CrudeVileTerror

I think Captain Mako's model is a single asset, so I don't think this is presently something the Devs have the tools for. BUT . . . yes. Once they can, it would be great to have some claws in the style of Mako's! . . . but a thought occurs . . . Shouldn't Captain Mako now be Savage Melee? I mean, I get not wanting to muck around with a Signature Character's Powers, but I was just spitballing.

I'm more worried about how you posed the two of them with your angle when you took the snapshot there, @RikOz.

Keeping the ball rolling . . . or I suppose keeping the upright stargate rolling: Favourite Stargate villain?

I would hope that if it prevents the Defeat that would do double-duty of preventing Debt and preventing de-toggling. Might want to also slap a 3 second Invulernability state on it too, just so the player isn't two-shot back down and has a chance to react. At the very least, if such a change isn't made to Revive, I think the cooldown should be dropped to like 30 seconds. If the whole schtick of the Set is falling down and getting up again, then there shouldn't really be any waiting for that to happen.

Which reminds me . . . I once upon a time believed there were more gazebos in the game than there were basketball courts. I was wrong. Very wrong.

Perhaps, but we kind of run in to a problem with that IO Sets don't discriminate between Archetypes. So, if some new Sets were made that favoured Defenses at small Sets combos, then the non-squishies would get just as much mileage out of them, if not more. And, of course, there's the argument folks make along the lines of "a squishie is supposed to be squishie, because they do things non-squishies don't." That particular rabbit hole is one I'll avoid diving down right now, though. However . . . I would certainly not be adverse to some new ATO Sets being introduced. Perhaps such ATO Sets could also provide the Defenses you're looking for on the squishier Archetypes, while providing other bonuses for the tougher Archetypes.

I have this nagging feeling that there's at least ONE sports team mentioned . . . but for the life of me, I can't place it. Might be worthwhile popping on to Everlasting and asking there in the General channel during peak hours. Collectively the roleplayers there might have an answer.

Not meaning to escalate, but calling them "mythological" seems pretty disingenuous from my perspective, especially considering I'm fairly sure I've seen you reply to people expressing these personal experiences right here in the forums. And I'll certainly cop to a bias too; I'm a roleplayer, and I primarily introduce roleplayers to this game. It's an easy sell when they see what the game's designed to offer in the form of customization, personalization, and the promise of agency (at least with things like AE or group activities. There's room for improvement in plenty of content). Is it really so daunting to accept that there are people who are actively playing this game, but loathe things like the market or the invention system? Even if you don't come across them in your own sphere, do you feel it's worthwhile harming their play experience? Do you genuinely gain anything from making the game less accessible? I'd like to see more effort dedicated to further improving accessibility, but I'm aware of the limited nature of the Dev Team and their resources. In the absence of that, though, I certainly don't want to see those limited resources used on development that negatively impacts the players I enjoy spending my time with here.

My spouse was a big fan of the show. After hearing this news, we decided we're going to watch it together. I'll get to experience the series for the first time, and my spouse will get to relive fond memories.

I know about IOs. I know about the market. I also know that a lot of the players who I've personally introduced to the game, or just newbies I've bumped in to while rolling new characters and getting the Tutorial Badges . . . THEY do not know. And they look at it, and it's intimidating and confusing as hell, and they don't WANT to look at it. Sure. Making it more accessible is a noble goal. But many of us aren't here fighting for ourselves. We're here advocating for those players who aren't frequenting the forums. Who aren't doing web searches for guides and outside tutorials. We're advocating on behalf of people who just want to play the game. And so, yeah. Unless the Homecoming Team wants to step up and overhaul the Enhancement System, the auction system, and all the in-game tutorials . . . we absolutely should continue to balance the game around the lowest common denominator. And even then? Why bother? It doesn't hurt anyone to continue to offer easy modes of play for those who enjoy them. And, at the same time, develop NEW -optional- features for those players who want to be challenged to find their challenges. Having the easiest end getting easier, and the hardest end getting harder is a solid plan for expansion, as far as I'm concerned.

Likewise, @Haijinx. I think it's just some incongruence between different device types.

It would definitely be great to have more immersive integration between Bases, Groups, and the rest of the game. I would be supportive of initiatives trying to bridge that gap! In the meantime, though, let's not forget to lean on the resources we already have available to us. Such as the forums here, with the Clubs and Calendars features. While obviously not integrated with the game itself, they are tied to the official website (this place), and as everyone needs an account from here to have a game account, it's a naturally reasonable resource to tap. If the website team would be willing, I think it could be great to add something official as well some day. But, for now we've got the likes the the Yellowpages. Those are resources we can tap as a community to fill the gap. We just need to endeavour to spread the word about them.

