Techwright

It's more of an us thing. I find it ridiculous that one person is credited because they were the lucky one to get the last point in, especially when the point of impact looks like NYC on July 4, 1986 (if you don't know, look it up 😉). Who on Haumea cares? Unless they killed it solo, it was a team effort, and its an insult to the guys who possibly did a significant portion of the damage on their own.

Right, I hear ya, but though its been years, I seem to recall the moon-to-sun mechanics were set to the character, not the game world environment. As a result, it moved much, much faster on the gauge.

In WoW, at one point during their saga of constantly changing powers of archetypes, I was very fond of druids and their abilities waxing and waning with sun and moon powers. Perhaps some feature like that might set an epic set apart from the Kheldians. That said, the description as found in the OP would feel hard to place in any other origin other than magic. While origins are not really an end-all (and lets face it, the Kheldians get to pick from all 5 origins...why exactly?) it could be problematic for the Roll Player population.

squishies, squishy, squished, squishies...um, are we suppose to have our shot glasses ready before reading this?

Ooo...ouch! LoL 🤣 But its true! I was frustrated with Voyager. It had such huge potential it kept squandering. I didn't like everything about it, and I got along with Enterprise better than many, but that last episode should never have happened. I had not heard this. Did he actually say he wanted to do that? If so, I'll now consider anything tied to Discovery to be the third universe, the Discovery Universe. Sometimes a multiverse is a good thing, if it distances garbage from good.

YouTube channel The Nerd of the Rings has an excellent breakdown of the trailer using his almost encyclopedic knowledge of all things Middle Earth. It contains a few minor spoilers to the Tolkien writings on Middle Earth in this in-story time period, nothing dramatic. The breakdown reinforces a thought I've had: that the creators largely have a remarkable attention to detail, yet suddenly veer off from it at a few certain points that don't seem to make a lot of sense. It's a curious weave.

Huh. I did not pick up on the "slide show". I'll double back to focus on that. I, too, am usually not a fan of anime (though I do like a few), but I'm cutting it much slack because it is supposed to be Tolkien. (The 1977 The Hobbit animation was quite odd at times, but I still cut it slack because for decades, it was the only version of the story on screen.) Personal preference would have been to see Tolkien animation in the style of season 7 of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, or the recent Star Wars: The Bad Batch. I don't know if that style has a name yet, but I find it very effective for storytelling. I chuckled at the hair color comment. I'm a natural auburn, or at least was until I aged. We reds are portrayed all over the color spectrum in animation, and there are certainly worse ones out there. This one looks a bit like they were attempting mahogany but seriously amped up. Had I advised them, it would have been to darken it with a brown. But I chalk it up entirely to the limited color pallet they've chosen for the entire picture.

You bring back one of my earliest memories of this MMO. It was my first MMO, and I initially played it like I would play an arcade game back in my 1980s arcade rat days: 3 lives and my quarter are precious. Play it very, very safe, and I'll make it to that goal level. I didn't understand until later, that embracing the knock-out unleashed me to truly enjoy the game. I could take risks and learn from them.

New trailer released: This one...set me back in my opinion. Until now, I'd been of the understanding that the central character was Helm Hammerhand. Although he's present in this trailer, it's clearly all about Hera, a character not even named by Tolkien. Her name was picked for this film (and it is Greco-Roman, too, not Anglo-Saxon). Her portrayal here doesn't come off like strong-of-heart Eowyn, a character I greatly admire, but more like Wonder Woman. Not ruling it out. A trailer can be skewed in perspective as opposed to the whole, after all, but my hopes for a proper Tolkien tale will be dashed if the character he wrote most about takes a back seat to yet another largely concocted character.

Thank goodness I'm no longer random. Is that a lower case "g" or a lower case "q"?

No threat. Dude's got to learn how to properly apply sun-tan oil, is all.

For the very reason that Snarky needs something at hand to help him feel young. I suppose he could print it out and post it next to his mirror so that every time he looks into it... ...oh, wait.

😭 Oh, wait...

Welcome, Home!

I'm guessing at arcane's facepalm, but there are several on the forums who do not appreciate the reviving of a long dormant thread. In this case nearly 5 years dormant. Curiously, they're usually fine with starting a new thread on the same old topic and referencing the original thread within the first post.

It does sound like 2005 all over again when MMO guilds and raid leaders used to insist their members behave in a particular manner that often was detrimental to their real life needs. I'm sure it was not meant that way, but it is the way it came across. The OP states it is during missions not the full arc, and not a task force. So if there's an ongoing problem with multiple teammates dropping during a single mission, just be up front with the team: "We got a full team. I'd like to keep it that way until the end of the mission. If there's an emergency, try to say so, if possible, before dropping." Give them a moment to back out if they don't like it. Communication is a two-way street. This is not to say the problem won't repeat, but at least the leader's end of the communication is clear. Even so, if the team is repeatedly struggling at a +3 (it does happen), I can see why some would drop in frustration.

