Techwright

I've no character I've buffed using this, so I've no real dog in the fight. Still, for those who've been utilizing it, I wonder if a parallel S.T.A.R.T. system could be created, or the current one modified, so that the XP bonus selection had another entry. One that only showed on designated low-pop servers. So theoretically, I could get my usual 2xp bonus (at the sacrifice of INF) but then also select the server XP bonus, or later turn it off through the START vendor. To my thinking that would solve the Praetoria XP issue.

That's the beauty of a name generator: you can roll again. If one doesn't like the "ice" name, something different will eventually show. I've known a name generator or two that spits out a list of names for you to select from, and still reroll. So there's room to maneuver there. One thing I do not like about dev-created name generators: they're prone towards taking a shortcut, cheating off another player's efforts. Case in point: back when I was playing WoW, I put a lot of thought into my characters' names to tie them in to their race's lore and power sets. I would go and test a name against the master role of all names, both active and inactive across all realms. I wanted uniqueness. Once I found a name I liked that had no other character with that name, I would take it. Unfortunately, I discovered the developer's "cheated" in their generator design, and would steal names from other players as soon as they were created. Within a short time, sometimes within a day or two, I'd find several players having adapted my unique names.

Just to be clear, the zone they are in already appears with their two powersets and archetype down by their model's feet when the character is selected. You possibly meant that, but the wording felt like it was suggesting it would have been a new setup with the SG and influence which currently do not appear. I do agree that a simple character sort would also be appreciated. The idea of sorting by super group is interesting.

Personal opinion: this has always been a design flaw with City of Villains. "Villain" in CoV doesn't even stop at terms like psychopath and mass murderer. Villain in COV simply means completely, morally bankrupt. Only one possibility. Later, they tacked on the morality system, so one can be a rogue. The problem is the rogue still has to do these missions of complete, moral bankruptcy. While there are missions that give you an either/or option (which is admittedly a bit better), the game was not designed to take into account the nuances in villainy that comic books and Hollywood have known for decades. Had they the resources, perhaps the design team could have created a host of contacts to represent these styles and choices of villainy or perhaps have the contacts "recognize" certain villains operate differently, and offer different mission choices to choose from to reflect that. Basically a villain choice/style system acting a bit like the current morality system but entirely within CoV. But unfortunately, that's not what was produced.

1930's style hero? I like it, and the name is neat. You've got several costume slots, why not keep both?

Still dark, unfortunately. I'm pretty sure it's a combination of the club's lower lighting and the dark structure behind him. We now know he blends into darkness. Since this is for purposes of seeing the character, rather than in-game concepts of blending in, why not try a picture where the character is in daylight facing the light source, or something similar? Maybe try a picture out in the snow of the ski resort?

Other than that discord at the beginning, it's pretty great for something A.I. generated. Reminds me of the score for The Incredibles.

Wow! The worst of the early 1980s flashed before my eyes, and it was Automan. EDIT: not that the AI picture was a problem. Just brought back a memory.

This has potential. I could see running the Ape/Mage Task Forces, or parts of the Admiral Sutter Task Force to a longer version of this.

A listing of the INF per character would also be fantastic. I've lost count of the number of times over the years that I've had to log into most of my characters looking for spare change to fund other characters's purchases. It would notably reduce the amount of time, if a total INF for the character could simply be seen on mouse-over on the character login screen.

Correct. I'm not actually referring to any costs, but the need for testers. Having a fully functioning, universal base kind of undercuts efforts to get player testing for supergroup bases. People would go for the "pew pew" tests, and not follow through with the base design upgrades. Don't sweat it though. I consider it a minor thought.

For those of us with many characters distributed over two or more super groups, might the character selection screen be tweaked to show what super group the character is currently in? Place it, say, when the character's name is moused over. Currently, it does similar to show where the character is logged out. I've personally had times trying to remember which character to log into to access some specific super group, and it would greatly speed things up to see the SG name before login.

It's an interesting idea. I'd be fine with just a barebones basic base. I'd not be on the test server to sightsee, but to test. Having a universal base ready to go with all the basics needed gets me into testing mode faster. One caveat: the idea kind of plays against any future testing needed for upgrades to base building.

More like falling, with style. Were that to ever happen, you just know there's going to be an owl form and a cat form hanging together as an "owl and the pussycat" joke.

That must be Jack B. Nimble on the drums.

Indeed? Huh. Learn something new every day. Why such a substantial amount? Are we being penalized because they're so likeable an opponent group that we might monopolize our time with them? (Yeah, I'm in a "glass half empty" moment.)

Hmm...interesting. I wonder if this could be done to Ghost Widow. Some sort of Halloween mumbo-jumbo distortion and takeover. The devs would pretty much have everything in place except the scale of a Halloween version including her powers scaled to a league AV opponent level.

Thank you for the correction, 20F, and yes, poor naming. I've actually never used them even with my own Robots/Electrical Affinity MM because I saw "clockwork" and preferred to not use the psi-based Primal Clockwork in my concept. I might have to revisit that to see if I'd prefer Warworks or Praetorian Clockwork.

I would think that the Warworks, which are robots from Praetoria (gold side of the game) would be an ideal choice if you're just looking for something that matches robots. Also, you might consider Robotic Drones, though they're little. The Clockwork might also work, but don't quite fit the lore, as the Clockwork are powered by psi energy, and are therefore not a standard robot. CORRECTION: these are Praetorian Clockwork and should work fine. See twozerofoxtrot's correction below. Lastly, since you're character is also Electrical Affinity, you might look into Storm Elementals. These look like balls of lightning. Unfortunately, they're bright pink with no way to recolor them, at least that I've found. Here's the Wiki page with the list of all Lore pets.

I smell a day job possibility: Gardener. Earned by signing off while standing in one of several designated gardens and parks. Grants a limited number of "tree of life" uses at a base level. (as opposed to the plant heroes that can slot the power) Or perhaps that smell is just chemical fertilizer.

While I agree, I'd point out it should be a little shorter than that by dropping the second "wait", as a player can target a second minion and hit the second upgrade to deliver it to all while the first upgrade is finishing its visuals on the originally-targeted minion. I should qualify that statement by saying I've only tried it on robots and thugs. I'd assume the mechanics worked the same on other minion sets.

English as a second language. You said it yourself, the Petrovics are Eastern European. Their nom de guerres are from Slavic dieties and the written dialog is designed to mimic someone from a Slavic language origin trying to speak English.

It was probably the bug secretions that did that.

That worked, and the concept is really clever!

Those groups just in the 1-20 range? I'd probably go with the Outcasts. Frostfire remains one of the most fun things to do via contacts within those levels, and he's got an interesting story arc. I'd like to see more of that at higher levels with higher class opponents to go along with it. Frostfire points the way: new Outcast leadership arising after he's taken down, characters that have also mastered dual environmental powers. Possibly some that didn't go dual but have mastered new, more potent abilities within their discipline, including elemental pets. Possibly one that eventually masters 3 disciplines, say for example, one emulating a volcano: earth, fire, lightning powers. Or perhaps masters all disciplines, but over a story arc as we clash repeatedly with the opponent as he advances. Then when he ultimately masters all, we'd have an Avatar-like archvillain for the endgame. Good stories to go with them, stories that make sense in the reorganizing of the Outcasts in the power vacuum left by Frostfire, something akin to the stories after Dr. Vahz was taken down. Oh, and hopefully get female members into the gang as well, with some rising to leadership. Also more chambers with interactive sets like that of ice in the Frostfire suite, but reserved for the top tier fights.