TemporalVileTerror

The original release level caps were 40 for both Heroes and Villains. For Heroes it was raised to 50 with Issue 1, and for Villains with Issue 7, if I'm recalling correctly.

Roleplay as a non-sapient robot who's just programmed to fight targets designated by the team, while an audio unit dispenses pre-recorded quips from online gamers as a rudimentary form of tactical communication.

Sorry, is that 7:15 AM or PM?

That's a fractal pattern, @twozerofoxtrot. Although it may have been more accurate to use the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attractor#Strange_attractor image, the Mandelbrot makes for a more interesting picture.

Looking in to @twozerofoxtrot's ".38 Special" revealed to me the: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.38_Super Might have something there.

Feel free to roll new character(s) to participate in the event, @paletone! You don't need to limit yourself to just one.

Depends on how capricious they are, and how much they shed.

If I may, what about a cap of level 38 instead? That way even the Secondary Tier 9 can be accessed, and only up-to two Epic Pool Powers, at most.

And to be sure, @d4verman; are you using the Homecoming Launcher, or Tequila (or possibly some other launcher that I'm not even aware of)? If you're getting warnings for using Tequila, that's not too surprising. Part of the reason the team has made the Homecoming Launcher is security concerns associated with Tequila. If you're getting a viral warning from the Homecoming Launcher, you may want to post a report about it in the specific development board: https://forums.homecomingservers.com/forum/103-homecoming-launcher/

vs I don't think I see it, sorry @Frostbiter. Do you maybe have a reference photo that looks more similar to what you're describing?

I need a "Terrified" Reaction for -that- one, @Lines!

I would ABSOLUTELY play that game mode, @Yomo Kimyata! No joke. Sounds interesting!

I imagine it might be ten kilograms of hell in a two kilogram container to do this, but . . . You know those places in Atlas Park and Mercy Island where the zone itself is semi-instanced for players to experience different versions of the zone? Do that. Specifically for the parts of the Zone which are protected by Police Drones and Signature NPCs. That way the villains operating in Kings Row can go and try their luck against Blue Steel (and get soundly defeated) without disrupting the Heroes in the area who are trying to use Blue Steel for training up their latest level.

The game is simple! (And not actually a game, honestly. I just don't know what this thing is supposed to be a picture of.) Choose an image from the https://hcwiki.cityofheroes.dev/wiki/Enhancement_Sets and ask the community: "What the 'ell is That Thing!?" I'll go first. What the 'ell is That Thing!?

No deal, sorry. I do want progress and evolution, but I would much rather that come in the form of -new- things. I don't want to sacrifice existing zones. The death of Galaxy City is still a sour point for me, after all.

Yeah, but -I- like Echo: Dark Astoria, and don't want it to become a PvP zone . . .

Thanks, @parabola! It was more of an attempt at "Small, Large in One Way, and Large in A Different Way," but yeah. I think it's important to have the three options being different enough from one another that players are given an opportunity to ask themselves questions like: "Ok, I just used my Nuke and I'm almost out of Endurance; so do I want to use the one which increases my Cooldowns, or the one which neuters my Endurance Recovery for a while?" Something else I forgot to mention above is that they should probably also be tied to a mutual cooldown of at least 2.5 Seconds, so that a player doesn't just spam all three of them at the same time, but these Struggle Powers should all have a 0 Second Activation Time.