Maybe spawning in the Abandoned Sewer Network in the big rooms is a mutated Kraken-like monster with tentacles both coming out of its body and additional independent tentacles coming out of the muck; maybe not as powerful as Lusca tentacles where you have to fight each one independently, but the extra tentacles count as EBs and are strong enough to slow you down against the main critter but they're a distraction that yield low XP despite EB status. No matter how many tentacles you kill, more keep spawning until the GM is defeated. Regardless of what it looks like, the idea of a swarm associated to a GM would make an interesting opponent. The closest we have in game currently, I think, are Ghost of Scrapyard and Lusca. GoS's followers don't pose much of a threat that I recall (it's been a while), and Lusca's arms are conveniently poised to deal with one at a time. I suppose if a team or league decided to fight everything about Lusca all at once it might make an interesting challenge, but not quite the same. Actually, there's one other, now that I think about it: Nemesis appearing during a Nemesis forces invasion. I don't recall how frequently EBs spawn while he's functional, but I believe that version is a GM, so he's probably the closest comparison, though his appearance is timed. Incidentally, I feel a core GM is important. If we were to have a pure swarm as a GM, it would be akin to a Rikti invasion, just tougher. If I were to make it distinctive from Nemesis, I'd want something regarding the swarm to force the players from a tight formation, forcing them to deal with what essentially are ramped-up sappers. Maybe another Clockwork monster but throw in some parts from other mechanical critters....like throw a couple Freakshow modifications on there, replace one of its arms with a Malta mecha gun arm and the other arm with a Council robot's energy blast arm or replace its head with the Zenith Hoverbot and its missiles and have it go nuts with a flurry of electric and missile attacks. A Devouring Earth critter like Jurassik that has been corrupted by the dark magics of the Circle of Thorns. Replace the giant car-hammer with red crystalline hammer from the war mace or TW sets and have it do a big DoT life drain effect like those red crystals in CoT maps in addition to the bludgeoning damage. Maybe also give it some Spectral Daemon Lord wings and flight to indicate that it's a DE that's been possessed by a CoT spirit and also let it follow after people that try to stay out of range by flying. This could be used in both Paragon City and Rogue Isles. These previous two are somewhat interesting because what you're suggesting is to create something blended, rather than distinctive to a particular villain group. It would be important that both its attacks and defenses reflected this, rather than just its appearance. We have various "normal" sized 5th Column robots and a pair of mega-sized robots in the advanced mode ITF. Why not take one of the Aereus Colossi robots and shrink it down to regular GM proportions and call it a prototype of the big guys, then have it unleashed occasionally on Striga as a means of striking at the Council and not caring about who might get stepped on in the process. Have it armored against every kind of attack and is highly resistant to debuffs so that there's no weakness to rely on, and you just have to grind away while it takes shots at everyone in range. Striga is for heroes and villains now, so everyone can get a chance at it regardless of alignment. I'd be down for it, however, there is another robot I'd like to see out on the streets: the Crimson Prototype from Market Crash Trial. Even better, its a swarm GM, and I've found the swarm is that distracting and dividing element I mentioned earlier, though everything within the trial is geared for a team in an instance and not a free-for-all on the street. All that said, I'm not sure any one of them, with the possible exception of the Crimson Prototype retooled for street attacks, might hold the key to my OP comment: a GM that has a chance of winning. Perhaps the key is to incorporate some additional element, something timed. If the GM robot and its forces were to keep us from entering a bank to stop a robbery, for example, the timed aspect of the robbery might mean victory. Currently, the only thing I can think of in game that has this threat is the Paladin assembly in King's Row. The loss there is of a badge for preventing the creation, though we still get to destroy the Paladin that is created.

It used to be that you'd lose connection to your super group and access to its base, but I think that's no longer an issue. At least, it wasn't when I tested it. Your portal destinations would change of course, and if the opposing side's destinations are not set up in the base, you might have to hoof it more.

Harvey Korman as an alien Julie Childs? Sign me up!

...fewer rezzers from the rest of the pack. I realize my observations are anecdotal, but I was really surprised when I returned to the game to find this one Freak type, the "new" super stunners, to have seemingly become the focus of any group. And the SS always rise again. Previously, any Freak might rise, and frequently did. That left you constantly guessing as to which ones would rise, usually a significant portion, and on rare occasions nearly all of them. Which leans into what I'm saying. Because teams used to know that there was a potential for a high number of rezzes, teams tended to stick together. Completely clearing two groups of Freaks was akin to getting the XP for 3 groups, maybe approaching 4 if you were lucky, due to the multitude of rezzers. Now, you'll get the super stunners, and perhaps one or two others, and the timing of their rezzing can be notably spaced. Small change for the restless DPS players.

That's crazy. I don't have the numbers, but I could swear I read multiple articles back at the height of COVID lockdown that said D+ was wildly popular and heavily profitable, to the point that it was largely carrying the parent company during the shutdown. IF that is accurate, this you referenced sounds like a downward line on the graph chart. I have to wonder at some point if there will be a second tier to the "Legends" category: stuff that Disney released and was poorly received, therefore relegated to soft canon until a full-canon replacement can be arranged. The Acolyte would go on that shelf, probably Star Wars: Resistance (the animated series people have already largely forgotten) as well. One could hope-against-hope that the Sequel Trilogy ends up there as well. There is another possibility, though I don't see it happening. Get the writers to tighten a story, and continue it in a more practical-budgeted animation.

A question that has often bugged me but I previously never remembered to ask: What was the thinking behind the creation of enhancement sets that only exist in certain security level ranges in the game? Why were not all sets designed to run the full range?

Secondhand Lions: Robert Duvall, Michael Caine, Haley Joel Osment, Kyra Sedgwick Duvall is almost a force of nature in this one, and his teaming with Caine is brilliant. I recognized Christian Kane ("The Librarians") in the flashback scenes.

Well...Golden Corral seems to think I do. 🙄 I've told them many times I don't qualify... yet... so if they continue to ring up the discount each visit, who am I to argue? 🤷‍♂️