Techwright

"Seraphim" sounds like it would be a supernatural/magic organization. I suppose it could have been the prototype for Knives of Artemis as well. I wonder if the name was dumped due to its similarity to S.E.R.A.P.H.? Personal opinion, but I'd love to see Homecoming take these unused names and create new groups and new content around them.

You've reminded me of the OG game where there used to be cattle supergroups, and one would occasionally see the herd running through the city. Kind of miss that.

Although I've always liked Sid Meiers' Civilization, and played countless hours on various iterations, I LOVED the Avalon Hill game, just could never seem to coordinate a game with friends, probably due to the time factor. You've brought to mind, however, that there was a fan's online effort years ago to port the board game over to digital. I need to see if there was any success. I'd love to have a version that let the computer speed things up a bit. EDIT: and almost immediately, I discovered it: http://civ.rol-play.com/ahciv/login.php?horde_logout_token=O0kPoR2fK703JnAhdhztbOkFlxQ&app=horde While on the topic of Avalon Hill, they had another great board game, not well-known apparently: Source of the Nile. It's another I wish had been ported over to a digital game. It's essentially a "Lost World" genre, like the works of H. Rider Haggard and Edgar Rice Burroughs, just without the supernatural elements. Set in late 1800s Africa, it lets players assume the role of explorers, with only the coastlines of Africa known and set. Each move inland renders a different tile revealing a map unique to that game (no real-world African interiors), with rewards or disaster resulting. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Source_of_the_Nile_(board_game)

If we ever get the permission to post game videos, I can see a comedy one of foe defeats with an added squeegee sound as ragdoll physics slowly drags their bodies down that slope.

I was just re-reading it and suddenly realized what it reminded me of: comedian Bob Newhart's famous phone call routines.

Okay, that is a remarkably good costume! I'd never seen that pic before.

We'd still need a visibly unique identifier, both for team selection purposes ("Which of you 20 Spidermen wanted to join the TF?"), and for avoiding griefing from players deliberately disguising themselves in name and costume as others to give others a bad name via bad behavior.

*looks both ways, quietly opens game* *hits rename on xXxSol@rvers3xXx* *renames to Energy Blast*

Just speculating...Are these on high level characters? I'm wondering if they're low-level characters, in which case, knowing that changing names is free, perhaps they're placeholder names until the player can figure out a concept and name? Alternatively, might they be the result of having a named generic'ed by the GMs, either selected by the GMs, rather than assigning a number, or chose by the players who lost a name?

Would that mean the Eden zone was named for Eden Studios? I just found out that swimming south in the Peregrine Island zone will eventually transfer you to the northern waters of the Talos Island zone. (which all lines up on the city map) Unfortunately, I cannot find a way to work that in reverse.

ah, yeah, I misunderstood.

That's a heap of a lot of pets. Walking Army of One, that is.

This sounds so much like Desert Ghost (Xian), leader of the X-men 2099: left hand mutation harms or even kills, right hand mutation heals. I'd probably classify him as a scrapper. https://m2099.fandom.com/wiki/Desert_Ghost

I'd more or less see Kevin Conroy's Batman stare at the group, then a hint of a sly smile appear on his face. "The greatest superpower is the one,,, you haven't told anyone about." *returns a piercing stare to questioning looks* "Also, those superpowers you've just told me about? I've a plan to deal with every one of them. Every. Last. One." *More penetrating stare* "Hard." *Breaks into a Bruce Wayne beaming smile* "Who'd like some pumpkin pie?"

Thanks! The backpack is the Rogers Rocket Pack with Rings. It is a permanent costume part, and even animates when in flight. "Galactic Explorer" is actually the accolade given for finding all the exploration badge markers in Echo: Galaxy City. So check under the category Accolades. If you don't have it, you might want to review your explorations. You might have missed one of the Echo: Galaxy City ones.

OOOoooo...devs please make an emoji for Troo. Wait, wait! Let me get some popcorn first. Honestly, I'm still recovering from discovering that "emoticon" was replaced with "emoji". That one ninja'ed me. Shoot, even the spell check doesn't recognize "emoticon" anymore. I'm in the Twilight Zone. If forced to a binary decision, I'd vote "no". If not, then I'd say I'm okay with emojis under strict conditions: 1.) maximum of 3 emojis per transmission. I realize this doesn't stop an idiot from building a wall of messages three emojis wide, but that's what blocking is for. 2.) only a few, classic emojis will be in the game. I don't want pages worth of silly selections or 2 dozens smile types to figure out. Smile, big smile, frown, angry frown, confused, party horn, roll eyes, stick-out-tongue, and wink. Maybe a handful of others, but no further.