Let's take a look at this mathematically . . . Let's say we make three Powers. One is a "Quick Struggle" which costs 7.5 Endurance, applies a non-self-stacking -30% Recharge Debuff for 5 Seconds, has an unmodifiable Recharge of 2.5 Seconds, and provides a stacking +10% Resistance to all Hard Status Effects until the player-character is free of the Hard Control. The player then get's hit by a 4 Second Hold. They hit the Quick Struggle right away, and shorten their Hold Duration to . . . 3.6~ Seconds. That's hardly gamebreaking to balance, right? But it gives the player something to do. Let's up that to a 10 Second Hold. They can then hit the Quick Struggle three times! First application, assuming they hit it straight away, drops the Hold Duration to 9.1~ Seconds. Second application after 2.5 Seconds drops REMAINING Duration to 5.5 Seconds. Third application after another 2.5 Seconds drops remaining Duration 2.3~ Seconds. Grand total time Held reduced from 10 Seconds to 7.3~ Seconds (savings of 2.7~ Seconds). And let's not forget that such a theoretical player would have to possess lightning reflexes to pull something like that off. It's more likely that they'll only squeeze off 2 Seconds from their total Held Duration. Still, and most importantly, the player is actively engaging with the game! Which is a good thing! The other two Powers could be . . . Exhaustive Struggle Costs 15.5 Endurance, applies a non-self-stacking -20% Recharge Debuff for 5 Seconds, applies a stacking -10% Max Endurance Debuff for 10 Seconds, has an unmodified Recharge of 5 Seconds, and provides a stacking +30% Resistance with the same conditions. Strategic Struggle Costs 10 Endurance, applies a non-self-stacking -45% Recharge Debuff for 10 Seconds and a further fully stackable -5% Recharge Debuff for 15 Seconds, has an unmodified Recharge of 7 Seconds, and provides a stacking +20% Resistance with the conditions. This variety of Powers offers the player a tactical decision to make, each with their own costs. This adds depth to the gameplay and provides players the opportunity to consider "What's my best option in this moment?" Suddenly Hard Control is no longer abruptly ending the player's interaction with the game. It's now a whole new, nuanced situation for the player to actively engage with! And for those who aren't interested? It's entirely optional, and all existing counterplay to Control still exists exactly as it already did. All of these values are, of course, just pulled out of my butt on the spot. Someone like @Bopper could probably do a more intensive mathematical study and determine a more appropriate set of values.

The point is that there are still ways for the player to engage with the game, even while taking damage. Hell, even while being defeated! They can immediately exercise their player-agency and hit the "Hospital" button. The player still has a choice then, and a way to interact with the game. The only conditions where a player is completely at the mercy of the game is when they're Hard Controlled and out of countering options. Inspirations only go so far. Teammates can not be relied upon. Hard Control exists as a unique condition within gameplay where the game tells the player "Nope. Time to stop playing until we say you're allowed to again." I think there's room for improvement there, and I think this suggestion is one of the best we've had to address that.

That would have been @Yikes, @Veloice. They also posted those offers to share their quality work with Homecoming here in the forums. Twice. Anyway . . . who are these men who are eating hair, @Techwright? I can't imagine they're getting much nutritional value from it. Must be why they're starving.

Sorry to hear about that experience, @Nemeroff. I've known a few people like that . . . who seem so wholly certain that they're being "positive to the community" by intentionally forcing people out who do not have the same software or hardware as they do. It's really unfortunate. I do hope you've managed to find some other friends to play with who are more reasonable!

Another attempt at a point of clarity here: This isn't about countering Control. It's about not sitting on your thumbs waiting for a Control to expire.

This is Microsoft we're talking about. The same people who bought Skype to replace their MSN Messenger, since they recognized that Skype was the more popular option and didn't have the same taint about its brand as their Messenger did.

Could there be a typo in there? Maybe one that's hard to spot, like a non-standard break instead of a space, or a doubled-up single quote instead of an actual double-quotation mark? Something like that?

I have a feeling I may have already said this, so I apologize if I did, but . . . I'd like to see the Trick Arrow Powers deployed from Pilums for these Neo Warriors. Imagine a Rain of Arrows, but it's just a big handful of javelins! Or Acid Arrow being lobbed instead of plucked. And really . . . crossbows are cheating! Warriors shouldn't be using crossbows at all. They should demonstrate their physical prowess with traditional bows and arrows! *grumps* (Not a serious complaint, but . . . sorta-kinda-maybe a little serious. Maybe.)