Akisan

That could definitely work nicely for that purpose (especially since it removes the conflict for /Shield being on the left hand). A full mirror may not be necessary though, just mirroring the animations may be enough. (For the power animations that is. For robot arms, they'd have to either mirror the entire toon, or make left-hand robo-arms an option) As far as "ambidextrous" is concerned, I'd be more interested in being able to mix and match on a power-by-power basis (or have the animations randomly pick left- or right-handed). For example, a Sword/ scrapper with a rapier, moving the sword between her hands to keep opponents off-balance and unable to anticipate where her attacks will come from.

Regeneration resistance would be nice to have as well. There's several sources of -regen lategame, and it can really sneak up on you (Malta Titans and Praetorian Clockwork come to mind). Not as useful as DDR would be, but still...

Sounds like either punishment duty, or, more likely, rookie hazing to me (along the lines of going to get "brake light fluid" or "skyhooks"). Snipe Hunt is definitely a good name for a badge in this series, perhaps for defeating all of the different types of sniper (and/or other long-range minions, like Council marksmen)

Would definitely be fun to have a toon with 2 different pom-pom colors (and use them alternately). While we're on that subject though - left-/right-/random- (ambidextrous) handed options for a lot of the weapon / one-handed attacks would be great to have. You can sort of fake being left-handed with certain sets (like dual blades, just put the big sword on the left), but most (all?) attacks have right-handed animations/stances.

SOs being available at 2 instead of 22 does help a lot. I admit to not having run any Skulls missions since before that change, got too used to them being not worth the time/effort compared to the other enemy groups (similar story with the extremely high-damage Vahz zombies). I mention the group being overtuned because they're *not* what you would expect a pack of level 6 enemies to be - decent to high S/L damage minions/lts., with hard CC and debuffs (and exotic damage) from the bosses. I halve my solo difficulty settings when fighting Skulls and Vahz now, something I don't expect a new player to do. The reverse is also true though - with SOs available, the other low-level enemy groups are *much* easier. A balance pass to bring them up to speed would also be appreciated. It's still there - it's just that the Bone Daddies that have that power are much rarer now, as nearly all boss spawns are replaced by either Death Walkers or Death Dolls (the new, more-powerful bosses)

Not just those two mobs. The Skulls were intended to be expanded in I24 (stopped by Sunset), like our crashless nukes and fast snipes. While we do have all these nice things now, and enemy variety is nice, I don't think the new mobs were really given a thorough balance pass (like the snipes, those had to be adjusted a couple times). For example: a +1 Death Doll (one of the new bosses, and not an uncommon encounter) can (and will) keep a hero permanently held - broken only when she misses (or more likely, you die). New, harder content is nice to have, but the new skulls are head and shoulders better than the other low-level mobs. I'd even rate them as equivalent or tougher than Outcasts or Trolls at this point, with the additional damage and mezzes. A balance pass on the group, or, at least, a warning on the (Praetoria-hard) Shauna Stockwell arc would be appreciated.

I would expect someone running around as a super would be doing that, or having someone doing that for them. As far as Shotgun assault, the op's suggestion - this may be better as an epic pool for some of the melee classes. It'd be very in-character to have an axe-crazy villain pull out a shotgun for runners.

New challenge mode - powers don't get a starter slot for enhancements (you only get the slots rewarded for levelling up) For double fun - No IOs. But yeah, definite no to more than 6 slots, getting 2x 4+ set bonuses in a single power would be so very OP

The limitations on special characters in names is likely due to internal handling with the database. Depending on how the code handles communication for saving/retrieving player data vs. character names, allowing special characters could open a massive can of worms - exploits, security holes, comprimized/lost data, the whole nine yards. I think XKCD puts it rather well: Special character handling aside, more prefixes and punctuation options would be great to have, so long as it doesn't interfere with having those titles in the name itself.

I can't even remember the last time I even looked at that registry, since it's been mostly useless for a long, long time. Couple of possible search options for rankings though: For PvP SGs, Prestige could still be used (as-is, or with some tweaks), as a buy-in for SG vs. SG events. The ranking system could use that value for determining the top PvP groups. For Settings bases/groups, rankings could instead be based off of something similar to a "like" system - upvote the bases you enjoyed, so they're easier for others to find. But those are minor. An in-game listing for various SG bases (and passcodes) to go explore would be amazing to have - there's so many hidden gems out there that people have made.

Now that's just not true! ... lowbie blasters used to already be at that cap.

