilities, but simply because they want the additional XPs from a filled out team. The subject matter of this thread is a testament to this - the OP has seen enough instances of being left behind to clean up after others that they feel they have to devise a "free safety" toon build so other folks can play their "I'm actually soloing, but you can come along" style. Having been that person on a lot of so-called "teams," I've been able to handle most stragglers with just about any build I have. If I can't handle them alone, then I just catch up with the group (because they obviously don't give a shit about them...until everyone realizes it's a kill all and they have to backtrack). (Just to be clear, I think the game is fine solo and on teams [for me, casual, chatty, non-speed teams are vastly preferable]).

2-96-60 Blaster-Water Blast-Martial Combat (oooookay then) 63-32-34 Mastermind-Mercs-Kinetics (could actually work, but I hate MM's) 78-81-98 Sentinel-Rad-Will (could actually play this one) Well, might as well go with the weirdest. Now dropping in... Tsumurai!* Holder of the Sacred Gem of Imanust! Trained by the Tsoo! Wardrobe by Goodwill! *some hateful, horrible person already HAD Tsunamurai, unfortuntately. (sniff):-) (Water Blast/Martial Assault it is. The KD is really nice, but when I wade for kicks-n-grins, I got no defense atm. Probably gonna need a toughness secondary, though I feel I have to have infiltration). Addendum: I also did costume parts/types I rarely every use, namely Hood, "Martial Arts" elements, and that weird cape selection. I actually like his look, though I'm pretty sure it's a very crappy, Marvel-1970s representation of an MA hero (at best).

I got a katana/SR Tank last year (I think it was a tank). It was a fun ride. I’ll whip something up soon.

Patrol spawns after objectives, spouting some sort of minor clue sometimes work. But you really can't use the "unaware" dialogue (and many other types) without it popping all at once.

A quick run:

Okay, so gave it a run:

No worries. Maybe I hallucinated it:-)

Hey, @TerroirNoir, just saw your mish comments. Looks like I have something that needs addressing?

Now that I think about it, if we can flesh out KW, that'd be cool. That wouldn't have to be Coh2, either. It's just a zone asking for some content.

I'll try to give it a quick run tonight or tomorrow morning. There's several new arcs from new authors, which is a great sign for the health of AE. Thanks for throwing your sombrero in the ring.:-)

@lemming's right. The player's settings will determine how they con. If you want to make sure a Boss shows up as that, you can place an EB as the "Boss" objective, and then, on default level (which is where I test everything on mine), the player will get a boss. It seems to con one level down. If you think about it, it makes sense, since custom power selections can be a bit tougher anyway, for standard toons. That said, I always assume AE'ers are running with strong characters, and can handle a the challenge. Isn't always the case, though. On the whole, if I can handle a tough combat using Insps, I feel like it's a fair fight.

I'd like to have bosses TP out before they're killed. Or have them surrender, then talk to you. Other than that, adding the power pools to the selections list for critters. I want some of my bad guys to have super speed.:-D

King’s Row is revitalized, but it’s by a Kingpin type character who’s seen as a hero by most of the folks (but we know better, don’t we?)

They might be, but I'm not entirely sure, tbh.