Troo is right, after a fashion. The classic-type endgame stuff has a limit. But what this game does well, that I don't really get on other MMOs, is to fold the character back into all the remaining missions and story arcs that the character failed to grab on the way up the ranks. Sure, I can go back and do earlier content on other MMOs, but they are all grayed out. Here, I can set it up so that nothing is grayed out, and be earning Incarnate ranks, and getting Incarnate thread drops, etc. towards refining my character's abilities. I know there are players who have well exceeded 99 Incarnate levels, though I've never heard the highest. And should you, by some means, have the time to complete every last bit of hero-side content, well then there's every bit of the Praetorian saga to do, and you can even go rogue and do every bit of the villain side and it's strike forces. And should you conquer all of that, there's the user created stories in the AE, and I'm not talking about the power-leveling farms. All that, and I'm just now getting to the fact that you can make adjustments to the difficulty of instanced missions, allowing you to remain challenged. Several of the players also go for "Master" status on the various task forces, with demanding conditions to show how tempered your creation has become. And should you feel you've truly created a superman, then there's the way of folks who solo giant monsters and arch villains intended for team and league content. There's a lot to do beyond 50. Now as to one type being snubbed in end content, I don't think you've anything to worry about. I've been playing since May of last year, and I've only been snubbed by a team lead one time, and honestly, he came off as an arrogant little toad. It wasn't even my sentinel. Setting toads aside, there are occasionally those who, due to the challenge they wish to specifically set up, will be very demanding in the selection process of teammate, but they're honest with it up front in their announcements, and I can't recall a specific archetype being excluded. It's more a specific role that gets excluded: "We have enough DPS, we're in need of tanking". A sentinel should be fine. I've a few of them, and they're a joy to play. I've never been denied in end content or task force. It has been noted by others that they're the middle of the road, "the jack of all trades, master of none" sort, which, if you're the type that like to manipulate ever crumb of a character's stats, then you might find it lacking in your opinion, but honestly, this also goes back to what other players have said: it's the man in the machine that matters far more than the machine. Welcome to Homecoming!

Noticing 10% of the owner/reviewers gave it 3 stars or less. That's not shabby. Usually I get concerned when that 10% is in the 1-star category. That said, there are some patterns showing in the negative reviews. Multiple users commented on: 1. ) system overheating (or excessively noisy fans, which is a symptom of overheating). The problem could be a design flaw in how heat is conducted out of the laptop, or the assembly team might just not be applying enough thermal paste. The consideration here is that some are reporting that even old games are overheating their laptops. This was by far the most commonly reported problem. I've not had to work with them in years, but there's cooling pads and devices designed specifically to pull heat from laptops. Using one of these might keep the heat from doubling, as one user reported. 2) garbage keyboard - several reported this, though their details were lacking. 3) faulty screens - arriving with lines through the screens. Apparently Acer's QA team isn't very good at catching these. 4) batteries not very good - some of the reviewers, even 4-star ones, are point out that the batteries are not holding a charge well. I'd re-emphasize that this amounts to 10% of the reviews, which should mean 90% of the reviews are generally favoring the device.

What's the backstory on this character in Skyway? She's got the purple ground circle, like Security Chiefs, the City Registrar, and other informational types, but doesn't offer anything. She doesn't look like a tribute character, and the wiki doesn't know her purpose. Was she added to the OG game, for future content that never materialized? If so, can we get some content for her? https://hcwiki.cityofheroes.dev/wiki/Yolanda_Baker