Rather, give players something that tempts them to slot something OTHER than Performance Shifter in to Stamina.

So, different approach here, @Galaxy Brain . . . if I understood your last post correctly. What if instead of trying to balance the game because many players use lynch pin IOs/Sets, what if we try to diminish the impact of those lynch pins by adding more features to existing Sets and give players reasons to diversify and explore more directions with their builds?

I don't believe there is a simpler way, as there have been a few attempts by players to either perform community projects or encourage the Devs to catalogue and document these things in some way that's more easily accessible than the current wiki format. If that simpler way does exist, I think someone needs to do a more thorough job of advertising it.

Poor @Galaxy Brain. Hmm, let's see . . . will this work as course correction . . . Galax! Hey. So, let's say your hypothesis is correct. Let's say that the bell curve has a distinct bulge in the centre with a majority of players possessing "lynch pin" IOs. What would you propose after something like that were confirmed? Do you feel that the existence of a 15% Global Recharge here and a +10% Recovery Rate there merit a complete pass for rebalancing the whole game? Does those values meaningfully impact the game enough for this theoretical majority of players to potentially put new and casual players in a compromised position? Could you elaborate a little more, please?

I think @Sakai was talking about Generic Confuse IOs, not Confuse IO Sets, @tidge. Although, yeah. Confuse Set IOs are relatively cheap. Haven't seen any for 2 Inf, but they tend to hover around 150,000 for the Uncommons and 350,000 for the Rares.

Bump Revive up the list, and make it a Cheat Death Power. Auto-activates when the player gets to 0 HP, prevents the Defeat, Heals, and then goes on cooldown. Thematic. Low-impact change. Unique. Doesn't cross the line in to Willpower or Bio Armour territory.

Electric / Martial Assault Dominator could be played as a Natural character, using tasers and jury rigged household electronics (if the customization options were available, you wouldn't necessarily need to stretch the imagination either). Up until you get to Gremlins. Those are pretty much preternatural. Coloured white, a Radiation / Katana Tanker could be some sort of celestial warrior. The Power of The Light and all that.

I believe the crux of the issue is Energy Drain. Out of the gate on a Brute, it's 1 minute cooldown, with 45 second up-time. Grants 0.38 Defense per target, 10 targets max, 0.75 Defense for first target hit. SOs can get that to 30 second cooldown, with 0.608 / 1.2 Defense. Giving the opportunity for 13.344 Defense. Then you get that sucker ramped up with IO Set Bonuses and Global Recharge. THEN you scale it to Tanker numbers. -That- is what (to the best of my understanding) is @Captain Powerhouse's primary hang-up on giving Energy Aura to Tankers. Powerhouse would naturally need to explain their stance directly, though. I'd rather not disseminate misinformation.

I think you and I had a miscommunication somewhere, @Hyperstrike. I am not in favour of getting slaughtered either. Jack's vision was that 4 minions should be enough to defeat a player-character.

Is it, though? Is it -supposed- to be a challenge? My read on the game design philosophy was that it was supposed to be engaging to a variety of players, and that options for challenge were meant to offer something to those seeking challenge. I mean, unless we go all the way back to Jack's Vision. Ok. Yeah. Hearing the details of how he thought the game was meant to be played; he wanted players to suffer. But he was out the door by, what; Issue 9? And even before that point the rest of the Devs had started to make the game much more accessible, as I recall.

But where are you seeing these Builds? Endgame? Task Forces? Raids? Incarnate gameplay? The kinds of content you personally enjoy getting involved in? You start balancing around those players, and everyone else is going to be royally fucked. I think the reasonable course of action remains to balance around the lowest common denominator, and then introduce specialized content for those looking to engage in more intense gameplay. Keep this game as casual-friendly as possible, as that's decidedly one of its core strengths, and one nominally addressed in the Homecoming mission statement of being welcoming to everyone. As for the size of the bidding pools . . . I'm a hoarder. You can mark down at -LEAST- 300 of those bid IOs going to my storage bins. Yes. I know your snapshot only looked at one week.

Yeah . . . player-market is probably a messy thing to try and gather such information from. Getting the actual numbers should happen before any decision-making happens. And even then, having the numbers doesn't necessarily explain the -why- of them, and since motivation was already established as an important factor in this matter . . . Thanks for putting the effort in, @Galaxy Brain, but I think you're operating from a flawed premise at the start here. Sorry.

Sorry. I'm afraid I can't do that, Tahquitz. But I do hope you enjoy the ride!