I mention it, yes, but my main has *no* interest in getting to it. I run a blaster at +3x6 with "only" 25% def/all, and stay alive in tough fights by virtue of positioning, /Ice's sustain with its 40% slow & 14% damage debuff, and 2x ST holds to keep the bosses (or key lts.) out of the fight. Some of my toons though? Yeah, I want that 59% incarnate softcap, so I can hop on at 3 AM and run a few missions without worrying about mis-timing a power or my target priority being off. For those builds, yes, off-pool picks can very definitely get them killed.

And I do pick them. My main has Injection, Aid Other, and Resuscitate. But unlike a lot of the other pools (like Fighting), there's a definite sense of giving something up by taking those powers. And, as @aethereal has mentioned, you're already very tight on pool selections if you want to softcap anything, which makes that feeling even worse. Not just any activation time, it's interruptible activation time. Hope you're at the defense soft-cap if you want to use that in combat...

This is very true, and some of it just comes down to preferred playstyle. I know a couple of people who (back before CoV) rolled tanks instead of scrappers so that they could scrapperlock even harder (they usually roll brutes these days, works much better). My issue with it isn't that some people play badly (they're at least playing), it's that they very often grab a build they don't understand, or skip good powers because they don't look that great on paper, usually through not noticing that a power is AoE (had someone miss that about Dark Regeneration, so they skipped their heal thinking it was too weak to bother with). Which always struck me as funny. While there may be less to do at any given level prior to 50, there's still so much content pre-50 that you could probably run 4-5 toons through it, without repeating anything even without the xp boosters. You'd still have to run a lot of the same missions for Accolades, but you'd need to run those anyways even with a skip to 50. Even if you repeat content across toons, I find that different ATs/Powersets can have some very different interactions with enemy factions. My Sword/Shield scrapper hates CoT because of all the ghosts, but my Shield/Elec tank can just walk through with no issues whatsoever.

Could go the route of DDO's completionist feat (level all classes to max level): when a new set is released/proliferated, existing badges that now contain that set are revoked (go play the new set!).

@Greycat's suggestion, for reference: For the time being, certain sets could simply be easier to Retcon into. As power themes are proliferated, and more ATs have access, this would even out. And therein lies the issue. We seem to be very divided over whether or not it's OK for people to be PL'd in AE at all, so forget just handing out free levels. Personally, I grudgingly tolerate it under the benefit of the doubt: It's possible that someone had that combination on Live and want to play it at upper levels again, without having to grind to 50 twice. As far as farming up a new character? It's rather unlikely the player would know the build's strengths and weaknesses to any competent level (and hence, would be an AE Baby). I strongly believe that part of the leveling process is learning what, exactly, makes a powerset combination unique, and how to best use that is what makes a build great. (For the record, I'm also against the XP boosters, especially past level 35, when you should be figuring out how to overcome your build's weaknesses, then doing so with the Epic pools). Which is why my post earlier is less "level something to 50" and more of a very, very specialized respec - which is already a very special form of free levels (you don't have to delete and level the character again just to repick powers)

Liking the idea of an expensive Retcon/Legacy option for a 50 toon. Got your badger to 1400+ badges, then they release a new powerset that fits their theme better? Great, a retcon would allow you to keep your badges, and change out for that more thematic set. As far as gating these swaps, I've seen a couple of good options here - Sacrifice a level 50 toon. You can change all your stuff over to the new powerset combination, as long as you have an existing 50 with that new powerset combination. The 50 you're replacing is deleted as part of the transfer (like a hero taking up their mentor's mantle, or Legacy). @Greycat had a suggestion for account-wide, powerset mastery badges (like getting an Electric/ to 50 in each AT). Want to Retcon your Fire/Fire blaster to an Elec/Elec? You need to have that elemental mastery badge. Since you've presumably already played the new powerset (or something similar) to 50, you wouldn't need to sacrifice a 50 with this system. I wouldn't even mind cross-AT retcons with this system, as you've already proven that you've run that power theme across all the ATs anyways (that and, who knows? They might release more ATs at some point, and as with the example above, it may fit better thematically). Either way, you keep all your hard-earned badges, plus your customizations (macros, keybinds, etc.). As far as price, this should be expensive. Maybe in the 20-30 Transcendant merit range, enough that you have to really want it.