I build and maintain business laptops and desktops (hence "Techwright"), but almost never work with gaming-quality laptops (unless the executive types decree they must have them...for business reasons, of course. ) . That said, I know there are trends within companies that supersede functional choices. To that end, I can make the following odds and ends observations: 1. Make sure you get all the types of connections and in the right quantities that you want. There's a transition going on right now, with more and more laptops dropping certain connections in favor of USB-C. If you have some peripherals with legacy connections, you'll need to take that into account in your search, or buy adapters. 2. Like Point #1, make sure you have what elements you need. People are still accustomed to DVD/CD drives in laptops, for example, but the trend in manufacturing is to drop those altogether in favor of USB-3 ports for external USB drives. You may have to buy peripherals if you can't find what you need. 3. Odd statement, sure, but side ports for power and Ethernet wire connections tend to be greater physical space hogs than connections in the back. That's because we tend to work in a side-to-side layout on desks, and wires don't do pure 90-degree bends, so the arc of the wire moving to the back and over a desk causes a lot of left-right space lost, as opposed to a wire running straight out the back of the laptop or dock, and then straight over the back end of the desk. 4. Speaking of ethernet wiring, a lot of laptop companies are forgoing the traditional ethernet port in laptops for...you guessed it...a USB-C port. This is in a silly quest to have bragging rights for the skinniest laptops, since traditional RJ-45 ports are thicker than USB-C. But it forces the user to utilize an ethernet-to-USB_C dongle (adapter), and the company might not always ship such with a laptop, forcing a purchase. We had to get Dell ones at work for about US$36 a pop. And I've yet to work with one of these adapters that maintains a firm connection to the ethernet's RJ-45 clip, which can lead to confusion if it loosens, severing signal, but still looking attached. As gaming is best over wired connection, this may prove important. Those adapters are pretty fragile, too, so if you go that route, take especially good care of it. 5. I prefer metal chassis over rubberized ones. Simply put, they're more durable. We've some users who are brutal on company laptops, and rubberized surfaces come back looking deeply scratched and destroyed, while aluminum chassis, though suffering the same abuse, have only a few scratches. 6. Batteries - it used to be all laptops had a pop-out battery, usefully for replacement on the fly, or even for popping out to drain the laptop of residual static charges when it started acting squirrel-y. I've fixed many laptops that way, popping a battery out for a minute while the power cable is disconnected. I'm seeing more and more models that are sealing the battery into the laptop, however, necessitating an A+ certification to open the laptop without voiding any warranties, not to mention its just nasty business towards those not trained to go inside the device. I theorize it is just greed to send the laptop in for repairs or hire an A+ tech. I see business laptops need battery replacements under consistent use about every 2-3 years, while laptops may function 5 to 9 years, so this becomes a problem. If they're out there, consider a laptop with a hot-swappable battery.

Is that Boomtown? I can bring my fire/fire blaster. Take down and roast at the same time. Dibs on a leg! EDIT: Oh, and I say we name the giant monster "Giblet".

I can get behind this idea, but with less...um, ethnic influence touches (would that be the word to explain it?) in the armor. For example, I like pieces of the Roman armor available already in game, but don't wear them because of the patterns on the plating. Those artwork faces and such just scream "Roman". Were there an option for plain or other generic patterns, I'd be using that stuff all the time. Same with this set picture. Those leggings are amazing, and as long as a generic, non-cultural specific pattern is an option, I'd gladly use them. I'm also highly in favor of the shoulders. We need more of the actual body-hugging shoulder pieces. Too many shoulders pieces look ridiculous because they are so far off the shoulders, the area they should be protecting. I'd like to make another costume point in regard to this picture. Look at the patterned metal of the shinguards. I'm guessing it was meant to suggest Damascus steel, which would be a cool option to have on all metal surfaces (hint, hint), but it reminded me of another surface, an armor surface I'd like to see for earth-bending types. Say, take the Roman armor and add this as an alternate 2-color skin. Gives us something other than rocks to wear. I'll call it "mineral cross section" for lack of a better term: Give me the right pillow, 4/5 stuffed, and with strong stitching, and I'll lay waste to large summer camps. With style.

/jranger Okay, slightly kidding, I've just never /jrangered a thought before. The power! Here's why I'm not a fan of that suggestion. Powers like these are absolutely stellar for controlling mobs moving from a broad fighting area to a narrower one. For example, there's that one Council room that keeps showing up in Striga Task Forces: the one where you enter through a narrow hallway into a large open room slammed packed with Council. It's often a death room for careless or inexperienced players who charge through the hall into the thick of the crowd. But be contrary-wise, have a shot or two through the hall to tag a mob, then drop Freezing Rain into the hall, and you now have a mass killing opportunity as 1/3 of that room tries to run the bottleneck, forced through the Freezing Rain. As another scenario, you're fighting in one of the broader, tan-walled caves. Your team has bitten off more than they can chew, and a host of enemy leave one of the large endrooms in pursuit. You pause at the bend in the hallway, because you know the NPCs will take the inner turn of that bend. Drop Freezing Rain next to the wall, and suddenly the pursuers, slowing, slipping and falling become your next mass slaughter, er...arrest. Having the ability to place by location gives us the ability to herd the crowd in ways targeted AoE would not.

I never thought a bold color scheme that reminded me of a Howard Johnsons could ever look good on a character, but you've pulled off a very sharp look. Bravo! While the look is a bit "busy" for my personal tastes, I must confess it is an eye-catching look. Thumbs up!