In all seriousness though, I would not complain about your first travel power pool being a "free pick" (if you actually pick the travel power; no free Hasten), in that it doesn't count against your 4 pools (or, move all 4 travel powers into their own, special pool). I remember back when Fitness wasn't inherent, and I don't miss giving up 3 of my power choices (and a pool) to get a power that virtually everyone needs (and yes, if you plan on teaming, you will need a travel power or a very patient group). Yes, there has been quite a bit of power creep since then, but maybe loosening that restriction might allow more picks from less desirable pools like Medicine or Presence. As far as reducing the in-pool requirements, most of those are intended as a "tax" for taking the better stuff (Boxing and Kick are actually the best example of this). I wouldn't mind some pools getting looked at for revisiting or shuffling these around (Presence comes to mind), but a lot of the major pools either shouldn't have those restrictions limited (or should have them increased, for borderline OP, must-have things like Hasten) My workaround for this is usually to run dual builds (or SJ as a happy medium between speed and vertical maneuverability), but that may not work for you or your toon's theme (plus, that can get expensive).

We already have this though, in the form of Limitless Radial Freem! Shame we can't take it outside of Mender Ramiel's arc...

Definitely a good point there, hadn't really considered people just waiting for the difficulty to drop before beginning. My thought was that if it's taking a while just to fight to that first obelisk, then they might be better off with fewer ambushes anyways. Also, if that 80 minute timer doesn't start until after they hit that first obelisk, there's a very real chance that there's still a crazy number of ambushes even at the 70 minute mark. Chance% = ( (Time remaining when 1st obelisk hit - 10m) - (time elapsed since 1st obelisk) / (Time remaining when 1st obelisk it - 15m) * players (min 4) * obelisks hit Still allows for the ambushes to fall off entirely by the end of the trial (at 10m remaining), though how quickly the difficulty drops is now dependent on how quickly the first obelisk is tagged.

Definitely going to have to try to visit the ambush madness while it lasts. Meanwhile, could we transform the ambush chance to be self-correcting for stronger/speedrunning groups vs. weaker/unfamiliar groups with a -(t) component to the chance: Chance% = (80m-time elapsed)/75m * obelisks hit * players in trial (or leader's difficulty setting, minimum 4. This is still a Trial, after all). A team of 8 strong players completing it (simultaneous obelisk tag) in 5m can expect to see 10 to 11 ambushes joining Koago, with the horde slowly thinning as the fight wears on. A team of 4 players who've never run the trial (and taking about 45 minutes) can expect to see 2 to 3 ambushes joining Koago (though they would have also seen several as they worked around to the obelisks). In either case, the ambushes will slowly peter out before stopping at the 80min mark, giving (hopefully) enough time to finish the trial (it *is* still timed, right? Did I miss that patch note?) This seems much more reasonable, as it keeps the possibilty of a hectic fight in the center there, complete with a sense of progress as fewer and fewer ambushes spawn. Plus, this still gives very strong groups the option of a crazy, half-hour long fight if they want it. As far as during the trial, groups can strike a balance between "how fast do we want to complete this" and "how fast can we complete this", as faster clears mean significantly more ambushes as they move between obelisks.

I'm usually against the scaled-level mobs, especially in outdoor areas, but this would be a marked improvement going the other way too - I usually avoid presents like the plague when I'm not at or over a zone's maximum level. Only had to fall for that trap once on Live: Picture a level 10 scrapper, just into Steel, sees a present just lying there on the way to the university. Surprise, the present barfs out 3x Frostlings... at level 19. Instant Hosp trip (followed by a rather dicey escape from the far side of Steel, since this was before easy jetpack access...). I'll occasionally try my luck if I'm mid-range for the zone, but that's only if I'm feeling exceptionally bold that night.

Hey, we don't run around in capes and spandex all the time, Reggie could be one of us working his dayjob (or perhaps a council gunner infiltrating the bank for a later op). I'm not saying he is, or isn't, but that's kind of the point - if the NPCs come in all shapes and sizes, then it's easier for the largest (and smallest) of us to blend in when we're not "on duty".

A reflective, almost metallic version of the rock skins would be nice to have. I have an Axe (pick-axe) / Stone scrapper by the name of Magnetite Mike that would love to have various ores and shiny rocks as his armor (Pyrite, Galena, Hematite, and, of course, Magnetite). I can sort of get the look I want by tinting a mix of stone and crystal powers, but the stone ones have un-tintable parts (and aren't shiny), and the crystal ones are translucent.

Why not *in* the vault, to satisfy our Scrooge McDuck-ian urges to swim in money? At that point, innertubing on a sea of gold coins is just a bonus.